Vampire Beach: Hunted, page 15
Sienna squeezed his hand. ‘It’s all right to feel sad, even at a party. Bianca was family and you loved her.’
‘She sacrificed herself to save me,’ Jason said. ‘I still can’t believe she did that.’
‘She loved you, too,’ Sienna told him. ‘But, Jason, it’s really a gift that she died that way. The transformation sickness was killing her. She was facing a long, slow, agonizing death. At least, this way, she’s out of her misery. And she did a noble thing and saved you.’ Sienna leant closer and trailed her fingers along his cheek. ‘I know I’ll be grateful to her forever for that.’
Jason kissed her, letting his lips linger on hers for a moment.
‘Fireworks,’ Zach announced from the balcony.
‘I’ll say,’ Sienna joked, looking up at Jason.
He grinned, then followed Zach and Sienna out to the balcony.
‘Worth filming? I think not,’ Adam said, coming up beside Jason and Sienna on the big balcony overlooking the Pacific.
‘I didn’t think there was anything you found unworthy of filming,’ Jason said, surprised.
‘My friend, look at those fireworks. They are spectacular. No camera could capture their true beauty.’ Adam sighed dreamily as the first round of fireworks exploded over the water, sending a thousand stars raining down from the sky while their reflections shot up from the depths of the ocean. ‘Unless, you know, I had a really big special effects budget,’ Adam added.
As the fireworks continued with everyone gasping at each new explosion, Jason felt a hand on his shoulder. Zach drew him away from the crowd.
‘Freeman, I wanted you to know there was a DeVere Heights Vampire Council meeting this afternoon,’ he said quietly. ‘We got the help of the High Council on this one, and we’ve managed to recover Bianca’s body from the Medi-Life building. I know your mother will want to give her a proper funeral.’
‘Yes,’ Jason said. ‘Thank you.’
‘Also, we’re going to take care of everything,’ Zach went on. ‘We don’t want you or your parents to have to deal with any of it. The official police report will list Bianca’s death as a result of experimental drug testing done by Medi-Life. We’ve had the entire complex searched, and we’ve exposed some of the facts to the media, enough to make life very uncomfortable for Charles Norton. In fact, HemoCorp has already been disbanded and we’ve begun a wrongful death lawsuit against Medi-Life.’
‘So it’s over?’ Jason asked. ‘We don’t have to worry about them anymore?’
‘Believe me, we’ll litigate Medi-Life into nonexistence,’ Zach said. ‘That’s the kind of thing the Vampire High Council does best.’
‘I appreciate it,’ Jason told him. ‘I’m glad I’ll have something to tell my mom.’
Zach nodded. ‘Christopher’s heading back to New York in the morning. He’s going to tell the Vampire Council there how Bianca really died – with honor. It will go a long way toward restoring her legacy.’
Jason had got a glimpse of Christopher earlier. He’d come down to the party for a half hour or so before heading back upstairs to bed.
‘Christopher’s really OK, huh? He looked good when I saw him before.’ Jason smiled. ‘Only four days of healing – pretty impressive.’
‘Well, he is a vampire,’ Zach said.
Jason raised an eyebrow at the haughty tone in Zach’s voice, but then he noticed the smile playing around his friend’s mouth.
‘How could I forget?’ Jason murmured with a grin, as Zach walked away.
When Jason returned to Sienna and Adam, he found his best friend complaining loudly over the booming of the fireworks. ‘I’m doomed. Just doomed to be single forever. How can I ever trust a girl again?’ he was saying. ‘The way Brianna set me up . . . She was like Kathleen Turner in Body Heat.’
‘Wow, really? Your girlfriend asked you to kill her husband for her? That’s hardcore!’ a girl standing nearby exclaimed.
Adam whirled around to look at her. She was short and cute, with a dark-red pixie haircut and a T-shirt with a picture of Snoopy on it.
‘You don’t go to DeVere High,’ Adam said.
‘Nope,’ she replied.
‘You’ve actually seen Body Heat,’ he went on.
