"He said you had a book that Peter wrote about vampires," Milo shrugged.
"That"s all?" My voice was nearly quavering when I spoke.
My heart had sped up, and I saw a flicker in Milo"s eyes as he registered it. Hopefully Jack"s training had prepared him enough where he could handle being around me, although that didn"t seem likely since Jack could barely handle being around me. The problem was that I felt protective of the book because it was the only thing I really had of Peter, and I don"t know why it was important to me that I still feel a connection with him. Thinking about that only made my body scramble, and my best answer was to turn and quickly put the book in my top dresser drawer.
"What was that about?" Milo"s voice had tightened, and I tried not to let that make me nervous.
"What"s going on?"
"Nothing." I shook my head and slammed the drawer shut. Taking a deep breath, I gave myself a moment to recover before I turned around to face Milo again. "Its just Peter."
"I wish I had met Peter," Milo grumbled, and his defenses had softened. Apparently, I had myself under control enough where it wouldn"t bother him anymore. "I"d love to see what all the fuss is about."
"There"s not a fuss. Is there?" I didn"t feel like I was making one, or at least I was trying not to. I suppose that whole thing with hiding the book probably wasn"t helping.
"Oh, there"s a fuss," Milo nodded with raised eyebrows. "That"s a big part of what Jack"s "training"
is all about." He did air quotes for training, which would"ve made me smile, if I hadn"t been too distracted by the implications of what he was saying.
Jack"s use of words yesterday had set me off, but I hadn"t really put things together. Things like "a.r.s.enal" and "exercise" and "training." There were things that Milo needed to "master," and at the time, in my head I had questioned, "Master for what?" But stupidly, I hadn"t said anything aloud, 120 and now I really wish I had. Because obviously, Jack was training Milo to battle Peter, and it made my stomach twist in knots.
"Jack"s training you to fight Peter?" My voice sounded like a broken gust of air, and Milo looked up at me, almost apologetically.
"No, no," he quickly backtracked. "Not to fight Peter. Not like I"m going to seek him out and ask him to duel or anything like that. He"s just worried because he doesn"t know how Peter will treat me when he comes back. And in case Peter tries to do something... you know, to you." He floundered for a minute, showing me a glimpse of the self-conscious little boy he had been. "Jack just wants make sure we"re both protected. It"s not a bad thing."
"Maybe not," I allowed, but my stomach was still knotting up. "But I don"t like it."
"You don"t like anything," Milo muttered, and abruptly, he rolled over and hopped off my bed.
"Jane is taking too long. Let"s go down to the clubs and tell her to meet us there."
"It"s too far to walk," I wrinkled my nose.
Smartly, I was wearing flats so walking wouldn"t be a terrible issue for me like it normally was when I went clubbing, but I didn"t like the idea of walking downtown as much as I used to. What with people and vampires always trying to kill me when I did.
"How do you think I got here? Magic?" He snapped his fingers, insinuating that he had appeared out of thin air, and dumbly, it had never occurred to me. "No. I took Mae"s car."
"You can"t drive!" I protested, feeling a fresh new panic sweep through me. "You"ve had like one driving lesson and you"re only fifteen and you don"t have your driver"s license!"
"Easy, girl!" Milo held up his hands, palm out, towards me. "Jack"s been teaching me how to drive, and I"m a different kind of fifteen now. And in a few short days, I will have a license, claiming I"m eighteen. So... get over it."
"But you don"t have that license today!" I sputtered.
"Alice! You"re supposed to be the fun one!" Milo lamented.
"I was never the fun one." It was a little flattering that he thought of me that way, but I had always considered myself the lazy, dull one. Jane was fun and foxy, and Milo was naive and smart.
Maybe that"s why he thought I was the fun one.
"Well, you"re supposed to be irresponsible at least." He waved me off and gestured to the kitchen.
"I mean, when was the last time you did the dishes? You don"t go to bed until the sun comes up!
You"re a rebel without a cause! You can drive a few blocks in a Volkswagen! Live a little!"
"Okay! Fine!" I threw my hands up in the air and gave in. Grabbing my phone, I followed him out of my room and shook my head. "I"ll text Jane on the way there. Let"s go."
Milo had new s.e.x appeal and definitely wanted to flaunt it, not that I blamed him. On top of that, he had the added bonus of being s.e.xually repressed and awkward his whole life, and he never done anything ever with anyone. He had a few things he needed to work out, and the most logical place would be the Saloon a a gay club off of Hennepin. I wasn"t thrilled by the prospect of returning downtown, to a place a few blocks from the vampire club, but it was a human club, so I figured it would be mostly safe. Plus, I did have Milo with me, and I was pretty sure he"d act as my bodyguard, if I required it.
