Hotblood (35 page)

“
I don’t think I like surprises.”

He gave me a curious look. “Most girls seem to. Maybe it’s my soul that dislikes the unexpected.”

I didn’t know what to do with his easy acknowledgement of my having his soul. Shouldn’t it bother him just a little? He drove towards the river and pulled off the road by the woods. It was in the same area I’d gotten a ride home from in Grim’s hearse. I forced a smile at him that he returned easily. He came around and opened the door for me, looking excited as he gave Osmond a grin that showed they shared a secret.

I managed to make it on my heels through the roadside weeds to the woods where a narrow path was lit every few feet by white candles in mason jars. It was simple but magical enough that I thought the girl in the mirror would not be out of place in this world. I heard Snowy whisper and giggle behind me, but that was all the sounds she made. In a wide spot beneath the trees, glass globes hung from branches around bright rugs and pillows on the ground. I stared and felt frozen as I watched Snowy pass me and join Lewis where he sat on a rug. There was something so tantalizing about the scene.

It seemed the farther I was from Lewis, the more I wanted to be near him. I watched the lines of his face lit by flickering candlelight and felt a wave of relief that he was there, safe, waiting for me.

“
Dari, are you coming?” Osmond asked. I shook myself and smiled at him and let him give me an arm as we walked to the group. I sat beside Snowy and started on the cheese and crackers, fruit, and a bottle of something that Lewis assured everyone was not alcoholic.

“
I’m impressed,” Snowy said, dipping a cracker in a gooey cheese. “So, which one of you is the closet romantic?”

Osmond grinned at Lewis. “It’s football practice. After all that smashing and bashing I want to relax by hanging candles and creating atmosphere.”

Snowy pushed him over and he fell on top of me knocking my cracker to the ground. “Don’t dis atmosphere,” Snowy said trying to sound stern.

“
Oh I don’t know,” Osmond said looking up at me with his head on my knees. “The consequences don’t seem to be all that bad.”

“
You owe me a cracker,” I said pushing him off of me and laughing at him.

“
A cracker it is,” he said cheerfully arranging a variety on a fancy plastic plate that looked like glass.

“
If you serve Dari, then who is going to take care of me?” Snowy asked with her totally fake pout.

“
Allow me,” I said reaching forward and brushing Lewis’ hand where it hovered over the cheese. I felt a shock that made me gasp and pull back instinctively. I stared at Lewis and for a moment it felt like we were alone in the woods together, something familiar and important about to happen.

“
You’re so warm,” I said, then blushed, feeling like an idiot as I realized how breathless I sounded while he quirked an eyebrow at me as though he were puzzled by my reaction.

I drew back and turned to Snowy. I followed their conversation carefully and laughed in all the right places but there had been something for a moment about Lewis that was unforgettable.

After we were done eating, Lewis escorted us back to the vehicles, extinguishing candles as we went. I looked in the darkness and saw a set of ruby red eyes glowing at me. It settled me slightly to know that my demon killer was watching out for me, and I breathed a little bit easier as I smiled at Lewis.

“
You look different tonight and it’s not just the dress,” he said as we walked, letting Snowy and Osmond get ahead of us.

“
It’s probably the makeup,” I said and wrapped my arms around myself, glad for the jacket.

“
The makeup? No, I don’t think so. That makes you look untouchable, but I think you’re on edge.” I felt a dip in my stomach. “Even if it’s natural to be nervous about your exhibition with Smoke, you shouldn’t be.”

“
He’s right, Dari,” Snowy said from in front of me. “In that dress, no one’s going to care how you dance.”

I sighed, exasperated that she would pick the worst thing in the world to say, but at the same time, it helped me shake off the weirdness I’d felt creeping up all evening.

We drove to the high school, Osmond always one car length behind us. Lewis parked in the dark, crowded parking lot on the southwest side of the school, then opened my door for me. I looked up at him, unable to see his eyes in the shadows and felt shivery in spite of my jacket.

“
Come on, you guys. You’re not going to believe the decorations,” Snowy said grabbing my wrist and pulling me along with her.

