Henry snorted. “Not all of us lucked out with challenging courses like art and Sucking Up to the Teacher 101, Meredith.”
Meredith wrinkled her nose in that cute way she did whenever she was irritated, and brushed a stray hair from her eyes. “It’s called teacher’s assistant, and maybe if you worked harder at your grades, you’d get to do it for a semester, too. Besides, art isn’t exactly easy.”
Henry shrugged and Vlad changed the subject-he wasn’t in the mood for another tiff between those two. “Cartel’s going to make this the longest year yet.”
A grin spread across Henry’s face. “Only if he keeps talking about gonads. Man, that guy can stutter. In second period we kept asking him questions, knowing the answer involved gonads, just to hear him rattle through the word a couple dozen times. It was funny.”
Vlad chuckled, but Meredith didn’t. In fact, she looked a little repulsed. Apparently, a girl’s idea of funny was very different from a guy’s.
Melissa sat down on the other side of Meredith, much to Henry’s dismay. The two girls were deep in conversation when Henry leaned across the table and raised his eyebrows with a smirk. “So… did you get a look at the woman on that poster?”
Vlad laughed aloud, shaking his head. “Dude, did you see the date on that poster? She’s way too old for you.”
4 A LONG GOOD BYE
THAT AFTERNOON, AS VLAD MADE HIS WAY from the school to his house sans Henry, he had the unsettling, unshakable feeling that he was being followed. He turned around several times, but found no one. Finally, as he was crossing the street, he whipped around fast enough to spot a head ducking behind a tree. With a sigh, he approached the tree and ducked around it to find Eddie and his new camera. “What are you doing, Eddie?”
Eddie forced a smile. “Just walking. What about you?”
Vlad knew he was lying-they both knew it. He shook his head, weary of Eddie’s antics already. “Nothing. That’s all I’m doing, Eddie. And that’s all you’ll ever catch me doing by following me. So why don’t you get another hobby?”
He turned and crossed the street. As his foot touched pavement, he heard the click of a camera behind him. The sound made the corner of his mouth twitch in irritation.
By the time Vlad got back to the house, he was completely annoyed with Eddie, but overshadowing his annoyance was the fact that he dreaded the conversation that he knew was waiting for him there. He slipped through the front gate as quietly as he could, moved up the path to the front steps, made his way across the porch, and opened the door an inch. Then he paused, tilting his head to see if he could hear his uncle Otis moving around in the house.
Nothing. Not so much as a footstep. Maybe Otis had given up the argument in light of his coming departure.
With a relieved exhale, Vlad counted his blessings, stepped inside, and headed for the stairs.
“I believe an apology is in order, Vladimir.”
Vlad cursed himself for not using his vampire honing skills. What good were talents like these if he couldn’t remember to use them? He stopped in his tracks and turned to face Otis, who’d been leaning against the wall to the left of the front door, waiting.
Apparently, he wasn’t about to skip town without finishing his rant on Vlad’s growing hunger.
Vlad’s stomach grumbled its agreement, and he couldn’t help but wonder whose side it was on. “I’m not apologizing, Otis. Not for disagreeing with you. I mean, okay, maybe I shouldn’t have walked out like that, but I-”
Otis held up his hand, silencing Vlad. “I’m not asking you to apologize. I’m apologizing to you. No one knows better than you how in control of your hunger you are, and if you say that you can resist harming those around you, I have no choice but to trust you.”
Then Otis met his gaze and softened. “I’m just trying to give you as much good advice as I can before leaving tonight.”
The corners of Vlad’s mouth rose in a knowing half smile. “I’ll miss you too.”
A sadness overwhelmed Otis’s eyes, and he reached out and gave Vlad’s shoulder a squeeze. He didn’t speak, and Vlad understood why. Because the argument over Vlad’s growing appetite was much more about how hard it was for Otis to leave him once again than it was about the fear of Vlad snacking on his friends and family. Of course, Otis was still concerned about that, but not, Vlad surmised, as much as he was worried about leaving Vlad behind, with only an hour’s drive between him and the Stokerton council.
Vlad dropped his backpack at the foot of the stairs and glanced at the suitcases that sat there. The sight of them sent a hairline fracture through his heart. “Did you pack already?”
Otis sighed and ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it. “Not yet. Truth be told, I’ve been avoiding it all day.”
Vlad turned over one of the luggage tags and smiled to see that his and Nelly’s address had been scribbled on it in Otis’s horrific handwriting-an unspoken acknowledgment that no matter where he traveled this was his home. “Y’know, Otis… maybe you should stay.”
“ Vladimir, I-”
“No. Hear me out a second.” Vlad’s heart thumped harder. He had to fight to retain a calm tone. Even so, his voice rose with insistent need. “You like it here, right? And so far, having you around has been a lot safer than having you anywhere else.”
Otis seemed on guard, which only made Vlad’s words come out faster, spilling over his tongue in a desperate ramble. “You’ve been here for almost four months, and the Stokerton council hasn’t bugged you once, even though this would be a pretty obvious place for you to hide out. I’ve never seen Nelly so happy…”
Vlad’s voice caught in his throat. “… and I’m learning so much from you.”
Otis averted his eyes, but it was too late. Vlad had already seen the “no” lurking within them. Vlad bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep the tears at bay. “ Tell me why you can’t stay. Because it’s not making much sense to me that you should take off to Siberia when you’ve got it so good here.”
Otis sighed. “ Vladimir…”
“Is it the Elysia thing? Needing to be among your own kind? Because you have that with me, Otis. I’m a vampire too. And I really feel better when you’re around.”
“You are completely right on all counts.”
But something dark flickered in his eyes, crushing Vlad’s hopes before they could even bloom. Vlad opened his mouth and closed it again, not daring to ask what that flicker meant.
Otis wet his lips, his expression troubled, sorrowful, but certain. “Even so, I cannot stay. Please, Vladimir, I need you to trust me on this. My staying here may endanger you and Nelly.”
A panicky feeling had wormed its way into Vlad’s chest. He couldn’t explain it, but the idea of Otis leaving him again-especially after all that he’d been through with Joss staking him last year and D’Ablo hinting that he wasn’t finished with Vlad-made his stomach twist and turn. Frustrated, Vlad threw his hands in the air. “Can’t someone else look for that ritual?”