Darkling (12 page)

I sat behind Tyler and we started a crazy ride. His idea of fun was extreme turns and driving at full speed. White powder flew in all directions. We raced Aidan and Doris, but Tyler was more skilled and we won. He also cut across the path of the other jet, making a lot of the others angry and dying to get even with us.

It was awesome!

The sound of laughter and engines was the only thing you could hear in the snowy hills. I glanced at Belun a couple of times, with the violet puff hanging onto his waist. When we passed them, she looked like his hunchback, which made me laugh even more.

The view from the top was breathtaking. The sea and the slopes stretched out below us. But before Tyler and I had time to take in our surroundings, we were hit with a massive snowball attack! The rage of the others came flurrying down on us! Since we were the only targets, my freshly developed avoidance skills were given a royal workout. We ate a ton of snow and after they’d finally decided that we’d had enough, snowballs started flying in all directions. After this we all jumped back on the snowmobiles and tore around for a bit more, and then we packed ourselves into the SUV’s and moved on.

“The hotel is nearby and there’s even a disco there.” We laughed at Doris’s choice of words. I was back in the car with Tyler, Doris, and Mia, wondering whom Belun was riding with.

“Bryn has it bad for that Vuk guy. How unpleasant,” Mia commented.

“She’s in love.”

“So she should kiss the ground he walks on?”

“Ah, Mia, I can hardly wait for you to find someone. You’re so gonna eat all your crappy words about love.”

“Maybe so, Doris, maybe not. Love isn’t the mindless worship of another being.”

“There are different types of love,” I said.

“Spoken like a true expert,” Doris added, looking at me questioningly.

“Well, I’ve had a little experience in that field.”

“And how did it go?” Mia asked.

“Not that well. He and my best, um, ex-best friend are together now.”

“That’s bad,” she said, and Doris put her hand over mine.

“It was.” But I found some comfort in the fact that my own reaction wasn’t that bad anymore.

“Loser,” Doris said.

“Not really. He found what he wanted somewhere else.” Actually he was more a liar than a jerk.

“And what’s that?” Her eyes were perplexed.

I gave her a tiny smile, and raised my eyebrows a little. I didn’t have to spell it out for her. He had looked someplace else for something that I wasn’t giving him.

“Jerk, anyway!” Doris took my hand in hers.

“Girls, you’re getting too dark,” Tyler said, finding a livelier radio station.

Mia, Bryn, Doris and I shared a hotel room. It was just big enough for the wooden bunk beds. The water heater in the bathroom was small, so the four of us had to wash sparingly. Goodbye long hot showers.

Except for my sweater, the rest of my clothes had dried pretty fast. For tonight’s “disco,” I wore a black shirt and dark jeans, and my hair up in a ponytail.

“So, what way is he looking at me?” I heard Bryn asking us.

“You should hope that he looks at you the way you look at him, otherwise, you’ll only be a good laugh for him,” Mia answered, ever so subtly.

“What do you think?” Bryn turned to me.

“I didn’t actually catch a look at him earlier; I’ll tell you after tonight.”

“There’s something about him, though.” Mia said.

“You think?”

Doris agreed. I didn’t have any opinion of the guy.

“And who’s that Simona person anyway?”

Oh, crap. Why had I said that?! And in this boy conversation? Ah, damn you subconscious.

Mia rolled her eyes, and Bryn answered me.

“She’s Vasilis, one of the noble families.”

“Her too?” They gave me ambiguous looks. “I’ve met all the noble offspring.” Lame attempt at a joke.

“Simona’s one spoiled little bitch.” That came from Mia’s mouth. “She shows too much interest in you. I’ve caught all of her poisonous glares at you.”

“I didn’t know you two knew each other,” Doris said.

“At your last party, she was giving a hard time to our girl here.”

“Why would she do that?”

“She’s probably concerned about her boyfriend’s new and pretty colleague.”

Boyfriend?

“She’s not Belun’s girlfriend,” Doris corrected her.

“But she really wants to be, doesn’t she?”

“So, was there anything between the two of them?” I couldn’t stop myself, and when I saw the questioning look Doris gave me, I really wished I had more self-control.

“Nothing in public, anyway.”

