Chapter Twenty

Zach

I didn't feel like partying anymore, and maybe that's the reason why I was so desperate to. Janice Polumbo is talking to me excitedly, and I'm laughing along with her, even though I am not even remotely drunk enough for that joke to be funny. Janice is kind of hot, with thick red hair, and acceptable curves. She had been dating this guy, Justin Winters, before he left for college and they ended things, publicly, in a very dramatic fashion, of course.

I swig down a little more of my drink, feeling just tipsy enough to not feel much of anything. Janice smiles at me, running her fingers through her hair as if she's nervous. She bites her lip and looks up at me over dark eyelashes. She's wearing in this little black dress, which isn't as slutty as it could be, but just right at the same time. We're close to each other, in our little niche off to the side of the busy hallway.

She smiles up at me flirtatiously, revealing pearly white teeth. Without hesitation, she places her hand on my arm before leaning in, whispering right up against my ear.

"It's okay; I know you're probably not interested in anything serious right now." I turn to look her in the eye, not sure how she came to that conclusion, when she leans back in and continues. "I heard you fighting with that girl, and it sounds like you could just use some fun." My mind whirls back to my early incident with Jane, and Janice is right, I could use some fun right now.

"Fun sounds good." I tell her, and she grins, her eyes lighting up.

"I have to go find my friend, tell her I'm leaving. How about I meet you at the back door?" She suggests, going back to biting her lip coyly when she finishes. I nod, but once she leaves, I instantly find myself searching the room for an entirely different girl. Catching myself before that can get out of hand; I slowly start making my way towards the back of the house. It takes a while to migrate down, as I'm on the second floor, especially since I'm not exactly hurrying, but when I get there, Janice is nowhere to be found.

The back entrance isn't as popular, which is probably why she suggested we meet here, so there isn't anyone behind me as I step out to look for her. I see something a little bit farther down, and I step closer until I can just make out who it is. My eyes practically bulge out of my head as I recognize who it is; Anna Hayward, our resident student-body-saint is in a position I never thought I'd see her in. She's straddling a guy, and not even a normal, busy-body, class president type we'd all expect. She's on top of Jonathan Trenton, who's failed Biology four times since freshmen year, but still managed to break into the principal's office to stash a boa constrictor and a webcam. That couple is about as expected as the principal's fear of snakes.

I slink off, out of there sight, and move to the other side of the house, wondering to myself if this night can get any weirder.

…

Jane

I follow Marcus as he uses his phone to light the way. I'm careful to sound appreciative. The hyper-awareness I gained when I joined the hunt makes it easy to move through the woods in the dark; one of those fabulous benefits of being immortal. It's pretty useful when tracking the baddies that only pop up after the sun goes down, but I can't say I'm not grateful for it during those late night tissue runs.

Marcus stops short and then his arm goes out to the side as if to stop me. I skid to a short halt beside him, looking down at the sheer drop immediately in front of me. My toes are maybe six inches from the edge; I feel my head start to swim as my heart lodges itself into my throat. My mind is whirling, half of me already slipping over that edge and slamming downwards… would that count as falling in battle? Crap, if I die just because of my perpetual state of clumsiness, I swear to Hades, I am making the afterlife as painful as possible for whoever wrote that irritating clause in the Hunter agreement.

"Thanks for the warning." I choke out, grabbing onto his arm as he starts to slide along the ledge, moving towards some unseen destination. He chuckles a little under his breath, and smiles to himself. It is not as precarious as I thought it was, it can't be more than twenty feet down, but I'd rather not smash onto the concrete below.

"I tried." He offers, oh so, helpfully as he keeps moving along the ledge. I take a deep breath before I continue on, still smiling for some crazy reason. Maybe I'm adrenaline crazed, maybe I'm still giddy from that laughing fit, or maybe I'm just thrilled to get out of my head for a little bit.

We continue sliding over in silence for a few moments, and in the quiet I notice something I didn't notice before, the rushing sound of water. I turn to Marcus, but he just grins at me, and when I hesitantly look below us again, I see the dry drain pipe that I saw earlier. I know my ears aren't wrong; I've spent too much time over the last few weeks tuning my senses to doubt them now.

We reach a break a few moments later, and Marcus backs me away from the ledge. I'm not used to putting this amount of trust in a person; even though I can just make out things like ledges and drops, I have no idea where I'm going, and a single, wandering misstep could easily send me plummeting.

Marcus turns a corner and gently places his hand on my arm to give me a guide to follow. I carefully round the corner, feeling the smooth cement that can only be man-made. I turn towards Marcus, a little worried about exactly where he's taking me. He stops after a moment and gestures below him.

"After you" He grins, and I raise an eyebrow at him, taking the dare, even though I don't really have an idea of where exactly he's directing me. I crouch down, feeling it out first, before I touch the first rung with my feet. As I slowly work my way down, I see Marcus grin before I disappear out of his sight.

My feet hit the ground first, and I am at a complete and total standstill, looking out at the view in front of me. I hear Marcus thunk down before I see him, and I hear his confidence pouring out of his words. He seems more confident than I've ever heard him, and I definitely feel more out of my comfort zone than I ever had. Somehow that feels like a good thing right now.

"So what do you think?" He sounds like he knows exactly what I think, and I imagine he's completely right.

A/N: I know it's a little late, but this story is not my top priority because I do update according to interest. I do really want to here from you guys though.