Blood Candy (23 page)

Candy had to settle on passing time in front
of the television, which worked for the most part as it numbed her
mind so that she didn’t think about anything until evening
approached. After that point, she couldn’t get her mind off the
basketball game and what Wendi had told her during practice the
night before. The realization suddenly hit that her fate would soon
be decided, and it may not turn out good. Her stomach fluttered
with butterflies. The idea that she may have to go with Rupert
chilled her to the bone.

When Blake finally came down, she wrapped her
arms around him.

“Please win tonight!”

They looked into each other’s eyes, and then
he leaned in to kiss her. His lips were cool but otherwise perfect,
and his embrace revealed his unnatural strength. His tongue found
hers in a gentle caress. She noticed there was no taste in his
mouth or scent on his breath other than a nearly imperceptible
metallic tang.

“I won’t let them take you,” he
said.

Candy rested her head against his chest. There
was no beating heart within him. She took a sudden step away, but
Blake didn’t intend to have his moment ruined. He pulled her back
into his embrace. Beating heart or not, in his arms she felt safe.
For the first time since that night with Rupert, she truly felt as
if she had no worries.

“Let’s get ready for tonight,” he said. “You
have nothing to worry about. These Brits don’t know what’s
coming.”

When Candy lifted her head he leaned in for
another kiss. She welcomed it, his kiss unlike any she had known
before, full of experience and passion. In the corner of her vision
Anastasia stood near the door, smiling while she watched before she
turned to walk away. A moment later, Chester came into the den, and
then Chip with a stupid grin when he saw them together.

“Okay, lovebirds,” Chester said. “Mother’s
waiting so let’s get dressed and ready to go. I want to get to the
stadium early so we can get some practice in before the Brits show
up.”

Everyone was dressed and ready by seven
o’clock. Candy and Blake rode with Anastasia and Wendi in one of
the day-proof town cars that Renaldo was driving. The rest of the
Mullins rode in a second town car. Candy couldn’t see where they
were going through the obscured windows and her nerves were on edge
once again. Both Anastasia and Wendi seemed able to sense this, as
if her anxiety gave off a distinct odor they could
smell.

“I wish I could promise we’ll win tonight,”
Wendi said with a grin, as if she enjoyed Candy’s unease and wanted
to bring out more. She had her long black hair tied off in a pony
tail that ran down her back. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up too
much.”

Anastasia gave her a sideways glance, though
she didn’t say anything. Blake glared at his sister and said,
“You’re such a downer. Just keep your head in the game, remember
everything we went over, and there’s no way we can
lose.”

“It would do you well to take after your
brother more,” Anastasia added.

“Oh sure, Mother,” Wendi said in the snide way
an insolent teen might to an actual adult parent, which Candy
thought was way freaking odd in their case. “I hope you have a
reason to put so much faith in Blake.”

Wendi turned her dark eyes on Candy. The
vampire hadn’t been exactly pleasant the night before at practice,
but the way she acted now caught Candy a little off guard. It made
her wonder what she did to deserve such ire.

“Stop picking on your brother,” Anastasia
said, once again in a detached way. “I’d like some peace and quiet
now.”

Peace and quiet she got. No one said another
word until the town car came to a stop and the driver opened the
door. Candy didn’t know what to make of Wendi. She seemed like one
of those people who always saw the glass as half empty. Wendi was
an instigator, an effect achieved with her eyes alone, which Candy
had to endure over the rest of the silent trip.

“This is the stadium of the local amateur
team,” Blake said when they got out of the car. They were in a
tunnel the teams used to get down into the locker rooms. “My high
school team played a state championship game here in my senior
year.”

The other Mullins walked on ahead. When Blake
took Candy’s hand, she worried Jimmy might see if the Misfits had
already arrived. Then again, she wasn’t sure if she cared. She went
ahead and pulled her hand gently away, feigning to scratch her
head.

“When was that?” she asked.

Blake opened his mouth to answer then gave her
an amused look. “Are you trying to trick me? You won’t like the
answer.”

“Why not? I already told you it doesn’t
matter. It’s not as if you look like an old man or
something.”

Blake laughed. “I guess you’re right,” he
said, though he still didn’t answer.

Candy stopped and crossed her arms. “I want to
know,” she said. “It’s not a good sign that you’re trying to keep
secrets from me.”

Blake forced a smile. “Nineteen
eighty-nine.”

“Holy shit you’re—” She stopped to think a
moment, counting in her head. “Fifty years old?”

“I said you wouldn’t like the answer. And I’m
forty. I was nineteen when I was made.”

“Wow.” Some things made sense now. “What were
the eighties like?”

Blake put his arm around her shoulder,
laughing a little. “The eighties were by far my favorite. The
seventies sucked, but I was a kid and didn’t really notice. The
nineties were far too depressing, but I was a young vampire and
didn’t really care.”

They came into the main area of the stadium,
which was completely empty except for Candy and the Mullins. It
didn’t look quite as big as a professional stadium, though it was
close. The scoreboard above the court was lit up and read double
zeroes for both sides. Anastasia took a seat courtside while the
Mullin children grabbed some basketballs.

“How is this possible?” Candy said, looking
around the empty stadium.

“Anything’s possible with the right amount of
money. Amateur basketball isn’t exactly a booming business. It
didn’t take much of a donation,” Anastasia said.

Blake trotted out onto the court with his
brothers and sister. Candy took a seat next to Anastasia, wondering
how many girls Blake had been with over the course of twenty years
as a vampire. She realized she actually didn’t know if vampires
could do normal things with girls. She supposed they could; either
way, it had her curious.

“When will the Misfits be here?” she asked
Anastasia.

“Chester informed them where it is. They’ll be
here soon, I’m sure. Ah, there’s Nigel.”

