Blood Candy Page 5

  “Well, at least she’s charming,” Felicia said

  Candy frowned and looked over at the other girl’s character sheet. Her numbers were much bigger.

  “Don’t worry. Medium Dave’s character is just as bad,” Jimmy said. “You should be a cleric or a paladin.”

  “Why does my character have to be bad?”

  “Because Melvin insists on playing with the old rules,” White Paul said, glaring over at the skinny boy with glasses. “He’s what we like to call a ‘purist’ and a ‘rules lawyer.’ ”

  “Don’t start this shit again,” Melvin said, meeting the bigger boy’s glare with one of his own.

  While they argued, Jimmy continued helping Candy.

  “Clerics can heal people,” he said. He scooted his chair right up against hers so they were shoulder to shoulder. Every time he leaned over her to write something on her character sheet, Felicia huffed or groaned.

  “How do I heal people?” Candy said. “Do I have an ambulance or something?”

  “No.” Jimmy pursed his lips at Felicia when she laughed. “Have you ever seen those preachers on TV who smack people on the head and say the Lord has healed them? It’s kind of like that. Your deity gives you the power to heal people.”

  “My what?”

  “Never mind, it’s not important right now.”

  “Okay,” Candy said, thinking it best to just play along.

  After some time, she had all sorts of stuff written on her character sheet. Everyone else at the table carried on with the game while Jimmy helped her finish. She thought it was strange that she was supposed to use mace to kill monsters; she imagined herself spraying a dragon in the eyes with it.

  When Candy was finished, Melvin turned his attention to her and said, “You grew up in a small fishing town on the Tempest Coast. Most of the people in your village were killed in The War of the Seven Crowns, but you were saved by a mysterious man who took you away to a strange city. You were then given over to a temple where you became an oracle.”

  Candy nodded along. It all sounded complicated and the last thing she wanted to do was look stupid by asking questions. Melvin was telling her some other stuff when she heard her cell phone vibrating in the dining room where she had plugged it in to charge. She hadn’t checked it yet. Melvin frowned when she hurried over and flipped it open.

  There were twenty missed messages. She looked at the most recent entry, a missed call from a number she didn’t recognize. The next three were from the same number and all within the last thirty minutes. She tried to recall if she knew the number. Nothing came to mind.

  “The temple priest has asked you into his chambers,” Melvin said.

  “Uh,” Candy said, looking up from the digital display of her cell phone. “I guess I’ll go to his chamber? That sounds kind of creepy, though. I don’t think a priest should have someone alone in his chamber, especially a young woman.”

  “You’ve been in his chamber before,” Melvin said. “It’s not a big deal.”

  Candy looked around at everyone. She caught White Paul looking at her cleavage again; she had caught all of them sneaking a peak at least once, including Felicia.

  “Okay. I go to his chamber, but I make sure my breasts are covered up real good.”

  Were-Jew coughed and laughed. Medium Dave’s eyes got big and, turning red in the face, he looked up at the ceiling. White Paul winked.

  Melvin said in a deep and haughty tone that confused Candy until she realized he was pretending to be the priest who had called her character into his chamber, “I have a quest for you, young oracle.”

  The cell phone vibrated in her hand. The display indicated an incoming call from the same number she didn’t recognize. Everyone at the table looked rather annoyed. “Sorry,” she said. “I need to take this real quick.” She got up and went into the kitchen to answer. The voice that came through made her eyes go wide.

  “Hello, love. I thought you’d never answer.”

  Her heart skipped a beat and, even though she knew the answer, she asked in a hushed tone, “Who is this?”

  “You know who I am, love. You’re breaking my heart.”

  “Don’t call me again.”

  She ended the call and then stared at the cell phone. She checked through all of the other messages. One of the twenty was a text from her sort-of-sometimes boyfriend Jack, and one other from another sort-of boyfriend who attended Boston College. All of the others were from Rupert.

