Hotblood (19 page)

“
Did you have a nice walk?” my mother asked from behind me.

I froze as I wondered if I could manage to skip a few of the more unfortunate parts. “Snowy and I had a fight.”

“
Really?” She asked in surprise. “I’m sorry to hear that. You’ve never fought before…” her breath caught and she asked, “You didn’t hurt her, did you?”

“
Mother!” I turned to her abandoning my sandwich. “Of course not. She’s a girl, and she was my best friend.” I had a memory of my father lying on the ground while blood seeped from his head and blushing got up from the table. “Good night.” I tried to push past Satan where he stood in the hallway but he grabbed my arm and I’d have to hurt him to make him let go. I was more tired than angry and my head ached terribly. When he handed me a vial and turned towards the kitchen, I was relieved to climb the stairs to my room. The vial had a little label, “Dariana’s Lullaby” in a beautiful calligraphy that looked like waves of water lapping on the shore. My dad hadn’t forgotten about my dreams.

As I lay on my bed I thought about how I was going to manage school without Snowy at my side. I would manage. I gritted my teeth but a tear slid down my face anyway. It reminded me of the demon touch, and I shivered and pulled up my blanket. I would have to tell Satan about the demons. I had to do it since he was responsible for my safety. Tomorrow…I’d tell him tomorrow.

7 School and Other Tools of the Devil

The next morning, I found myself careening through the rainy streets of Sanders in Satan’s monster car. It made sounds that should have woken the dead. When he lurched to a stop in front of the ancient building used as a high school, I gave him a tight smile, ignoring his “Have a nice day at school, try not to kill anything,” while I struggled to open the door without kicking it. I adjusted my bag on my shoulder, and forced a smile on my face to show the ninety-five percent of the high school that was staring at me, that I was happily oblivious of them all. I walked directly towards the enormous gothic building, studying the architecture intently, trying to ignore the gazes I could feel between my shoulder blades.

There were twin towers on either side of the large doors that were set back beneath an arched porch. The towers were three stories high, the rest of the building two stories. It had been remodeled and expanded twenty years ago when my mother first came to Sanders. It was one of the few buildings left standing from the last time this town had been settled. It had been a cathedral. Now the structure was split into two floors, a long wide opening between the two so the light from the stained glass windows in the arched ceiling was filtered down to the bottom level. It looked different to me now, the way everything did. The stone was a richer color than the simple grey from my memory. The building was beautiful to me instead of a place where I sat in the cold waiting for Devlin. I shivered, and looked away from the building to fend off the memories.

“
Dariana,” Snowy called. I took a deep breath and forced myself to slow down and wait for her. I could hear her breathing heavily as her feet hurried over the wet grass.

“
Hi,” I said when she caught up. “No time to chat, I’ve got to get my schedule.” I tried to give her a smile, but she rolled her eyes at me and reached in her bag to pull something out.

“
I got yours for you,” she said and shoved it at me, looking at me critically. I ignored her instead studying the classes on the schedule.

“
Oh, thanks. That was really thoughtful.” I tried not to scowl.

She tossed her hair. “I always get yours for you, you just never noticed before. Dari, what happened to you? When I saw you last you weren’t functioning. Period. Now, you seem like a completely different person.”

I wasn’t sure whether she was trying to offend me or not. “I guess I am.”

We walked slowly up the steps together. “So, what happened? Was it really your dad’s therapy that was so amazing or are you on medication?”

I started laughing. She was definitely trying to insult me. “Don’t you think if meds could do it, my mother would have found one by now? She’s the brilliant pharmaceuticals giantess that employs Sanders, or had you forgotten?”

Snowy scowled at me. “If she’d put you on medication you wouldn’t be suffering from the side effects that I attribute to your sudden lack of basic social skills.”

I scowled back at her, both of our arms across our chests, and it occurred to me that we were having another fight. I’d never had a fight with Snowy before. I couldn’t help smiling at how ridiculous it was. “I like your boots; it tames down the preppiness a bit. Otherwise you look like a cheerleader.” Snowy was always very careful to distinguish the dance team from cheerleading.

