Bloodlines (Bloodlines, #1)(53)

I shifted uncomfortably. Eddie didn’t know about how I’d gone proactive. “Remember when I wanted you to say something to him? And you wouldn’t?” I proceeded to tell him how I’d then sought out Adrian’s help and found out about Lee’s interest in Jill. Eddie was aghast.

“How could you not tell me any of this?” he demanded.

“Well,” I said, wondering if everything I did was going to result in the wrath of a Moroi or dhampir, “it didn’t involve you.”

“Jill’s safety does! If some guy likes her, I need to know.”

Adrian chuckled. “Should Sage have passed you a note in class?”

“Lee’s fine,” I said. “He obviously adores her, and it’s not like she’ll ever be alone with him.”

“We don’t know for sure that he’s fine,” said Eddie.

“Whereas Micah’s a hundred percent okay? Did you do a background check or something?” I asked.

“No,” said Eddie, looking embarrassed. “I just know. It’s a feeling I get about him. There’s no problem with him spending time with Jill.”

“Except that he’s human.”

“They wouldn’t have gotten serious.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Enough, you two,” interrupted Adrian. Jill and Lee had finally reached the start of the Dragon’s Lair, meaning we could move on. Adrian lowered his voice. “Your argument’s useless. I mean, look at them. That human boy doesn’t enter into it.”

I looked. Adrian was right. Jill and Lee were clearly enthralled with each other. Some guilty part of me wondered if I should be a doing a better job of looking out for Jill. I was so relieved that she was interested in a Moroi that I hadn’t stopped to wonder if she should even be dating anyone. Was fifteen old enough? I hadn’t dated at fifteen. I’d actually, well, never dated.

“There is an age difference between them,” I admitted, more to myself.

Adrian scoffed. “Believe me, I’ve seen age differences. Theirs is nothing.”

He walked off, and a few moments later, Eddie and I went to join him. Eddie maintained his simultaneous vigil of Jill, but this time, I got the impression the danger he was watching out for was right beside her. Adrian’s laughter rang out ahead of us.

“Sage!” he called. “You have got to see this.”

Eddie and I reached the next green and stared in astonishment. Then I burst out laughing.

We had reached Dracula’s Castle.

A huge, multi-towered black castle guarded the hole some distance away. A tunnel was cut out through the center of it with a narrow bridge meant for the ball to go over. If the ball fell off the sides before getting through the castle, it was returned back to the starting point. An animatronic Count Dracula stood off to the castle’s side. He was pure white, with red eyes, pointed ears, and slicked-back hair. He jerkily kept raising his arms to show off a batlike cape. Nearby, a speaker blasted eerie organ music.

I couldn’t stop laughing. Adrian and Eddie looked at me as though they’d never seen me before.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard her laugh,” Eddie told him.

“Certainly not the reaction I was expecting,” mused Adrian. “I’d been counting on abject terror, judging from past Alchemist behavior. I didn’t think you liked vampires.”

Still grinning, I watched Dracula raise his cape up and down. “This isn’t a vampire. Not a real one. And that’s what makes it so funny. It’s pure Hollywood camp. Real vampires are terrifying and unnatural. This? This is hilarious.”

It was clear from their expressions that neither really understood why this would appeal to my sense of humor so much. Adrian did, however, offer to take a picture with my cell phone when I asked him. I posed by Dracula and put on a big smile. Adrian managed to snap the shot just as Dracula was raising his cape. When I viewed the picture, I was pleased to see it had come out perfectly. Even my hair looked good.

Adrian gave the picture a nod of approval before handing me the phone. “Okay, even I can admit that’s pretty cute.”

I found myself overanalyzing the comment. What had he meant in saying even he could admit it? That I was cute for a human? Or that I had just met some kind of Adrian hot-girl criteria? Moments later, I had to forcibly stop thinking about it. Let it go, Sydney. It’s a compliment. Accept it.

We played through the rest of the course, finally finishing off with the waterfall itself. That was a particularly challenging hole, and I took my time lining up the shot—not that I needed to. I was beating everyone pretty handily. Eddie was the only one who came close. It was clear Jill and Lee didn’t even have their attention on the game, and as for Adrian and his natural talent . . . well, they were very solidly in last place.

Eddie, Adrian, and I were still ahead of the other two, so we waited for them by the waterfall. Jill practically ran to it when she had the chance, gazing up at it with enchanted eyes. “Oh,” she breathed. “This is wonderful. I haven’t seen this much water in days.”

“Remember what I said about the toxicity,” teased Lee. But it was clear he found her reaction endearing. As I glanced at the other two guys, I saw that they shared the same feelings. Well, not exactly the same. Adrian’s affection was clearly brotherly. Eddie’s? It was hard to read, kind of a mix of the other two. Maybe it was a kind of guardian fondness.