Free Birth of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm) by Gayla Twist Page A

kick. And I think some of the guys brought beer, but you’ll have to ask them if you want one of those,” she said.
    “Thanks,” I mumbled, scanning the party for Tommy. I couldn’t see him, but there were quite a few guys running around the backyard, so I couldn’t tell if he was already there.
    “Okay, well, have fun,” Blossom said, then darted off to welcome some new guests.
    As I walked over to the refreshments table, I could feel Sheila was staring at me like I was something gross stuck to the bottom of her shoe. It came as a surprise, but it turned out that I had a nemesis. I didn’t know why she was my nemesis because before her trying to get me booted from the party I hadn’t even exchanged two words with her, but that was beside the point. She apparently liked Tommy, and I was dating Tommy, so that was reason enough, I guess. That kind of behavior was something I really hated about a lot of girls.
    I was starting to place Sheila in my mind. I was pretty sure we had English together. Because I was new, I didn’t know everyone in every class. But one new student in a small-town high school is easy enough for everyone else to memorize.
    “You going to have any punch?” Erika asked. I hadn’t realized she’d walked up next to me.
    I looked down at the table. “There’s an actual punch bowl,” I couldn’t help but exclaim. “With matching cups.”
    “Yeah, Blossom’s mom has a catering business, so they have all the gear,” she told me. “But the punch has got a lot of booze in it, just so you know.”
    “Oh.” I had been reaching for a cup just for the novelty of using a punch bowl but stopped. “I hope you don’t think I’m too big of a dork, but I don’t really drink much. I mean,” I amended, “I never have.”
    “Yeah,” Erika said, nodding and clasping her hands behind her back. “Me neither. I mean, I tried some vodka once, and I felt like total crap for like a week. I’ve never really tried anything since then.”
    We both looked at the bowl some more. Finally, I said, “Let’s put some Sprite in the cups and throw in some fruit to make it fancy. We can always have some actual punch later if we want.” Then I thought of something and added, “But I probably won’t anyway because I’m driving.”
    “Great idea,” Erika said in a low voice, grabbing a liter bottle of Sprite off the table and kind of shielding it with her body as she opened it. “I hope you don’t think I’m insecure, but I really hate it when people make fun of me for not drinking.”
    I gave her a smile of understanding. Erika was so pretty. Plus, she was a model. And she somehow thought she was insecure. I leaned forward and said in a low voice, “I seriously doubt you could be more insecure than me.”
    After we filled our cups, one of the girls who were possibly named Laura came bounding over. “Have you noticed there are some dangerously hot guys here tonight?” she asked in an overly bright voice.
    I did another scan of the party for Tommy. Was he hiding behind the garbage bins or what? But as I was scanning, I did happen to notice two ridiculously attractive guys standing to one side of the patio appearing aloof and all male model-y. They looked like transplants from a teen movie where the characters are all supposed to be sixteen, but the actors playing the characters are super buff and obviously more like twenty-four. Besides the fact that they were on the pale side, they both looked like they could model underwear for Calvin Klein.
    One had dark hair and appeared to be dating a girl named Aurora from my class. At least I assumed they were dating because she kept looking up at him with love-struck eyes, and he had his arm around her. His lips were full; his dark hair was ruffled; and he wore a blue-gray cable-knit sweater with dark pants. I could tell from halfway across the party his clothes were expensive.
    The other had blond hair that obviously hung past his chin, but he wore it pulled