Rubbing my shoulder, I whipped around and glared. “Have I ever told you you’re a real asshole?”
“Every day since you met me,” Maximus said easily. Something sparked in those lake blue eyes of his – humor? affection? – before he jerked his chin towards the cornfield and his expression turned formidable. “Now turn around and go back to the hotel. I’ll get Travis for you.”
“No.” I crossed my arms. “I already had this conversation with my dad, so all you’re doing is wasting time. If you want to help me then come along, but you can’t stop me. Nothing can.”
His eyebrows drew together to form a dark V above the bridge of his nose. “You are the most stubborn, irrational, pigheaded-”
“Please stop,” I sighed, holding up my hand. “All these compliments are making me dizzy.”
Maximus tried, but he couldn’t quite contain the smile that lifted the corners of his mouth. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the ends, while I did my best to ignore the little flutter that tugged at my heart. Maximus was simply too damn handsome for his own good. And mysterious. And intelligent. And handsome.
I looked away, annoyed with myself. Here I was only minutes away from almost certain death and I was ogling a boy. Stupid teenage hormones. “Come on,” I said tightly. “Let’s go.”
Maximus easily adjusted his long stride to my short one so we walked side by side. “I can’t guarantee you’re safety,” he warned. “Angelique is very powerful and you’ve angered her.”
I huffed out a breath. “How do you know that? How do you even know who she is? How do you know anything?”
“Knowledge is its own source of power.” His forearm brushed against mine. I wondered if the contact had been accidental. It doesn’t matter, I told myself sternly. Nothing matters but getting Travis back and trying not to die in the process.
We reached the school sooner than I would have liked. I stopped short to stare at the letters etched across the front entrance.
FAIRHILLS HIGH SCHOOL
I was supposed to start my senior year in the fall. Easy classes. Graduation practice. College interviews. Senior skip day. All taken away in the blink of an eye.
Maximus reached out and linked his fingers with mine. This time there was definitely nothing accidental about it. “Stay here, Lola,” he said softly. “I’ll get Travis.”
“What’s the point of surviving if you don’t fight for it?” I asked.
Maximus’s head swiveled. His searched my face, gaze inscrutable. Finally, apparently satisfied with what he saw, he slipped his hand free and held out my gun. “Well then, let’s go kick some Drinker ass.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The lights were on inside the school. The hallways, the cafeteria, every classroom – even the bathrooms were all illuminated with a searing glow that hurt my eyes. I had grown accustomed to the darkness so quickly I had forgotten how weak human’s eyes must be that we required every little nook and cranny to be lit up like it was high noon.
Side by side Maximus and I strolled down the middle of the main hallway. I peeked sideways at him under my lashes. As always he looked calm. Confident. Cocky, even, if I judged him by the slight swagger of his hips. I wished I felt the same.
Instead my palms were sweating so much it was hard to keep a good grip on the gun Maximus had returned to me and my heart was thumping so loudly it was a wonder Angelique didn’t hear us coming a mile away. Or maybe she did. She struck me as a cat and mouse kind of predator. One who watched her prey walk by, let them start to feel safe, and then WHAM shredded them to pieces with her claws.
We passed by my old locker. I couldn’t help but slow down in front of it and let my fingertips slide across the cool metal. So many lockers. So many students. So many classmates and friends and teachers. Had any of them survived?
The sound of a door slamming ricocheted down the hall, piercing the eerie silence.
I couldn’t help it. I screamed. The same thing happened when I saw a snake slithering through the grass. Someone could tell me it was there, but one glimpse of its wiggling body and I would scream anyways.
Maximus reacted with a bit more maturity. Wrapping his arm around my waist he pushed me behind him, shielding me with his body. “Stay back,” he said tersely, as if I was thinking about running off down the hall by myself.
Tense silence, and then…
Laughter.
It rang through the hall, gleeful and menacing all at the same time. Vomit rose in the back of my throat and I swallowed it reflexively, trying not to gag on the taste. Angelique. I would recognize that laugh anywhere. After all, it in my dreams every night.
Someone whimpered. It wasn’t until Maximus looked over his shoulder that I realized it had been me. Eyes dark with concern, he traced his fingertips under my jaw, lifting my chin until our eyes met, mine wide and terrified, his dark and solemn.
“You’re going to be fine Lola,” he vowed. “I would never let anything happen to you.”
Panic rolled over me like a black thundercloud, extinguishing the light that had shimmered briefly in the form of courage. Courage I didn’t have. Courage I had never had. “I can’t do this,” I gasped, shaking my head from side to side. “I can’t. I can’t. I’m too scared.”
Maximus simply folded me in his arms and cradled my head against his chest like I was a child. His hands skimmed across my back, running up and down in a gesture meant to comfort and soothe. “You’re the bravest one of them all,” he whispered against my ear. “You always have been.”
“Isn’t this so sweet. It brings tears to my eyes” a voice drawled, thick as honey. Angelique. She was here. She had found us.
I jerked free from Maximus’s embrace. He ducked and spun, a natural fighter, a practiced killer. Unfortunately I wasn’t quite as graceful under pressure.
The gun in my hand bucked as it discharged. I shrieked and flung it away from me. The bullet I had shot wildly into the air zinged past Angelique’s head by mere inches before plowing into the wall at the end of the hallway.
“Bitch!” she cried, her ice blue eyes flaring. “You could have shot me!”
“That would be the general idea,” I said shakily.
Angelique’s hands flicked down the sides of her skin tight red sequined gown, her nails glittering black under the fluorescent lights. She had certainly dressed up for the occasion, I thought as I studied her. Floor length dress, glossy brown hair curled into ringlets, cherry red lips. If I didn’t know any better I would assume she was going to the prom.
Catching me staring, Angelique’s mouth curled in a sneer, revealing the silver fangs that marked her as a monster. “I don’t recall writing two invitations,” she said, glancing over at Maximus who stood beside me, every muscle in his body tensed and ready to spring.
“I’m crashing the party,” he said.
“That’s not very nice,” Angelique pouted. She stepped forward. Maximus did the same. I stood rooted to the spot, unable to move as they began to circle each other, their eyes locked with the deadly intensity of two wolves squaring off for the kill.
Shoot her, I begged Maximus silently. Just kill her and get it over with. But when I glanced down at his hands I saw they were empty of any weapon and my gun, the one I had foolishly tossed away from me like an idiot, was on the other side of Angelique, well out of reach. I still had the smaller one, but I didn’t want to play all my cards. Not yet. Not until I knew where Travis was.