Blood Type: Book One of the Blood Type Series (complete)

Every Day Is a New Beginning

TWO MONTHS LATER

"Your parents are going to freak out," Olivia said. She sidled closer, shielding her mouth with her hand in an attempt to be discreet, though her voice seemed louder than normal. "I mean, you're not even legal."

"So you already said," I replied, passing a wad of crumpled bills to the girl behind the counter. It wasn't my fault some moron broke the law for nothing but a fake phone number and a false smile. It was too late now, in any case.

Stopping in front of the gilded mirror on my way out, I touched the edge of the gauze bandage at my neck, my apathetic expression masking the pain of the recent procedure. My parents would for sure freak out, but that hardly mattered under the circumstances.

The overhead lights flickered with the oncoming storm, and Olivia tensed at my side. "C'mon, Blake. We'd better get going."

Leaving the shop, we stepped out into the bitter October night. Streetlamps cast intermittent pools of light on the busy sidewalk even as storm clouds, heavy with the threat of moisture, shrouded the city in near-complete darkness. Pulling my wool coat tighter around my body, I lowered my head against the wind as we hurried to the bus stop.

"Even though I don't wholeheartedly approve, I think your new tat is pretty awesome," Olivia said. She grinned as she looked at me from the corner of her eye. "I would never have pegged you as a tat girl."

The wind nipped the fair skin of her cheeks, making them glow like twin cherries, and sent the ends of her hair swirling around her head in long, white-blond strands. Shivering, she tugged her red cashmere cap down over her ears and then linked her arm through mine. We huddled together for warmth as we walked, me clenching my teeth to keep the shaking to a minimum. I could never seem to get warm enough these days.

"If you say 'tat' one more time," I warned, "I'll push you into oncoming traffic." I gave her a small shove, and she shrieked and clung to me even tighter to keep her balance.

"The drops of blood were a nice touch. Very convincing. Who knew a tattoo could look so real?"

Tucking my chin into the collar of my coat, I blew out my breath to create a pocket of warmth that floated up to my cheeks and temporarily thawed the tip of my nose. I lowered my eyes to the ground as we walked, fixing them on the layer of dead, brittle leaves that had collected in the gutter and now lay limp and lifeless.

"You should buy a sexy costume for the Halloween dance," Olivia said. "Something red and skin-tight. Maybe you'll start a new trend at school and everyone will start getting vampire-bite tats."

Olivia yelped as I gave her another shove, hard enough this time that one foot slipped off the curb. "Whatever," I said.

"I'm not sure who I'm going as," Olivia continued when she'd recovered her footing. "I was thinking of Bride of Frankenstein, but Gabe sort of screwed that one up when he decided to act like a major dickwad. I'm so glad we're not together anymore. I should ask Marcus, even though he's already graduated. Do you think he'll go with me?"

"Sure."

"Anyway," she said. "You'll have to clean yourself up for one night. Grunge, or whatever you call this phase you're going through, isn't a good look on you."

"I don't even care about the stupid dance," I said. "I hate Halloween."

"Since when?" Olivia said, the pitch of her voice rising in disbelief.

"Since I have more important things to worry about," I replied.

We fell silent as we approached the bus stop and stepped inside the enclosure to wait. The Plexiglas partition protected us somewhat from the lashing wind, but it did nothing to stave off the wet cold that seemed to seep into my bones. Olivia broke free to toy with the end of her scarf while I stared off into the distance, dreaming about a hot bath and my fleece robe.