BITTEN (Book #3 of the Vampire Legends) (13 page)

“Drama? What happened?” Taryn asked, as the other girls got silent.

“Oh, my parents were acting up again,” Rachel, said.

“Again?” Liv asked. “What did you do this time?”

“They say I’m a bad influence on my siblings. They kicked me out,” Rachel said, still startled from the news.

“Kicked you out?” Taryn asked.

“Are you serious?” Jen asked.

“Like actually kicked you out of your house?” Emily asked. “I had no idea. Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

Rachel looked around at the girls’ faces all staring back at her. She hated this feeling. She was not this girl. She had never had trouble with her parents before moving to Bedford, and now it’s been nothing but trouble. She didn’t know what to do; yet she had to accept this. It was her new life and there was nothing she could do about it now.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to burden you with my troubles. I’ll figure it all out, don’t worry,” Rachel said.

“Don’t worry!” Emily said. “What do you mean, don’t worry!”

“It’s really not a big deal. I’ll find my way. I’ll be fine,” Rachel said, doubting herself as the words came out of her mouth.

“You can stay with me,” Emily said. “I just have to ask my parents. I’m sure they’ll say yes.”

“You can stay with me, too!” Taryn said.

“Me, too!” Liv said.

“Us too,” the other girls chimed in.

Rachel smiled. It felt nice to have such a good group of friends surrounding her, especially in these tough times. She knew she could get through anything with them by her side. As she thought about staying with them, she knew it wouldn’t be safe for them, either. She couldn’t take them up on their offers. She had to find shelter elsewhere, for their sake. She didn’t want Violet or any of her coven members to come after them. After all, they were just innocent girls—they had no idea they’d be harboring a vampire.

“I couldn’t,” Rachel said. “I’ll stay elsewhere.”

“What do you mean? You can’t live on the streets,” Emily said in horror.

“I promise, I’ll find a safe place,” Rachel said, as she rummaged through her bag trying to find her make up.

“Let’s drop this!” Rachel said. “Let’s focus on getting ready. It will make me feel better about this whole situation.”

Not wanting to argue with her, the girls started taking out their costumes and makeup and started getting ready.

“OK, but if you ever need anything, please ask. I promise, everything will be ok,” Emily said quietly to Rachel.

“Thanks, Em. You’re a great friend,” Rachel said back, smiling.

“Pizza’s here girls!” Emily’s mother yelled.

“YES!!” the girls said.

“Coming,” Emily said. “I’ll be down in a sec.”

Emily went downstairs to get the pizza for everyone and within minutes she was back upstairs with soda, plates, cups and a large pie of pepperoni pizza.

“This smells amazing!” Kate said, diving into the box.

“I love pepperoni!” Rachel said, trying to fit in, and pretend she was interested in this human food.

“Eat up! We don’t have much time before the ball!” Emily reminded them looking at the clock.

Rachel walked over and turned on the radio to Z-100 and cranked it up. She knew music would change the mood of the room and get everyone pumped for their big night.

“Hey Rach, who you going with again?” Liv asked.

“Oh, right. Well, I don’t exactly have a date, but Rob texted me saying that he would meet me there and to save him a dance,” Rachel said.

“Ohhh..Rob!” Emily and Taryn said.

“It’s nothing, really! We’re just friends…I think,” Rachel said.

“Arielle is going to kill you!” Taryn said. “She was so pissed last time you went out with him.”

“Yeah, I know. She already warned me not to look in his direction!” Rachel laughed.

“What are you going to do? He obviously likes you better,” Jen said, laughing. “Arielle’s got nothing on you!”

Rachel couldn’t believe that she’d been asked to dance by the star of the football team and that the cheerleading captain was her worst enemy. In Pennsylvania she would have never of dreamed of such a thing. In fact, she was certain the football team and the girls on the cheerleading team didn’t know she existed. And, looking back, she kind of liked it. She liked being anonymous. Now, she was anything but anonymous. In fact she was probably the most infamous new girl at AHS.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen between us,” Rachel said. “Probably nothing!”

“You never know!” the girls snickered.

“So, what are you being?” Rachel asked the girls, changing the subject away from her.

“I’m a sexy nurse,” Taryn said.

