Free Your Soul to Take (Rise of the Fallen) by Sean Hayden

else,
too, because everyone turned around to watch Shannon fly back between her
friends and land, skidding, across the linoleum floor.
    “Kiss
him again and you won’t wake up from the next one,” Jess said as she
walked passed her prone form.
    I
hurried to catch up to her and Clarisse, avoiding any sort of eye contact,
physical contact, metaphysical contact, or anything that could be construed as
any sort of contact with Shannon. I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of
one of those punches. Ever.

 
     
    Chapter 9
     
    “You
okay?”
    I
turned and saw my sister as I was getting on my scooter. “Yeah, why?”
    “Saw
the fireworks at lunch. Just making sure you weren’t on the receiving end of
any of them.”
    I
laughed. “No. Her rage was focused solely on Shannon.”
    “What
the hell happened?”
    “I’ll
tell you when you’re a little older, kid.”
    “Fine.
Then I’ll tell Mom your girlfriend knocked out the head cheerleader at lunch
today and you won’t tell anyone why.”
    “I
was just kidding. Sheesh. No need to resort to blackmail.”
    “There’s
always a need for blackmail when it gets me what I want.”
    “Evil
bloodsucker.”
    “Evil
Demon.”
    “Touché.
It was actually kind of weird. I was at the mall and Shannon kissed me. I felt
bad about keeping it from Jess, so I told her.”
    Cae
shifted from foot to foot and looked like she wanted to say two million things
to me. “Um…”
    “What?
Spill it.”
    “I’m
having a little trouble believing that Shannon kissed you .”
    “Gee,
thanks.”
    “I’m
not saying anything about you… I…um… Okay. You didn’t hear this from me, but I
wasn’t even totally sure that she liked…”
    “Fallen
Ones?”
    “No.”
    “Younger
men?”
    “Closer.”
    “Dashingly
handsome younger men?”
    She
rolled her eyes. “More like men in general. Let’s just leave it at
that.”
    Oh,
how the gears in my head started turning. That was kind of hot. “Wow.”
    “You’re
daydreaming about it now aren’t you?”
    “Yep.”
    “Perv.
Anyway. This is the point in our conversation where I get to tell you you’re a
dumbass.”
    “Why?”
    “For
telling Jessica. Do the words ‘death wish’ mean anything to you?”
    “Okay,
picture this. Shannon kisses me. I don’t tell Jess about it. Jess finds
out about it…” I let my words trail off for maximum effect.
    “Good
point. I guess there really is a fine line between dumbass and genius.”
    “And
I cross it every day.”
    “Yes,
but sometimes you regress.”
    “Can’t
help it. I’m a guy.”
    “Too
true.”
    I
laughed. “How you doing? Everything okay? You didn’t drain anybody into a
raisin-like husk at lunch, did you?”
    “Okay,
this is going to sound weird. Elizabeth and Jenny can drink animal blood.”
    “Too
much information, but continue.”
    “Well,
it turns out, I can’t. I’m a different kind of vampire.”
    “Tell
me you’re not feeding on people…”
    “People,
no. Vampires, yes. Jenny cut her finger and before I knew it, I was latched on
and feeding off her.”
    “Was
she okay with that?”
    “Um.
Yeah. Apparently it feels good when I feed. Like really good.”
    “Re-entering
the land of I-don’t-need-to-know-this.”
    “That’s
not a real place.”
    “Sure
it is. It’s in Asia. Look it up.”
    Caelyn
laughed. “You’re a dork.”
    “And
you’re related to me. Bwahahaha.”
    “Don’t
remind me.”
    “So
you’re doing okay?”
    “Yes.
I’m fine. Thanks for worrying, though.”
    “Big
brother duty, number twelve. You sure you don’t want a ride home?”
    “Nope.
Going to Jenny’s.”
    “Don’t
drain her dry.”
    “I
won’t,” she said and turned to leave. I watched her go and gave a little
smile. For the first time in a few days I had a feeling that she was going to
be just fine.
    I
started up my engine and let it run for a few seconds before turning it around
and heading out of the school parking lot. Clarisse honked as she passed