Chasing Sunrise

Twenty-Nine

Darissa's lips curled in a triumphant smile.

"Do we have a deal?" I repeated. "I don't know about that..."

"Oh, let me guess," she said in a pouty tone. "You're mad at me because I killed your father."

Now that was a gut punch. That void that Corban had left in me when he absorbed my guilt flooded full to the brim. She had killed my father. Because I'd been stupid and let a guy turn me into a vampire, she had hunted down my father and shot him with a sniper rifle through his window. He'd never stood a chance.

"Well," she said, "here's the deal, sweetheart, I can kill your aunt, your friends Gina and Amy, anyone who looks twice at you. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's up to you, because I will get what I want either way."

Okay, she was evil all right. Nerd or not, she would never have my respect.

"Or," she said, "you're mad at me because I haven't even asked about Evan? That I consider him expendable? That's what happens to people who cross me. They become expendable. Did you kill him last night or is he hiding somewhere because you broke his heart? You know what? I don't care."

Right, so she had the full, stereotypical villain playbook. Great.

But right then, the bathroom door swung open and Corban stepped in.

And my intense look of relief gave him away.

Darissa leapt to her feet, and from the way her eyes weren't focused, I gathered she couldn't see exactly where he was. Corban wasn't invisible. Like he said, he was being overlooked.

"I think that's enough," he said, calling attention to himself so that she could see him. "Liana, get out and make sure no one else gets in." He held open the door.

I tried to dash for it, but Darissa was faster and stronger. One second I was getting to my feet, the next I was down with my head ringing like I'd been swatted up the side of it with a frying pan. My nose felt numb and when I touched it, my fingers came away sticky with blood.

But I didn't have time to wallow in my pain. Corban was down. Darissa had him on the floor and was straddling him, her hands around his throat, skin touching skin.

He wasn't choking so much as fading, getting visibly weaker while she continued to squeeze.

I cast about for a way to save him. I could knock Darissa aside, but she moved with superspeed and Corban, to my knowledge, didn't.

To the left of me was a bloodied brick lying on the floor. The doorstop, I suspected. Darissa had grabbed it and smacked me with it. Bricks were good for that sort of thing. I looked towards the far wall, at the high windows that were painted over with opaque paint, blocking out all sunlight.

There was a chance that they weren't painted glass, but rather sheet metal or plywood or something that wouldn't shatter when I threw a brick at it, so as I threw I also lunged for Darissa to knock her off Corban.

Never had glass breaking sounded so beautiful, so perfect.

Corban heaved himself up into a squat and something flashed in his hand. He held it against his wrist so that I couldn't see it well, but I suspected it was a short, needle-like knife that could slip between the ribs and into the heart. Now that seemed much cleverer than a stake.

He didn't get a chance to use it, though. Darissa had poofed into mist and poured her way down the drain in the tile floor. She left my phone behind and I snatched it up before grabbing Corban by the collar of his jacket and dragging him towards the door. I didn't want to risk staying in the dim sunlight of the bathroom. We needed real, full sunlight that Darissa definitely couldn't endure.

He spun, grabbed my arm, where it was covered by the fabric of my jacket, and pulled himself to his feet. The two of us stumbled out the door of the bathroom, which I would have expected to cause everyone walking past in the hallway to turn around and gawk at us, but no one did.

"Corban," I said. "Conserve your energy. I don't care if people see us and laugh at me."

But he was still fading fast, nearly passing out on his feet. I wrapped his arm around my shoulders, put my arm around his waist, and managed to get him outside into the fresh, cold air. We both collapsed against the school building.

His breathing was shallow and he groaned as he leaned back.

I wished I had a habit of carrying food in my pockets, but I didn't. In desperation I went through his pockets and came up with a granola bar. I peeled back the wrapper and gave it to him. "Eat," I said. "Get your strength back. I've got all kinds of fear from what just happened. You can have it."

He bit off a corner and chewed slowly, and the terror that had been making my heart pound slipped away.

"Are you all right?" I asked, feeling my own nose. It didn't seem to be broken, and I managed to staunch the bleeding with a tissue from my pocket.

He took a deep breath, then nodded. "Thanks to you, yeah."

"How is Darissa able to make her clothes go into mist form with the rest of her? Why did my phone stay behind? Does she have a phone?"

His eyelids fluttered open and he looked sidelong at me. "Really? After what just happened, that's what you care about?"

"It's weird. I don't get how—"

"Liana, in case you haven't figured this out yet, I am not a scientist. I have no idea. Why? Do you see some way to use that against her?"

"No..." I confessed.

He started to laugh, a chuckle at first that built into a real laugh.

"I was just wondering," I said.

But that only made him laugh harder. If he hadn't nearly died moments ago, I would have slugged him with my bare hand. I couldn't pack much of a punch, but my skin would have stung him a little.

As it was, I had to sit there with my knees pulled up against my chest and glower at him.

"You're unbelievable," he said. "Liana Linacre, you're one of the nerdiest people I've ever met. Ever. In millennia."

"Hey!" I snapped. "Come on."

But he was laughing so hard that he was sliding down the wall, about to roll on the ground.

I looked away from him and waited for him to finish.

Which took far too long.

By now people had started to notice us. Nobody gaped openly, but people gave us plenty of side-eye as they walked in and out of the door beside us. Or maybe they only saw me, sitting alone with an angry look on my face. I had no way to know.

When the last of his guffaws finally did fade, he rolled towards me and nudged me in the side. "Thank you," he said. "You were amazing in there."

"How could you let her almost kill you?" I snapped.

"I miscalculated. I always do with her. She's fast, even for a vampire, and she always figures out how to get me off balance. I was planning to sneak in and surprise her, but then I heard her threatening you and I got mad and... fine. Be mad at me."

"You've been around for how long?" I asked. "And you almost threw it all away for one strange... specimen like me?" Even with my careful word choice, I hoped no one overheard me. I'd have a lot of explaining to do if they did.

"Okay, calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down."

"Fine, I'm sorry." He held up his hands. "But it turned out okay. I'm okay, you're okay. I suggest you go get yourself excused from the rest of the day at school. Darissa's stuck in the storm drain, and there aren't many places that she can get out without getting burned. She's gonna have to sit under the school while the sun's out, which means we have until sundown to make another plan."

"Like what? To use mirrors to illuminate the whole storm drain with sunlight?"

"We'll figure something out. But first, I'm still hungry, and not even all the teen angst in Taos is enough to replenish me. Let's go."