121.
Jane, on other hand, was not thrilled about gay clubs. She went to them from time to time, because they always had drinking and dancing and the gays always thought she was fabulous.
But Jane liked getting hit on more than anything else, and going somewhere where that was almost guaranteed an impossibility was a total let down. Although, once she had picked up a really foxy guy there, and I"m not sure if he was gay or confused or what the deal was, but she had herself a pretty good one night stand either way.
Despite her reluctance, she agreed to meet us there. We had to wait outside the club for her, since she probably couldn"t get in without Milo. I didn"t have a fake ID, and I didn"t know what her status was, but I doubted that any doorman could withstand Milo"s Jedi mind tricks. What I"ve found out from spending time with Jack is that when someone"s really attractive, they can get away with anything.
We stood in the parking lot off to the side the club, which Milo had managed to find a spot in.
Sure, it cost like $25 but he had an expense account now, so what did he care? Several very attractive young men (and lots of not-so-attractive men) smiled at Milo appreciatively when they walked past on the way to the Saloon. At least he was still new enough where he"d notice it, and blush when appropriate.
It was irritating being with Jack and having him be oblivious to everyone around him. I know in some way that should be sweet and romantic that he didn"t notice anybody but me, but it"s really not. Because I always noticed everyone else, and I kind of wish he"d tell them all to back the h.e.l.l off because he"s with me. He never did, though, and neither did Milo, but at least he smiled back and looked flattered.
Jane finally showed up fifteen minutes later. I was sitting on the little metal guardrail going around the parking lot, playing my part as Milo"s invisible sidekick. I was chewing a piece of bubble gum and trying to see how big of a bubble I could blow, and I wouldn"t even have noticed Jane if it wasn"t for the clack of her heels followed by an extraordinarily dramatic gasp.
"Milo!" Jane exclaimed breathlessly, and I popped the bubble loudly so I could see her. Looking as spectacular as ever, she had literally stopped in the middle of the road to gape at my brother.
"Milo?" She shook her head and blinked, and Milo just laughed in embarra.s.sment.
"Jane, maybe you ought to get out of the road," I suggested helpfully as a taxi whizzed around the corner towards her. She stayed planted where it was until it honked it"s horn loudly, and then she flicked it off and sauntered over to us.
"Milo Bonham, as I live and breathe," Jane smiled seductively at him, and I was tempted to wonder aloud who talks like that? She reached out and gently touched his face, and I held my breath to see how he"d react, but he just smiled back at her. "My, you"ve grown up."
"Are you channeling a 50"s starlet or something?" I asked, in reference to her new way of flirting.
"Hardly." Jane did this horrible flirty laugh thing and dropped her hand from his face to chest, and I rolled my eyes. "I just can"t believe it"s really you."
"I had a growth spurt," Milo explained sheepishly, and it sounded stupid.
He had grown like four inches in a matter of weeks, his skin had changed into porcelain, his body had turned into a chiseled work of art, and he had aged from looking like a little boy with baby fat to a Calvin Klein model. But yeah, a growth spurt would sum that all up.
"Yeah, a growth spurt," I chimed in when Jane just kept staring at him.
"Mmm," Jane purred in some kind of agreement. I don"t know what she was agreeing with really, except that maybe his growth spurt sat well with her. "I just wish somebody had told me."
122.
"He"s still fifteen, Jane," I interjected.
As Milo had said, he was a whole different kind of fifteen now, but he was, despite all his fancy new trappings, still my little brother. My naive innocent little brother, who didn"t need some rode-hard s.l.u.t eyeing him up like starving man eyes up a Big Mac. Admittedly, he wouldn"t fall for the bait, probably not even if he wasn"t gay, and it wasn"t entirely her fault that she felt so attracted to him, but it still creeped me out. A lot.
"And, more importantly, he"s gay." I gestured to the club behind us with my thumbs. "Hence, the gay club."
"The good ones always are," Jane complained in a tiny voice, sounding as if she was doing her best Marilyn Monroe impression. She must"ve fallen asleep to TCM or something last night. I was preparing to physically step in between them, but she finally stepped back, apparently seeing what a lost cause it was.
"What good ones are?" I asked, and decided to move in between them anyway. She had backed down, but there was actually room between them now, so I took it.
"It"s just a saying, Alice." There it was again. She had that tone like I was trying on her nerves. In the past five minutes since I"d seen her, all she had done was throw herself at my little brother, but I was the irritating one. That"s how Jane saw life. Agreeing to do this was clearly a mistake.
We walked around the corner to the club, and I was careful to keep my spot in between them locked.
Taking a cue from Mae, I looped my arm through Milo"s so he couldn"t get very far away from me.
