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  I’d almost caught up to him when a door slammed. The sound of it ricocheted down the hall, loud as a gunshot. I couldn’t help myself. I screamed, a high-pitched wail of fear that Maximus abruptly cut off with the palm of his hand.

  “Quiet,” he hissed. His pointer finger curved along my top lip. His thumb buried itself in my cheek. He lowered his head, resting his temple against mine. Our eyes met and I saw myself reflected in his pupils. My face was white. My eyes huge and unblinking. I looked absolutely terrified.

  So much for being a badass. One measly door slams shut and I was ready to pass out. What was I going to do when it actually came time to face Angelique? Pee my pants?

  It was a distinct possibility.

  “Use your fear. Control it. Make it work for you. Better?” When I nodded, Maximus slowly lowered his hand. “You can do this, Lola. For Travis.”

  For Travis.

  I squared my shoulders. Took a deep, calming breath. “For Travis,” I repeated. I could be brave for him. I would be brave for him... if it was the last thing I did. Arm steady, aim true, I raised my gun. “Let’s go get him back.”

  We got to the end of the hall and turned left, following the main corridor. The lights remained on, the quiet hum of electricity unwavering. The silence was a thick, palpable thing, weighing heavily down on my shoulders. I couldn’t help but feel every step I took was another step closer to death. We were ensnaring ourselves deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of Angelique’s own making, and I prayed Maximus would be able to find the way out.

  When I heard the laughter I froze in my tracks. It rang down the hall, gleeful and menacing all at the same time. Bile rose in the back of my throat and I swallowed it reflexively, trying not to gag on the taste.

  Angelique.

  She was finally ready to come out and play.

  Someone whimpered. It wasn’t until Maximus took my hand that I realized it had been me. “You’re stronger than you think,” he said fiercely. “Braver than you know. You can face the darkness, Lola. And when it’s over we’ll step into the light together. All of us.”

  “Isn’t this the sweetest thing. It brings tears to my eyes. It really does.” Angelique’s purring voice carried across the hall, slithering through the air like an undulating serpent. Like an actress taking center stage she slid out of the shadows and struck a pose: hand on hip, one leg thrust out, head thrown back.

  She ran her fingertips down the side of her skintight red sequined gown, her nails glittering black beneath the fluorescent lights. Her sleek brown hair was elaborately curled. Her makeup flawless and topped off with lips painted the color of blood. She could have stepped straight out of the pages of a fashion magazine, and even as I trembled at the sight of her I couldn’t help but be awed by her beauty.

  “I don’t recall extending a second invitation,” she said coyly.

  Maximus stepped up. “I’m crashing the party.”

  “That’s not very polite,” she said, her lips pushing out in a pout.

  Maximus moved with lightening quickness. One moment he was beside me, the next he was sprinting towards Angelique with the speed of a freight train, his arms blurring at his sides. She bared her teeth, silver fangs glinting under the lights as she crouched down, preparing to spring…

  The gun bucked in my hand as it discharged. The bullet flew through the air, missing Angelique’s face by mere inches and embedding itself in the wall behind her head, creating a perfectly round hole in the brick. Maximus rolled to the side, flattening himself against the door to the science lab. When he looked back at me his expression was nothing short of incredulous. Angelique’s reaction was a little less controlled.

  “Bitch!” she cried, her ice blue eyes flashing with malice. “You could have shot me!”

  “That was the general idea,” I said shakily.

  Angelique pointed one black tipped fingernail at me. “I’ll deal with you in a minute,” she hissed before her gaze snapped back to Maximus.

  He pushed away from the door. They began to circle each other in the middle of the hallway while I watched, rooted to the spot. Like two feral wolves squaring off for battle they snarled and snapped, their hackles rising as they sized each other up.

  Shoot her, I willed Maximus silently. Just kill her so we can find Travis and go home. But when I looked at his hands I saw they were devoid of any weapon and my gun, the one I’d tossed away from me like a panic stricken idiot, had slid well out of reach.

