Vampire Beach: Legacy (6 page)

‘OK. We’ll text.’ Jason took her hand and brought it to his mouth. ‘And we’ll ignore each other.’

Sienna’s breath quickened as he kissed her palm. ‘That won’t be easy,’ she murmured.

Jason reluctantly let go of her. When she’d hurried into the school, he climbed out of the car and walked into the building alone. As if they’d broken up. He strode down the crowded hallway, telling himself not to miss Sienna. This was what they had to do to keep the fact that they were still a couple a secret.

He wasn’t going to do anything that might bring the Council down on her. He loved her too much.

‘5.
UNDER PIER. LA COSTA BEACH
,’ Sienna texted him between first and second period.

‘
SWIM PRACTICE. SUX. SRRY
.’ Jason texted back.

‘8.
MOVIE ABOUT THE MATH GENIUS? NO
1
WE KNOW WILL SEE THAT
,’ he suggested in another text message between second and third.

‘
AUCTION FOR SOME WORTHY THING. PARENTS INSIST. SUX
,’ Sienna instantly answered.

‘
MDNGHT. FTBALL FIELD. BLEACHERS
???’ Jason offered in his next message as he got in the food line at lunch. Only Brad and two guys from the diving team separated him from Sienna. But Jason didn’t want to risk talking to her. Not on day one of Operation Secret Couple.

‘
IF CAUGHT SNEAKING IN, GROUNDED
4
LIFE
,’ Sienna answered by text.

‘
B4 SKOOL A.M. BAD DNUT PLACE?
’ Jason shot back.

‘
TOMORROW? BUT IT’S TOMORROW
!’ Sienna replied. ‘
CANT W
8
THAT LONG
.’

Jason laughed and shook his head at his phone. Then he typed, ‘
SKIPPING SWIMMING. SEE U UNDER PIER
.’

Sienna glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him by way of reply.

Jason checked his watch as he sat on the beach waiting for Sienna after school. He’d been waiting for more than an hour under the beat-up fishing pier. Had something gone wrong? Had her parents found out about their plans somehow? The vampire grapevine couldn’t be
that
good. Could it?

Sienna’s usually late
, he reminded himself. She ran on girl time, the same way Dani and his Aunt Bianca did.

He looked around and noted with satisfaction that under a half-rotten pier, in February, with the sun about to go down, was the perfect choice for an Operation Secret Couple meeting. Other than some fish and some seagulls, Jason seemed to be the only living creature for miles.

He checked his watch again. Sienna was seriously late. Even on girl time.

The sky looked as if it were on fire over to the west as the blazing red ball of the sun got ready to hit the water.
Sienna should be here to witness this
, Jason thought. It was one of the best sunsets he’d seen since he’d moved to Malibu.

He pulled out his cell to text Sienna. Before he’d gotten two letters in, he heard a creaking sound above him.

Jason froze.

Rotten wood creaks
, he told himself. But he kept his body motionless, waiting for another sound.

Creak!

Footsteps
? Jason wondered.
Sienna
? But they’d agreed to meet under the pier, not on it.

Jason slowly stretched out on his back. He stared up at the warped planks that made up the pier. Shafts of light filtered through each space between the planks. But with the next creak, some of that light was blocked.

The creaks were definitely footsteps. Somebody was up on the pier. And it wasn’t Sienna.

Jason felt his heart start to race. He’d been on the beach when Tamburo shot him with a crossbow bolt. On the beach, alone, at sunset. Just like now. And Adam thought there might be more hunters around. Was a vampire hunter up on the old pier now, looking for him? Or, worse,
looking for Sienna
?

Jason flipped onto his stomach and combat-crawled down the beach toward the surf. When he got to the end of the pier, he put one foot in the V of a support beam and swung himself up to take a quick scan of the pier.

Goatee guy from the speedboat was walking in his direction, looking about him as if searching for someone. He certainly didn’t seem to have Sienna. Jason ducked his head, determined to keep out of sight.
You’re in the perfect spot
, he told himself, wrapping both arms around the beam.
Even if he looks under the pier, he won’t see you unless he circles around and actually stands in the surf.

Jason held his position until his arms ached and his legs started to cramp, then he allowed himself another quick look over the edge of the pier. It was empty now. Cautiously, he pulled himself up onto the rough planks. In the last bit of light from the sunset he saw a black Mercedes race away down the Pacific Coast Highway.

