Blood Lust

Chapter Two

The past day has been boring. And useless. Everyone at school mourns, or pretends to mourn, the death of Angelina.

School was canceled early that day.

Now it's eight o'clock the next morning. The day of Angelina's vigil. I'm not sure I want to go. The killer might be there.

I've researched killers and why they might target people and who they look for, and I stumbled upon a website that mentioned if killers aren't caught, they visit the victim's funeral to get a sense of freedom. I'm not sure I believe it but it does make me wonder. I wonder if there might be another murder tonight. I mean, it would be the perfect time. It'd be kind of ironic too. But not in the good way, obviously.

Footsteps rush past my door down the stairs. Not one set, but two. Forrest's friend, Altas, I think.

I swing my feet over the edge of the bed, touching the cold floor. I find my slippers quickly so my feet won't freeze. I also grab my silk robe off the back of my bedroom door. It feels colder than usual in this house. I hurry and get downstairs before two teenage boys eat all the breakfast.

To my surprise, only one teenage boy is eating breakfast when I get down there.

"You better hurry Thalia before Forrest eats all the pancakes." Mom says, flipping the pancakes in the pan. "It's not my fault they taste good." He counters.

I shift my gaze to Atlas. He's looking at me but not really looking at me. It's like he has something on his mind. But he's not eating, maybe he's not a morning person.

I grab a plate and load it with two pancakes covered in syrup. "Are you seriously going to eat all that sugar?" Forrest says with pancakes stuffed in his mouth. "Are you seriously talking with your mouth full like a toddler?" I counter. Mom grins.

I grab my plate and swing around to sit at the bar beside Forrest. "Are you going to Angelina Smith's candle ceremony tonight?" Mom asks me. I swallow before speaking. "Yea, Elinor and I are going with a few other friends." I put another bite of pancakes into my mouth. "Isn't she the one that died the other day?" My brother asks, still with food in his mouth. "Way to be inconsiderate, but yea, she was." "They say she had bite marks on her neck and shoulder." I immediately look up at Forrest. Right beside him on the other bar stool, I see Atlas tense. I ignore it.

"Don't say that," mom says while I get back to my food. "It's true," he says, "Mac Peralta told me. You know his dad is a detective." That is true, but there is no way there's actually bite marks on her. What kind of psychopath would do that? After hearing that, I don't think my stomach can handle any food.

After dumping the rest of my plate into the trash, I go back upstairs and check my phone and see three messages from Elinor.

Elinor: You're not going to believe what happened to me.
Elinor: Well I guess if you won't answer me i'll go ahead and tell you
Elinor: Mac finally asked me out! It took him long enough and honestly I didn't think I would wait around anymore, but it finally happened. I'm coming over btw, be there in 10!

That message was five minutes ago.

Mac finally asked her out. I'm happy for her, but it's really weird of a coincidence that we were just talking about him downstairs.

My bedroom door opens and in walks Elinor, smiling brightly. "El, I just saw your messages, I'm so happy for you." I smile for her. "Ah, me too." She sits on my bed, still smiling. "It's been a good couple of days. For me." She quickly adds, her smile fading. "I feel kind of guilty for feeling happy after what happened to Angelina, but it's not my fault." She smiles again. "It's terrible that something would happen here in Rifthold of all places." She nods her head in agreement. "Mac told me they found bite marks on her." Elinor says. "That's what Forrest mentioned earlier. I didn't believe him." "Anyway, Hayden's throwing a party tonight to honor Angelina," Elinor uses two fingers for quotation marks, "but we know she just wants and excuse to get drunk. It's right after the ceremony." "Are you going?" I ask. "Only if you are." She grins. "I'll have to think about it." "Okay well let me know," Elinor says before leaving.