Deathless (23 page)

“
Maybe,” Leesa said, hoping what Cali said was true. “But it sure feels real when I have it.”

“
I think this is another good reason for us to get out of here and have some fun,” Cali said. “Sounds to me like you sure could use it.”

Leesa thought Cali was probably right. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to take her mind off all the stuff bothering her. She just wondered if that were possible.

“
Where are we going?”

“
Up to the big mall in Farmington. We’ll hang out, try on some hot outfits, get something to eat. It’ll be great.”

Leesa had never been to the Farmington mall, but she had heard it was one of the most upscale malls in Connecticut. It might be cool to check it out, even though she doubted she’d be buying anything, not with her bank account as puny as it was. She was pretty sure Cali would have a lot more fun trying on outfits than she would, but it would be a kick to see what kind of stuff Cali picked out to model. You could always count on Cali to pull some fashion surprises.

“
Okay, I’m in,” Leesa said.

Leesa and Cali stood just inside the front door of the dorm, waiting for Vanina to show up. It wasn’t all that cold out, especially for January, but it was chilly enough that Cali preferred to wait inside. Leesa had her parka draped over her arm—she would have been fine outside with it on—but Cali was dressed for the enclosed mall, not for the outdoors. She was wearing her new fluorescent Pink brand sweatshirt, a short, pleated black skirt, knee high black boots and black fishnet stockings that peeked out only about two inches above the top of her boots. Somewhere, she had found nail polish that matched the bright color of her sweatshirt almost exactly, and she had replaced the blue streaks in her hair with pink. Leesa didn’t know how Cali did it, but inexplicably, the look worked on her.

Leesa was dressed much more conservatively, in an acrylic sweater with wide, alternating stripes of light and dark blue and plain jeans. Since she expected to do a lot of walking at the mall, she had opted for a pair of Sketcher walking shoes rather than her Uggs. Cali had not wanted to bother with a jacket, but Leesa planned to leave her parka in the car when they got to the mall.

A silver Camry a couple of years old pulled to the curb in front of the dorm and beeped once. Leesa slipped into her parka while Cali pushed the door open and strode quickly toward the car. Leesa followed behind and climbed into the back seat while Cali slid into the front. It was cool inside the car, so Leesa kept her parka on.

Edwina turned and smiled at them both. She was wearing tight black jeans, with a black sweatshirt unbuttoned over a blood red collarless shirt. The shirt extended about three inches below the sweatshirt, creating a red band between the black jeans and black sweatshirt.

“
Hi, guys,” she said. “You ready to have some fun?”

“
Yeah, if we don’t freeze to death first,” Cali said, making a show of hugging her arms in front of her against the chill. “Doesn’t this thing have heat?”

“
I told you to bring your coat,” Leesa said, grinning. “It’s winter, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“
Yeah, yeah, I know,” Cali said. “But I wasn’t planning on being outside. You might as well have the windows down, Vanina.”

Edwina laughed. She actually had been driving with the windows down, but had put them up before reaching the dorm.

“
Sorry,” she said. “I kind of like the cold, but I guess we could spare some heat.” The cold did not affect her, of course, but she had another reason for not turning the heat on until necessary—the body still crammed into the trunk. She didn’t think much heat would seep into the trunk, but figured the colder it stayed back there, the longer it would take for the corpse to begin to decay. She reached for a knob on the dash and warm air began blowing into the car. “Better?”

“
Much,” Cali said, holding her hands in front of one of the vents. “Now let’s get this show on the road.”

They followed Highway 9 north, through a series of towns Leesa had never been to before, but did not look all that different from Meriden. The drive was pleasant enough, and in about forty minutes they were pulling into a wide parking lot. At Cali’s urging, Vanina circled the lot until she found an open spot not too far from the mall’s shiny glass and steel main entrance. Giant blue letters along the top of the curved entranceway proclaimed WEST FARMS.

They got out of the car and walked quickly toward the entrance. A thick layer of clouds blanketed the sky, keeping the morning cool, but they did not have very far to go. Leesa was impressed with the design of the place. A pair of restaurants flanked the entrance building. Each had a different look, but both bore clean, sharp lines and pleasing colors.

Inside, the mall was just as nice.

“
This place is pretty cool,” Leesa said, looking around at all the glass storefronts filled with colorful, eye-catching displays.

“
Nothing but the best for us, huh?” Edwina said, smiling.

“
Have you been here before, Vanina?”

“
A couple of times, yeah. But it’s been awhile.”

“
Let’s go to Nordstrom first,” Cali said. “We can check out the expensive stuff.”

They spent nearly an hour in Nordstrom. Leesa guessed that Cali probably tried on three outfits for every one Leesa or Vanina tried. Some of the combinations Cali put together were never meant to be paired and went beyond even Cali’s outrageous fashion sense. Leesa loved watching her prance out of the dressing room with one wild outfit after another. Even the two sales girls got into the fun, laughing and applauding at some of Cali’s wilder creations.

Leesa thought Vanina did not seem to be having quite as much fun as the rest of them. Whenever Leesa looked at her, Vanina was smiling, but there was something not quite joyful about her smile, like she was forcing herself to enjoy it all. Leesa wondered if maybe Vanina also had things weighing on her mind and was trying to use the outing to forget them. She didn’t feel she knew Vanina well enough to ask her about it, so she just let it slide.