  “You marked her,” Maximus said, his voice ominously low.

  “I should have killed her like I did the rest.” Angelique’s bare shoulders jerked in a careless little shrug. “But she was so delightfully willful. It would have been a shame not to play with her first.”

  Maximus growled low in his throat. “She’s not a toy.”

  A smile spread slowly across Angelique’s face. “Ah, but that’s exactly what she is, Maximus.”

  Maximus? How the hell did she know his name?

  “There really is no reason for you to get involved,” Angelique continued. “The girl is here. Obviously she has agreed to my terms. Herself for the boy. What else is there to discuss?”

  The boy.

  Travis.

  “Where is he?” I said loudly. “What have you done to him?”

  Angelique’s gaze was withering. “There’s no need to shout. My hearing is exceptional, thank you very much.”

  “There’s no need to kidnap people and threaten their lives, but I don’t see that stopping you,” I retorted.

  As though on cue both Angelique and Maximus stopped circling and turned to face me. Maximus looked furious. Angelique looked positively delighted.

  Laughing, she brought her hands together and beamed at me over her fingertips. “See what I mean? She’s so deliciously unafraid, Maximus! No wonder you’ve taken a shine to her. Why, I haven’t come across a human like her in ages. And to find one in the first town!” She clapped her hands again. “It’s unprecedented. It really is.”

  Find one in the first town? What did that mean? “Maximus, what is she talking about?” I asked uncertainly. I tried to look at him, but he was staring at a spot on the wall and wouldn’t turn his head.

  “Ooh,” Angelique cooed breathlessly. “You haven’t told her, have you? You naughty, naughty boy!”

  “Haven’t told me what? Maximus, talk to me!”

  “Nothing,” he said. “It’s nothing, Lola. It doesn’t matter now.”

  If it didn’t matter then why couldn’t he look me in the eye? Tension knotted in my stomach. I swallowed hard, forcing saliva down a throat that had suddenly gone dry. “Tell me,” I insisted in a voice that sounded strangled even to my own ears. “What did she mean, first town? First town for what?”

  “What she meant,” Angelique purred when Maximus remained silent, “is that your pathetic little town is the origin, sweetling. The very first of its kind. A test, if you will.”

  I took one step back, then another. I wanted to run, but the truth was one of those things that no amount of running could take you away from. “What kind of test?” I whispered.

  Her blue eyes feverishly bright, Angelique said, “A test to see how long it would take to slaughter five thousand people. A test to see if we could get away with it. Spoiler alert.” She ran her tongue across her fangs and grinned. “We did.”

  My knees wobbled. “You mean… Everyone else… You aren’t… You didn’t…”

  “Slice them open, drink their blood, and feast on their flesh? No.” She waved one hand flippantly in the air. “I’m afraid not. Oh, don’t look at me like that! We will do it. Tonight, in fact. If ten of us can do this in one night imagine what ten million can do in a week! It’s going to be spectacular. I dare say even epic.”

  Ten? All those people dead, an entire town destroyed, and there had only been ten of them? I staggered to the side, hitting my elbow hard against a locker. I barely noticed the pain. My mind was too busy trying to cope with everything Angelique had j
ust revealed and Maximus had kept hidden.

  Everywhere else… The rest of the world… Safe. Not destroyed, not dead, at least not yet. Just one town ripped apart at the seams. My town.

  “You knew,” I accused Maximus, stabbing my finger at him. “You knew it was only happening here. You had to know! We could have… We could have gotten away! We could have escaped and warned everyone else what was coming but you told us to stay.” I spat the words out like poisoned darts. Maximus flinched and finally looked up at me. His eyes were dark and filled with guilt.

  “Lola, you don’t understand. It wouldn’t have made a—”

  “No. NO!” I shouted. “I’m getting Travis and we’re getting the hell out of here! I’m going to tell everyone what happened and you” – my gaze cut to Angelique – “are going to pay for what you’ve done!”