Jane couldn"t seem to help herself from repeatedly looking over at him, but she was doing her best to act like she was over it. She even went so far as to flirt with the obviously gay but very attractive doormen to the Saloon.
As predicted, Milo just grinned at the doormen, and he let us in. We didn"t even have to pay a cover charge, and I wondered how many other things in life I was missing out on simply because I was ordinary. I didn"t have much time to ponder, though, because my head was filled with a dance remix of a Brittany Spears song, and I followed closely behind Milo as we left the little entry alcove into the first room of the club.
It was all blue lights and strobes and pounding beats. There were three square platforms in the center of the room where groups of guys were dancing, shirtless of course. On the other side of the room, there was a glowing bar and a couple couches, and while I had a feeling that I could really use a drink, I doubted that I"d be able to drag Milo over there anytime soon.
In fact, within a few moments of hitting the crowded dance floor, Milo was stolen from me by a very foxy guy. As he was pulled away, he tossed me an apologetic smile, but I just waved it off.
What was he apologizing for? Being hit on? That was the point of the club scene, right?
Since Jane wasn"t getting hit on by guys, she settled for a couple of really pretty lesbians. They made a sandwich, with Jane as the meat, and I was really starting to wonder what the point of my friendship with her was. At some point, what with all my fancy vampire shenagins, didn"t I grow out of her? But then, when I realized that I was standing along in the middle of a dance floor, that I was afraid that everyone else would leave me, but Jane, in her narcissistic desire for a sidekick to make her look even better, never would. And being nothing to somebody was better than being nothing to everybody.
I went over to the bar and tried to order a drink, but I almost got myself kicked out. Not by any length of imagination could I pa.s.s for twenty-one, so the bartender thought it might be a good idea to alert that bouncers that I had somehow snuck in. I don"t know what it was about me that 123 offended him so, other than plainness and obvious heteros.e.xuality, but I scurried off into the dark recesses of the club so he couldn"t find me.
Hiding against the dark corners, I managed to find several couples making out in a way that was probably only appropriate in p.o.r.nography. Fortunately, with the lack of lighting, I couldn"t really see much of anything, but I put my hands up to my temples to shield myself as best as I could anyway.
I caught sight of Milo, dancing shirtless on one of the platforms, and he was definitely the most glorious thing here. Everyone was vying for attention around him, and I hoped that he would make the right choices.
We hadn"t exactly had the birds and bees talk, and I knew that Mom definitely hadn"t. Maybe Jack had, in conjunction with a talk about when it was and was not okay to drink another person"s blood. Those topics would probably be coming up pretty quickly, and I could only cross my fingers that he was well-informed.
Even over the sound of music pulsating hypnotically and men moaning things disturbingly loud next to me, I heard a noise carry above it. It was sweet yet fragile, like a tinkling bell... on helium.
Someone was laughing, and as soon as I heard it, my blood froze in my veins. The sound was unmistakable, and I scanned my eyes frantically through the crowd. The strobing lights above flashed on a purple head of hair, and then I saw her.
Violet, the Halloween vampire from the club, was looking directly at me, cackling her strange laugh. Her lips were once again done in black and her eyes were marked out with thick black liner and tons of silver glitter. She flicked her tongue at me, trying to pose as something menacingly seductive, but it felt all too villainess.
Something about her reminded me of Harley Quinn, the Joker"s would-be-girlfriend, but then I realized what bothered me about that image. She was the girlfriend, the sidekick, the means of distraction, while the real trouble moved in.
I rushed forward, preparing to grab Jane and Milo, and make a quick escape, but my path was immediately blocked by a dark haired model of perfection a Lucian. His smile was far more menacing than anything Violet could hope for, but I suspected that had more to do with how hungry he was. His eyes were ravenous, in not in the amazing way Jack"s were before something happened between us. Lucian"s were black and crystal clear about their murderous intent.
"Care to dance?" Lucian asked, his voice like silk, and my heart hammered in my chest.
"That"s a stupid thing to say!" I shouted to be heard over the music, and that at least did something to help keep my voice even. He only had one thing on his mind, and unfortunately, so did Milo, but his one thing happened to be that saucy little number grinding against him. "Its really cheesy and cliche! You should"ve said something like, "What"s a girl like you doing in a place like this?" or "Fancy meeting you here." Even "Care to tango" would"ve been an upgrade." I clenched my fists at my sides, and I wanted to look around for Milo, but I was too afraid to take my eyes off of Lucian.
"I know you"re talking, but all I can hear is mooing." His smile broadened at that, and I swallowed hard. I wasn"t sure if he meant that my blood was like milk, or that I was just a piece of meat, but either way, it wasn"t complimentary.
