Soul Thief Read online

  I retraced my steps, but it was too late. One of the guys dropped his hood and I recognized the same dark, menacing glow I’d seen on a vampire in the restaurant Leander and I went to earlier this week. Screw supernatural strength. For the little I knew about vampires, they were as fast and as strong as I was, and excellent empaths.

  “Um, nice to meet you,” I tried. “My friends are inside, so I’ll get going now.”

  I turned around, ready to break into a run, but I couldn’t move. When I looked behind me I stared right into the face of the guy who’d dropped his hood, probably the leader of the gang.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Afraid of us?”

  “The little girl is afraid,” one of the others sneered. He licked his fangs, which shone brightly in the moonlight.

  Screw you, Katie, this is the last time I’m doing you a favor.

  “I don’t want to bother you,” I said. “So I’ll be on my way.” I yanked my arm out of the vampire’s grip.

  “Not so fast.” He reached for me again, this time pulling me closer to him. His breath smelled foul, of blood and flesh, and I wanted to throw up.

  “We’re going to have some fun first. It’s been a while since we’ve met one of your kind,” he said, sniffing my scent.

  The others appeared around me, closing me in. “Your blood will be delicious,” one of them predicted. “Always is.”

  “A mix of human and Angel. I haven’t tasted something so fine in four centuries.”

  I fought the panic welling up in my throat but it was useless. I could only pray Katie wouldn’t come looking for me and fall victim to this group of morons as well.

  Leander, if you can hear me, I’m in danger! I’m surrounded by vampires, and they want to turn me into supper. Please help. HELP!

  I hoped the mental message reached him in time, but until it did I had to stall. “What are you?” I asked, hoping that playing dumb would buy me some time.

  “Don’t pretend you don’t know, girlie,” the one closest to me said. “We’re vampires of course. And tonight, you’re on the menu.”

  “That’s a cheesy line,” I said. “You should get some new material. Besides, I taste really bad. I’ve eaten way too much junk food. You wouldn’t like the taste at all.”

  “What do you think we are?” he asked, letting go of me. “We’re not cannibals. We don’t eat you, we’ll just drain your blood.”

  “I’m not very fond of that idea either,” I said.

  “Too bad,” bad-breath-guy said. He smiled, revealing his fangs, and then attacked me.

  I ducked before he could touch me and kicked his shins as hard as I could. He yelped out in pain but there were four more ready to slam me down.

  One of them hit me in the face. Stars blinked in front of my eyes, but I managed to stand up and push him away. Another grabbed my shoulder, pulling me backward, but I grabbed his arm and threw him over my back onto the ground.

  I’d never fought before, but instinct took over. I managed to hit one of the vampires straight in the face. A terrible cracking noise told me his nose was broken. Even if my chances were still slim, I did a mental victory dance over that one.

  Then a voice lured its way into my mind. Stay still, it said in a soothing tone, like a mother talking to a baby. This won’t hurt at all.

  Part of me wanted to do what the voice said, but the other part screamed that this wasn’t right, that the voice was wrong, that I had to move, had to fight.

  Be silent. It’ll all be over soon.

  “No!” I screamed, but my body wouldn’t move. The vampire whose shins I’d kicked moved toward me, smirking. He flashed his razor-sharp fangs.

  Sweat dripped down my forehead and my heart thundered in my chest. The vampire grabbed my shoulders to hold me still and sank his teeth into my neck. A sharp, piercing pain soared through my body.

  It only lasted for a few seconds. Then the vampire was pulled back, his teeth yanked out of my skin. My vision became blurry from the blood loss. A golden glow was all I saw and a rush of black clothes as someone pulled the vampires away from me. One vampire grabbed on to me, but I elbowed him in the stomach and he collapsed onto the floor.

  I blinked a few times. Already my gaze was becoming steadier and the wound on my neck closed. My rescuer had his back turned toward me. All I could make out was that he was tall, had dark brown, short, wavy hair and that whoever he was, he definitely wasn’t Leander, the rescuer I’d imagined.

  He bent over one of the vampires and stabbed him with a silver blade, glistening in the moonlight, wet with blood.

  The vampire cried out when the blade pierced his chest. Seconds later he crumbled apart, reduced to nothing but dust.

  I took a few deep breaths. “Who are you? And thanks.”

  He didn’t turn around, nor did he reply. I was about to ask something else when Katie’s voice echoed through the parking lot.

  “Riley! Are you okay?” she shouted.

  I looked behind my shoulder. She was running toward me, a blur of red and brown. I turned back to my rescuer, but he was gone. The parking lot was empty.

  What kind of dumb-ass hero rescues someone and then disappears before they can be properly thanked?

  Katie slowed down when she approached me. “Are you okay?” she asked. Her eyes went wide when she noticed my neck. “Is that blood?”

  Crap. The wound had healed but when I touched it, it was still sticky with blood. “Um, yeah, but it’s nothing.”

  “It looks pretty bad,” she said. “Let me see.”

  “I didn’t get hurt, just a scratch. Can we go back inside now? I’d like to get cleaned up.”