“I’m a slutty cop,” Jen said, holding up her almost non-existent costume.

“I’m a witch!” Liv said, as she put her fake witch teeth in and her long pointy nose.

“I’m a vampire!” Rachel said, feeling a sudden pang of truth in her words.

“Ohhh…love it!” the girls said back. “Freaky!”

As the girls put their finishing touches on their costumes they all danced around the Rihanna music that blared over the radio and started singing. Feeling completely pumped up and ready for a fun night, Rachel took a shot of vodka with the girls. She figured she didn’t have any parents to go home to, and she might as well. She knew no matter how strong her morals were, if she had been getting in so much trouble for being good she might as well be bad, at least for one night.

With that, the girls all filed out of the house and into Taryn's car. The back seat was jammed full, but Rachel sat there, feeling tipsy, happily singing to the music on the radio. She couldn’t wait to get to the bowling alley and to see what this Halloween Ball was all about.

Chapter Fifteen

As the girls hopped out of Taryn’s car, Rachel could feel the alcohol leaving her body. She no longer felt tipsy anymore, and she was glad about that. She knew she’d made a mistake to take the shot in the first place, but with all the pressure from her friends, she found it hard to resist. She made an internal promise to herself that she wouldn’t take another shot, smoke or have a drink because of peer pressure. She knew she could rise above this and go back to being more strong willed.

Feeling clear-headed, she walked into the Halloween Ball. The bowling alley was decked out in orange and black balloons. As they entered they walked through a canopy of woven balloons; there must have been thousands of balloons on the ceiling. She turned to her right to see the buffet station and the large fruit punch tower that was cascading into a large bowl at the bottom. She had never seen an event this beautiful in her entire life. Now she knew why the girls said this was the event of the year and that she couldn’t skip out on it.

The girls changed into their bowling shoes for a round of bowling before the DJ started. Within minutes of the game starting, Rachel felt a tap on her shoulder. She quickly turned around to see Arielle and a few of her friends looking pissed off, standing behind her. Rachel stood there; not knowing what this was all about. She remembered the warning Arielle had given her, but she didn’t talk to Rob or see him, so she didn’t know why they’d all be so pissed at her.

“I can’t believe you!” Arielle said, looking at Rachel meanly.

“What?” Rachel asked, confused.

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know what you did,” Arielle grunted.

Rachel waited, with a blank look on her face, not knowing what to say next.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t hear about what happened today at practice, when your ugly little friend showed up,” Arielle said. “I nearly got killed.”

“What are you talking about, Arielle. Get a grip, would you?” Rachel said, trying to defend herself.

“Actually, Rachel, this isn’t about me. It’s about Rob,” Arielle said, angrily.

Rachel stepped back as Arielle got closer to her face. She felt like she was about to be attacked. She had no idea what Arielle was talking about, but was curious about what happened to Rob. Her heart felt heavy thinking about it. She hoped nothing bad happened to him.

“What do you mean Rob?” Rachel asked.

“He’s gone crazy!” Arielle said. “What did you do to him?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Rachel yelled back. “Stop accusing me of things I didn’t do. I can’t take it anymore.”

“Stop lying and tell me what you did to him. He’s not the same person. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like he’s gone mad,” Arielle said, looking around the room, trying to spot Rob to point him out.

“Gone mad?” Rachel questioned.

“Ugh! Would you stop repeating everything I say. You are such a freak, Rachel,” Arielle said. “Ever since you came things have gone so down hill. It’s like you caused this whole mess. Not to mention you tore us apart. We probably would have gotten married had it not been for you, you little freak.”

“Stop calling me a freak!” Rachel yelled. “You’re completely delusional. He never liked you to begin with. None of this was my fault.”

Rachel watched as Arielle’s face turned bright red and she could tell she was fuming with rage.

“You asked for it!” Arielle said as she quickly turned around and ran off towards the buffet station and picked up a large glass bottle of punch and then, without warning, chucked it across the room, directly towards Rachel.

The bottle flew through the air, one end over the other so quickly, that Rachel knew she was about to get smacked in the face. Then, without much trouble, she stared at the bottle as it came directly between her eyes; she halted the bottle just milliseconds before it was about to smash into her. The bottle stopped dead in its tracks and hung in mid air for a few seconds and then fell to the ground, spinning at Rachel’s feet.

