Lycan Blood (Alex Vane: Demon Stalker #1)

Game on

I guess Saturday is a day of rest for most people. I usually love weekends because for once I don’t have to worry about sleeping in all day or trying to seem normal at school. I can just stay in bed for most of the time, only emerging to get food and resume my demon-hunting activities at night. However, once a month that brief window of rest gets cruelly snatched away from me by our school’s monthly football game. Attendance is not optional. It’s a truly awful day where you have to sit around and watch the jocks kick the ball back and forth while the cheerleaders shriek and shake their pompoms. As you can expect, the whole thing is utterly tedious.

I already woke up with a headache thanks to the combination of Jacey’s bright orange walls and my lack of sleep brought on by finding Rachel’s body. Jenna and Jacey were already up by the time I dragged my carcass out of bed, munching on delicately-buttered toast and giggling. It was quite nice being around Jenna, now I was sure she wasn’t a hell beast in disguise. Once all this werewolf business was over I made a promise to start attempting to be a better friend to her.

“Good morning sunshine!” Jacey greeted, grinning far too broadly for this early in the morning. I couldn’t blame her for being ecstatic I guess. She’d finally found a friend who actually enjoyed gossiping and having girly chats.

“Morning.” I muttered, trying to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach. Jacey wouldn’t be smiling when she heard about Rachel. It would be awful when they found her.

“You ready for the big game?” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her question. There was no such thing as a ‘big game’ at our school. Just meaningless weekend matches.

“You know me. I can’t wait.” I helped myself to a banana for breakfast, knowing anything else would just make the sick feeling worse. Besides, my vitamin uptake was appalling lately. Jacey rolled her own eyes in response before turning back to Jenna.

“Don’t mind her. The games are actually quite fun to watch. Especially if you focus on the cute players.”

“Fun like a hangover.” To my enormous surprise, Jenna laughed. It had been so long since someone had actually laughed at something I’d said in a nice way that the sound startled me. I was pleased for a second, until I realised how pathetic that actually was.

I’d brought all my clothes so there was no need to go home. We got ready quickly before heading off for the school field. The game wouldn’t start for at least an hour but it was best to get there early. As awful as watching the match was, it was ten times worse when you couldn’t sit down.

“Brr, it’s cold!” Jenna shivered, pulling her wool cardigan a little tighter around herself. I nodded in agreement, although in all honesty I had barely noticed the weather. The closer we got to the field, the more the sight of Rachel’s body kept forcing its way into my mind. She was a cheerleader like Anna and people would definitely notice if she was missing today. Maybe not until after the game, but soon enough people would start looking for her. It wasn’t a big town. It would take people one, maybe two hours tops to find her.

So relax and stop thinking about her. The important thing is to stop it from happening again right?

It was only when we were close enough to identify the players that I realised arriving early might not have been the best plan. Luke Jenkins was stood chatting with his friends, his face still an ugly mess of deep purple bruises. He wasn’t my main concern though. Scanning the field frantically, I spotted Anna far too late.

“You absolute BITCH!” Even with my heightened senses, there was no time to react. Within seconds Anna had crossed the gap between us with her long athletic strides, and by the time I realised what she was doing her hand had already collided with my cheek. The slap was sharp and surprisingly strong, knocking my head back with alarming force. I was so shocked that it took me a minute to remember how to defend myself, but thankfully she didn’t strike out again. Instead she put her hands on her hips and glared at me with nothing less than intense hatred.