  “Are you sure you don’t need a doctor? That’s pretty close to your artery, and…”

  “Wow, Katie, first a psychologist, now a doctor?” I joked. “Anyway, did you find Myron?”

  “Nope,” Katie responded, her initial panic replaced by a solemn expression. “He didn’t pick up when I called and he was nowhere in line either. I even went back inside and searched the entire club from top to bottom.” That explained why it took her so long to get here.

  “I’m not really in the mood to go dancing anymore,” she said.

  “No way. We’re not going to let guys ruin our night.” I hooked my arm into hers. “We’re going in and we’ll have fun.”

  “Whatever we’re going to do, you’re going to let somebody have a look at that wound first. You never explained how you got it in the first place.”

  I held up my hand and showed her the oversized ring I’d put on for the occasion because it was fashionable and because Mom said it made me look classy. “I was scratching my neck, totally preoccupied looking for the car and I forgot all about how I was wearing the ring. The rest is history.”

  “Yikes,” Katie said. She looked at her own hands. “Remind me not to wear rings with sharp edges.”

  We went back inside and I was glad to be surrounded by people again. My heart still beat like a rocker’s drum. Vampires were now officially off my list of cool supernatural beings.

  Michelle took one good look at my neck and pulled me along to the girls’ bathroom. She checked if all the stalls were empty with the business-like attitude of a lawyer. She grabbed a paper towel and started cleaning the wound.

  “Whatever story you told Katie, I won’t buy it,” she said while cleaning. “That’s not a cut from a ring. There are two puncture wounds, that’s it. And that’s way too much blood.” She pulled the towel away and pushed it under the water to clean off the blood before she dabbed it again. “You don’t have to tell me the truth but I strongly suggest you do. I know something is wrong and it’s more than just going through that accident.” She threw the towel in the trash and leaned her back against a sink. “You’ve changed, Riles. There’s something you’re not telling us.” She reached for my hand. “Yo
u can tell us anything, you know that, right?”

  I stared at my hands and wondered how the hell I was going to talk myself out of this one. She’d given me a way out though — I didn’t have to tell her. But I wanted to tell her, I wanted to come clean.

  “I can’t tell you,” I told her. “If I could, I would.”

  “Is it drugs? Are you in a mess with the wrong people? You don’t just go out to a club and get two puncture wounds in your neck, Riles. And lying to your parents about going on a date with that psychologist guy… if he even is a real psychologist.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I checked his credentials. They match, except that when I emailed the doctors mentioned, nobody had heard of him.”

  “What the hell, Mich! Why would you even do that? It’s none of your business.”

  “So you knew. You knew he wasn’t a real psychologist.”

  I didn’t respond because I didn’t know what to say that couldn’t make it worse.

  “Then why?” she asked. “Why is he pretending to be? Where do you know him from? I never heard you talk about him before.”

  “I didn’t know him. Before, I mean.”

  She shook her head and sighed. I’d never seen her so serious before. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me the truth, Riles. I thought we were friends, I thought you knew you could tell me anything.” She licked her lips. “Just so you know I intend to tell the principal about him being a fake.”

  “Don’t,” I said. “You don’t understand.”

  “Then explain.”

  “I can’t!” I shouted in frustration, throwing my hands up in the air. “Just trust me. Can’t you do that?”

  Michelle swallowed hard. “Fine. You have until Friday to make sure he quits, or else I’m telling the principal.”

  She was as stubborn as a mule and I knew this was all I was going to get. She walked past me out of the bathroom, leaving me alone. I stared at my image in the mirror. Despite my pale skin, I looked more radiant, more alive, than I ever had before, probably due to the vampire attack. My hair glowed like gold.

  But I’d trade it all just to go back to normal, to be a regular teen again.

  I sighed and checked my cell phone. Still no message from Leander. He hadn’t even reacted to my mental message. Then again, I was so new at this he might not have received it.

  I splashed some cold water on my face and walked out of the bathroom, back into the swirling mass of bodies and sweat.

  Chapter 19

  MY CELL PHONE RINGER sounded as loud as a fire truck. I pushed the ‘silent’ button and twisted around in my bed. We’d stayed at Gravey’s Place until nearly curfew and it was only seven o’clock now. Whoever had woken me up, I swore I’d make their life a living hell.

  I rolled around when the cell phone buzzed again. Katie. I groaned and picked up. She better be in mortal peril to call me this early.

  “What?” I grunted.

  “Riley!” she sounded as awake as if she’d gone to bed at nine instead of one-thirty. “I have the best news in the world! Myron just called me and he kept on apologizing for not making it last night. His car broke down and his cell phone battery died, so he couldn’t contact me.”

  “That’s great,” I said, slumping down in my pillow. I yawned out loud, hoping that would make her understand I wasn’t in the mood for talking. “I’m glad for you.”

  “I know! I’m still kind of mad, but he promised he’d make it up to me. We’re going on a date Wednesday and he’s taking me to this fancy restaurant, Tilliers.”

  “While that’s all great news, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take another quick nap and go off to slumberland,” I said, pulling the blankets over me. “Bye, bye.”