‘Sure. It’s an incredible movie,’ she replied.
‘Who directed it?’ Adam asked.
‘What is this, a quiz?’ the girl demanded.
‘Yes.’ Adam tried to look stern, and Jason had to turn away to hide his smile. Sienna pressed her head against his shoulder to muffle her giggles.
‘Lawrence Kasdan,’ the girl said. ‘Duh.’
‘I think I love you,’ Adam replied. ‘Want to go inside and get a drink?’
As they headed for the swanky bar set up in Zach’s kitchen, Jason and Sienna burst out laughing. ‘So much for Adam being doomed to singlehood,’ she said.
The fireworks had ended, and everybody was drifting back to the party. But Jason found himself wanting to stay out here, with the roar of the surf in his ears, and Sienna in his arms.
Maggie and Van Dyke stood nearby, gazing out at the ocean. And Brad, Erin and Belle had perched themselves on the stone wall surrounding the balcony. It seemed that nobody else wanted to leave, either. Jason smiled. Here he was, hanging out with a bunch of vampires.
How was he ever going to go back to having a normal social life after this?
Zach appeared from inside, a bottle of champagne in his hand. He looked around at the group and raised the bottle. ‘A toast to surviving our senior year,’ he said. He grinned at Jason. ‘With a little help from our friends.’
The vampires all applauded. Zach handed the bottle to Jason, and Jason held it up. ‘And one more toast . . . to friendship.’
‘That was a great party,’ Sienna said a few hours later, resting her head against the back of the VW’s passenger seat.
‘As always,’ Jason agreed.
‘I think it was better than usual,’ Sienna said. ‘Maybe because it was the last one.’
The VW gave a loud groan and sputtered to a stop in the middle of the road. ‘What the hell?’ Jason said. He turned the key – nothing. The car was totally dead.
Sienna burst out laughing. ‘Now you know what it’s like! You’ll never be able to make fun of my car again!’
‘I will too,’ Jason muttered.
He tried the car two more times, but it was no good.
‘We can just walk home from here. It’s less than a mile,’ Sienna pointed out.
‘I can’t leave the car in the middle of the street.’
‘We’ll push it to the side,’ Sienna said. ‘I do have super-strength, you know. I could push this thing one-handed.’
‘You trying to intimidate me?’ Jason teased, as they got out and pushed the car to the curb.
‘Is it working?’ Sienna teased back. ‘Some guys like a girl who’s a little intimidating.’
Jason put on his best ‘hick from Michigan’ expression. ‘Well, I don’t know how you Malibu girls flirt, but us boys from the flyovers like to say what they mean.’
‘And what do you mean?’ Sienna asked, stepping closer to him.
Jason breathed in the incredible scent of her. ‘I mean I love you, super-strength and all,’ he murmured.
‘And I love you.’ Sienna brushed her lips against his. ‘You know, my parents are off visiting Paige this weekend. The house is empty.’
‘An empty house,’ Jason mused. ‘And no vampire crisis happening to distract us. I wasn’t sure that would ever happen.’
‘Some things are worth waiting for,’ Sienna told him.
And Sienna is one of them, Jason thought, watching her walk on down the dark street, her long hair gleaming in the starlight.
‘Are you coming?’ she called.
‘Oh, yeah,’ he said, jogging after her. ‘Wherever you’re going, Sienna Devereux, I’m going too.’
About the Author
Alex Duval was born and raised in Paris, before moving to California to pursue a career in fashion photography. Alex loves all sports, especially surfing. When not writing books, Alex loves watching movies, especially The Lost Boys, and visiting art galleries around the world. Alex has homes in both Paris and LA.
Also by Alex Duval
Bloodlust
Initiation
Ritual
Legacy
High Stakes
Hunted
VAMPIRE BEACH: HUNTED
AN RHCB DIGITAL EBOOK 9781446498927
Published in Great Britain by RHCB Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
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This ebook edition published 2011
Copyright © Working Partners, 2008
First published in Great Britain by Red Fox, 2008
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Alex Duval, Vampire Beach: Hunted
