Ninth Grade Slays (26 page)

Nelly stepped in, wearing tear-smeared mascara with dark circles under her eyes. When she saw Vlad, she started crying again and hugged him. Vlad hugged her back and nudged her gently away from his shoulder so that he could understand what she was saying through her sobs. “You're okay. Otis said you would be, but I just didn't know. I thought . . . I thought I'd lost you!” She buried her face in her hands again, and Vlad hugged her close and let her cry.

He fought the tears but lost, weeping softly into Nelly's shoulder for everything to be normal again. For all the pain and loss that he'd suffered from, that they'd suffered from, to be gone. At last his tears subsided, and he tried to sit back in a more comfortable position, but Nelly clung to him.

Vikas held the door open for Otis, who managed to coax Nelly away from Vlad after several minutes and substitute his own shoulder. Henry was in the hall, a bandage on his forehead, looking more than a little concerned. His eyes were puffy and red. With a shaking sigh, Henry entered the room and closed the door behind him. His expression shifted from upset to relieved when he met Vlad's gaze.

Vlad smiled. He wanted to say something to ease their tension, to take away their sorrow, but he couldn't think of anything, so he merely shrugged and asked, “So when can I go home?”

Over Nelly's sobs, Otis said, “The doctors say a month, at the least. Despite how quickly you heal.”

Vlad sighed. “And how long will you be staying, Otis?”

Otis met his gaze. A glimmer of determination crossed his eyes. “Until late summer. And then I'm going to go find the ritual passage D'Ablo is so desperate for. After all, without it, your life is safe.”

Vlad nodded, relieved Otis was staying for at least a little while, and pursed his lips, trying hard to push down the anger and sadness that he was feeling, but they refused to leave him, so he lay back and closed his eyes again.

"Don't you think you've slept enough?” Henry was next to his bed, and probably wearing a smirk.

Vlad opened his eyes. Sure enough, Henry was smiling. After a second, so was Vlad. "I'll sleep when I'm dead.”

Nelly shot him a wide-eyed look. "Vladimir! That's not funny!”

Vlad grinned. “Okay, so I'll sleep when I'm undead.”

Henry didn't miss his cue. “Too late.”

Otis calmed Nelly's protests by leading her out the door with promises of hot coffee, and Vikas followed, after exchanging smiles with Vlad and his rather amusing drudge.

After they were gone, Henry said, "Well, if the stake-through-the-heart stereotype isn't true, I wonder what else is a myth. I mean, where's your superhuman strength?”

"Don't lose hope.” Vlad chuckled and winced at the pain in his chest.

Vlad pointed to the bandage on Henry's head. “What happened?”

Henry's fingers found the bandage, and he frowned. "Oh, that. It was the weirdest thing. I got this feeling, like I should find you, like you were going to be in trouble soon if I didn't. And this guy came outta nowhere and clocked me over the head. I woke up a few hours later and just knew you'd been hurt. Your uncle said that that Jasik guy had taken me temporarily out of commission, something about getting your drudge out of the way long enough to get a stake into you.”

“Holy crap, Henry.” Vlad shook his head in astonishment. Apparently, D'Ablo and Jasik had all the little details ironed out.

Henry took on a more serious tone. “So about Joss . . .”

Vlad glanced at the door. “I don't want to talk about him, Henry. In fact, I'd rather forget the whole thing ever happened.”

Henry nodded, and the room fell silent for a moment. Then, in an act of complete normalcy, Henry grinned and said, “Hey, did you see the cute nurse out in the hall?”

23

THE SILVER LINING

VLAD SHIFTED HIS backpack to a more comfortable spot on his back and followed Henry through the double doors of Bathory High. Spring had been flirting heavily with summer during the last week of school; so the staff had turned on fans to try to keep the peace. It hadn't worked— the fans just whirred loudly, giving everyone headaches and messing up their hair without really cooling them off. And nothing is more unpleasant than a few hundred teenagers forced to study algebraic equations while sweat beads on their skin.

Vlad hadn't felt much like talking since he left the hospital. Henry had asked repeatedly for the details of Joss's attack—always on the heels of apologizing for his cousin's actions—but Vlad wasn't feeling up to sharing just yet. Pretty much, he wanted to put the ordeal behind him and get back to the usual stuff, like hanging out with Henry the way they had before Joss had shown up in their quaint little town. It's funny how getting stabbed through the heart by a friend can bring your whole school year down. He was lucky that Nelly had convinced his teachers to let him advance to tenth grade next year, despite so many missed tests. The homework he'd caught up on, though, so apparently his grades weren't as bad as they could have been. Right now, though, he was looking forward to summer vacation.

Vlad turned his head and looked at Joss's locker, now empty. He hadn't seen Joss since that day in the hospital. By the time he got home, Joss had split town, thankfully without revealing Vlad's secret to anyone. As far as Vlad knew, he hadn't even mentioned it to Henry. Joss might be an attempted murderer and the worst kind of backstabber imaginable, but at least he was a man of his word.

Henry squeezed Vlad's shoulder. They'd both lost a good friend that day.

Then Vlad saw it. Taped to his locker was a parchment envelope, closed with a red wax seal bearing the initials
S.S.
Slayer Society. He pulled the flap open and withdrew a small sheet of parchment. On it, in Joss's handwriting, was a single, short phrase, written in stark, black ink: FRIENDSHIP OVER.

Vlad took a shuddered breath and tucked the note back into the envelope.

Henry closed his own locker and was fiddling with the lock. Vlad watched him without interest. Eddie Poe passed by and offered Vlad a glare—apparently near-death experiences aren't enough to get the media off of your back. The Eddie situation was something he'd have to deal with eventually, but for now, just knowing Joss wasn't around to hurt him anymore was enough. More than anything, Vlad just wanted his freshman year to be over. Not that he expected his sophomore year to be much better, especially if Eddie didn't get over his monster obsession . . . but hey, a guy can dream.

“Vlad?”

Vlad's grip on his backpack strap tightened. He turned around and for a moment, forgot how to form coherent words. Strange how a pretty girl's face can render you speechless.

Meredith smiled. “I was just wondering if I'd see you at Freedom Fest tonight.”

Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, adorned with a pink satin ribbon. Vlad had to concentrate to keep from reaching up and running his hand over her silken tresses. He managed a smile. “Of course. Are you . . . are you going to the dance with anyone?”

The blush in Meredith's cheeks deepened a shade. “That depends on you.”

Henry took his cue and moved down the hall to first period. Vlad dropped his backpack in his locker and retrieved his books for his first two classes. He shut the door and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “How about I walk you to class and we can talk about it some more?”

“Actually, I'm helping out in the library first hour.”

Vlad smiled. “Then I'll walk you to the library.”

Meredith's small smile broke into a grin. Vlad took her books for her, and they moved down the hall. As they walked, their hands found each other. Vlad's heart, once again healthy and strong, beat against his ribs in one continuous rhythm. When they reached the library, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. She squeezed his, and as they parted, their fingertips lingered to touch.

Meredith's voice was hushed in the nearly empty hallway. “Will I see you after class?”

Vlad beamed. “Count on it.”

The door closed behind Meredith, and Vlad floated down the hall to first-period English. Tonight was Freedom Fest, and this time, he was going to make Meredith happy she went with him.