Vampire Beach: Legacy
Read Vampire Beach: Legacy Online
Authors: Duval Alex
Contents
Jason is blissfully happy with Sienna, the beautiful, intoxicating vampire he has loved ever since moving to Malibu and entering her wealthy, cliquey, party life. But their happiness is under threat as Sienna’s parents don't believe a human-vampire relationship can work and forbid Sienna from seeing Jason.
As they try to get around the ban with secret meetings, Jason’s vampire aunt, Bianca, throws a new problem into the mix. Jason has to make a decision that could change his life for ever. There are exciting new possibilities right at his fingertips, but what hidden dangers lurk beneath the glamourous surface?
LEGACY
To Peter Sharoff
Special thanks to Laura Burns & Melinda Metz
‘
THERE
’
S THIS JUICY
French girl I’m trying to seduce,’ Jason Freeman told his juicy French girlfriend, Sienna Devereux. ‘I need to have some lines ready to go.’
‘I’m almost positive Madame Goddard isn’t going to have pick-up lines on the test.’ Sienna laughed. She pointed to the French textbook lying open between them on her bed. ‘I am
also
almost positive that some version of this reading comprehension exercise
will
be. So read this story about Jacques and Pauline at the Tour de France aloud, and then I’ll ask you questions.’
‘Who cares about Jacques and Pauline?’ Jason replied. ‘All I can think about is the French babe.’
‘Oh, yeah?’ Sienna raised one eyebrow. ‘What’s this girl like?’
Jason opened his mouth to answer.
‘In French,’ Sienna added.
‘
Très jolie. Et
, um,
très
. . .’ Jason struggled to come up with more French words for a moment, then gave it up. ‘She’s way gorgeous. Long black hair. These killer lips. Amazing legs.’ He slid one arm around Sienna’s waist.
He could hardly believe that he and Sienna were officially together now. And, thankfully, Brad Moreau – Sienna’s old boyfriend, and one of Jason’s first buddies when he started DeVere High at the beginning of senior year – was actually OK with the whole deal.
‘This girl clearly has a lot of depth,’ Sienna teased, playfully slapping Jason’s arm away.
‘Oh, I’m just getting started,’ Jason said quickly. ‘She’s insanely smart. She always knows where the best parties are. And you know what else?’
‘What?’ Sienna asked, her dark eyes warm as she looked at him.
‘She’s a vampire, which means she has super strength. You should see her play beach volleyball.’
‘Hmmm. And you think you have enough to offer this fabulous French vampire goddess woman? You, a mere mortal?’ Sienna asked.
‘Well, in the sixth grade I won a hot-dog eating contest,’ Jason answered. Sienna snickered. ‘Plus, when a car breaks down, I can dial AAA with incredible speed. No one’s faster. I have also been told – admittedly by my little sister – that I am the less British version of Jude Law. What more could any French vampire goddess woman want?’
Sienna burst into giggles. It was good to see her laugh. Sienna hadn’t done much laughing since the crossbow killer started murdering vampires in Malibu right before Christmas. The guy had mistaken Jason for a vampire and shot him on the first night of the hunt. If the crossbow bolt had landed an inch or two lower, Jason would be dead.
Dominic Ames, a vampire and longtime boyfriend of Belle Rémy, Sienna’s best friend,
was
dead. So was a human girl Detective Tamburo had wrongly assumed was a vampire. Tamburo had planned to kill Sienna on the last night of his vampire-hunting cycle. He’d actually had her in his car while Jason had been right behind in his VW Beetle, trying to get to Sienna before it was too late. An eighteen-wheeler had been caught up in the middle of their car chase, and Tamburo’s El Dorado had shot off one of the cliffs in the Malibu hills. He died. Sienna lived – but only thanks to a transfusion of Jason’s blood, straight from his wrist.
‘Of course, I can also burp the Pledge of Allegiance,’ Jason went on. He knew he was being a dumbass, but he just wanted to keep Sienna laughing a little longer. It was the beginning of February, and she still wasn’t quite back to her usual self. She was a little quieter. A little more serious. A little less . . . Sienna.
Jason could tell that it was mostly because Belle was so messed up. She was grieving for Dominic in a huge way. Sienna had been going to therapy sessions with Belle because Belle found it impossible to do them by herself, and Sienna’s parents had insisted Sienna get some therapy of her own too. They thought she needed help dealing with the trauma of almost being a victim of the crossbow killer.
‘Enough goofing around. Back to the book,’ Sienna instructed. ‘You have to pass French or you don’t graduate. And I’m telling you one thing right now: there’s no way I’m going out with a high-school boy once I’m in college.’ She gave him a teasing smile.
‘This French thing is unjust,’ Jason said. ‘I already have foreign language credits. I took two years of Spanish back in Michigan.’
‘In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t Michigan,’ Sienna replied. ‘That sound you hear? That whooshing? We call that the o-cean. That’s one way you can tell you’re not in Michigan.’
