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

back in a low ponytail. He wasn’t clean shaven, and he was wearing a motorcycle jacket with some type of old-timey looking white linen shirt underneath that I was sure cost more than my entire wardrobe combined. I guess he was going for some kind of biker look because he had on dark jeans and black boots. It was definitely not the way any of the boys dressed at Tiburon High.
    If given the choice between dark and brooding or blond and brooding, I would have definitely gone blond. He was definitely pulling off the bad-boy look. Not that I would ever stand a chance with either guy, but guys drooled all the time over hot chicks that they never stood a chance in hell of dating, so I didn’t see why I couldn’t play make-believe for a moment.
    “Who are they?” Erika asked, obviously as stunned by their appearance as I was.
    “The one with the black hair is dating Aurora Keys,” Maybe-Laura reported. “The other one is his cousin visiting for Christmas.”
    “Wow,” Erika breathed out in a whisper, quickly running a hand over her long, silky hair. “They are so inappropriately good looking.” And this was from the prettiest girl I had ever met.
    I had to agree. I needed to find Tommy. And make him keep his word. And try to make some kind of life out of my last few months in high school. I didn’t need to feel all self-conscious because there were super-hot dudes strutting around. They needed to just go to New York or Paris or wherever, rather than cruising high school parties in the middle of Ohio. It was kind of weird.
    “You should talk to him,” Maybe-Laura was saying, urging Erika in the blond’s direction. “If you got together, think how hot your babies would be.”
    “They wouldn’t be that hot,” Ashley said, appearing at my elbow from out of nowhere. When Maybe-Laura and I gave her a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look, she hurriedly added, “Well, not as hot as if he did it with me,” and then laughed a little to show that she was totally kidding.
    “I think he can hear us,” I said in a quiet voice, my jaws clenched. The blond hottie started looking in our direction.
    “So what if he can?” Ashley said. “I’m sure he owns a mirror. He probably already knows he’s hot.” My cousin obviously didn’t know the definition of the word “discrete.”
    “Good evening, ladies,” the gorgeous blond said as he approached the food table. “How are you enjoying the punch?”
    “It’s great,” Ashley told him, even though it was very obvious she didn’t have a cup in her hand. “Why don’t I pour you some?” She eagerly grabbed the ladle hooked over the side of the punch bowl.
    “Thank you,” he said in reply. “That’s very kind of you.”
    I could see how things would go if they started dating. Ashley would become his obedient little servant, doing every little thing for him in order to date him. Then, once she felt secure that he cared, she would start complaining that he expected her to serve him, even though she was the one that had trained him that way.
    A few more females showed up from out of the woodwork, including Sheila and the second Maybe-Laura.
    “So you’re a Vanderlind?” Ashley asked, trying to position her body to exclude the rest of the girls, even though I was sure he had headed in our direction to speak to Erika.
    “That’s right,” he said as he accepted the dripping glass of punch she handed him. “But I haven’t visited in quite a long time.”
    “Who are the Vanderlinds?” I asked Erika in a quiet voice. I’d said it so quietly that I knew he couldn’t hear me, but he still glanced in our direction. Probably to check out Erika some more. The twinkle lights were making her look even more gorgeous and exotic than usual.
    “They’re that mega-rich family that lives in that crazy castle on the river,” she whispered.
    I had seen the castle. It was one of the few interesting things about Tiburon. It was apparently a genuine medieval fortress from Europe