We walked across the blacktop towards the arched gymnasium doors. I gazed admiringly at Snowy’s handiwork. The steps up to the door were garlanded in leaves while she’d managed to get an arbor over the top of it that was twined with vines, flowers, and flickering white lights. It was a little over the top, but that was Snowy. Inside, every wall was decorated so thoroughly it gave one the impression of being in an oversize leafy bower. I smiled at her, nodding my approval. It was splendid and lovely, but not as otherworldly as the clearing in the woods. I was grateful for that.

We stood in line to get our pictures taken, and then Snowy and Osmond moved out to the dance floor. I watched them, impressed with how well they moved together. A couple bumped them and I saw Valerie in a dress that made mine look like I should be heading for a monastery. She gave Snowy the kind of smile that meant war. I could tell Snowy’s teeth were clenched as she executed a challenging move that Valerie, for all of her impressive abilities to keep on her dress, couldn’t compete with. I was satisfied that Snowy could hold her own and turned to Lewis, wondering what he thought about the scene. I caught him staring at me with so much intensity in his eyes that while he quickly regained his easy smile, it took me a minute to remember what I was going to say.

“
Osmond is a great dancer. Everyone here dances really well,” he said sounding impressed.

“
Four years of practice will do it to you,” I said lightly, my stomach still unsettled from the look in his eyes. “It’s too bad you don’t dance. Maybe you should ask Valerie for a spin. She can’t dance either.”

He frowned and sighed. “And here I thought I smelled like a tree. Honestly, Dari, don’t you know that trees can dance as well as any bush swaying and spinning in the wind? Truly, I’m hurt.”

I patted his arm and forced my fingers to relax and not tighten around his wrist. “All right then. You can dance with me after I smash the crowd with Smoke. The first tango is yours. Don’t worry, the tango is easy; it’s just walking.” I was proud of how normal my voice sounded.

“
Just walking? All right.” He looked nervous. “I don’t suppose there’s a dance that’s just running. I’ve always been a good runner, particularly when I’m only going in one direction.”

“
But that’s the whole trouble with dancing, all that changing direction.” I grinned at him. Osmond and Snowy came back and Snowy immediately began her tirade about Valerie. That lasted a song, and then she dragged me to the edge of the floor where people had cleared an area as the announcer requested.

“
All right, Smoke’s over there,” Snowy said as she pointed across the room. “This is going to be great when you meet in the middle of the floor. You don’t need this,” she said and pulled off my jacket, barely hesitating over my corsage. She gave me a push through the fringe of the crowd until I stood alone on the floor without my armor. I fought down the fury I felt at Snowy’s typical lack of respect before I smiled as a spotlight landed on me and I forced myself to move towards Smoke.

He looked fantastic emerging towards me out of a thick fog and I wondered how he’d rigged it. It was the perfect effect for his long, lean body and flying hair as he came towards me. I went to him in time to the music. I forgot about my dress showing off too much of me, and started dancing. Smoke had great energy and we’d practiced enough that I knew what he was going to do before he did it. Sometimes he tended to forget choreography and wing it, but I didn’t mind, I could stop thinking and move with him. I felt the connection between us while the music filled me, consumed me until I forgot about Lewis, Snowy, and the audience watching me. We danced a medley integrating a foxtrot, tango, and a rumba. I loved the way Smoke changed through the dance with his posture and expression. I grinned at him while I moved as slinky as I could to the tango parts. We made it through the routine to its brilliant finish with me swung up on his shoulder in a lift that had taken us a week to get right. From my perch up there as Smoke spun, I felt for a second like I was the only one in the world, as free as a bird soaring through the sky. I blinked and the spell of the music and lights was broken. I barely managed to land on my feet as Smoke put me down and the waves of applause crashed over us.

“
Easy, hot stuff,” he said in my ear as he held me on my feet. I didn’t understand how my ankles had gotten so weak all of a sudden. I forced a smile at the crowds that were cheering wildly for us. Smoke bowed then led us dramatically off the floor, back into the smoke that was emitting from a machine manned by Ash. The spotlights didn’t follow us past the smoke and I was left in semi-darkness as the crowd returned to general dancing.

