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“I’m Arman,” he whispered to her.
She ignored him and tried to listen to what the teacher had to say, but she was having an awful time of it. What happened next surprised her even more. Ruric entered the class and raised his brows at Arman. He did know him! Just like she had suspected. Arman just shook his head at Ruric.
Then Ruric looked at the teacher, who opened her mouth to speak. She paused, and then she said, “Ramon, please move to the seat in the back of the class. Thank you. Ruric, you can take Ramon’s seat.”
A shuffling of seats ensued, and then Fiona was sitting between the two guys who’d been wearing tuxes last night—the one who Emma had run over with her mother’s car, and the other who had tried to steal Fiona away from the dance. She didn’t hear a thing the teacher said after that, knowing these guys meant real trouble for her.
Ruric passed a note to her.
She opened it up. What is your birth date? She glanced at him. He smiled.
She wrote on the note: How do you know Arman?
As soon as she passed the note to him, the teacher caught the action. Certain she would get chewed out, her cheeks warmed. Instead, the teacher gazed at Ruric, nodded, and continued with her lesson.
Arman is like a brother to me, Ruric wrote back.
She stared at the teacher, not believing she would ignore Ruric. Arman is a brother like Levka is to you? she wrote back, frowning.
He handed the note back to her. You’re in danger.
She eyed him, not believing her great aunt would say the same thing to her about Arman. Now Ruric, who was like a brother to him, gave her the very same warning?
Because of Arman? she asked, hoping Arman didn’t catch sight of the note.
Because of Tobias.
Her heart skipped a beat. She didn’t trust Tobias one bit, but now she didn’t know what to think. Had Ruric risked his life by stepping out in front of the car to speak with her and befriend her, because he was worried about her? Or was he in league with Arman? The stalker? And possible ex-girlfriend murderer?
We don’t know what Regina has told you, but we need to talk to you. We saw Clarissa here. She’s bad news. She doesn’t know we’re here yet, but if she learns we are, she’ll report back to Tobias at once, Ruric wrote.
Fiona did what she never did when she was in class—she got up and walked out of the classroom. Her heart was beating way too fast, and she didn’t trust these guys any more than she trusted her great aunt, Clarissa, or the man who said he was her father. She really didn’t believe any of it. She wasn’t surprised when both Ruric and Arman headed out of the class after her.
“Okay, listen,” Arman said, “you’re in grave danger.”
And it wasn’t even Halloween any longer!
* * *
Regina and Tobias were cunning vampires, and they might have persuaded Fiona that Arman was bad news.
He understood Fiona’s disbelief. She felt she had no one to turn to, no one to trust. Even though Arman and his friends saw themselves as vampires who did good, the League of Vampires in some locations thought otherwise.
"Listen," Arman said, "I came to protect you from them."
"You staged the accident, so it looked like we'd killed you?" she asked Ruric, ignoring Arman’s comment and sounding outraged.
"No. I was trying to get your friend's attention. She hit me before she saw me and before I could get out of the way," Ruric said.
"Regina said you were stalking a girl and then she ended up mysteriously dead," Fiona said to Arman.
"She lies. I don't have any girlfriends, nor have I tried to make any. I don't even attend high school," Arman said, defending himself.
“Then why are you here? Ohmigod, what is going on?” Fiona wanted to call the police, but she knew they wouldn’t believe her about any of this. And if Arman hadn’t killed any girl, there would be no record of it either.
"To protect you. There are more of us. Jasmine, Caitlin, Levka, and Stasio. We’re all here trying to make sure they don’t harm you," Arman said.
"Arman came swooping in to save you, without wanting our help. We came with him to make sure Tobias, or the others, didn’t kill him,” Ruric said. “They mean to steal your power before the blood moon and your eighteenth birthday.”