Behind me, I heard Violet"s laughter, and I knew that she had closed in on me. We were in a room full of people, though. Even if everyone was enamored with them, and they probably were, they wouldn"t be able to ignore the fact that they were dragging me off kicking and screaming.
And they wouldn"t dare bite me, not with all the witnesses. Vampires didn"t exactly hide who they 124 were, but they didn"t want it broadcast on the nightly news, either. This was the only thing I had going for me, and maybe if I stood my ground long enough, somebody would notice me.
"You"re plotting an escape," Lucian remarked, sounding amused. "I"d love to see how that turns out."
"I"m not here alone!" I pointed out, and Violet giggled tenuously behind me. Lucian glared at her, cutting the sound short, so at least he didn"t like her anymore than I did. That was something.
"Maybe not, but your knight in shining armor isn"t here to protect you," Lucian countered with inexplicable certainty.
"How do you know that?" I demanded, and he laughed at my audacity to demand anything from him.
"Because he"d already be here if he were!" He reached out to touch me, sliding one of his repulsively long finger nails down my cheek, and I jerked my head back, terrified of what would happen if he drew blood.
"Jumpy, are we?"
"We"re not anything!" I retorted, but the situation was getting pretty dire.
He wanted to eat me, and I definitely did not want him to. He was much stronger, faster, and probably even smarter than me. The only thing I had going for me was the room full of people and Milo, so I had to utilize them before it was too late.
I turned and ran out into the dance floor. Someone grabbed at my dress, and I a.s.sumed it was Violet, because Lucian seemed too smart to cause a scene like that. The fabric ripped in the back and I felt a breeze through my panties. If I hadn"t been running for my life, I probably would"ve been mortified. It"s weird how shame takes a backseat to survival.
With one magical jump, I managed to jump on the nearest platform. It was about two feet off the ground, so it wasn"t that impressive, except I"m 5"3" running through a crowded gay club with a torn dress and a vampire on my tail. Yeah, I think I achieved something. Milo was on the next cube over, though, and I yelled his name, hoping to catch his attention, but he was all but making out with the foxy guy dancing with him.
Using all my strength and will-power, I leapt from one platform to another. I heard someone hiss behind me, and that must"ve been Lucian. It was one of those really p.i.s.sed off ones, where he couldn"t believe I was getting away. Landing roughly on the platform, I started falling into a guy, but then Milo caught me with ease and grace that was a little startling.
"What"s wrong?" Milo was gripping my arm, and there was a rush of relief. He saw me, he would protect me, and I probably wouldn"t get eaten tonight. That sounds awfully naive, considering he"s still only fifteen and been a vampire for a couple weeks.
"He"s here!" I shouted.
The foxy guy Milo was dancing with tried to rub his back, and Milo actually elbowed him away.
From the pained expression in his face, the guy would have a bruise for a week, and Milo probably hadn"t meant to do it that hard, but he was distracted and worried.
"Who?" Milo scanned the floor, but before I could answer, he snarled, and I knew that he"d spotted Lucian and Violet. His eyes narrowed and his pupils dilated, and I could seem him 125 transforming into attack mode. There was something incredibly primal and rather terrifying about it.
"Milo!" I yelled when his hand gripping my arm started getting painful. I broke his concentration, and his eyes snapped back down to me.
"We have to get out of here." Underneath his new confidence and strength, there was genuine fear, and that did not make me feel better.
Still holding onto me, he jumped off the platform, and I heard some disappointed boo"s from the crowd about his departure. We had made it most of the way to the door when I caught sight of Jane, kissing one of the girls in her lesbian sandwich. In all the panic of trying to get out of here, I"d almost forgotten about her. While it was only a little surprising to see her kissing another girl, my main reason for considering leaving her behind was actually for her safety. But then I realized they might have seen her come in with us, so I grabbed her hand. She looked like she wanted to slap it away, but Milo was dragging me out, so I was dragging her out, and she saw Milo shirtless, so she went with it.
"What"s going on?" Jane shouted as Milo yanked us outside. I was about tripping over my feet, and I really wanted to let go of her so I could just hang onto to him and concentrate on walking myself, but Lucian had definitely seen her now. "Why are we rushing? I"m gonna break a d.a.m.n ankle!"
"You"ve got to hurry up!" Milo insisted.
His strides were so long and fast that it was impossible for me to keep up, and I finally tripped and fell to the ground. I barely had a chance to sc.r.a.pe my knee and then he was pulling me to my feet again, making my arm scream painfully.
"Milo! You"re gonna dislocate my shoulder!" I winced. Without Jane there, hanging onto my other hand and helping me up, I probably really would"ve.