Ah, Mia was killing me with those lines. I never knew what she really meant. I hoped that someone would tell me more. But there was nothing further, only the rest of girls’ preparations: some more makeup, some hair changes, and my growing despair.

Bryn wore a black skirt, and the rest of us stayed in our jeans. Mia changed her shirt for something dressier, and off we went.

“Pay attention to Vuk,” Bryn shyly instructed us.

“Pas de problem,” Mia acquiesced. “What kind of name is Vuk, anyway?”

“It means wolf,” Bryn replied, a hint of pride in her voice.

“Ooooh dangerous,” Mia muttered as we reached the hotel lobby.

The “disco” was a wooden room with booths in the corners, a long bar, and the inevitable disco ball in the center of the dance floor. It wasn’t very big, and with all of us crowded in there, it gave it the feel of a real club.

“Everybody’s already here.”

“But the best have just arrived.” Doris smirked, and strolled toward Aidan. Mia and I followed, and Bryn lost herself somewhere in the crowd.

I liked the music; it was electronic and dark.

“You know this band?” I asked Mia.

“It’s Massive Attack, Doris’s favorite band. Apparently Aidan made a request.”

I searched the room and then I saw him—elbow on the bar, green bottle in his hand. Belun wore a black tee with a small print of a raven. He was nodding at the guy who was talking to him.

I looked for Simona with no luck—which probably was a good thing! Maybe she liked to be even more fashionably late than we were, or maybe she just flew away on her broom!

I looked for Bryn, and, keeping my promise, tried to find her beau.

Wolf was surprisingly shorter than most of the guys here. His hair was dark and he looked like the boy next door.

“Ordinary, right?” Mia followed my gaze.

“He’s not what I expected,” I had to admit.

Mia laughed. “Bryn has always had weird taste in men. But if you look at him a bit longer, he awkwardly becomes more attractive.”

I thought she was piling on some of her usual sarcasm, but, surprisingly, she was right.

“Yes. Awkward.”

“He’s a Priest,” she said.

“Whoa!”

Vamps usually didn’t make those divisions among themselves, and Mia’s bluntness could be a good source of information.

“That’s why he has that strange aura,” she explained.

I looked at him with new admiration. He looked a few years older than I; he was the first vampire Priest I’d seen. They seemed like such a mystery while reading those books that Mr. Matthews had given me.

“Not so ordinary anymore, is he?” I shook my head. Definitely not.

“You know what’s equally interesting?”

“What?” I asked.

“The fact that Belun looks at you a lot.”

Something dropped inside my stomach. Mia gazed at me calmly.

“Well, he’s probably checking up on me. Maybe it’s weird to see me outside the gym.” It certainly was weird for me.

As a crooked smile formed on her lips, I turned around and felt his gaze on me. It made me shy in front of Mia, and I looked away.

“If it was only that, our Simona wouldn’t be wearing a handkerchief for a dress,” she mused, looking behind me.

“I’m sure she would wear it anyway.”

“Whatever you say, girl. Anyway, I don’t think the dress will help her.”

Doris and Aidan returned then with the drinks. He had a beer and the two girls sipped their cocktails. As for me, I enjoyed a bit of fruit punch.

“Oh, reinforcements have arrived,” Doris said. “I was wondering where they were.”

Turning, I saw Set who was already looking at me. I smiled in return. He was with a doll almost as tall as he was, and they seemed to look similar. Aidan pulled Doris onto the dance floor, leaving Mia and me alone as Set approached with his charming grin. I remembered Julia’s mention of the commotion at the Reception, the one between Set and Belun, and I made a mental note to ask Mia later about it.

“Ladies.” Set made a dramatically courteous bow, taking our hands and kissing them.

“Hey you. Haven’t seen you for ages.” I grinned at the ridiculous gesture. There was something light and casual in this guy that I found most relaxing.

“Missed me?”

“Oh, desperately,” I laughed.

“You missed
all
the fun,” Mia said.

“Hopefully not all the fun.” His look made me laugh again. “Fea had some errands to run and made me go with her. She’s my twin sister.”

They laughed at my shock.

“You didn’t know?”

Know what, exactly? The fact that the hot chick is your sister and not your girlfriend, or that vampires have not only vampiric siblings, but twins?! I’d never thought of the possibility. There had been mention of their human cousins, but nothing beyond that. I shook my head.