When it was out of sight, he pulled out his cell and dialed Sienna.

‘Sorry. I couldn’t get there,’ Sienna’s voice filled his ear, low and breathless. ‘I’m helping Mom unload the floral arrangements for the auction. She’ll be back any second. I’m stuck here. She insists she needs my help setting up because someone got sick or something.’

Jason’s galloping heartbeat began to slow. Sienna was OK. If Goatee was a hunter, he hadn’t found his prey. ‘You think your mom knows we were planning to meet?’ Jason asked, choosing not to tell Sienna about Goatee; he didn’t want to terrify her until he knew what was going on.

‘I guess it’s possible,’ Sienna whispered. ‘But I don’t know. She and Dad might just be trying to pack my schedule so full that there’s no way we can sneak off somewhere. My father actually signed me up to play in a father-daughter golf tournament this weekend. And I so don’t golf!’

‘Then when—?’

‘My mom’s coming back. I gotta go,’ Sienna muttered and hung up.

Jason slowly folded his phone. Then he sat and stared at the sky until all the color had drained away and the beach and the pier and even the waves were all shades of gray.
Is this how it’s going to be?
he couldn’t stop himself from wondering.
Is this going to keep happening
?

Is this the end for me and Sienna?

JASON HEADED UP
to his car . . . and sat there, his mind shifting back and forth between the Sienna situation and the strangeness of Goatee showing up at the pier.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of movement down on the beach. Goatee guy? Had he circled back?

Jason squinted into the shadows by the pier. The figure looked too tall to be either of the guys from the speedboat. The hair looked too dark . . .

The figure moved out of the shadows. It was Brad.

What was he doing down there? Nobody from school came to La Costa beach. That was the whole point of Jason and Sienna meeting there. Jason noticed that Brad was carrying fishing gear. The silhouette of the pole was pretty easy to make out. Jason hadn’t been fishing since he moved to Malibu. Maybe this was supposed to be a good spot for it. It kind of made sense, with the old pier and everything.

He watched as Brad continued down the beach and then started cutting up the side of the cliff to the highway. Jason realized that Brad’s car was parked further down the road on the opposite side from Jason’s. It definitely hadn’t been there when Jason arrived.

Jason put his key in the ignition and started the Bug. He wanted to get out of here. If Brad noticed him, he might come over. And Jason didn’t want to have to come up with a reason for what he himself was doing there.

He started the car, then impulsively turned right on PCH instead of left. He wasn’t ready to go home. He’d only end up staring blankly at the tube or wasting time studying when his retention capacity was a complete zero. He’d drop by Adam’s instead.

‘Jason, hey,’ Adam’s father said when he opened the front door. ‘You came on the right night. I just made my ten-alarm chili.’ The guy was wearing an apron that said
BACON IS A VEGETABLE
on the front. Jason was starting to feel a little better already. ‘Adam’s eating in his room,’ Chief Turnball continued. ‘I couldn’t pry him away from his computer. Grab yourself a bowlful from the pot on the stove and go on up.’

‘Cool. Thanks.’ Jason obediently headed into the kitchen. Just the smell of the chili made his eyes and nose start to water.
What is this stuff gonna do to my stomach lining?
he wondered, serving himself up a big bowlful nonetheless. How could you turn down chow made by somebody with a
BACON IS A VEGETABLE
apron? Then he made his way to Adam’s room.

‘Oh, man, you came on the wrong night,’ Adam told him from his seat in front of the computer. ‘Ten-alarm chili is dangerous!’

Jason flopped down on Adam’s unmade bed, and caught sight of the image on his computer screen. ‘Is that a
chicken
drinking that woman’s blood?’ he sputtered.

‘It’s one of the Vampire Chickens of Borneo, according to the
believe
website,’ Adam replied. ‘Me, I’m inclined not to
believe.
Even I draw the line somewhere, and that somewhere is bloodsucking poultry.’

‘You haven’t seen any more info on that reward for killing vampires, have you?’ Jason asked.

‘I checked that site again after we got followed by our friends in the speedboat,’ Adam answered. ‘A few people had posted messages on the bulletin board: exchanging vampire kill methods, asking if anyone had spotted any of the undead, that kind of thing.’