“
She couldn’t look like a cheerleader with the assets she lacks,” a sugary voice broke in. I looked over and a very cheerleader looking girl pushed between us up the steps nearly making me lose my balance. Snowy recovered sooner than I did.

Snowy glared at the blond girl with so much venom it made the look she’d given me positively docile. “Since you are so thoroughly the cheerleader ideal, it astonishes me that you’d bother with the dance team, Valerie. Don’t you think you’ll look a trifle overbalanced on the dance floor?”

Valerie smiled and looked so flawless I could see how Snowy could hate her. It made me wonder what Lewis thought of her. “Don’t worry about me, honey. If the team has room for little autistic robots like her,” she nodded at me, “I doubt it will suffer too much at the overabundance of my charms.”

Snowy’s face went white and I saw her fists clench. I was beginning to worry that she’d do some kind of violence to Valerie, when Osmond’s cheerful voice broke through the tension. “Dari, you’re lookin’ good,” he said as he draped an arm around my shoulders, his sheer mass forcing Valerie back a step. “Snowy’s introduced you to the new girl already? Cool. Let’s get inside before we’re responsible for making all the kids late.” He grinned at Snowy and I tried not to mind the weight of his arm on me. He touched me so casually, but he’d never done it before. No one touched me, but apparently he thought the rules had changed along with the rest of town.

Inside I smelled something sweet and spicy that cut through the crowds of people, slamming lockers, scents of anxiety, and depression. I looked up at the same time Lewis turned his head and met my gaze. He smiled at me, and I gasped feeling almost dizzy. I told myself it was the unbelievable reality of him standing there, looking almost like any other student that was so unsettling. It had been less weird to meet him while being pursued by demons than to see him in the hallways of the high school, slamming his locker, shifting his books in his arms, and smiling at me. It was the weirdness of it, not anything to do with him. It could have been anyone, like Osmond. I looked up and Osmond was glaring at Lewis.

“
Osmond, why don’t you skip football and your classes and follow Dari around all day so she doesn’t have to face anything unpleasant,” Snowy said as I watched Lewis’ retreating back. I looked back at them and saw Osmond scowl at Snowy. Since when did Osmond frown at anybody, particularly Snowy?

“
Maybe I will,” he said then looking down at me winked. “See you at lunch, Dari. This is your class, right?”

I looked at Snowy and she nodded her confirmation. He walked off saying hello to a friend, and soon guys who were mostly football players, but also some who were more academically minded surrounded him. Osmond was still a star without Devlin. I wasn’t a ghost anymore, not with the way people stared at me, but I wasn’t a star either— more like a freak. I wished for a moment that I could blend in, but then I shivered at the remembered cold. I stood up straight and looked at Snowy.

“
So. I guess I’ll see you at lunch,” I said wondering if I wanted to sit with her.

She rolled her eyes. “Of course.” She swept off in the tide of people heading towards their classes.

I walked through the door to English feeling a mixture of relief and irritation at Snowy’s easy dismissal of whatever fight we’d nearly had. The classroom was half full with only a few seats in the front and back remaining. I smelled him before he turned his head and I caught the profile. That’s what Snowy had been talking to Osmond about. Snowy had said that Osmond and Lewis got along fine, but apparently whatever treaty they’d had was over now that I was back in town.

I dropped into the nearest seat and gave the girl beside me what I hoped was a friendly smile before focusing on the front where the teacher, Mrs. Briggs, glared back at me. The bell rang and she started droning about the books we were going to read. I tried to pay attention, but the stained glass windows high on the wall distracted me, the gold and crimson falling across Lewis’ bent head, lighting his hair like it was on fire.

“
Dariana, what do you think?” I blinked at Mrs. Briggs, her face a mockery of a smile. I felt my heart speed up and the warmth spread through my limbs as I realized she was setting me up to look ridiculous.