  She ran a fingernail across her lower lip, pulling it down. “Is that so?”

  “That is exactly so.”

  “Oh pet,” she sighed. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that. Telling everyone about our evil plan would be bad for business, you see. Ruin the element of surprise and all that. Now be a darling and come here, won’t you? This was all fun for a bit, although now it’s growing rather tedious.”

  But I’d been creeping steadily towards my gun and in a flash I picked it up off the carpet and pointed it at Angelique’s head, aiming right between her eyes, just like Maximus had taught me. “The way I see you don’t have much of a choice. Now put your hands behind your head and stand against the lockers or I’ll shoot you dead. I swear I will.”

  “I’m not very fond of threats,” Angelique hissed before she lunged for my throat.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  The Only Good Drinker is a Dead Drinker

  The gun went off in an explosion of sound.

  Angelique struck me as my finger curled around the trigger, sending the bullet into the ceiling. Plaster rained down on us and lights flickered crazily as we rolled across the beige carpet.

  Her fangs snapped half an inch from my face. I swung the gun around and brought the handle crashing down against the side of her head. She shook the blow off with ease and caught my chest with her knee, driving all the air from my lungs.

  For a bitch in high heels, she was surprisingly agile.

  Wheezing, I managed to tangle my fingers in her hair and yanked as hard as I could. Her high-pitched shriek could have shattered glass. We rolled across the floor. I threw a wild punch at her nose that deflected off the side of her temple when she ducked to the right. She wrapped her hand around my ponytail and gave a vicious pull that snapped my head back and had me seeing stars. I shook off the pain, knowing I was only one mistake away from a broken neck. Fueled by desperation I wrapped both my hands around the slender column of her throat and squeezed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Maximus hovering over us, his eyes darting left and right, looking for an opening that wasn’t there.

  Taking advantage of my momentary distraction Angelique twisted to the side, wrenching free of my grasp. Her nails raked down across my cheek and came away dripping blood.

  “You fight,” I gasped as I jabbed my elbow into her throat, “like a girl.”

  Her answer was to pick me up as though I weighed no more than a feather and throw me headfirst into the lockers. I hit them with a resounding crash and crumpled to the floor, temporarily stunned.

  Breathing heavily, her hair askew and her eyes like blue fire, Angelique towered over me, a triumphant smile curling her lips. “Stupid human,” she snarled. “I should have ripped out your entrails and made you wear them as a necklace the first night I found you. No matter. I’ll do it now.” One hand drew back, nails curling into claws as she prepared to skewer me from the inside out. I closed my eyes and cringed, hoping it would be quick.

  For the third time a gunshot ran through the hallway. For the first time it hit its intended target.

  My eyes snapped open. In slow motion I saw Angelique’s mouth fall open in shock. Her body convulsed, jerking as though she were a marionette and someone else was pulling the strings, drawing her arms out to the side and sending her falling forward in a graceful swan dive. Blood spewed from her lips, showering me in a sticky red spray.

  The gun went off again. Angelique’s stomach exploded outwards as the bullet ripped through her spin and came out her front, tearing a fist sized hole in her beautiful gown.

  She fell to the ground beside me, one limp arm cradling her head. For an instant our eyes met. Her mouth opened and closed, trying to force out words that would not come.

  I said nothing. Did nothing. I was paralyzed, forced to watch in horrified silence as the life slowly ebbed from her body.

  Then Maximus was between us, his hands clutching Angelique’s shoulders as he shook her. “Where is the boy? What you done with him?”

  Her head rolled to the side. When she smiled blood gushed out between her fangs and dripped down the corners of her mouth. “Hotel… but… too late. Was always… too late.”

  Maximus let her go. She slumped to the floor, unable to support her own weight. Her eyes closed, her long lashes spreading across her pale cheeks like silk fans. One last shuddering breath lifted her chest and flowed silently from her mouth before she simply… faded.

