Chapter 12. Lorena
lorena
“Out with it,” says Salma as soon as we’re back in our room. “I saw the way you and the new kid were looking at each other in class—did you just meet your soulmate?!”
When I stare at her blankly, she turns to Tiffany to back her up. “You saw that, too, right?”
Our roommate shrugs. “Insta-love’s not really my thing.”
“I didn’t believe in it, either,” says Salma, who is the furthest thing from a romantic, “but it literally just happened in front of us!”
Guilt makes it hard for me to look at her, and I pretend to be rummaging through my bag for something because my mind is still reeling. What the hell is the vampire doing dressed as a student?
I was too livid in class to read a single page of Jane Eyre, so I just watched him leaf through the first quarter of the book in a matter of minutes. “You are supposed to read, dear,” Director Minaro said to him, and only then did William slow down and pretend to read at a mortal’s pace.
That left him plenty of time to stare back at me.
No wonder my friends think we’re in love. The vampire has as much subtlety as one of Tiffany’s insults.
It was so bizarre seeing him out of his eighteenth-century garb and in our student uniform. Before, he was like a priceless work of art, untouchable. Now, he’s … real.
“Talk, damn it!”
Salma is staring at me, arms across her chest. “You just fell in love at first sight!”
“I did not!” I pull out my notebook to pretend I’m about to do some homework.
“Maybe he just heard she was famous,” says Tiffany, and I stiffen. “Isn’t that why those girls wanted your autograph the other night?”
“What is she talking about?” Salma asks me.
I shrug it off. “Just two girls in our class asking for a selfie.”
“I doubt the new kid cares about what your mom does,” says Salma. “He looked like he wanted to devour you—”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I say, my pulse competing with her voice.
“We finally agree on something!” chimes in Tiffany.
“You have to admit he’s giving Darcy,” says Salma in a low voice only I can hear. “Guess you’re going to be a lot less homesick—”
“Now that Lorena has been saved from eternal spinsterhood,” says Tiffany loudly, “should we start on our extracurricular applications?”
“Yes!” I say, unbothered by her dig and happy for the change of direction. She hands each of us a blank application, and we sit at our desks to work.
Salma’s desk is adjacent to mine, by the bunk beds, while Tiffany’s is across the room and closer to the window.
My plan to tell Minaro about William and the LUB won’t work now that the vampire is staying here. He’s probably still spying on me to make sure I’m keeping his secret. He’ll know if I betray his trust. And my recording won’t protect me for long.
I exhale heavily, and Salma knits her brow. I shake my head like it’s nothing, and I focus on the form.
At the top is a blank field for the name of the group. I press my ballpoint pen onto the paper and start to put down Book—
But I cross it out and write something else instead:
Shakespeare club.
I’M SO anxious about dinner tonight that I drag us down too early, and we’re the first ones in the dining hall.
“Why are we here before the food?” whines Tiffany.
“Because Lore is in love,” says Salma musically, sounding way too excited. I want to both tell her the truth and let her keep hoping. I love seeing her bubbly like this, but I hate how much I’m lying to her.
“Let’s bring over an extra chair,” suggests Salma.
“It’s five to a table,” I point out.
“There’s enough space to add one more plate,” she says, already on her feet, dragging a chair over. She stops halfway, her face spasming with pain.
“What is it?” I ask, bounding over to her.
“Nothing—just hurt myself in PE,” she says, and Tiffany jumps into action, grabbing the place setting and silverware.
As other students trickle into the hall, I inhale the mingled aromas of warm dishes being set out on the buffet table. My emotions are so frenzied that I can’t tell if I want the vampire to show up or not.
“Starving,” says Trevor as he and Zach reach the table.
But when Trevor pulls out the chair next to mine as usual, Salma says, “No, not there.”
“Okay.” He tucks the chair back under the table and pulls out the next one, by Zach.
“Why the extra seat?” asks Zach.
“A Hail Mary for Lorena’s love life,” murmurs Tiffany, and Salma kicks her chair.
“But why the assigned seating…?”
Zach’s voice fades from my hearing because he’s here.
William enters the dining hall, and the whole room’s attention finds him—but his eyes go right to me.
My friends’ conversation becomes barely a background buzz as I watch his approach, and I hear some of the louder voices at other tables saying, “Who’s that?” And “Is he an actor?” And “He’s hot as fuck!”
Dressed like the rest of us, without the distraction of his vintage suit, William is somehow even more strikingly beautiful. I’m aware that people are twisting in their seats to check him out, which makes him truly dangerous. A predator who lures in prey with his looks.
The vampire slides into the empty chair next to me without hesitation or invitation. My friends’ voices cut off entirely, but I can’t see their expressions because I have yet to look away from him.
“Welcome to Huntington, William.” I only hear these words because the vampire finally breaks our stare to look at the speaker. “I’m Zach.”