‘O-cean,’ Jason repeated slowly.
‘Or,
en français, la mer
,’ Sienna added. ‘
Répète, s’il te plaît.
’
‘
La mer.
’
‘
Donne-moi un baiser chaud et mouillé, bébé
,’ Sienna said, in flawless French. ‘
Répète, s’il te plaît.
’
‘
Donne-moi un baiser chaud et mou
-something,
bébé
,’ Jason said, attempting to
répéter
what Sienna had just said.
Sienna gave him a slow smile, then leaned over and kissed him.
‘What was that for?’ Jason asked. ‘Not that I’m complaining.’
‘You wanted a line to snag your French girl, so I gave you one. You just said, “Give me a hot, wet kiss, baby,”’ Sienna explained.
‘I did?’ Jason tried to remember the words he’d mangled. ‘Well, I always did have a way with the ladies. How do I say it again?’
‘
Donne-moi un baiser chaud et mouillé, bébé
,’ Sienna told him.
‘All right, all right, I’ll kiss you. You don’t have to beg,’ Jason teased. He threw the French textbook to the floor, pressed Sienna back against the pillows and kissed her.
Sienna pushed him away before he’d had nearly enough of her. ‘Not in front of the children!’ she teased, gesturing to the mound of stuffed animals that had come with the parade of get-well cards after her ‘car accident’.
Jason’s blood had helped Sienna heal from her severe wounds almost instantly. But the vampires of DeVere Heights were very careful about keeping up the appearance of being human, which meant that after a near-fatal car crash, Sienna would have weeks of ‘recovery’, accompanied by weeks of visits by friends with cards and presents, most of the presents being stuffed animals.
‘The children like to see Mommy and Daddy getting along,’ Jason joked and kissed her again.
‘You need to study,’ Sienna said at last. ‘I told you, if you don’t graduate, I’m going to have to find myself a new guy.’
Jason leaned off the bed and picked up the French book. ‘Fine. But there are a lot of good-looking high-school girls. I might just find myself somebody new too.’
‘Yeah, right.’ Sienna took the book and flipped back to the page they’d been working on. ‘Jacques and Pauline at the Tour de France . . .’
They kept at it for an hour. French, French, more French, nothing but French. ‘
La leçon est terminée
,’ Sienna finally said, closing the book. ‘Class dismissed.’
Jason let himself flop back on the bed. He loved hanging out in Sienna’s room. He wouldn’t want it for his own, but there was something about spending a little time in her space – all candles and sheer curtains around the bed, and more pillows than any human could ever use – that just made him feel good.
‘I’m kicking you out now,’ Sienna told him cheerfully. ‘My mom and I always watch
Project Runway
together and it’s about to start. She’ll be miffed if I miss it. Besides, it’s kind of fun.’
‘You vampires and your rituals,’ Jason mock-complained as he stood up.
It had been an adjustment getting together with a vampire. A big adjustment. For one thing, it meant accepting that Sienna had to feed on other guys. That had felt like a punch in the gut the first few times it had happened, even though she made sure to do it in private, not right in the middle of the dance floor at a party or something, the way a lot of vampires did.
He’d come to terms with that one – basically because he’d
had
to, but there were still times when he felt like a complete outsider. There were a lot of secrets about the way vampire society operated that Sienna wasn’t free to tell him. In spite of it all, though, being with a vampire had started to feel surprisingly ordinary.
Sienna walked Jason over to the door and kissed him, her arms wrapped around his neck. ‘You know what? I want to tell you something,’ she said when the kiss ended. Her lips were still just a breath away from his.
‘What?’ Jason asked. She suddenly sounded so serious.
‘I just feel . . . safe when you’re around. Safe and happy. My parents should be paying you instead of that therapist I see,’ Sienna told him, her dark eyes intense. ‘You have made my life a better place to be.’
Jason smiled. ‘So, how much money are we talking here?’ he began. ‘What kind of bucks does your therapist . . .?’ He let the sentence trail off. What she’d said was too big to joke about. The fact that she trusted him in that way meant everything to him. ‘I’m always going to be here for you, whenever you need me,’ he said seriously. ‘I promise.’
MY LIFE JUST
can’t get any better
, Jason thought.
He couldn’t stop smiling as he steered the Bug home. He knew he was being kind of a geek, but what Sienna had said had made his night. That and the fact that she’d been willing to spend hours helping him with his French.
Most of their friends were at the beach, the movies or the mall, indulging in full-on cases of Senioritis. Their college apps were in. The schools had their transcripts and their SAT scores and their recommendations – everything the admissions officers would use to make their decisions. What Jason and the other seniors did this last semester didn’t really matter. Unless they really screwed up, by, say, not passing French, which was a required subject at DeVere High for some insane reason – probably because the money for the DeVere Library and the DeVere Symphony Space and the DeVere Athletic Complex and almost everything else that was cultural in Malibu was funded by the Devereux family, who happened to be French. Just like almost every important family in Malibu.