‘Anyone mention Malibu?’ Jason asked.

His friend spun his desk chair around so he was facing Jason. ‘OK, tell Uncle Adam. What’s going on?’

‘Sienna and I are going to have to keep our relationship a secret from now on, since her parents don’t approve. We were supposed to meet under that old pier on La Costa beach this evening.’

‘Romantic! The smell of mold, the thrilling possibility that you’ll die together as the pier collapses on top of you,’ Adam commented. ‘So what happened?’

‘Sienna didn’t show. Her mom made her go early to some charity auction. But I saw the goateed dude from the speedboat.’

‘Did he see you?’ Adam demanded quickly.

Jason shook his head. ‘I managed to stay out of sight.’

‘Good.’ For once, Adam sounded serious. ‘We don’t need you to get shot by another vampire hunter. And Sienna had a close call last time too. I’m kinda glad her mom kept her out of commission tonight.’

‘Yeah,’ Jason said. ‘I’m glad she wasn’t there when Goatee came sniffing around. And later I saw Brad. Wouldn’t that have been fun – me and Sienna and her ex, watching the sunset together?’

Adam raised one eyebrow. ‘Brad showed up? That’s . . . interesting,’ he commented.

‘I did think it was a little strange that he was there,’ Jason admitted. ‘But he had a fishing pole. People fish there, right?’

‘People used to fish from the pier all the time, before it started falling apart,’ Adam answered. ‘I’m sure people still fish around there, but . . .’ He did the one eyebrow thing again.

‘Can you use actual words to say whatever it is you’re trying to say? Instead of attempting to communicate with your facial hair?’ Jason demanded.

‘OK, OK. But I don’t know if I even have anything to say,’ Adam answered. ‘Maybe I’m just going all Son-of-a-Cop.’

‘Spit it out,’ Jason ordered.

‘Well, you might want to consider the possibility that Brad is keeping his eye on you and Sienna. Maybe even feeding intel to Sienna’s parents,’ Adam said.

‘I did think that maybe Sienna’s parents had found out that we were meeting, and that that was why the whole charity thing had come up,’ Jason admitted. ‘But Brad? That makes no sense. Brad said he was cool with me and Sienna getting together. He even said he and Sienna were better as friends.’

‘Again, Son-of-a-Cop here . . .’ Adam put in. ‘But people do this thing sometimes . . . It’s called
ly-ing.
’ Adam said the last few words in a whisper.

Jason shook his head. ‘Why would Brad lie? Why bother?’

‘Pride maybe,’ Adam offered. ‘It was clear Sienna wanted to be with you, so it was less embarrassing for him to act like he was pretty much done with her, at least in a romantic way.’

A fragment of memory flashed through Jason’s mind. Him and Sienna texting each other at lunch. Brad in the lunch line between them. Could he have read the text messages over Sienna’s shoulder?

Still, they were talking about Brad here. Pretty much the most decent guy Jason knew. ‘I don’t buy it,’ he told Adam. ‘But I guess I should keep an eye on him. I’m more worried about Sienna’s parents though. They’re the ones who could really mess things up between me and Sienna.’ Jason started to spoon some chili into his mouth.

‘Really. Don’t eat it,’ Adam warned, watching him. ‘Those wasabi peas I had at your place? Jelly beans compared to that stuff.’

Jason felt his eyes begin to water as the chili came closer. He hadn’t even put any in his mouth yet! Maybe Adam was right. He put the spoon back and set down the bowl on Adam’s nightstand. ‘So what am I supposed to do?’

Adam pulled an energy bar out of one of his desk drawers. ‘Eat this. It’s not a great dinner, but—’

‘What am I supposed to do about
Sienna and her parents
, doofus?’ Jason demanded, unwrapping the bar anyway.

‘I don’t think her parents should be making calls about who she goes out with,’ Adam said slowly. ‘That’s messed up . . .’

‘But?’ Jason prompted.

‘I didn’t say "but",’ Adam protested.

‘Yeah, but it was there anyway. Out with it,’ Jason urged.

‘I’ve been reading a lot of stuff about vampires, ever since I started getting suspicious about our, you know, special friends. And now, with trying to find out what other kinds of vampire-hunting freaks we might need to know about . . .’