Eleventh Grade Burns(29)

“Yes. There was a time that I had called Terryn my friend. But that was before he lost touch with Elysia. Before he decided to lift himself to a position of power that he knew was not meant for him.” A hint of remorse flashed in his eyes. “Even so, I was sad to hear of his death.”

“So, then what happened?”

Vikas finally shifted in his seat and regained his composure. “Ever since that day in 1835, there has always been a Slayer Society, though their beliefs have warped and twisted over time to the point where their goal—the destruction of vampirekind—borders on religion. They believe that new slayers are not chosen, but that the small piece of Terryn which was put into each of the original members shows itself in a member of their own family. The society members that exist now are all direct descendants of the original slayers. They believe that vampires are evil monsters, who drink babies’ blood and sleep in coffins. They are persistent, resilient, and will stop at nothing to do us in. They are our enemies. And as we created them, it is our right, our duty, to rid the world of them.”

Vlad chewed his bottom lip for a moment before saying, “I understand your concerns, Vikas, but why are you telling me all of this?”

Vikas met his gaze. “Because you’ve made it quite clear that you do not understand the severity of the slayer’s presence. To your uncle or me, dispatching the boy would be a fairly easy task. But to you, you who are still committed to a nonexistent friendship with him, it won’t be quite so simple.”

Shaking his head, Vlad stood at last. “Joss isn’t going to try to kill me.”

“It is your denial that will end your life, just as sure as his stake.” Vikas stood and crossed the kitchen to the window. As he stared out at the backyard, his fingers traced the lines on his forehead. After a moment of quiet contemplation, he turned back to face Vlad. “Prepare yourself for what will come, Vladimir, or you will die, and neither Otis nor I will be able to prevent it.”

Vlad was looking at the man who had been his friend and mentor for two years now—one of the very few people on the planet who knew his secrets (well, most of them anyway) and who he knew he could trust, and had, trusted with his life. Even though he stared directly into Vikas’s eyes, they both knew that Vlad was somewhere else, lost in his own thoughts.

Vikas was right. No matter how much Vlad hoped and wished that he wasn’t, he was right. The Joss he knew from his past was muted by the Joss he’d become, and clinging to the memory of the boy he knew two years ago was putting Vlad and those he cared about in danger. He would never hunt Joss, nor would he allow anyone else to. He would cling to the hope that a new friendship could be built between them, and that Joss may yet be saved from the cultlike ways of the Slayer Society. He would cling to the tense peace that existed between them. But if Joss should break that peace, Vlad needed to be prepared.

And he would be.

Reluctantly, he sighed. “Okay. Tell me what I need to know.”





10





MONSTERS


IN-SCHOOL SUSPENSION was clearly invented by someone who really, really despised the idea of kids doing anything but homework and who thought that staring blankly at the wall without speaking was just about the most entertaining thing in the world to do. They were obviously evil to the core, and Vlad was cursing their unknown name during his entire trek down the hall and over to the old wooden door at the end of the hall, just past the cafeteria.

The door was scraped up and ugly—fitting, considering it opened up to a fate worse than most prisons. And lucky Vlad, he wasn’t serving this sentence alone. Bad enough he’d be spending the day doing schoolwork in a forced silence that many monks would envy, but he had to do it all in the company of the one boy who’d already come close to killing him once and probably would try again.

With a deep, depressed breath, Vlad turned the knob and opened the door.

He’d never seen the inside of the ISS room, so he really had no idea what to expect. Immediately, there were three small steps to climb and once his feet hit the wooden floor, he recognized what the room had once been. He’d heard that many years ago there had once been a stage attached to what now served as the cafeteria, but that it had been walled off and turned into storage. Apparently, that storage room was also home to ISS. Boxes and various odds and ends lined three of the walls. Five desks sat facing an empty one. Two were occupied by boys that looked like bad news. Vlad took his seat nearest the door.