“Chris?”
“Hmm,” he murmured around a mouthful of lasagna.
Swallowing nervously, Cassie’s hands knotted in her lap. “Do you remember that man from earlier?” When he shot her a confused look, she elaborated. “The one standing next to B’s and S’s?”
He nodded as he took another large bite of lasagna. “What about him?” he inquired when he swallowed.
“Did you um, well did you feel anything from him?” she hedged.
Chris’s eyes narrowed on her. She never asked him these questions, never wanted to know anything about what he or Melissa knew. But she could not stop herself from asking. She had to know why she could not get the stranger out of her thoughts, and Chris might be able to help her with that. “No, not really,” he answered slowly. “Why?”
She turned her attention back to the game, hoping that Chris wouldn’t notice or pick up on the anxiety, excitement, and fear wracking through her. “Just wondering, haven’t seen him around before.”
It was not a lie, she tried to reassure herself. But she didn’t think Chris bought it. Fortunately, he knew her well enough to know not to push her anymore. Sitting silently, she gained some sense of comfort from his steady, reassuring presence. Without Chris in her life, she had no idea what would have become of her. He kept her sane in a world of madness and confusion.
Sighing softly, she dropped her head to his shoulder. For the first time all night, she finally began to feel normal again.
CHAPTER 3
Cassie slid her sunglasses onto the top of her head; she surveyed the crowded school parking lot as she stepped away from Chris’s beat up Mustang. Though the car looked like junk now, Chris planned to restore it to its former nineteen sixty four prestige. Cassie had no doubt that he could do it, the only thing she doubted was that he would ever get the time he needed to devote to it. Just as he hadn’t had time for his job once school had started again. Not with hunting vampires, thrown in with some school work and football practice.
Melissa slid out of the car beside her; her black hair was pulled into a sleek French braid that hung almost to her waist. “Freaking death trap,” she muttered.
“I heard that!” Chris shouted from inside as he fiddled with the only thing he had updated in the car, the stereo. Disturbed blasted loudly from the large speakers stuffed in the trunk moments before Chris popped his head above the roof. “I’ll have you know that this car is a classic.”
“More like an antique,” Melissa retorted.
He shrugged, dropping his hands on the roof as he leaned forward. “And one day it’s going to be awesome.”
“Well, until that day, it is a death trap,” Melissa retorted sharply.
Chris made a face at her before ducking away again and turning the music up more. Cassie rolled her eyes; she heaved a large sigh as she grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. Cars were lined up and down the senior parking lot, music blared from most of them as students tried to outdo the stereos surrounding them. Puffs of smoke floated from some cars, drifting into the air in slow tendrils that marked the vehicles.
Students milled everywhere, calling greetings to their friends as they moved swiftly through the cramped spaces. Some juniors had wandered over from the lot below, but most stayed by their own cars, trying hard to make their systems heard over the rising cacophony. Cassie usually enjoyed the noise and confusion of the mornings, it helped to wake her up. But today she found herself wishing that everyone would keep their music at a normal level, and their voices pitched below screaming. She had gotten very little sleep, and the dull throbbing in her temples was a constant reminder of that fact.
“I’m going in,” she muttered to Melissa.
Melissa frowned at her. “Are you ok?”
Cassie frowned as she nodded and pulled her glasses back over her tired, aching eyes. “I didn’t sleep well, and that sun is awfully bright.”
“Yeah, it tends to be.”
Cassie didn’t have the energy to come up with a witty retort as she tightened her grip on the straps of her bag and made her way into the crowd. People called out loud greetings to her that she returned with a forced smile, and a cheery demeanor she didn’t feel. Her skin was still oddly electrified to the point that she wanted to rip it off, her mind still focused upon one clinging thought. Him. Being bright, cheery, and happy was not in her today, but she did a good job of faking it.
Swiftly climbing the steps, she was grateful when she reached the cool interior of the dimly lit foyer. The shade felt much nicer against her skin and eyes than the hot, bright sun. On days when she was run down, the sun was oddly draining, and painful to her. It stung her eyes more, and made her skin feel tight and itchy. She had never understood it, but that was the way it was. It was easier to avoid sunlight when she was overtired. And she was most certainly tired today.
A sophomore boy held the door open for her, making a grand, sweeping gesture that brought the first true smile to her face. With few students in the halls, it was far easier to move as she gathered her things from her locker and strolled to homeroom.
***
Devon stood silently in the shadows, leaning against the cool wall as he watched her move slowly down the hall. Her head was bent forward; her golden hair cascaded in thick waves to the small of her back. Though he couldn’t see her face, the utter perfection of her beautiful, delicate features had been burned into his memory last night. Cassie, he recalled the small girl from last night calling her.
Sighing softly, he stepped away from the wall as she disappeared into one of the near empty classrooms. He didn’t know what he was doing here, he had never stepped foot in a high school before. He had never had any intention of ever doing so. But for some reason, somehow, he found himself standing amongst the stark, foreign halls.
Well, he knew the reason, and it was her.
Ever since he had first laid eyes on her, first smelled her, he had been inexplicably drawn in. He had been passing through town, heading for the woods in search of food, when he had caught her scent. The blood flowing through her veins was strong, its fragrance deliciously alluring. It had reeled him in like a fish on a hook, snagging hold of him and refusing to let go. She had been a bright beacon against the dark night encompassing her.
Though he hadn’t fed off a human in a very long time, he had been unable to resist the appeal of her enticing aroma. He was so ensnared by it that he hadn’t been able to wander far from her since he had first seen her. Somehow, strangely, she was a shining light against the darkness residing in him, and he had to get closer to her. Though he had not wanted to come here, he’d had to see her again in order to try and figure out the strange hold she had over him, or to see if he had just imagined it. He had neither figured it out, nor had he been imagining it. In fact, her pull over him felt even stronger today. Hence, why he was here, and why he had stood outside of her house last night for a bit.