With A Side Of Blood

Chapter Fourteen

(A/N: Sorry it's been a while. Been busy freaking out about how it's almost the end of August. Eep.

Anyways, the first part is in Celeste's Point of View. The second is Dimitri's.)

Despite Gareth's best arguments, we grudgingly found ourselves on the road back to Romania. He scowled at Vivacus, Cristian, and me; Emilio refused to meet his eye. While he drove, he muttered profanities and awful opinions between his teeth.

"...Idiotic...All for nothing..."

Cristian wrapped his arm around me, pressing his lips precariously to my forehead. I blushed slightly as Emilio made a gagging face at us.

"Shut up," Cristian said to him.

We were halfway back to Romania when the sky began to lighten. We quickly checked into a motel (not even a hotel, a motel) and slept in the closets of our rooms. Unlike the last two hotels, Cristian and I didn't sleep in each other's arms. Cristian apparently didn't know what to do with himself, because Gareth was a good friend of his, but I was his girlfriend. Choosing between us must be hard for him, even though I've told him repeatedly not to separate our group by their opinions.

"I don't know what to do," he told me as we hurried into our closet. "I mean, you're my girlfriend. But Gareth's one of my best friends. Bros before hos, right? But then again, you aren't a ho, so..."

Softly, I said, "Go to sleep."

As he slept, I sat upright against the closet's farthest wall. Every time I closed my eyes, I imagined the havoc that Dimitri and/or his gang of vampire slayers have wreaked while we were gone. Did they already go after the school? And what about our loved ones, who I assume have no idea where we went? Has Dimitri found them, too?

"Impossible," I whispered to myself, mostly for assurance. But nothing I could say would make me feel better about this. By them coming with me, they had endangered their families, left them unguarded. I couldn't live with myself if their families had been attacked - or worse, killed - because of one stupid hasty decision.

Morning quickly turned into afternoon, but I did not feel a single twinge of tiredness. I observed Cristian as he slept, his long nearly-girly eyelashes brush his cheeks slightly. I smiled gently at him, although I knew he could not see it.

Afternoon turned into evening, and Cristian woke up. We quickly rounded up the others and left the hotel.

"Nearly there," Cristian said softly to me. "We're back to where we started. I guess running away did nothing for us."

Gareth scoffed. "Leaving saved our asses."

A silence. Then-

"Leaving was cowardly. We should have fought. Otherwise Sean died for nothing."

Cristian, Vivacus, Gareth, and I stared, shocked, at Emilio, who had just spoken in a full sentence. Not a single slang word in the lot. A first for him, I guess, thanks to the telltale shock.

"What?" Emilio chuckled. "Can't somebody like me speak an actual sentence once in a while?"

"It's strange, coming from you," Cristian said.

^o^

I scratched irritably under the black wig I donned over my blue hair. I would like nothing more than to take it off and unleash my waves of blue, but I couldn't. I have a plan to follow.

Holding a bouquet of black roses, I grinned innocently at the hospital receptionist.

"I'm looking for my mother," I said smoothly. "Surname: Sterling."

The receptionist beamed at me. "Oh, that's so sweet of you. Room ninety-two, second floor."

As I stepped into the elevator, I pulled the vial of Essence of Poliak out of my pocket. The thick blue liquid moved slowly as I turned it, hidden behind the roses so the elevator's security camera would not see it.

My plan was to deliver the roses to Celeste's mother (whom I attacked, but thanks to the wig I am unrecognizable), strike up a conversation with her, and leave. The liquid will not be used yet. It is far too precious to waste on a hospitalized leech.

The door slithered open, and I quickly found room ninety-two. I knocked on the door two seconds before entering, expecting to see a nurse or her husband by her bedside. Instead, she was alone.

"Hello," she said uncertainly. "I'm afraid you're in the wrong room."

I chuckled. "You are Mrs. Sterling, right?"

She nodded, looking anxious. "Who are you?"

"My name's Jason Hallaway," I lied through my teeth. "I work at the Book Nook. I'm a friend of Celeste."

Mrs. Sterling sat straight up. "Oh. That's...good." I could tell she was calculating through her head why I was coming to give her flowers.

"I come only to speak to you," I said smoothly, sitting down on an armchair placed beside the bed. "To offer my best wishes. People have been talking about...your condition." I brandished the bouquet to her.

Her face flushed. Taking the flowers in her hand, she said in awe, "Who has been talking?"

"Many people. The Bat Bar is buzzing." I snickered. "I'm just wondering, how is Celeste, anyways? I haven't seen her in a while."

Mrs. Sterling coughed. "Well, she's...erm...flown the coop. Left the house with no explanation." She bit her lip worriedly.

I gasped in a way that hopefully sounded like I didn't know that. "Do you have any idea where?"

She shook her head, looking away from me. Her attention was on the rose petals. But her muttering was quite audible.

"We're both worried, her father and I. She's never done something like this. Even Vladimir is concerned."

"Vladimir?" I raised my eyebrows. "Vladimir Mitchell?"

"Yes." Her tone was dreamlike. "I know his father. Vladimir's been quite worried about Celeste's whereabouts as well. I suppose so, since she hasn't been here for four days...He showed up at our doorstep a few days ago, asking to see her."

"For what?" This Vladimir character could be great use to me, if I manipulated the situation quite right...

Mrs. Sterling looked flustered. "He wanted to ask her to the Winter Dance. You know all about it, I presume?"

"Um, I'm afraid I don't follow." This was getting interesting.

"Every year, her school - or yours, if you attend her school as well - hosts the Winter Dance." She furrowed her eyebrows. "How do you not know this? It's the talk of all us..." Her voice trailed off.

I headed out of the hospital room, not even looking back at her. I knew she was startled due to my sudden leave, but I couldn't sit through another monologue. I had information. Information I've been lusting for since I came here.

A Winter Dance, full of vampires. And all I came here for was for Celeste's whereabouts. Like losing a penny and finding a thousand dollars.

I pulled out my cell phone, grinning gleefully. I dialled. After a few seconds, they answered.

"What is it, Dimitri?" snapped the leader of my group.

Smoothly, I responded, "I have a plan to rid Romania of its vampire teenagers."