“Bryn has an older sister. She’s in Kyrill’s court now,” Mia said.

“What court?”

“The one on the beautiful Greek Island,” she answered me.

“Take it easy, there. We don’t want your pretty little head to explode, do we?”

“Sorry,” I said to Set, gathering my thoughts. “I didn’t know that a vampire twin was a normal thing.”

“Well, it isn’t. Feodora and I are not unique, but for some time now, we have been the only ones. As far as we know, in any case.” Set was grinning.

Feodora, that’s a pretty name. I looked at her and saw that she was with Simona. So they were friends. It seemed that they radiated the same level of arrogance, and then I saw Simona’s tight blue dress that Mia had been laughing at. Geez, she was right, it really couldn’t have been any shorter. She was wearing flat black boots—yeah, like that’s gonna make her look more innocent.

My glass was empty, so I headed for the bar leaving Mia telling Set about our snowball fight.

“Fruit punch please,” I smiled at the barman.

“Spiced?” He grinned wickedly, holding a gin bottle.

“Sure, why not,” I replied. Then I sensed someone’s presence behind me.

“According to U.S. law, you’re not old enough to drink.” Belun placed his elbow on the bar next to me.

“Are you starting a prohibition?”

“Why not? Trust me, it was more fun than people think nowadays,” he teased. “There were a lot of incognito places, the drinks were stronger, the service better, and the women . . . Well, anyway…” He was laughing now.

He was so relaxed! His face was so warm! It was the first time that I had seen him laugh, and he was even more attractive.

“So I was told in Sioux City.”

“What were you doing there, anyway?”

“Waiting for my flight to Tromsø?”

“Besides that.” He just wasn’t going to stop grinning!

“It’s a long story.”

“Oh, I have time.”

What!? A Joke? Who was this imposter?

His tee casually outlined his body, and the raven stood on a branch in front of a full moon, with a funny smirk. Belun brought the bottle up to his lips, watching me looking at him.

“I was disappointed in my character judgment,” I finally offered.

“So you ended up in a vampire den?”

I laughed. He had the cutest smile!

“It’s not for nothing that they say to be careful what you wish for.”

“Well, this is not what I wished for,” I said.

“And what did you wish for?”

I was so bewildered. Where did this sudden interest in my puny little mortal life come from? We’d seen each other twice a day for the past couple of weeks and he’d never asked a thing. What was up?

Maybe I was giving it too much importance.

“I wanted to see things through
my
eyes, and not someone else’s.”

“Don’t we all want that? And search for it our whole lives?”

“Why? Whose eyes are
you
afraid of?”

He laughed, and drank his beer, lingering. We looked at each other, but apparently, he wasn’t going to give me an answer. If there was one.

“There you are! You promised me a dance.”

Simona emerged, smiling at him. There was some intensity in her words.

“I did? Well, then.” He gave me an apologetic smile and let her pull him away. I turned back to my drink.

“Is it good?” the barman came back over.

“Excellent.” I smiled, and he slid over a whisky glass filled with cherries. “Thanks! I love them.”

He nodded shyly and returned to his work. A hand with a ring on the thumb was placed on the bar in front of me.

“I thought he’d never leave you.” Set settled himself in the chair next to mine.

Unfortunately, he
had
left, and with that little witch.

“Even the barman can’t resist your charm.”

“Will you stop with the flattering?”

Set grinned slyly; his self-confidence was attractive.

“So, how was the snow ride?” he asked, and I glanced at the dance floor. Seeing Simona’s body swirl around Belun’s was very unpleasant.

“It was so fun that Tyler and I were ruthlessly punished with a massive snowball ambush.”

“Sounds great!” he said, and I nodded in confirmation.

“I’m sorry that you left without your flower that night.”

That was weird. The rosebud had been taken from my hair by Belun. Now I was really curious about what had happened between the two of them, but that question would have to wait for someone neutral, like Mia.

“Actually, you said you didn’t like flowers outside of a garden.”

“Or one stolen from a vase.”

Set seemed to be enjoying himself. He leaned to the bar and took a cherry.

“I’ve never understood why people find this cocktail hybrid so tasty. This is a completely ruined cherry.”