Nigel was on the other side of the court
dressed in a striped black and white referee uniform. He hurried
over to take the seat on Anastasia’s right.

“I’m bloody excited,” he said, grinning
widely. “It’s been a good long while since I had the pleasure of
witnessing a duel. This may be a sissy duel, but I expect plenty of
blood regardless.”

Candy was taken aback when Anastasia had a
good laugh. “I don’t expect it to be pretty,” the little vampire
girl said. “I hope as the referee you can keep up with the action,
Sir Nigel.”

“I can keep up with these
whippersnappers.”

There were other people coming into the
stadium. They sat in groups throughout the rows of seats, talking
amongst themselves while watching the Mullins practice. After a few
minutes there were seven different groups. Candy didn’t recognize
any of them. Some of them looked like normal, everyday people,
while others were extremely pale and dressed in old fashioned
clothes. A chill ran through her—they were all vampires.

Nigel excused himself to go talk with the
other groups of vampires. Candy heard familiar voices—the Misfits
had shown up, sitting one row over. She stood up to go over to
them.

“Don’t wander too far,” Anastasia said. “Trust
me when I say some of the other vampires here make the Kingsleys
look like harmless little boys in comparison. Speaking of which,
the Magister will be coming over here in a few minutes. Do try to
remember our goal.”

Candy nodded, then she moved over to take the
seat next to Felicia.

“How was it at the vampire mansion?” Felicia
asked with a wry smile.

“Fine,” Candy said, glancing at Jimmy.
“Nothing special.”

“Nothing special my ass.” Felicia followed
Chester on the court with her eyes. “I need to nab me a filthy rich
vampire stud.”

Jimmy’s face burned. He hadn’t said a word
since coming in.

“What’s with all of the vampires?” Melvin
said. “I don’t like this.”

Candy followed his eyes to the Mullins and all
of the other vampires. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t like it
either.”

“Whoa!” White Paul blurted out, his eyes
locked on Wendi. “Who’s the hot chick?”

“She’s a vampire, dipshit. One of the
Mullins,” Melvin said.

White Paul read the name on her jersey aloud,
“Wendi.” He leaned back in his chair with a wide grin.

Candy stared at Jimmy until he looked at her.
She stood up and beckoned with a swing of her head for him to
follow her to the tunnel. He did so, though he made it a point to
show his displeasure. She paused at the edge of the tunnel when she
saw two guards posted at the other end. When she turned to face
Jimmy, his eyes went straight to her neck.

“What?” she said. “Don’t look at me like
that.”

“Look at you like what, a vampire
lover?”

“Fuck you.”

“Is that why you called me back here? To tell
me to fuck off and you want nothing to do with me anymore? I’ve
come to expect as much from girls like you.”

“Don’t give me that shit. You know damn well
there was no other choice.”

“Right.” Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Did you get
into his coffin with him?”

Candy slapped him hard across the face and
then tried to walk past him to the seats. He grabbed her and pinned
her against the corner of the tunnel entrance, then planted a kiss
on her lips, whether she wanted it or not. While it was a damn good
kiss, it was nothing like the kiss with Blake. And unlike the kiss
with Blake, she could easily push Jimmy away. They stared at each
other for a moment with pure hatred in their eyes, then Candy
jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, jamming her tongue
in his mouth.

“I missed you,” he said when he came back up
for a breath.

Candy let go of him and looked down on the
stadium seats. She cursed at herself, but then again she didn’t
care if anyone might have seen her. No one seemed to be paying them
any attention anyway. She wondered what it was about Jimmy that
made her want him so much.

“Felicia and the others are right,” he said,
angst returning to his voice. “The vampires are only doing this
because of your blood, because of whatever makes it so special.
That’s all they want from you, Candy.”

“You don’t know that,” she said softly. “Why
are
you
doing all of this for me? We both know why. They do
it for blood and you do it to get into my pants. What’s the
difference?”

“The difference is they are fucking vampires.
And you’re more to me than sex. Believe it or not I like you
because of who you are.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Say you’ll leave here with me. Say it because
I love you, because I couldn’t sleep while you were with those
freaks. Say it because I don’t want to live without you. Because
you’re the only good thing I’ve ever had in my miserable
life.”

Candy dropped her eyes to the floor; fuck him
for doing this to her; fuck him for doing the same thing every
other guy did who she let get too close. They were all the same and
they all wanted the same thing. Fuck him.

But she couldn’t break him like that. She
couldn’t deny her feelings.

“You’re going way too fast,” she said. “I’ll
forever be grateful to you, but I don’t want us to have a short
lived relationship built on adrenaline. We need to slow down
some.”

Jimmy nodded, hanging his head. Candy couldn’t
read him otherwise. If he was pissed off or heartbroken, she
couldn’t tell. He reached out for her hand. She was relieved when
Nigel’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker.

“I’m bloody pleased to announce both teams are
now here and the game will be commencing shortly. Let the challenge
begin!”

Candy looked back at Jimmy before she went to
her seat next to Anastasia. “It will be over soon,” she said. “Talk
to you then.”

Chapter Eighteen

Nigel stood in the middle of the court with a
microphone, beaming with excitement over the event. The Mullins had
gathered near one of the hoops with their game faces on. Candy sat
courtside on Anastasia’s left, her legs in a nervous jitter, with
the Magister on her right. The groups of vampires were just as
excited about the event as Nigel.

Candy looked over at the Misfits. Jimmy
offered a weak smile.

“Welcome!” Nigel said over the speakers.
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, vampires and blood
connoisseurs. Welcome mortal and lycans. Welcome to the show of the
century! Tonight, two families will battle it out for the grace of
the young and lovely Candy.”