  “She’s dead.” My voice sounded hollow. I staggered to my feet only to fall back against the lockers. My entire body throbbed. I was pretty sure some ribs were broken. The scratch marks on my cheek burned. With Angelique dead I wondered if I would still heal. But that didn’t matter now. None of it mattered after everything I’d learned.

  As though he could sense the cold fury building inside of me Maximus reached out to touch my face. I knocked his hand away. “Lola, I—”

  “Save it,” I said bitterly. “There’s nothing you could say. I’m tired of your secrets and your stupid lies. I’m going to get Travis and my dad and we’re getting the hell out of here. I don’t want to see you ever again, Maximus.” The words burned in my throat like acid. Tears threatened to spill, but I blinked them furiously away. I refused to let myself cry in front of him. “Did you know they were going to come here? Did you know they were going to do this? You had to know, right?” I said, answering my own questions before he got the chance. “That’s why you’re here in the first place. You followed them.”

  “Yes,” he said simply.

  A mewling sound escaped my lips.

  Again he reached for me, his expression pained. Again I knocked his arm away. “Lola, please listen to me. There was nothing I could have done. There was nothing anyone could have—”

  “GO AWAY!” I shrieked, striking out at him with both fists. They bounced harmlessly off his chest, which only served to increase my fury tenfold.

  He captured my wrists and pulled me tightly against him. “Stop it,” he ordered, his eyes flashing a dark, stormy gray. “You don’t understand. I’ve seen this happen a thousand times before. It always ends the same. There was nothing I could have—”

  “If you say there was nothing you could have done one more time I will kill you. Do you hear me, Maximus? I’LL KILL YOU!” And at that moment I really would have. To think of all those people who’d died… Parents. Children. Teachers. Students. If only Maximus had said something… If only he’d done something… “How could you?” I whispered brokenly. I stared into his eyes, trying to see what I’d missed. Trying to figure out where I’d gone wrong with him. “All those people… You should have done s-something.” My voice broke. I sagged back against the lockers, defeated. “Just go,” I mumbled, turning my head to the side. “Just leave me alone. I mean it, Maximus. I never want to see you again.”

  He released my wrists. “I’ll go,” he said, his tone devoid of any emotion, “if you promise to stay here until dawn. The drinkers are still out there, Lola. It’s too dangerous for you to go back to the hotel tonight. I’ll check on Travis. If he’s not back at the hotel like Angelique said I will find him and make sure he’s safe. Your father as well.
It swear it to you.”

  I was already shaking my head. “How can I trust you?”

  His smile was bittersweet. “You don’t have much of a choice.”

  I stared past him, not wanting to look in his eyes, not wanting to be swayed from the hate that was hardening in my heart like a stone. I had a thousand more questions I wanted to ask, but I was afraid I would crumple beneath the weight of the answers. “Go on then. Get out of here.”

  He stepped back. I looked quickly, because even after everything I’d learned, even after all the secrets he’d kept, I still needed to see him one last time. I needed to give myself one last impression. One final glance.

  His lips parted, as though he wanted to say something else, but with a quiet sigh he turned and walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts and one carpet badly in need of stain cleaner.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The End of Everything

  I woke at dawn.

  My muscles were cramped from sleeping curled in a ball inside the janitor’s closet and I stretched my arms high above my head, working out the kinks. I’d been surprised to fall asleep at all, but both my mind and my body were so exhausted I was left with little choice.

  I went to the bathroom because a) I really had to pee and b) I wanted to see if the scratches on my face were still there.

  They weren’t.

  I pondered what that meant as I left the high school behind and made my way back to the hotel. Was I still connected to Angelique in some way? Would other drinkers be able to sense me? Or would my healing abilities fade away with time? I knew one person who would have the answers, but I shied away from even thinking his name.

  Everything that happened last night, from learning the truth about the drinker’s plans to witnessing Angelique’s horrific, bloody death, was too much for my mind to handle, even in the bright shimmering light of day. So I bundled it all up and tucked it away in a dark, dusty corner, to be examined later when I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that both Travis and Dad were safe.