Vampire Beach: Initiation (7 page)

But he'd only been lying there for a minute or two when a noise at the window startled him
-
a soft bang, followed by silence, then another little bang.
Almost like someone was tapping from outside.
Jason got up and went over to peer out.

The moon, almost full, cast an eerie silver light over the backyard, reflecting up from the still surface of the pool. The carefully spaced potted trees around the back deck threw distorted shadows onto the ground. As Jason watched, one of them moved.

He leaned closer to the window, staring into the darkness as someone stepped out into the moonlight.

Silver light on sleek black hair.
Pale, perfect skin, luminescent in the darkness.
Sienna.

Jason threw open the window and leaned out.

"Hey, Michigan," Sienna called quietly. "Can I come up?"

Sienna was at his house, asking to climb up to his room. Jason felt as if he had died and gone to heaven.
Yeah,
he thought
,
if heavens like an episode
of Dawson's Creek
!
He glanced at the vine
-
c
overed trellis that rose from the back deck up to the top of the house. It ran about a foot to the left of his window and it would be pretty easy to climb, now that he thought about it. "Sure. Come on up. As long as you don't call me Dawson," he told Sienna.

She just gave him that slow, sly smile of hers, then put one slim hand on the bottom of the trellis and gracefully pulled herself up, shimmying her way toward him as if she'd done it a million times. Before Jason knew it, she was level with his window.

"Want to give me a hand?" she asked, her voice
husky.

Jason put his hands on her waist to steady her as
she edged sideways and slid one long leg over his windowsill.
Then the other leg.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, forcing him
self to let go of her. "Not that I'm not pleased to see
you.”

"I need to talk to you." She raised one eyebrow. "But is your cell turned off this time?"

Her question brought him right back to their almost
-
kiss in the car. Sienna moved closer.
As close as she'd been that day.

"I threw the thing away," Jason joked. He waited for Sienna to start talking; instead, she reached out and cupped his face in her hands, her body leaning into his.

Jason's brain was trying to tell him something
-
something about Brad, about vampires, about Sienna being off
-
limits. But his body overpowered it. He had to kiss her.
Now.
He leaned in, wrapping his arms around her.

Sienna tilted his head to one side, and sunk her teeth into his neck. Electric pain shot through Jason as he felt her begin to feed. He pushed her away with all of his strength.

Sienna stumbled backward. Her dark eyes had turned yellowish and they gleamed with desire. But not desire for Jason, just for his blood. And he'd seen that look before
-
in the eyes of the rogue vampire.

Sienna laughed as she reached for Jason again. Her fangs gleamed white and sharp in the moonlight, and her gaze was focused on his throat. Those eyes showed no sign of the girl he knew. He saw only bloodlust.

And Jason knew she was about to drink him to death.

“G
et away from me!" Jason yelled, pushing Sienna away savagely. She fell to the floor. And he sat up.
In bed.
Alone.

He stared around the room, but there was no one there. The window was closed. "A dream," he mut
tered in relief. He'd fallen asleep waiting for the bath
room. Breathing hard
-
whether from fear or excitement, he wasn't sure
-
Jason got up and yanked open the door. The hallway was empty.

He stalked down to the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water.
Of course it was a dream,
he thought, beginning to decelerate.
Sienna would never come here, never come on to me like that.
I’
ve clearly absorbed too many of those
Dawson's Creek
reruns Dani's always watching.
But it had seemed so real
.
The feel of her in his arms.

And the look of bloodlust in her eyes.

Jason shoved the thought away and focused on getting ready for bed. But once back in his room in the dark, he couldn't shake the thoughts of Sienna. What the hell with that dream? He knew Sienna would never feed on him. He knew she'd never give in to the bloodlust. She'd promised him, and he believed her.

It's because of
today,
he thought.
That strange energy at dinner must've gotten into my head and into my dreams.

He pounded his pillow into a ball and tried to get to sleep. But thoughts of Sienna kept playing on his mind, keeping him awake until well after two in the morning. At last, finally, he drifted off.

This time, he didn't dream at all.

On Friday morning, Jason was the last one down
stairs. Bianca was reading the paper at the dining room table. Dani sat yawning at the breakfast bar, and Tyler was shoveling cereal into his mouth.

"Where's Mom?" Jason asked, surprised to find his father manning the coffee machine.

"Gone already," Mr. Freeman replied. "She took the leftovers over to the town hall. They're doing a run to a homeless shelter with donated food."

"Cool," Jason said. He grabbed a bowl and sat next to Tyler for some cereal.

"I'm going to head into L.A. this morning for a lit
tl
e shopping," Aunt Bianca said from the dining room. "Want to come, Dani?"

Danielle's eyes lit up at the prospect of shopping.
"Definitely!"
Then she glanced at Jason. "What are you guys doing today?"

"Adam and I promised to show Tyler the beach," he
said

"Maybe I'll stop by after," Danielle decided. She finished her juice.
"
Surfrider
Beach?"

Jason nodded.
"Yep.
Best waves around."

"Can't come to Malibu without checking out the waves,"
Tyler added. But he didn't sound that enthused.

Bianca stood up and stretched. "Ready?" she asked Danielle.

"Always," Dani answered, grinning as they headed
out.