  Candy stood in the kitchen for a while staring at the cell phone and wondering how Rupert got her number. She listened to the first voice message he had left at nearly three in the morning: “Pick up, love. It’s me, Rupert. I’ll try you back. I have all night. I have forever.”

  She listened to the next message that came fifteen minutes after the first: “Seems I’ve missed you again. We really need to talk. Call me back. Kisses.” The third message: “It would make my life much easier if you’d pick up. Then I wouldn’t have to track you down like this. See you soon.”

  The implications in the message had her nearly hysterical. Track you down? Regardless of how simple the statement was, her frantic mind couldn’t make sense of it. She dared to listen to the most recent message: “You’re not in my dreams anymore and I can’t sleep now. I’m going positively crazy without you. Ah, but I hate the short nights of summer. I’ll be with you soon enough.”

  Candy flipped her cell phone shut. Jimmy stood in the doorway watching her.

  “Is everything all right?” he said, his face creased with concern.

  She wasn’t sure what she should say. After a moment, she gave him a weak smile. “Yeah,” she said and they went back to the game table together.

  “I stab him in the face,” Felicia said.

  “You can’t just stab a death knight in the face,” Melvin said. “It has armor and it’s taller than you. And it’s incorporeal so there’s no face to stab.”

  “Fine. I stab him in the balls,” Felicia said.

  “He doesn’t have balls!”

  “Can I cast magic missile?” Medium Dave asked, but no one paid him any attention.

  Felicia threw her hands up. “What am I supposed to do? Why put me up against a death knight if I can’t do anything with my daggers?”

  “Because the only thing you ever do is stab things in the face. Try something else, otherwise the death knight is about to attack you and he looks pissed that you ransacked his tomb.”

  “I’ll cast magic missile,” Medium Dave said.

  Felicia leaned over the table to yell at Melvin. “You’re impossible! You can’t just tempt a thief with a tomb full of treasure and then expect her to fight a fucking death knight. That’s stupid.”

  “Can I cast magic missile now?”

  “You’re not there Dave!” Melvin roared.

  Candy’s cell phone rang again. Everyone snapped their heads to her except Medium Dave, who had slouched back in his chair in a pout. Candy didn’t want to look at the phone. But she had to know. She flipped it open to see Rupert’s number again. She accidentally let out a little whimper.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Jimmy asked her.

  “No.”

  “What is it?”

  Candy looked from Felicia to Melvin and then back to Jimmy. “Rupert keeps calling me.”

  Jimmy snatched the phone out of her hand, but it had already stopped ringing. He stood up out of his chair, looking a little scared.

  “Rupert the crazy vampire?” Melvin said. Both Candy and Jimmy nodded. “You gave him your phone number?”

  “No! I don’t know how he got it. He’s been calling all night and morning,” Candy said.

  White Paul threw an elbow into the wall behind him. “Fucking vampires!”

  “Jesus,” Felicia said gravely. “This guy sounds like a worse stalker than Paul.”

  “I don’t stalk. I keep an eye on them while they reconsider,” White Paul explained.

  Jimmy found the messages on her cell an
d he put the most recent one from the call they just missed on speaker. Rupert’s annoying British voice filled the room. Everyone was appalled by his accent more than the disturbing, drawn out tone of his voice.

  “I wish you would have told me you’re near Springfield. I could have had my people there fetch you. Are you thinking about me? I can’t stop thinking about you. I’ve never had better and I know you haven’t either. I can’t wait to give you more. You have me so twisted up I can’t sleep. Don’t you see what you’re doing to me? I’m sitting here in the dark talking to your bloody voice mail.”

  “Wow,” Felicia said, and for the first time she looked sincerely concerned for Candy.

  Jimmy stared at the phone for a minute and then he said, “He’s calling during the day. I didn’t know they could . . . that’s crazy.”

  Everyone seemed to understand his meaning, but no one offered up any kind of an explanation. None of the Misfits seemed to know what to do. Melvin chewed his fingernails.

  “How does he know where you are?” he said. “Can he track that phone?”

  “Vampires are crafty motherfuckers,” White Paul said.

