Chapter 29

You Want Me To Do What?

An hour later, the inside of the Darquecaster mansion was pretty clean. Claude was going to make appointments to fix the windows and buy new furniture the next day while we were all at school. I was sipping on a blood bottle, but the thought that I was drinking human blood made me wince. That wasn't what was really bothering me though. How observant was Elly? She sure did surprise me a lot.

I thought my feelings for Alec had been the hateful-sibling kind of feelings, not love. Now that was saying something. Besides, maybe she was wrong. Maybe I didn't love Alec. Did he really feel the same about me though? Or was Elly instigating me to try to be with him?

I let my head fall against the wall I was leaning against as Joshua and Claude said their goodbyes to each other. My foster mother and Rory were speaking few words with Cassidy, but it appeared they were getting along.

Maybe Cassy could be mature.

"You look like you're thinking too hard." Brent commented from beside me. I glanced at him in surprise. He'd snuck up on me. Maybe I had been thinking to hard. Brent grinned, reading my mind. "Obviously."

I raised an eyebrow. "When do my powers kick in?"

"You may not have any amazing ones like me."

I snorted. "Yours is just a pain in the ass. It takes away all privacy."

Brent silently agreed. We looked toward the others. Alec was conversing with Lukas quietly, and Max was sitting beside Elly who -my eyes stopped right there. Elly was talking to Rylan.

And he was replying.

And looking at her.

Chemistry?

I raised my eyebrows. I'd have to look into that tomorrow at school. Wait… school? "What time is it?" I asked Brent. He looked down at the watch strapped to his wrist.

"3:39 AM." He replied bitterly.

My mouth dropped open. Nearly five hours had passed since I had been at the party, but it didn't even seem like that. Everything had gone by in a blur. Then again, usually when you're fighting vampires and alongside them, things get quicker.

I groaned and set my blood bottle down and went to move past Brent to tell Joshua and Becca we needed to go and take my car, Elly and Max back home. Suddenly Brent grabbed hold of my wrist and yanked me back toward him. I let out a surprised gasp and for once caught myself with my new vampire reflexes so I didn't go crashing into him. I stopped inches from him as he stared down at me.

I could have sworn I saw tears glimmer in his eyes. "W-what?" I asked, clearly shocked.

Without replying, he pulled me into a bear-hug. "I'm so sorry that we left you like this. We didn't realize that Jakobi got out of the city we were in. We had been hunting him this whole time, but he was smart."

"He wasn't that strong though." I muttered into his shirt, although it came out muffled and something like this, "Fe fwavsent dat ftrong doh."

Brent let out a laugh and pulled me back to kiss me on the cheek. "I'm just glad you're one of us and not one of…him. Have you heard from Tiffany… at all?"

I let a smile form on my face. "Actually, yes, and I'm almost sure she'll have a heart attack when she sees you tomorrow -err, later today at school."

Brent let out a sigh of relief and smiled at me. "Well then, I guess we'll see each other in a few hours at school?"

I smiled back. "Guess so." I turned and made to leave, but paused and then glanced back at Brent, pondering whether I should ask him the question that was currently bothering me. He raised his eyebrows when he read my mind, and I silently cursed him.

"You want to know about Alec's feelings toward you?" he asked quietly, almost a whisper. I glanced around, but all the vampires were minding their own business and still quite a ways away.

I looked back at Brent and sucked in a deep breath. "Elly hinted at it."

Brent's lips were set in a thin, tight line as he studied me. Then his eyes slid to Alec, and remained there for a minute. I watched as his lips curled up into a slight smirk. He shook his head. "You'll have to find out today at school. Go home and get some rest now."

And that was it. With an airy sigh, I headed off to tell my foster parents and friends we needed to go.

I barely said goodbye to anyone except Claude, Brent, Rory and Lukas. The others stayed off to the sidelines and silent, but I knew I'd see them at school later -save for Cassy. On our way home after dropping off Elly and Max, I yawned. I was only going to get like four hours of sleep. Shitty.

I slept, I woke up, I got ready for school. It was still hot from the wearing off summer weather, so I dressed in white Capri's and a dark blue tunic. Grabbing my brush after eating breakfast and brushing my teeth, I glanced at the clock just as I raised the brush to my hair. My eyes widened.

"Shit!" I cursed awfully loudly, and threw down the brush. Running back into my room, I heaved my backpack over my shoulder and darted out my door…vampire style.

"Hey, you're late for school." Joshua commented as I blurred past him. Obviously he was used to the fast stuff.

"I know!" I hissed, leaving the house and running to my car. I opened the door and threw my bag into the passenger's, and then climbed in. Just as I was about to shut the car door, Joshua whistled from the front door of our house. I glanced up and saw him twirling my car keys around his fingers.

