Vampire Twins Meet The Pack (Book One)

Chapter Sixteen

"Wake up, sleepyhead," a singsong voice came through my dreams of ice cream and sunny meadows. "It's ten o'clock. Everybody else is awake, and you missed a shouting match between Ryan and Peter."

"Over the girl vamp?" I asked. Somehow it didn't surprise me. Peter stuck up for her, but I didn't know how he felt about the boy vampire. Heck, right now I was trying to avoid them at all costs. I was afraid that they would do one little thing just a bit out of the ordinary and I would blow up on them.

"Let's go up to the mountain," Jaydon said, almost as though he were reading my mind. "The vampires shouldn't know how to get there yet, and I think Peter was taking Ariana out somewhere. The mountain isn't his type of place."

I nodded. "Are you going to get out of my room so that I can get dressed?" I asked him. When he shook his head I groaned and crossed quickly to my closet, grabbing a pair of dark blue jeans and a green long-sleeved shirt. Then I walked into my bathroom and locked the door behind me. Who knew what Jaydon might do?

Five minutes later I emerged after getting dressed, brushing my teeth, and yanking my hair into a braid. Jaydon was sprawled out on my bed like he owned it, his eyes closed. "You're a wolf, not a cat," I scolded teasingly. "Cat naps are not allowed. I thought you wanted to get outside."

He sprang up at that. "Of course I do. You're just incredibly slow so I needed to become Sleeping Beauty so that I wouldn't die of age while waiting for you." I rolled my eyes at him even though it was a pretty good comeback. He followed me out of my room and down the stairs. I made a small detour to the kitchen to grab a croissant before hurrying out the door after him. Lanie and Samuel were nowhere in sight but I caught a glimpse of Mark, Ryan and Jenni shooting hoops. That boy vampire was probably still asleep. Lazy bum.

It was a forty five minute run to get to the mountain, and a ten minutes climb to get where we wanted to go. You see, there's a trail that is almost undetectable, and it leads up the west side of the mountain and to a lightly forested plateau. From there you can see everything around you, even clear back to the mansion.

I flopped down in the soft grass as soon as I reached the middle of the plateau, Jaydon a few paces behind me. The sun was shining and there was just a hint of a breeze, perfect weather, really. Jaydon stopped beside me and looked down at me, his expression disapproving.

"I didn't suggest that we come up here just so that you could go back to sleep," he huffed. "There's no fun in that for me." I propped myself up on my elbows, glaring at him slightly.

"Then what did you have in mind, Sir Loco?"

"Well Ryan and I do have a stash of knives up here," he said musingly. "How good are you at throwing?"

"You know that I suck," I said. There was no point in trying to make it sound any better. If there was one thing I should not be allowed within twenty feet of, it would be a throwing knife. If you wanted me to stab somebody with one, fine. I could do that. But if you wanted me to hit a target, moving or otherwise, you had better forget about that. I might accidently hit you by mistake.

"Well I could teach you," he said.

I shook my head. "Nope, nothing doin'. But we could shoot the bebe guns. Jenni and I stashed them in that hole in the trunk of a tree a couple of days ago." Jaydon rolled his eyes at me. "What?" I said in reply, "Are you afraid that I'll be a better shot than you?"

"No!" he shouted indignantly. "I know that there is no way that you're a better shot than me." He reached a hand down to me and I accepted it, letting him drag me to my feet. Then we sprinted over to the tall tree, with me reaching first into the tree. My arm was elbow deep by the time I felt the barrel of what was probably our airsoft Thompson rifle. Jaydon drew out the matching one and a bottle of pellets, some of which he handed to me. I quickly loaded the clip and reinserted it into my gun before going to hang up the targets.

Then we both went and stood on top of a large flat rock. I let him have the first shot. He made a face and took careful aim at the middle target before squeezing a shot off. It hit the target but missed the center, striking a few centimeters low and to the right. "Your turn," he said, and his tone told me that he felt I could do no better.

My aim was better, but still not perfect. It was about a millimeter to the left, but a perfect height. Jaydon wrinkled his nose at me, a gesture that made most people look horrible but looked sort of cute when Jaydon did it.

We spent the next hour shooting, and by then the warm sun was making me tired. After my nightmare I had woken up several times, leaving me with not enough sleep. I stashed my gun back in the tree and then curled up in the thickest patch of grass I could find. Jaydon followed me.

"What are you doing, Serafina?"

"I'm taking a nap, imbecil," I retorted. "Now you can go away and leave me in peace, please."

"I don't think so," he replied, sinking down into the grass beside me. "I'll just watch the clouds while you sleep." I fell asleep soon after that, and I'm not sure how long I was out. When I woke up he was asleep, looking peaceful, just like a young child.

But I woke him up anyways. I didn't want to sit out there and watch clouds while he slept. I wasn't that patient. I was nicer about waking him up this time, however. Instead of kicking him I reached out and tickled him. He wriggled and lashed out before his eyes opened.

"Come on, Jaydon," I said. "Let's go back to the house." He nodded and we began the run back.