A chill slides down my spine as my worlds collide. The monster I’ve been trying to keep away from my friends is here, sitting among us, and he can kill us at any moment.
There’s no escape for any of us now.
After everyone else introduces themselves, William meets my gaze expectantly. When I don’t say anything, Salma says, “She’s Lorena.”
“Hello, Lorena,” says William, uttering my name for the first time and setting off a series of volcanic eruptions within me. From the way his mouth hitches up on one side, I know the vampire is enjoying this.
I turn away from him.
“What color are your eyes?” asks Tiffany, leaning into the table so that her breasts are squeezed together. Zero subtlety.
“I cannot see them,” he says, making Zach and Salma chuckle. “Lorena has a better view.”
I wonder if he knows how seductive he sounds when he says that. He leans toward me, until his face crosses my personal space, and I inhale deeper because I seem to be going through oxygen faster than usual.
“Um,” I say as I sink into his amethyst gaze, trying to reach in and read his mind. Why are you here? What do you want?
“They look … purple.”
“That’s what I thought!” Tiffany sounds more animated than I’ve heard her. She did tell us she likes older guys, but I’m pretty sure she was measuring in years, not centuries. “I’ve never met anyone with eyes that color. Where are you from?”
“Not far from here.”
“A New Hampshire native.” She says it like she’s never heard of such a rarity. “Maybe you could tell us what there is to do around here?”
My chest feels squeezed, and I wonder if I’m having a heart attack or a meltdown. It’s hard to tell. My would-be murderer is seated next to me as if this were an ordinary school dinner—but just last night, his fangs were soaked in my blood.
It takes me a moment to notice that my friends are getting up to fill their plates.
“Let’s go,” says Salma, hooking an arm around Tiffany’s elbow and dragging her away, presumably to give William and me some space. I wonder if the vampire can hear my best friend’s pleas to Tiffany to just let me have this one. I may not be able to hear Sal, but I can predict her.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as soon as William and I are alone.
His expression is as close to a grin as I’ve seen on his face. He’s definitely enjoying this. “I am adapting to your schedule.”
“I told you if I ever saw you again—”
“You would share that recording of me,” he says, sounding bored. “Here is my counteroffer: You do not share it, and I do not kill you or your friends.”
I blink a few times, but the mess of thoughts in my brain doesn’t sort itself. What’s happening? Why is he still here, and why is he offering to let me live?
“But— I don’t— Why are you here?” I sputter. “Why not go, explore, see the world, find others like you—?”
“I do not know the risks, nor do I have a destination. I must first learn everything I have missed.”
“You mean you’re actually planning to go to classes?” This feels like a sick joke. “How did you even pull this off?”
“I used my powers of persuasion—”
“Mind control,” I correct him.
“—to convince the boy to leave—”
“Mateo.”
“—and I made the director accept me in his stead.”
Zach sets his packed plate down on the table, and I snap to my feet before he asks why we’re still seated. When William doesn’t budge, I ask, “Aren’t you getting food?”
“Not hungry,” he says, but his eyes trail down my neck in a way that implies otherwise.
I pick up my plate and stride to the buffet table, where Salma is waiting for me. “He’s totally into you!” she gushes, while Tiffany hovers. “Why aren’t you more excited?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “I think I’m sort of in shock.”
“Let yourself enjoy this, Lore. You’re too hard on yourself.”
I nod, but I can’t look at her, so I start scooping some vegetable fried rice onto my plate, even though I’ve never been less hungry.
I count down the minutes until my friends finish eating, eager to get them away from the vampire.
When they finally push their chairs back from the table, I spring up and grab my bag—
“I wonder,” says William, who remains seated, “if Lorena could spare a few moments to catch me up on what I have missed so far?”
“Of course she can,” Salma answers for me. “Lore, hand me your form, and I’ll turn it in for you.”
My fingers are trembling as I fish the paper out of my bag.
“We won’t wait up,” she adds in a whisper that the vampire can hear.
“What form?” asks William as my friends walk away.
“Um, students are required to join an extracurricular club.”
“Which one are you joining?”
My throat goes dry as I say, “Shakespeare club.”
A strange look crosses his face, something between surprise and … longing? No, that can’t be right.
“I will not keep you,” he says, his jewellike eyes acting like magnets, drawing all my attention. “I only hope that since I am not going anywhere, we can start over.”
My eyes feel like they’re taking up my whole face. “You’ve been trying to kill me for the past three nights!” I nearly shout at him.
“Hence the starting over part.”
I shake my head. “I’m not erasing that video, so you can forget it.”
“I did not expect you would.” Dark strands of hair fall into his eyes, but he doesn’t brush them away. “Yet as I will be staying here a while longer, and you have forbidden me from attacking others, I must ask you a question.”
“What … is it?” My heart is racing like I’ve just run for miles.
“Lorena.”
The way he says my name is so soothing that it makes me want to agree before he’s even asked. “Yes—”
“Will you be my Familiar?”