"You forgot these." he noted, tossing them to me. I caught them with my amazing reflexes, in which were going to take me forever getting used to, and sighed heavily.

"This would be so much easier if I could just run to school!" I growled, slamming my door shut and starting my car.

I heard Joshua chuckling as he walked back inside the house, and before he shut the door, I heard him say loud and clear -even through my window-, "You look like a rat attacked you."

I checked my hair in my rearview mirror and gave an aggravated groan. Quickly and efficiently, I dragged my fingers through my hair to tug out the sleep knots. Then with a heavy sigh, I pulled out of my driveway to headed to school, actually anxious for once to see the Darquecaster's. As I drove, I looked down at the bite scar from Alec.

I still wondered how the hell he changed me. The scar looked like an original scar mark, only two fang marks instead. It could be mistaken for two spider bite scars, hopefully. After a couple minutes of driving, I pulled into a parking space in the parking lot of Canby High School and paused.

For some reason, thinking about Alec changing me turned me on.

What the fuck?

A knock on my window shocked me out of my horrid thoughts, and I looked up to see Max smiling in at me. I smiled back, immediately feeling guilty of thinking about Alec, grabbed my bag and left my car.

"Good morning to my hot vampire girlfriend." Max greeted me, grabbing hold of my hand. I looked away from him at the ground as we walked toward the school.

Now that I thought about it, it didn't feel right being with Max. As we entered the school and walked towards my locker, I brushed past people, ignoring their stares. I didn't know why they were watching us in the first place; they knew Max and I had been together for awhile now.

Max squeezed my hand and I looked up at him. He had a grim look on his face. "Every guy in this damn school has noticed how sexy you've gotten since becoming a vamp." he said quietly. I rolled my eyes. So that was why. Actually, really, the only times I'd actually looked at myself in the mirror since last night were to brush my teeth and then check my hair this morning in my rearview mirror.

I finally looked up as we turned the corner to my locker, and immediately I sensed Alec. Funny, because he wasn't the only one near my locker, so why did I only sense him? The mark on my wrist tingled.

Alec looked up at me, and I finally set eyes on Elly who was standing right next to him. I stopped walking, and Alec stopped talking to her instantly as he looked at mine and Max's entwined hands. He may have the burning curiosity, but I have the stingy jealousy rising in my chest. I swear, if Elly became obsessed with him again…

She smiled brightly and ran to me to crush me into a hug. "Hey! We were just wondering where you were! Class is going to start in like two seconds!"

And just like that, the bell rang. Elly grabbed her bag and bid us goodbyes as she headed off to her first period class. I opened my locker and made to grab my textbooks, but Max turned me and planted a firm kiss on my lips. I stood there, staring at him, as he smiled and turned, also walking away.

I stared blankly after him. Wasn't he at all fazed that I didn't kiss him back?

"You don't look like you share the same feelings." Alec said, making me jump in surprise. I totally forgot he'd been there. However, as soon as he spoke, his scar mark tingled again. I glanced over at him as I grabbed my textbooks out.

"You're going to be late to class." I muttered.

"I was planning on walking you to class."

I stopped cold in my antics of putting my textbook in my bag, and glared at Alec. "So this is how it's going to be?" I demanded, slowly standing straight and crossing my arms. The hallways was clearing out, and classroom doors were beginning to shut. "You change me and then you act nice the next day?"

Alec's' mood darkened. I could sense it from the aura around him. Wow, vampire abilities never ended, did they? Not only that, but his pupils dilated for a short moment, and then went back to normal as he sighed. "I wanted to start off a bit differently, but since you're too stubborn and full of yourself-"

"Whoa, whoa! Hey!" I put a hand up to interrupt him and finished saying, "I'm full of myself?"

Alec snorted, leaned down and grabbed my bag, slinging it over his shoulder. I stared at him.

"Uh…"

He appeared annoyed. "Hurry the hell up or else both of us are going to be late to History."

I blinked. "Wait, we have another first period together?" I cried out, astonished as I slammed my locker shut and hurried after him.

He didn't reply… nor did he slow his pace down at all.

I followed just behind him and stared at the back of his head as we walked. "You know… I think you're trying too hard. Before, you'd probably make me carry your bag as well."

"That can be arranged." He paused in his footsteps and I glared at him as I caught up. Then we started walking side-by-side.

"No, I'm good, really. You're just acting…nice."

There was a long etch of silence, and I realized we were walking awfully slow. "How long have you and Max been together?" He suddenly asked.

"A few months." I replied, watching the floor as I walked on it.

"Break up with him."

His words made me stop walking completely and stare wide-eyed at him. He trailed a few more steps and looked back at me with a serious face. I sensed no joke or lie coming from him. "What?" I breathed.

Alec narrowed his eyes. "I said break up with Max."

Well one, that definitely sounded more like Alec, but two, what the hell?