Vampire Beach: High Stakes (11 page)

‘But if you wouldn’t take his calls, and you wouldn’t see him …’ Jason began.

‘He followed me. I’d be at a café, and suddenly Marc would show up and sit down with me. Or I’d be out clubbing with my friends, and he’d be there. I know he was following me – or having me followed. How else could he have found me so often?’

Sienna chewed on her lip thoughtfully. ‘He does sound pretty intense, but do you really think he was stalking you? Maybe it was just coincidence. You obviously hung out in the same crowd in Paris—’

‘I’m not exaggerating, SiSi!’ Paige cut in. ‘You don’t understand. He … he killed my boyfriend.’

Jason and Sienna both stared at her.

‘The guy I started dating after Marc,’ Paige went on, picking up her hairbrush and putting it down again, agitated. ‘His name was Rob. He was from San Francisco and he was there for college, like me. He was really laid back, the total opposite of Marc. And I
was
so sick of Marc shadowing me! So when Rob asked me out, I said yes. We only went on a couple of dates, and then Marc found out.’

‘What happened?’ Jason asked.

Paige let out a little sob.

Sienna took her hands. ‘Calm down, Paige. Just tell us what happened.’

‘Marc showed up in the street outside my apartment and started yelling up at me that I belonged to him and I should know better than to be with another guy. I called the police, but that didn’t matter. As soon as they saw who he was, they left him alone.’

‘And Rob?’ Jason prompted.

‘Rob’s car hit a tree the very next day,’ Paige said, tears streaming down her cheeks. ‘His brakes went out while he was driving downhill, he lost control and the car slammed right into the tree. The police said it was an accident, but I know it was Marc. I know it! He must have got someone to cut the brakes.’ She dissolved into sobs and collapsed onto the bed. Sienna held her and rocked her back and forth. Jason met her gaze over Paige’s head. He didn’t like this story one bit. This Marc Lessard was clearly powerful, but he sounded kind of nuts. And that wasn’t a good combination. Jason found himself thinking about Aunt Bianca, who was also a powerful vampire, and who was also pretty unstable.
His
aunt had caused him and his friends a lot of trouble. Was Marc going to do the same?

Suddenly Paige sat up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘Enough. Anyway, that was the last straw. I threw my things into a bag and got on a plane home the next morning.’

That’s one mystery solved
, Jason thought. Nobody had known why Paige was back early, but now it all made sense.

‘So it’s over,’ Sienna said. ‘Good. It will all be OK now that you’re back here with your old friends, with your family.’

‘No it won’t. Don’t you see?’ Paige jumped up and began pacing again.

Jason felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. ‘The flowers?’ he guessed. ‘Those roses at the Sixties party?’

Paige nodded. ‘Exactly. He’s here. He followed me to Malibu. He’s the one who sent me those stupid roses.’

‘Are you sure?’ Sienna cried.

‘Yes. I recognized his handwriting on the card. He always put a little curl at the end of his “y”. That’s why I wanted to come to Vegas, to get away from him – at least until Mom and Dad get home.’

Jason’s gaze shifted to the mirror in the bathroom.
‘See
you soon,’ he read. There was a curl at the bottom of the ‘y’.

‘Oh, my God. You think he’s here, in Vegas!’ Sienna exclaimed.

‘He must’ve followed me again.’ Paige stopped pacing and sank to the ground. ‘I bet he’s the one who put that Bollinger in my suite last night, too. It’s just like the things he was doing in Paris.’

‘That car on the road,’ Jason said, remembering. ‘The SUV with the tinted windows. We told it to pass us, remember? And then I saw it on the side of the road later, like it was waiting for us.’

‘You think that was Marc?’ Sienna asked.

Jason nodded grimly.

There was a loud knock on the door, and all three of them jumped.

‘Hey!’ Van Dyke’s voice bellowed. ‘Who’s in there?’

Sienna let out a nervous giggle of relief, and Jason went to open the door. Brad, Maggie, Erin, and Belle stood behind Van Dyke.

