Page 84 of Slayer

“She is old!” Harper launched into the back seat like a cat and tackled Luna as they both went down laughing and grappling for the cell phone.

I watched as Harper tickled Luna to get her to dislodge the phone, and they both cackled. I felt incredibly grateful to have had these girls take me into their friendship. But no matter how much I tried to tell myself I was a good friend and didn’t do anything wrong, I was still waiting for something bad to happen and for them to get sick of me and edge me out.

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

The next week passed quickly, with no extra practices to help those of us who still needed to get their hunter marks. We were relegated to our dorms outside class time. Everyone was stressed at the school and on high alert for another attack. But still I’d learned a lot in my two weeks here. For one, the vampires were allergic to the sun, like deathly allergic, and no EpiPen was saving them from it. It killed whatever virus kept them alive or undead or whatever you called it. Sometimes they could use shadows to protect themselves if they saw a sunlight bomb coming but not always.

“Hey, Tyson,” a familiar female voice called over my shoulder, and I groaned.

Everyone was calling me that now. Word had spread that I’d bitten a vamp’s ear off, and now I’d never live it down.

I turned to see Daphne and brightened. “Hey.”

“Did you decide on the beach? I cleared it with Celia after, like, two full hours of begging. She’s sending a team of hunters to guard us.” She grinned.

Why did my heart hurt when I looked at her? And why was I thinking about Asher right now?

“I dunno. Harper invited me to hang with her parents.”

Daphne frowned. “No. You’re Club Orphan. You have to hang with us. I promise it’s so fun. Harper and Luna can come later in the night and sleep over if you want.”

Club Orphan? I chuckled at the term.

She was persistent, I’d give her that. The truth was I didn’t want to be around her and Asher and their little love bubble. But I also didn’t want her thinking anything was weird between us. I felt guilty for thinking romantically about a guy who was taken, but getting Asher out of my head was hard.

“Come on,” she pushed. “There’s going to be some blade duels. You can get practice in for your marks test.”

“Blade duels?” I perked up. I was awful with a blade and definitely needed practice.

She nodded. “Winner gets a full pack of Double Stuf Oreos. Asher usually wins, but he shares the Oreos with everyone.” She smiled.

Of course he did. Because he was sweet.

Practicing for the marks test was just what I needed.

“Okay, I’m in,” I told her.

She squealed, jumping up and down, and then rapidly downloaded on me what to bring. Hoodie, tent, sleeping bag, bathing suit. She was really bubbly and kind, and I couldn’t help but like her. This school wasn’t like the movies. Where was the mean blond girl ready to shove my face in a lunch tray?

The next day, I rode in the back of Daphne’s car with Jax, Asher’s best friend, while Asher sat shotgun. There was a caravan of five cars and about twenty of us in all. High numbers when you considered what it took to be invited to this party.

Parentless.

Not just one but two.

It was only an hour-and-a-half drive up the coast to a cute little white sandy beach. Celia’s hunter team of half a dozen flanked us as we started setting up our little campout.

Jax helped me erect the two-person tent I got at the campus store, which literally had a little of everything. It was like a tiny Walmart. The shelves only had a few items of each kind of product but a big variety of different things, which I appreciated.

My phone binged with an email, and I grabbed it. I’d forgotten to put it on silent though I rarely got any calls. It was a phone that worked in both Veil Haven and the mortal world, but no one other than Harper and Luna knew the number. My old phone that Rae used to contact me on was lying in my desk drawer, dead.

I peered down to see the email was from Steven, my banker in New York. The subject line caught my eye: Sad news.

“One second.” I stepped away from Jax and opened the email.

My stomach sank.