From Nordstrom, they moved to the bebe store. The contrast between Nordstrom and bebe was dramatic. The former was huge, with large, well-appointed dressing rooms that seemed almost as big as Leesa’s dorm room. Bebe was smaller and less ornate—except for all the trademark rhinestones, which seemed to sparkle from every corner of the store.

“
Hey, check this one out,” Cali said.

She pulled a royal blue T-shirt off the rack. It had a giant pair of slightly parted pink lips stenciled on the front, with a much smaller set of white lips superimposed over the corner of the pink ones. The pink lips were decorated with dozens of tiny rhinestones.

“
It’s so you,” Leesa said, grinning.

“
Ha, ha. It is, isn’t it?” Cali held the shirt up in front of her chest, displaying how it would look on her. “You can never go wrong with pictures of sexy lips,” she said. “It gives guys all sorts of nasty ideas. And I love that it’s blue—most of their stuff is black. But a girl’s got to wear a little color now and then.”

“
A little?” Leesa said, laughing and tugging playfully at the sleeve of Cali’s fluorescent sweatshirt.

“
I wish I could pull off some of the colors you do, Cali,” Edwina said. “I’d hate to see what a sweatshirt like yours would do to my skin tone.”

“
When you’ve got it, flaunt it,” Cali said, grinning. She reached inside the shirt, looking for the price tag. “Ouch!” she exclaimed. “Damn.”

“
What happened,” Leesa asked, moving closer.

“
I stuck myself on something.”

Cali held her hand out in front of her. She pressed her thumb against the top of her index finger, and Leesa saw a tiny drop of blood well up from the pinprick.

Edwina’s head snapped around at the sweet scent of fresh blood. Before she could stop it, a low groan escaped her throat. She quickly turned her back to Cali, thankful she had feasted just last night. If she hadn’t, she did not know if she would have been able to control herself. Killing a girl—or two girls—in a public place like this would definitely not be a good idea, no matter how much fun it might be.

At the sound of Vanina’s moan, Leesa turned her head and caught a quick glimpse of a strange expression on her friend’s face. She almost thought it looked like excitement, but Vanina spun around before Leesa could be sure.

“
I’m sorry,” Edwina said, thinking quickly and keeping her back to the other two girls. “I hate the sight of blood. It makes me sick.”

“
I never would have taken you for such a wuss,” Cali said teasingly. She sucked at the blood on her fingertip, then pressed her thumb tightly against the spot. When she pulled her thumb away a few moments later, the bleeding had stopped.

“
You can turn around now, Vanina,” she said. “No more blood.”

Vanina turned around slowly. Leesa watched her face, but her expression had reverted to normal. With Vanina’s dark skin tone, it was impossible to tell if the incident had caused her to turn pale at all, the way some people did when seeing something that upset them.

“
I’m sorry,” Edwina apologized again. “I’ve never been any good with blood, ever since I was a kid. I don’t know why.”

“
Don’t worry about it,” Cali said. “We all have our little things.” She held her hand out. “See, no more blood.”

Even though the blood was gone, Edwina could still smell its traces. She fought to keep her expression flat. “Thank goodness for that. I’d hate to have the nurse come for me when you were the one who was wounded.”

Cali laughed. “Yeah, I’m glad you didn’t faint or anything. Leesa knows how much I hate having any attention taken away from me.”

Leesa laughed, too. “I’ll vouch for that. I’m surprised you didn’t prick yourself again, just to add a little extra drama.”

“
Darn, why didn’t I think of that?” Cali said, grinning. She hung the shirt back on the rack. “I can’t be buying a shirt that made me bleed. What do you say we go get something to eat?”

“
I don’t think I could eat anything right now,” Edwina said, putting her hand on her stomach. She was glad to have an excuse not to eat—not eating was one of the biggest problems she had to deal with when she was around humans. “But you two should get something.”

Leesa was still wondering about Vanina’s reaction to the sight of Cali’s blood. Had she really seen disgust on Vanina’s face, or had it been something else—like anticipation, maybe? She shook her head, feeling silly. Maybe she just had vampires and zombies on her mind. Yeah, that must be it; she was imagining things. She pictured Stefan’s pallid face. Vanina certainly did not look anything like him, nor did she resemble the only other vampire Leesa had ever seen close up, the young vampire Rave had killed right in front of her on Halloween. That vampire’s skin had been equally pale. And she had never heard of a vampire with a car—except in
Twilight
, of course, and that was just a book.

No, she had simply misread Vanina’s expression, that was all. She pushed any thoughts of vampires from her mind.

“
I could use some food,” she said.

And I could use something to drink
, Edwina thought, feeling her blood thirst rise as she eyed the two sweet young necks in front of her. She forced the hunger down. Waiting was hard, but it would be worth it. Soon, she promised herself. Soon.

But not yet.

31. ULTIMATUM

E
dwina had been back inside the vampire caverns for just a short while when Stefan approached her.

“
I trust you enjoyed your outing,” he said, moving close in front of her. There was a hint of controlled anger in his voice.

Edwina took a half step backwards, startled by his comment and his tone. What was he saying? How much did he know? She decided that if he knew she had been with Leesa, his anger would have been far more furious. It had to be something else.

“
What do you mean?” she asked, buying time.

“
Don’t act the innocent with me. You have taken human blood. I see it in your eyes, and I can smell it.”