Blood Rivals (On Hold)

Chapter 4

 Hey guys! Here's chapter 4!  I really want a good cover for this book so if anyone can help me with it I'd be realllyyyyy happy!!! Thanks!!! 

P.s.---that's Adrian on the right!!!!

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It was crazy how transformed Jeremy’s room was.  It looked like a night club, and not just because of the way people were dressed.  There was a beverage table piled with alcohol, a huge stereo that was blaring Linkin’ Park music, and a color-changing light fixture that ran on batteries and was somewhat glued to the ceiling.  How anyone found that contraption Vivian had no clue, but how it got stuck to the ceiling puzzled her even more. She stood in the corner near the doorway, wearing a little yellow dress that came to the middle of her calves, with a scooping V-neck, spaghetti straps and deep pocket on the sides.  The dress dipped in the back and she wore  a long pendant necklace and white ballet flats with yellow flowers near the toe to complement the pale yellow dress.  The necklace had been given to her by her mother when she was very little, and she always kept it on.  She spotted Ashley near the table, pouring herself some type of alcoholic drink.  She was wearing an ultra-short, black sleeveless dress with the knee-high boots that Vivian not-so-fondly remembered, and a silver cuff around her wrist that was studded with fake gems.  Her nails and eye makeup were black and she wore her hair in a loose bun with curled pieces cascading out of it.  Jeremy stood behind her with his arms around her chest, rocking slightly from side to side while Ashley giggled, trying not to spill her drink.                                                                  Vivian scanned the room for Adrian but he wasn’t there, and she wasn’t sure if she should be surprised.  She walked over to the drink table in hopes of grabbing some punch or coke.  “Is there anything here besides alcohol?” she asked, shaking a bottle of whiskey in her hand.                           “Nope.”  Ashley answered coming behind her.  “Hey um, Vivi, I need to ask you something...”         “Okay, shoot.” she said, carefully putting the bottle down and leaning against the table. “Well, Jeremy invited me to stay over here tonight, and I was kind of wondering-” “If I minded?”            “Yeah.” “It’s fine by me.  Don’t worry about it.”          “If you want, I can get Jeremy to ask Adrian to walk you back tonight after the party.  So you don’t have to walk alone, I mean.”        “No, it’s okay Ashley.  Thanks though.  Have fun with Jeremy tonight.”            “Thanks! You’re the best!”  Ashley gave her a quick hug before running off, and left Vivian leaning against the table in thought.                              “Hey hot stuff, would you like a drink?” Vivian turned sharply to the curly haired sophomore holding a tray of martinis.                 “Um, no thank you.” she answered politely, hoping he would go away.                  “Is there anything else you would like?” he said in a whisper.  She crinkled her nose at the strong smell of alcohol pouring out of his mouth as he spoke.                    “There’s a lot I have to offer.” he added, using his best seductive voice and failing poorly.  Vivian turned disgustedly to walk to another dark corner of the room but the curly-haired boy intercepted her.                                                                                     “Don’t leave so soon, baby.  Stay here...with me.” he said with a slur.                  “Get away from me!” she yelled at him, pushing him away with her hands.  He stumbled slightly, but despite his drunkenness she couldn’t get him to budge much.  He gave her an angry look and then shot at her with his arms outstretched attempting to grab her and hurl her to the floor.  She quickly ducked under the table before he rammed into her and he went crashing into the table.  Several glasses came clattering to the floor in little shards and Vivian could hear a fight breaking out as she sat huddled under the beverage table.  The curly-haired boy got whipped to the floor and his nose was caked with blood and he had a wild look in his eyes.  She could see the legs of someone standing beside him, and heard a cold voice bark, “Don’t you ever touch her again!”  Then she watched a fist go slamming into his face and she squeezed her eyes shut as she crawled out from under the table and made a run for the door, not bothering to see who it was that stood up for her.                She ran, panting heavily, the wind blurring her vision and causing tears to spill on to her cheeks.  She paused for a moment to catch her breath and leaned with her back against a tree.  It was pitch black outside, save for the few stars that hung above her head.  She wondered how anyone was supposed to find their way home in the darkness, and she realized with a shudder that they’d probably all crash at Jeremy’s.  Then her mind wandered to Adrian.  Why hadn’t he been at the party?  And how could Ashley sleep at Jeremy’s if Adrian lived there too?  It didn’t add up, unless they were all too drunk to even care.  She saw someone in the distance carrying a flashlight and looking around, and she wondered if it was a security guard.  She didn’t know but didn’t want to find out.  She resumed her frantic running to her building, the whole time wondering if she was going the right way.  It was one o’ clock in the morning, a little too early to be turning out all the lights in a college campus, she thought.  Mid-run, she felt her shoulder brush against someone’s arm and she turned to see who it was without slowing her pace.  It was too dark to make out any features, but the silhouette of his body in the dark seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn’t place it.                 At last, she found herself in front of her building and walked down the hall to her room.  She found that the door was left slightly ajar, and criticized herself for forgetting to close it properly on her way out.  She playfully kicked the door open and slipped out of her shoes, leaving them by the door.  She reached for the light-switch and flicked it upward, only the light didn’t come on.                   “What’s with lightbulbs hating me these days?” she said with a nervous laugh.  She slowly crept toward her bedroom, trying not to bump into anything in the dark and failing miserably.  She knocked over a tall lamp in the living room and the lightbulb shattered to pieces.  Once her eyes started to adjust to the darkness, she went to her bedroom and reached for the small lamp by the bed.  It cast an eery glow on the bedroom walls, and barely illuminated a square foot of wall behind it.  She sank on the bed with her eyes closed and a small frown on her face.  She felt something sharp under her back and she sat up quickly, reaching her hand slowly behind her, pulling out a small pocket knife.  She jumped off her bed and looked around her room frantically.  How had she not noticed before?  There were clothes strewn across the floor, some Vivian’s and some Ashley’s, papers were knocked off the desk and scattered around the room, and things were knocked over all over the place.  The living room shared the same fate. She lifted a pale hand to her face and whispered over and over, “This can’t be happening again!  Not again!”               “Oh it’s happening again.” she heard a voice behind her say.  She froze, her hand on the little pocket knife she had found on her bed.                   “So, I take it the party was a huge success, since you’re back so early.” he said in a sarcastic tone.  “Not early enough though.  You just missed him.” he snickered.                             She turned around quickly to face him, the pocket knife held out in front of her with her shaky hand.  “What do you want from-Adrian?”                 “That’s what they call me.” he answered, bored.                   “What are you doing here?  Did you do this?”                 “You really think I’d wreck your place like this?  I know I said I liked your room but jeez, you think I’d be that jealous?  Nah, there’s nothing to be jealous of here.” he said looking her up and down.  Her face burned with anger.                  “Then what do you want?”                  “Hmm, maybe some coffee.”  He leaned against the wall lazily and crossed his legs.  “This isn’t funny!  This is serious!  You scared the crap out of me sneaking in here like that!  Do you know who did this?  What did they want?  Why does all this keep-”  “I can’t answer you when you’re just throwing questions at me like that!  Forget about who did this or what’s going on.  You need to get out of here before they come back.  Come with me, quickly.” he snapped at her.  “Don’t bother packing, there’s not enough time.” he added. “I’m not going anywhere!” she yelled, putting her hands on her hips.                   “Oh yeah?  You want to end up like Janine then?”                 “How do you-”                                         “I know more than you think.”                  She paused for a minute.  “Why should I trust you?” she asked suspiciously, the anger returning to her cheeks.                                  “Because,” he answered coldly, “you have no one else.”