I forced my eyes—I could feel the heat in them—to the top of my desk. It was a welcome distraction when Lewis’ clear voice broke in, “I have an idea, Mrs. Briggs, if you don’t mind my interruption. I’ve always wanted to learn more about the origins of the gothic novel.”

I stared across the room at the boy where he sat: the boy from my dream, with a sincere look on his face. “That’s an interesting idea. Mr. Nialls isn’t it? Miss Sanders, what do you think about that?”

I nodded. “I think that would be fantastic. It even works with the architecture.” A couple people giggled and Mrs. Briggs made an unpleasant noise before returning to her lecture.

I paid attention to my notebook from that point on. When the bell rang, I figured that I’d better go to the restroom and check my eyes. When I got there and looked up at myself in the mirror, my eyes sparkled—but didn’t glow. They were a blue gray with slashes of darker blue, no crimson tints. I studied the rest of me. I wasn’t as beautiful as my mother or Snowy, but I didn’t look half bad. I looked interesting and a little bit intimidating. I liked how I looked strong enough to take care of myself. I was done with Osmond hovering. It was sweet but really misguided.

In the hall I stared up at the skylights and almost walked into Lewis. I jerked to a stop abruptly as he held out my bag.

“
You left it in class. You really are faster than a demon; I couldn’t catch up to you.” He smiled at me and I looked around wondering what people would think of our conversation. People averted their eyes when I looked at them and kept a wide berth around both of us where we stood in the middle of the hall.

“
Thanks.” I took the bag and started walking to my next class, AP Chemistry. It was on an offshoot of the main hall and I was already running late.

“
It’s a beautiful bag,” he said walking with me.

“
It’s my dad’s. He let me bring it with me when I came back. It’s too bad he didn’t fit inside.” I glanced over at him wondering why he was walking with me, why he was talking to me and being so nice, like we knew each other or something. I’d only seen him for a second the night before. I remembered my instinct when he’d put his hand on my shoulder. It felt different today, less intense here in the halls surrounded by other students than in the darkness with my heart beating in my throat.

When I turned the corner, he waved and walked a different way. I felt a weird ache when he was out of sight. I stood for a minute outside the door trying to shake off the feeling, the wrongness of standing in a hall without Lewis. It was enough to dream him and see him in school, I didn’t need any more weirdness. I went into my class, but seeing all the other students, there was something dull about all the boys, even the ones that Snowy would point out as hot. Why would I notice how good Lewis looked compared to these boys when he was gone? I shook my head and sat down.

In Chemistry, Mr. Ostley was having us study a book I’d done twice already. AP Chemistry wasn’t advanced enough for me. He suggested I go see the counselor when I brought up my problem, so with a sigh I shoved everything back into my bag and went to talk to administration.

I walked into the hall, turning the corner back to the main hall and clipped some guy who was heading towards the boy’s locker room. He grinned at me while I tried to fight off the instinct to knock him down or something. Apparently I still had a strong reaction to physical contact. I held my arms over my chest and forced myself to smile without showing teeth. The wrongness of him compared to Lewis was so strong.

“
I’m sorry about that. Are you all right?” he asked in a way that made the hair on the back of my neck rise. Something about him was really creepy.

“
Fine.” I tried to keep walking, but he put a hand on my shoulder. I knocked it off of me and stared him down, holding myself tightly under control. If he wanted to make something of this, I had no problem…

“
Harris, what are you doing?” Osmond’s voice broke through the rising fury, and I took a deep breath and smelled the sickly cheap cologne as Harris turned away from me.

“
I’m coming,” he said to Osmond, leaving me to glare at his back. Whoever he was, he did not belong anywhere near me. I’d thought I’d had a problem with Osmond touching me. It was nothing compared to the revulsion of this Harris’ guy’s touch.

Osmond still stood in the door of the locker room after Harris had gone in. “Dariana, are you ok?” Not even Osmond with his golden skin was as warm as the memory of Lewis. What was wrong with me?

I grinned at him. “Oh, I’m great! Have a good football thing.” I kept my smile in place as he gave me a skeptical look until he shrugged.