I fought down the strange panic that rose in my chest as I stood in the darkness when Smoke took his arm off my shoulder and turned to do high fives with Ash.

“
Dari, you okay?” Ash asked me, and Smoke grabbed my shoulders again tightly.

“
She’s a freaking monster! Have you ever seen dancing like that? Snowy can’t say anything about that besides, ‘Smoke, you’re the best lead I’ve ever seen.’ Dari, you make me look so good!”

I stared at him, the way his eyes were so wild and shiny, and thought about Snowy, how she’d always been so pushy about me being with Lewis when she thought I was interested in Smoke and realized something I should have noticed before. He squeezed my shoulders and kissed my forehead then let me go to make his way whooping and leaping to the punch tables.

“
Do you want to dance?” Ash asked still looking concerned. I smiled at him.

“
Oh that’s really sweet but I need to take a break. If anyone asks, you know, Snowy, tell her I’m mingling or something.” I needed to be alone. I turned and made my way through the crowds to the double doors that led to the main school, pushing through them. I was glad to leave the crowds and noise behind. I sat down on the marble steps leading upstairs then leaned back and looked at the skylight which glimmered slightly from the light of the moon.

It felt like I hadn’t been by myself for a long time. In my father’s woods I’d had the chance to be alone every day to think and figure things out. Here, I got so busy trying to keep up with school and Snowy, hunting, living with my mother and Satan, that I didn’t get to think. There were so many things I didn’t know: why Lewis kissed me, how I took his soul, what a Hunter was exactly, what Ace kept in his warehouse, where the bloodworker was who killed my brother, and why he’d killed him for starters. I wanted to know why my mother was terrified of the idea of me being soul mates with Lewis, who as far as I could tell was a perfectly good person. There was something about Lewis that made my heart rate increase when I thought of him. I felt so much better when we were together. All evening I had felt as though there was something about him, about us, that was different than it had been before. This feeling about Lewis didn’t make sense when we were so clearly uninvolved romantically, but maybe soul mates weren’t supposed to make sense.

“
Do you find the party a little understimulating as well?” Valerie’s saccharine voice drawled. I blinked out of my reverie to see her walking towards me out of the shadows. I felt an instinctive urge to grab my knife, ready to defend myself. She sat down beside me and sighed prettily. “This has got to be the most boring town I’ve ever visited.”

“
And yet, we like it that way. I’m sorry it’s dull for you, but you know you could always leave.”

She smiled cattily. “Oh, I’ll do my leaving, but it wouldn’t be like me to do that without shaking things up a little. Where’s Lewis? I thought he was your date for this grand affair.”

I shrugged uncomfortably. “We’re here together but not like a date. You wouldn’t understand.”

“
Oh, I understand,” she said slowly, stretching out languidly. “He wants something and you give it to him. If he wants to be chums, well gosh, why not? If he wants you to dangle around while he refuses to make any kind of commitment, well, after all, he is much more attractive than you, so of course what he says goes.”

“
I don’t get it,” I said, honestly confused. “Are you saying that I should pin him down or what? I thought you thought he was out of my league.”

“
Of course he is. It’s wrong for a boy to date a girl like you who has no chance to hold her own. I wouldn’t even mention it to you except that earlier today, and even watching you dance, I can see that you have potential.”

“
For what exactly?” I didn’t want to have potential to be like her.

“
To control your own life. If you weren’t at such a huge disadvantage, I might actually put my money on you.”

“
Thanks,” I muttered but I felt less defensive. Controlling my life would be a nice change. “I don’t really see what you mean about Lewis. He’s nice.”

“
Nice,” she mocked. “Isn’t he though? I bet he’s never said anything that made you feel angry, or insulted, or furious, has he? I wonder how he does it. I wonder how he manages to never say the wrong thing at the wrong time, how every time you look at him you think, ‘how nice’, when anyone in her right mind would be thinking, ‘I could use a piece of that slab, mmm-hmmm.’ I watched you dance with Smoke and the way you move displays a certain sensuality that doesn’t exactly fit the whole polo girl thing.”