  “This isn’t good. He’s going to find the Kennel,” Melvin said.

  “What are we going to do?” White Paul said. Before anyone suggested an answer he narrowed his eyes at Candy and gave one of his own. “I say we drop her off in the middle of Boston. Let the vamps find her there. Alone.”

  “Don’t be an asshole,” Felicia said. White Paul glared at her and she shot him the middle finger. “Don’t you forget what Tinch said.”

  “We need to figure something out,” Melvin said.

  The cell phone rang in Jimmy’s hand. Everyone looked at him. With the phone still set to speaker he answered the call.

  Rupert’s voice: “Do you miss me?”

  “Listen, asshole,” Jimmy growled at the phone. “If you call this number again I’m going to rip your fucking arms off.”

  Silence. Worried and interested eyes passed back and forth. Medium Dave leaned in his chair, reading one of the role-playing books, seemingly unconcerned. The sigh that came through the speaker made Candy cringe.

  “Jimmy, is it? The little pup who ran away with his tail tucked between his legs?” Rupert said. “I remember you, Jimmy. I remember you and that other wanker who took my Candy. I’m going to make you watch while your girlfriend screams my name. And then I’m going to rip your little prick off and show it to everyone so they can have a good laugh.”

  Jimmy’s face flushed red. “Fuck you asshole!”

  “I’ll see you soon, Jimmy. Give my love and regards to Candy.”

  The line went dead.

  Melvin was on the brink of hysteria, or maybe rage.

  “We have to get out of here,” Were-Jew said. “We can’t compromise this location.”

  “Where are we going to go?” Felicia said, concern in her green eyes as well as on her voice. “Tinch told us not to leave.”

  “Yeah? Well Tinch isn’t here. I’m not running from a vampire,” White Paul said. “Let him come here. I’ll take him out.”

  “Get a grip.” Felicia rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You and what army?”

  Melvin banged his hand on the table and everyone respectfully turned their attention to him.

  “I’m the leader of the Misfits and I’m not going to listen to you idiots argue while vampires find our hideout.” Everyone snapped their mouths shut and stared at him. For a skinny twerp, he was rather intimidating. “Thank you. We need help. We need a safe place to go. We need people we can trust.”

  “Like who?” White Paul inquired with a dramatic flip of his hands. “It’s not like we can go to the police and we don’t know anyone.”

  “I wish Tinch was here,” Melvin mumbled, cracking under the pressure.

  Everyone stood or paced in nervous silence except Medium Dave. He put the book he had been reading down and said, “I know where we can go for help.”

  “Where?” asked Melvin.

  “The Mullins. They’re cool.”

  Melvin was short on patience but he asked, “Who are the Mullins?”

  “A vampire family.”

  White Paul laughed. “Brilliant! Let’s go right up to the very thing we’re trying to get away from.”

  “No, you don’t understand,” Medium Dave said. “They’re American and they don’t drink blood. They’re really cool.”

  “Don’t drink blood?” Melvin said, one of his brows perking up skeptically. “They aren’t vampires if they don’t drink blood. How do you know vampires anyway?”

  “They don’t drink human blood,” Medium Dave said without answering the last question. “They are totally advanced and they don’t believe in that. They drink some synthetic stuff and pig’s blood.”

  “That’s messed up,” Were-Jew said.

  “I’ve known them for a few years,” Medium Dave went on. “I completely trust them. I’m pretty sure they’ll help us.”

  Were-Jew nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah,” he said. “The Americans don’t really like the British vampires. Maybe they can help us.”

  Melvin pondered this for a moment. “Okay. Dave, you get in touch with the Mullins. Everyone else, get anything we may need packed into the cars.” He turned his attention to Candy. “We have to destroy that cell phone and check you for bugs.”

  “Bugs? They’re vampires not the CIA,” Jimmy said.

  Melvin turned his serious nerd face to him. “They’re tracking her somehow. Destroy that cell phone. Felicia can go upstairs with Candy to check her handbag and clothes.”