‘What’s going on?’ Van Dyke demanded. ‘You two have been gone forever.’ He stepped into the room and began looking around. ‘Hey, Paige, sweet suite.’

The others followed him in. Brad glanced at Paige and immediately frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

Paige just threw up her hands and disappeared into
the
bathroom. Sienna quickly filled them all in on what had happened in Paris.

‘I can’t believe Marc Lessard is some kind of stalker,’ Erin said. ‘I met him once, when I was in France with my parents. He seemed so charming.’

‘Apparently he is, until you try to dump him,’ Brad said. ‘What are we going to do about this?’

‘Nothing,’ Paige said from the door of the bathroom. She’d brushed her hair and put on some makeup, and she looked like her usual, take-charge self. ‘I’m not going to let Marc ruin everyone’s trip.’

‘Nobody cares about spring break, Paige,’ Sienna assured her. ‘It’s much more important to keep you safe.’

The others all nodded agreement.

‘We should all be on our guard,’ Jason said. ‘Now that we know he’s here, we can keep an eye out for the guy.’

‘Yeah. Nothing bad can happen to Paige while we’re watching her,’ Maggie put in.

‘I know – we’ll all take shifts standing guard tonight,’ Brad suggested. ‘Two person teams, or maybe three person. This suite is huge, we can all stay in here overnight. Each team keeps watch for four hours while the others sleep. Then we switch.’

‘No,’ Paige protested. ‘That’s crazy.’

‘I think it’s a great idea,’ Belle said. ‘I already lost one person I love this year. I don’t care what it takes, I don’t want to lose another one, Paige.’

Brad put his arm around Paige’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. ‘Don’t you worry. If Marc tries anything, he’ll have to go through all of us first.’

‘Besides, it’ll be fun,’ Erin said. ‘You can sleep and the on-guard team can watch movies on your giant plasma TV.’

They all laughed, but Jason could tell the laughter was forced.
They’re nervous
, he realized.
They’re all vampires, they’re all super strong. And they’re worried
.

And if the vampires were nervous, that could only mean one thing: the situation was very, very bad.

‘
THIS IS THE
plan,’ Zach said. ‘I have a friend who runs a wine bar in a hotel right down the Strip. We’re all heading over there. It’s very friendly.’

As in vampire-friendly, Jason assumed.

Zach turned to Paige. ‘It’s a place where you’ll be perfectly safe, and all of us can relax for a while.’

Everyone in Paige’s suite was already more relaxed. It had happened the moment Zach arrived – which was about ten minutes after Brad had put in a call to him. Zach could be aloof some – make that most – of the time, but the guy came through when you really needed him.

‘After that, we’ll head over to
Spamalot
,’ Zach continued.

‘Oooh, I love all that old Monty Python stuff. I love you, Zach!’ Paige gave an excited bounce on the suite’s white leather sofa, eyes gleaming. She really did remind him of Tyler sometimes. Like Tyler on drugs. But Jason was pretty sure this was the natural Paige or, at least, the stressed-out natural Paige.

‘
Spamalot?
Really?’ Erin asked. ‘I thought it was sold out for, like, ever.’

‘Not a problem,’ Zach answered.

Jason was starting to suspect there wasn’t anything that was a problem for Zach. He pulled out his phone and quickly texted Adam the plan. ‘Wanna come?’ he concluded.

He shook his head when he read Adam’s reply. ‘
CSI
SHOOTG ALL NITE
. S
EE U
AM
.’ His friend was such a geek. And that was a good thing, he thought. Adam didn’t need to get all tangled up in this new vampire crisis. He was human. He’d be a lot safer amid all the fake blood and murder, far away from any chance of encountering the real thing.

Of course, Jason was human, too …

Sienna reached over and squeezed his hand. Yes, Jason was human, too, but his situation was completely different. He squeezed Sienna’s hand back. Completely, amazingly different.

‘What are you all waiting around for?’ Zach asked. ‘Go get ready. I’m not taking you anywhere unless you clean up a little.’