Jason finished his cereal. "Ready?" he asked Tyler as he stuck his bowl in the sink.

"Always," Tyler replied, but his Dani impression was weak. His voice stayed much too calm and flat, and Jason noticed that the dark circles under his friend's eyes had deepened since yesterday.

Jason walked out to the front hall and grabbed his surfboard. "We can take turns. Or we can rent you a
board.”

"Whatever," Tyler said as he followed Jason to the car. He got in, settled back in the seat, and didn't say a word until they arrived at the beach. Jason had never seen Tyler so moody before, not even right after his parents' break up.

"I'm going to hit the bathroom," Tyler said as soon as Jason parked.

Jason got out of the car and stared down at the beach. It was a calm day, and the water was practi
cally still. It looked more like the Henderson Marina back in Michigan than the Pacific Ocean. He fig
ured that the mood Tyler was in, he probably wouldn't care, but the flat water tortured Jason. He wanted his board time.

But then he noticed something else to torture him: Sienna. Well, Sienna and Brad, with Belle R
é
my and her boyfriend, Dominic, Zach, and a few other kids from the Heights.
A few other
vampires.
Jason's mind instantly flew to the dream he'd had last night
-
the dream that had kept him tossing and turning for hours.
Sienna so close.
That kiss about to happen.

How could he just walk over there and say hello to her as if he hadn't been thinking about her for the past ten hours?

"Let's go, bro!" Tyler boomed, jogging over from the bathroom. He smacked Jason on the back. "Show me those California sands!"

Jason stared at him. The bags under his eyes remained, but otherwise this was a whole new Tyler. He grabbed the cooler from the backseat and rushed down the wooden steps from the parking lot to the beach. Jason grabbed his board
-
just in case the waves got going later
-
and raced after him.

"Freeman!" Brad called, waving. "Over here!"

"Friends of yours?"
Tyler teased as they headed
over.

"Nah.
I'm just kind of a celebrity around Malibu," Jason said. "The guy on the white towel is Zach.
The one giving the party."

"Ah, Mr. Popularity himself," Tyler exclaimed
jok
ingly.

"And he's very, very rich," Jason added.

"Lucky bastard," Tyler joked.

"Hey, Jason."
Belle ambled over to meet them, her long, athletic legs moving easily over the sand. "Who's your friend?"

Jason shot a look at Belle's boyfriend, Dominic, who glared at them from his seat on a dark blue beach blanket. He existed in a constant state of insane jealousy, and Belle seemed to like to get him all tweaked. She was already giving Tyler one of her best flirty smiles.

"Tyler
Deegan
, Belle
R
é
my
," Jason said quickly. "And her boyfriend," he added with a nod toward Dominic.

"Hey," Tyler said. Jason could tell he got the hint when he raised his voice and called to Dominic. "Hey,
man.”

Belle backed off, pouting a little, and Dominic relaxed enough to nod hello.

"Come
sit with us," Brad called, waving them over to a red
-
and
-
white
-
striped blanket set up under a huge white umbrella. An open cooler sat in its shade, bottles of water, beer, and soda spilling over the top along with the ice. Sienna lounged in the sun just next to it. As Jason approached, she sat up and pulled her sunglasses down to look at him.

"Hi," she said in the same husky voice she'd had in his dream. Jason's throat went dry. He had a bad feel
ing he was about to make a complete ass of himself.

His premonition came true when the
Powerpuff
Girls
theme rang out from his pocket: "Dani, I'm going to massacre you," he muttered. But, glad to have a reason to turn away from Sienna, he pulled out his cell phone. "Hello?"

"Jason,
it's
Adam. Help me out here," said his
friend’s voice.

"What's up?" Jason asked.

"I'm in the parking lot. I see your bug. But where
are you?”

"Adam, have you even come down to the beach yet?" Jason asked.

"No," Adam replied. "Why?"

"Because if you bothered to look, you'd see me about twenty yards from the stairs," Jason told him.

"Yeah, but that requires effort," Adam pointed out. "This way, I don't even have to look."

"Just for that, I'm not going to tell you if we're to
t
he left or the right," Jason said. He hung up as Adam appeared at the top of the steps. He gave a wave and bounced down the stairs, kicking off his shoes at the bottom. Then he made a big show of hopping bare
foot across the hot beach.

"Oh, take it like a man," Jason called.

Adam grimaced. "That is some hot sand," he protested, flinging himself onto the blanket next to Sienna, grabbing some ice from the cooler and rub
bing it on his feet.

"That's disgusting," Sienna said, but she shook her
head in amusement.

Jason secre
tl
y admired how Adam had effortlessly managed to make
himself
right at home on Sienna's blanket. Maybe that was because he didn't have any confusing hot
-
but
-
scary dreams to contend with.

"
Jason's being
rude," Sienna said, glancing up at Tyler. "I heard him introduce you to Belle. I'm Sienna."

"Sienna, huh?"
Tyler replied. "I've heard about you."

Her eyes immediately went to Jason, and he wanted to smack his old friend in the head.

"What did he tell you?" Sienna asked, immediately turning back to Tyler.

"Lots of mysterious things."
Tyler sat right down on the blanket next to her and leaned in as if to tell her a
secret.