  “Wait!” Katie said. “I never properly thanked you for going out and searching with me.”

  “No problem. Bye,” I said, and put the phone down before she could say anything else. No sooner had I put the phone down when it buzzed again, a text message this time.

  Leander. My heart thrummed in my throat. You’re still angry with him, Riley, I reminded myself.

  I pushed the ‘open’ button, cursing my cell phone for not opening the message quicker.

  Hey. Sorry for the late response. I would’ve loved to come, but they kept us overnight. Is everything all right? I had a bad feeling like something is wrong.

  My anger melted like snow in the sun. He’d been worried about me! And he would’ve loved to come.

  An army of butterflies gathered in my stomach and any sleep I might’ve still had was lost. I pushed the blankets away and typed a message back.

  Do we meet today for practice? I got attacked by vampires last night, but I’m fine.

  I took a shower so I wouldn’t sit there pining away like a crazy cat lady until I got a response. I investigated the vampire bite in the mirror. Leander had told me next to nothing about vampires, but I hoped this one bite wasn’t enough to turn me into one. The last thing I wanted to be was a half-angel, half-vampire hybrid.

  By the time I got back from showering, I’d gotten another text message.

  Vampires? What? I can come pick you up right away.

  Hmm. Well, Mom and Dad said they’d be out for most of the day, so… Okay, I texted back.

  I picked some nice clothes to put on, something casual but not too casual, and combed my hair. I’d barely finished when the doorbell rang.

  I opened the door and stared right into Leander’s face. “You look like you didn’t sleep all night,” I said.

  “I didn’t. I just got back from the meeting and the first thing I did was check your text message. Why didn’t you call for me when they attacked you?” he asked. Then he grabbed my chin and pushed it to the right so he could take a look at the vampire bite.

  “I did call for you. Several times, as hard as I could.”

  “Well it’s not festering, so that’s good. How many vampires were there?” He let go of me, but he didn’t take a step back.

  The invasion of my personal space didn’t help to calm me down. I stared at the floor. “Five.”

  “Only one of them drained your blood?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well you still look like you need a hearty breakfast, and so do I.” He walked a few steps back. “You choose. Pancakes at Erin’s Diner or I can show off some of my cooking skills back at my place.”

  My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. “Your place will be fine,” I said, trying my best to keep my voice neutral. “I’d rather talk about this somewhere private.”

  “Good choice,” Leander said as we got into his car.

  We talked about the vampire incident as we drove to his house. My heart beat faster and louder with every mile we drove, until I was sure he must hear it. I told him about the attack and about the mysterious supernatural creature who came to my rescue.

  “Taking out five vampires isn’t nothing. They’re weaker than us physically, but it doesn’t differ much,” he said. “You did well to fight them off for so long.”

  “What I don’t get is why they attacked me in the first place. I’ve lived here my entire life and I’ve never even seen a vampire before. Now I see five of them.”

  “When you became a Halfling, you became a beacon in the darkness,” Leander explained. “You stand out now to other supernaturals. When you were a human you were mundane, you blended in with the rest. Now you’re unique.”

  “A special cookie… great. I’d rather go back to normal though. And how come the wound didn’t heal properly? I thought I had super-healing.”

  “You do, but when vampires bite you, they inject a venom into your skin, making it more difficult to heal.”

  Leander parked the car in front of his house. The sheer size of the mansion still surprised me. My house could easily fit four times in there.

&nb
sp; “Can’t you teach me how to fight? Mental barriers are awesome but I’d rather be able to kick some vampire ass in case they decide to go after me again.”

  “Those guys won’t bother you again,” Leander said while he fiddled with the lock. “Silver blades kill them.”

  “Oh, well, other vampires then.”

  “You’re right about needing to learn how to fight. But before you can fight, you need to learn how to defend yourself and how to call for help. I’m worried about why your message to me didn’t go through.”

  We walked inside the mansion, our footsteps echoing on the floor. Leander led me through a labyrinth of hallways and doors into a kitchen fit for a restaurant. It was U-shaped, large, and one wall of the kitchen was made entirely of glass, looking out onto a Japanese garden. The cabinets were sleek and white with black door handles. There was a kitchen island with four high stools.

  “Want me to help?”

  “No need. You sit down,” Leander said, gesturing at the chairs. “Want some orange juice?”

  “I never say no to orange juice.” He got some out of the fridge and gave me a glass. Then he started getting ingredients out, walking back and forth from closet to closet.

  “Maybe you were too far away,” I suggested.

  “That shouldn’t matter. It’s the bond between two people that determines the strength of the link, not the distance.” He put down a pack of flour. “I think someone blocked the signal.”

  “Why would anyone do that?” I frowned. “And how?”

  “The how is easy. They could’ve disrupted the signal halfway through and neither of us would’ve noticed. Think of a mental message being sent as a rope being thrown from one end of the river to another. If you catch the rope halfway and lead it to someone else, it’ll never arrive on the other side.”

  “You mean we’ve been hacked,” I said, taking a sip of the orange juice. “Somebody can read our secret messages and even delete them.”