Paige hopped up. ‘I’m going to wear my new Lanvin. The one with the ruffles.’ She fluttered her hands from her shoulders down to her midriff, indicating, Jason assumed, where all the ruffles were.

Jason laughed. He didn’t get how she could be so
thrilled
about wearing a dress or going to some play, when less than half an hour ago, she’d been borderline hysterical with fear.

But Paige managed to hold onto her giddy excitement throughout the night. As they walked into the bar, which was all black, white, and metal, her enthusiasm for the party – hell, for life – shone so brightly that she soon had people from several tables around them making toasts to her.

At
Spamalot
, she laughed so hard one of the knights made a joke about her from the stage. It was clear he was a little smitten by the Lady Paige.

In a way, Paige was a lot like Zach. Not in personality, but in charisma. They could both control the mood of the group. Every single one of them had fun that night, despite the underlying tension, and it was mostly because of Paige.

It wasn’t until they were in their hotel, heading toward the elevator that the earlier unease started to come back strongly. Maybe it was being back in the hotel, a place everyone knew Marc had been able to infiltrate.

Paige pulled a lipstick out of her purse and slid a fresh coating over her lips. Jason didn’t get why, since they were already home. He guessed she just needed something to do with her hands.

‘Jason and I will take the first shift watching Paige’s room,’ Zach announced as the elevator door opened with a
ping
. ‘You and Van Dyke relieve us at four,’ he told Brad as they all boarded.

‘I’ll get a wake-up call,’ Brad answered. ‘I may also have to pour water over Van Dyke’s head. You know he sleeps like a coma patient.’

‘Hey, untrue!’ Van Dyke protested.

‘Whatever it takes,’ Zach told Brad with a grin.

‘Do you want me to stay with you, Paige?’ Sienna asked.

‘We all could,’ Belle added quickly. ‘Slumber party!’

‘I’m actually kind of tired,’ Paige admitted.

Physically tired? Or just tired of pretending that she was having fun, fun, fun? Jason wondered. Maybe both.

‘And you know I like to hog the whole bed,’ she added.

‘Well, call if you need anything,’ Maggie said. ‘Or if the boys get in over their heads. You know we can kick butt a lot harder than they can.’

‘Zach just wants us well-rested in case some truly bad meanies show up,’ Erin agreed.

‘You figured me out,’ Zach told them

The elevator opened on the 17th floor. Maggie, Erin, Belle, Brad, and Van Dyke stepped off. ‘You coming, Sienna?’ Belle asked.

Sienna held the door open with one hand. ‘Maybe I’ll wait for you in your room,’ she told Jason. ‘Adam’s out for the night, right?’

‘Right. I’ll let you in.’ He stepped out of the elevator and headed along the corridor with the others as the elevator doors slid closed behind him.

Jason let Sienna into his room with his key card. ‘I’ll be back as soon as Brad and Van Dyke come to take over,’ he promised. Then he leant closer. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to your sister.’

‘I know.’ Sienna kissed his cheek. ‘See you soon.’ She closed the door and Jason ran up the stairs to the 18th floor.

Zach let Jason into Paige’s suite. She was getting settled in the bedroom, so Zach and Jason got settled in the living room. Jason picked up the remote and started flipping through the channels.

‘Anything grab you?’ he asked Zach.

‘Whatever,’ Zach answered.

Jason stopped on
300
. That movie would definitely put the plasma through its paces. He kept the sound really low; he wanted to be able to hear anything out of the ordinary.

It was kind of amazing to think about how much activity was going on in the casino below them, and in all the casinos, bars and clubs around. Up in the suite,
it
could have been another planet. The only sound came from the TV. Jason figured Paige had to have fallen asleep pretty much right away.

‘I’m going to get a soda, want one?’ Jason asked after about an hour. He felt like he was losing his edge. Not that he was about to fall asleep, just that he wasn’t alert for any suspicious sound the way he had been at the beginning of the shift.

Zach shook his head. Jason grabbed a Coke from the bar and took a swig as he walked back to his chair. The carbonation bubbles felt good, popping against his dry throat.