  Candy had to give Felicia credit for at least trying to appear unenthusiastic about Melvin’s order. “Okay, let’s go,” Felicia said. Candy followed her upstairs into a plain room with a bed and a single dresser. She told Candy to lean down a little and then she combed through her hair like she had lice. After that, she slowly (and far too thoroughly) patted her down.

  “I think you need to take your dress off,” Felicia said.

  “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  Felicia grinned. She had the biggest, most alluring green eyes Candy had ever seen. While she had some time to scrutinize, she also noted Felicia had a lovely heart shaped face with a perfect nose and thin lips. She also begrudgingly noted Felicia had the physique guys went crazy for—thin, but not too thin. Thin enough to give her hips the sway they needed and her legs the illusion of more length.

  At least Candy had her beat in the breast department.

  “I find it hard to believe you have a single shy bone in your body,” Felicia said. “So what’s the problem? I won’t get fresh.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one being asked to strip down.”

  Felicia unbuttoned her pants, dropped them to the ground, and then threw her shirt off over her head. Candy went a little pink in the face. The redhead had a body more disgustingly perfect than she had first thought. Wearing only a black bra, a jewelry piece in her naval, and green boy underwear (something Candy never understood), Felicia stood there waiting with her hands planted on her narrow hips. Candy sighed and slipped out of her dress. She wasn’t wearing a bra.

  “You don’t need to hold your hands over them. It’s not like I don’t have a pair of my own,” Felicia said.

  “Then you’re not missing out on anything.”

  Felicia shrugged. She did a more thorough search of Candy’s red dress before she had her turn in circles. Candy had a sneaking suspicion that, while turned away longer than she thought necessary, Felicia was checking out her butt.

  “You look clean. Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.”

  “It wasn’t so bad.”

  While Candy put her dress back on Felicia said, “What’s up between you and Jimmy?”

  Candy’s eyes shot up and she blurted, “Nothing.” She wasn’t sure why the question made her react that way. She shouldn’t have been ashamed about her feelings.

  “Right. I’ve kn
own Jimmy for a long time and I can tell he’s head over heels for you. Don’t go breaking his heart.”

  “I didn’t plan on it.” Candy thought for a moment. “To be completely honest, I’ve never liked a werewolf before. I never even knew they existed until last night. It’s kind of exciting.”

  Felicia laughed so enthusiastically, Candy’s cheeks flushed again.

  “What? Some friend you are to laugh like that,” Candy said.

  “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you or him. Look, Jimmy is a great guy. Really, he is. I’ve just never heard anyone talk about him like that. And I’ve never heard anyone call him a werewolf.” Felicia had to stifle more laughter.

  Feeling now that Felicia was laughing at her for saying something so juvenile, Candy headed towards the bedroom door. Felicia caught her by the arm.

  “Don’t be mad,” she said. “I didn’t mean it. I’ve known Jimmy for a long time and I haven’t ever seen him in love before. At least not like this.”

  “I do like him. I promise I won’t break his heart,” Candy said.

  Were-Jew yelled from the bottom of the stairs. “What are you two doing up there?”

  White Paul chimed in, “And can I watch?”

  “Let’s go,” Felicia said. Skinny as she was, she had to jump up and down to get into her jeans. “We need to get out of here.”

  Chapter Six

  Medium Dave tried to get in touch with the Mullin Family while everyone else prepared to evacuate the Kennel. Aside from the Pinto Jimmy and Tinch had been using, the rest of the Misfits shared a black SUV sporting far too much chrome. Considering the dump they lived in, Candy wondered how they could afford a car like that. White Paul put a few duffle bags crammed with supplies into the back of the SUV.

  “We don’t need the video games,” Melvin told him.

  “But we need all of the role playing books?” White Paul countered.

  Melvin didn’t have a response. He and White Paul had torn Candy’s cell phone apart, effectively destroying it, which upset her to no end because she was positive Rupert wasn’t tracking her through it. Then again, as Were-Jew had said, “Vampires, specifically the big families, have access to vast resources. We can’t rule out the possibility.”