Her friends looked at her in awe, as if she had some supernatural powers. Arielle couldn’t believe her eyes and ran over to her, with her cohort behind her, screaming, “Freak! Freak!”

Rachel felt increasingly uncomfortable as all eyes started focusing on her. She quickly ran off, down the halls of the bowling alley, to find Rob. She had to see what Arielle was talking about and she wanted to make sure he was ok.

At first, she couldn’t find him, then she heard screams and wails coming from inside a dark room, and she went in, and turned on the lights.

“Turn those off!” Rob yelled in pain. “My eyes!”

“Oh sorry!” Rachel said, not realizing what was going on. “Are you ok?”

“My head, my head,” Rob said, clutching his skull. “It’s throbbing.”

“What happened? Tell me, I’ll help you!” Rachel said in as worried tone.

“Ouch. My veins. It’s like they’re on fire. HELP!” Rob cried out.

Rachel was worried; she didn’t know what he was saying or what he was going through. She didn’t know how she could help him but so desperately wanted to. She looked around the dim lit room and saw a first aid kit hanging from the wall. She opened it up and grabbed out an ice pack and twisted it until it became cold. She walked over to Rob and put it on his arm where he was clutching himself in pain. As she applied the ice, she could see steam coming off his skin as the ice quickly melted into warm water.

“Oh my gosh, Rob, you’re on fire,” Rachel said. “Do you want me to call the ambulance?”

“No! Don’t call anyone,” Rob said. “Please, just help me!”

“I’m starving!” Rob said, grasping his stomach.

“Let me go get you some food!” Rachel said, trying to help.

“No, I don’t want food. I’m hungry for something else. I just don’t know what it is,” Rob said, licking his lips.

“Stop, Rob! Please you have to tell me what’s going on. You’re acting crazy!” Rachel said in a panic.

“Make it stop! What’s happening to me?” Rob asked.

“What happened today?” Rachel asked. “Arielle said something happened?”

“A girl with black hair came. Violet,” Rob said.

“OH NO! TELL ME YOU’RE KIDDING?” Rachel begged.

“No, she came and flew me away and the last thing I remember was, well, I don’t remember. It’s all a blur,” Rob said, still clutching his stomach.

“Oh no! This is all my fault,” Rachel said. “You’re a..”

“A what?” Rob said.

“I have to figure out a way to reverse this, before it takes effect. There must be a way,” Rachel said as she popped up and ran out of the room, trying to come up with a solution.

As she ran down the hall she was bombarded by Violet and her evil subjects, standing in a row, as if they’d been waiting for her this whole time.

Violet smiled at Rachel and said, “You like my handy work?”

“No! What did you do to him?” Rachel asked.

“Oh, nothing major, but I figured it would be best to have him on our side. Don’t you agree?” Violet said with a snicker.

“Stop it, Violet! He didn’t deserve this,” Rachel yelled.

“He most certainly did,” Violet yelled back. “In fact, I’m surprised I didn’t come up with this sooner.”

“Why would you turn him?” Rachel yelled. “He’s innocent. He had nothing to do with this. You have to turn him back. NOW!”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible!” Violet laughed as she looked back at her subjects who were also laughing.

“This isn’t funny!” Rachel screamed.

“I don’t know why you care so much. Isn’t it Benji who you love?” Violet asked.

“Where’s Benji? What did you do to him?” Rachel asked.

“We don’t know where Benji is but maybe you could shed some light on that for us,” Violet murmured.

“I don’t know where he is, and even if I did, you’d be the last person I’d ever tell!” Rachel retorted. “You’re evil!”

“Might I remind you, Rachel that this is all your fault? Everything that has happened is all because of you,” Violet said.

Rachel didn’t know what to do or say anymore. She knew she was in big trouble if she stayed in the hallway with Violet, and she needed to escape. She looked around the hallway, but only saw one way out, and that was behind Violet and her people. She didn’t know how she would ever get by them.

“What you looking for?” Violet asked.

Rachel didn’t answer and looked behind her, hoping that she’d missed an exit sign.

“What? Cat got your tongue?” Violet laughed.