King Slayer {1} ✓

XII

"You should go to class, Jenny. You can still make it."

"What? No, I'm staying with you."

"Thanks, really, but I got it. I don't want you to miss anything important."

We made it back to Olive's room and I put her food down on the table by the foot of her bed. She seemed to be okay but I wanted to make sure she completely forgot everything before I left.

"I got you a chicken wrap."

"Thanks." As soon as it reached her hands, she ripped the plastic film off and shoved the whole thing in her mouth. When she saw us staring at her, she talked with her mouth full, "I haven't eaten in like ten hours, okay?"

"That's an eternity for you." I remarked and she shot me a dirty look. Jenny laughed quietly.

After she was done stuffing herself, which took about ten minutes, I handed her purse back. She dug through it and looked at her phone.

"Crap. Would either of you happen to have a phone charger?" She asked.

"No, sorry." Jenny and I said at the same time.

"My phone's at five percent. Could you go home and get one for me? Please, Bri?" She begged and I was about to say no until my eyes drifted to the bandage on her neck. The spot where Isaiah had ripped open her throat.

"Fine. Do you need anything else?"

"Nope."

Jenny got up, "I'll go with you."

"Thanks, Jenny. We'll be back, Olive, try not to get into too much trouble."

"Not much I can do here." She laughed.

We left the hospital and the fresh air rejuvenated my lungs.

Jenny dropped me off at my house and I rushed in to make it as quick as possible. I wanted nothing more than to shower and brush my teeth but Olive was waiting for me. I ran up to my room and grabbed the first charger I saw.

"Why aren't you at school?" Dad stood in the hallway and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

I turned around and put on my bravest face.

"I thought you weren't home. Your car wasn't in the driveway."

"Today was a company holiday and the car needed an oil change." He was still waiting for my answer but I couldn't come up with a good lie fast enough.

"My phone was about to die so I needed a charger."

"Do you really need your phone during class? School should be a place of learning, not distraction."

"My phone's not always a distraction. Sometimes I take pictures of the board when I can't write everything down fast enough."

Dad shook his head disapprovingly and I knew what was coming next.

"I don't want you getting distracted. This is an important year, Brielle, you can't afford to skip school just to use your phone."

Tell that to all those times I'd skipped school but still got straight As. Hell, I could probably skip a month and still have the best grades in the class. Except I learned long ago to just agree to whatever my parents said because they never listened to me anyways.

"I know."

"Do you?" He demanded and I turned my back to him so he wouldn't see me till my eyes. "Colleges won't accept slackers."

Why wasn't I ever good enough?

No matter how high my grades were, they still expected higher. On more than one occasion when I got a ninety-nine on an assignment, they always asked why I didn't get a perfect score. What would it take to satisfy them so I could live my life without them breathing down my neck?

"I know, I'm going back now."

"Good. You better hurry."

I got out of there before he used his yelling voice and called Jenny to drive down a few blocks so he wouldn't see her car. Otherwise, he'd assume we skipped together and that would just make things worse.

"What did your dad say?" Jenny asked when I hopped in.

"The usual. Let's just hurry back to the stupid hospital."

.•*•.

Olive needed to leave town before she found out the truth and became another number for someone else's body count. Fortunately, the doctor said she could be discharged tomorrow but until then, I had school to worry about. I'd forgotten that I had a quiz in AP history but I managed to finesse a passing grade.

I was walking towards my last class of the day when Jenny rushed up to me, looking disheveled. It also looked like she'd seen a ghost and I wondered what'd gotten her so spooked.

"Bri, do you have a minute?"

"Of course, what's up?"

She grabbed my arm and opened one of the janitor's closets located down a semi-busy hallway.

Lying on the floor in a pool of blood was Gina Ferguson, one of our classmates. There were vicious gash marks all over her neck. Her eyes were closed shut.

I immediately bent down and gently tapped her cheeks to see if she was responsive. When nothing happened, I flung my head back to meet Jenny's grief-stricken face.

"What the hell happened here?"

"I don't know! I was going to class and then I saw some blood spots on the floor and—and I swear she was alive and talking when I left to go find you—" she let out a strangled cry and covered her face.

"It's okay, Jenny, I believe you." I took her pulse. Definitely dead. "I think she lost too much blood."

"Oh no," her face fell and her eyes brimmed with more fresh tears, "It's my fault! I should've called 911 but I went to go find you instead because I was scared and freaking out and now she's dead because of me!"

"No, it's not your fault at all. With a vampire bite mark that big, she probably bled out in seconds. There was nothing we could do. And I'm glad you didn't call 911 because then we'd have to lie to everybody."

"But—But she's dead! What are we going to tell her parents?" She wailed.

"I don't know." My lips quivered and I wished Caius and Dexter were here. It was harder to dismiss a story with more people backing it up than just the two of us. "I'll figure it out. Maybe Tate can help."

"Do you think whoever killed her is still here?"

"Probably."

"I'm scared."

"Me, too. But we're going to figure this out on our own."

First, how to cover her death with a believable story. And second, who was behind the attack—although there was only one vampire family in town that was out for blood.

Hey guys, I'm sorry it's been so long, I'm trying to finish my other story before school starts! Thank you for being patient and thank you so much for 2k reads I can't believe my eyes?!?!