By the end of the month I was ready tocry, and I don’t believe in shedding tears. Orcus and Sebastian were at eachother’s necks like it was mating season (which, for them, it probably was) andmuch to my consternation we hadn’t been able to prove any theory other thanthat the latter of the two morons was a vampire. I often saw Orcus out by theobservation point overlooking the mine, and I wondered just as often if thepeople we had seen that night had anything to do with Sebastian or his suddenappearance. I wondered equally often if they were still there. Orcus told meone day that he hadn’t seen anything of them since that first night; it was acause of worry for us both. It was frustrating and it seemed like an impossibleleap to make, especially as there was no solid proof. All the same. . . .

To my further bemusement and vexation there was also thefact that Orcus was eating alive practically every male entity on campus whocame into remote physical contact with me; luckily for the male populus, thatnumber was quite small. I didn’t understand it, and found it annoying, whichmay have, in turn, contributed to my double annoyance and subsequent lashingsout at Sebastian. Orcus was my archrival, my academic nemesis; attraction tohim was completely out of the question, and here everyone was beginning tothink we were finally becoming, to use the slang, “a thing.” The mandated weekby Raechel had passed, and Sebastian was now taking full advantage of my time.It was frightening on a good many levels, and I wasn’t sure whatto do. I knew beyond doubt that Ipreferred a human to an undead being (which, if you think about it, is sort ofthe same as being alive, so there goes that argument), and Orcus Locke had toknow as much. He was counting on my taste in men, Michelle theorized, to keepme open for him until he was ready to make his move. I felt very confused atthis. It was a valid point, but it was Michelle’s idea, and Raechel and I hadmade it a habit to ignore pretty much everything she had to say.

What I didn’t understand was Sebastian’s pathologicalneed to be around women all the time.It’s one thing for a boy to flirt with girls; this boy was taking ‘prowler’ toa level that would have frightened most other Casanovas. We managed to keep hislasciviousness contained to the girls in our bedroom. Raechel was spared theworst of it, Michelle didn’t mind watching (which is creepy beyond all belief,you have no idea), and I briefly considered asking Orcus to be my significantother, if only to keep the vampire at bay. I then reminded myself that I hatedOrcus and would rather bathe in a tub of flaming snake venom.

EventuallyI came to the conclusion that if anyone knew anything about the inner workingsof men, it would be my mother. She’d had her fair share of fun before shesettled down with Dad’s money, and she had been what was considered beautifulwhen she was young. She would be chock full of advice. I decided not to call.Mother may have known, but it wasn’t worth it to bring up the matter.

I was saved my trouble. Mother called me.

Two Mondays after Orcus’ week expired, I was sitting in‘science’ class when the instructor’s phone trilled shrilly. Silenceimmediately engulfed the room, and Mr. Hoare glared at the machine as thoughits existence was offensive. It trilled again, and he grudgingly answered. Hisvoice was low, but I was very near his desk and heard every word.

“I’m not giving her up for a whimsical conversation,Helen.” Funny, I thought. That was my mother’s name. “No, we’re in the middleof class. Tell Richard to wait.” Even funnier, Richard was my dad’s name. Ibegan to feel amused. What were the odds that Mr. Hoare was friendly with twopeople who had the exact same names as my parents? Mr. Hoare sighed. “Fine.” Helooked directly at me. “She wants to speak to you, Tourney.”

Was there someone else in class—I realized he meant me,and my insides went a little cold. “No, she doesn’t. It’s a prank call. She’swasting your time.”

Hoare held out the phone. “Tourney.” There was a smirkplaying at his mouth.

I thought quickly, and yelled, “I can’t talk to you! Ihave cancer! I’m dying tomorrow! The doctor said to avoid poisons!”

Mr. Hoare, while not overly fond of my blatantly arrogantdisregard for the rules, was exceedingly fond of my caustic sarcasm. His browtwitched. “Mallory.” His voice was warning, so I grouchily walked over to himand took the receiver.

“Yes?” I said.

“You do nothave cancer, and no doctor would tell youto avoid what would kill you faster.”

“Why, yes, Helen, the weather here is lovely. A bit onthe sunny side, though, which means you’ve been doing someone naughty; I’m surehe didn’t mind. But don’t worry about me; I’ll survive.”

I could hear my mother’s teeth grinding. “As unfortunateas that is, Mallory Eleanor, I will not tolerate your lip.”

I sighed. “Mother, I’m in class with a teacher you should not, under any circumstances, know. As per the United Statesgovernment.” That she expected anything else was optimistically foolish.

There was a loud bang on the other end, so I knew I’dpissed her off. “You listen, and you listen good, you little shit. I’ve gottena phone call from that Orcus Locke, and I want you to avoid him completely.”

Well…. Shit. I pulled the receiver away from my ear andmade sad and frustrated gesticulations to Mr. Hoare. He was actually smirkingnow, not just thinking about it. Now I had to date Orcus. Thanks for that,Helen. “Why?”

“He concerns me.”

“He shouldn’t.”

“He does.”

Deal with it. “Why does this matter?” I said, trying notto sound pained. “He’s an evil demon from Hell. You should be dancing for joyin the streets.” I saw Orcus glare at me from the corner of my eye. “What didhe say?”

“He wanted to know when your birthday is.”

I don’t know if it’s possible to really put into wordshow that statement made me feel, but try to picture a small child who’s justbeen handed a half-eaten lemon. “Probably for the irony of homicide. Don’tworry about me, thanks.” It’s done farmore good than bad in my life, and if you get involved it will all end intears.

“What’s he got on you?”

“Oh sweet Sweeney Todd, what hasn’t he got on me?” I said. “He’s a slippery fucker, he knowseverything, and I don’t know how he knows. He’s got rats everywhere.”

“Steer clear,” said Helen.

“One does not destroy the enemy by avoiding him,” I saidsagely. She’d replace that irritating.

“I don’t want that boy crawling up into the family business,”she snapped. “You replace a way to get him off the scent, or you can forget aboutcoming home after the school year.”

“Home?” I said. “What home? I have a home? How long hasthat been a thing?”

My mother’s anger caused a disturbance in the Force. Sheslammed down the receiver, and I ended the call with a high note of pleasure.It was an hour’s reprieve before my father called, and I was going to make mostof my peace, however temporary.

Orcus was gazing at me thoughtfully asI returned to my seat. “Evil demon from Hell?” he whispered.

“Yes,” I replied simply.

Orcus sighed and rolled his eyes. “Let’s pretend, foralliance’s sake, that you don’t despise me. What was all that?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why do you want to know?”

A strange glint passed through his eyes. “Mallory, must Itorture it out of you?”

I snorted. What could he possibly do that hadn’t alreadybeen done? “You don’t scare me, Orcus.”

“I should.”

“Looks like you screwed up then, doesn’t it?” I sneered.

He chuckled, the gleam in his eye never leaving. “I’lljust have to rectify that.”

I simply quirked my brow and went back to my table toconduct the ‘experiment’, and for a good while nothing went wrong. And I, beingthe idiot I am, let my guard drop.

As I was measuring an acid into a beaker, I felt onsolitary finger inching its way across my wrist. I twitched and snatched my armaway, whipping my head around, intending to snap at theidiot who dared invade my personal space. Unfortunately, I came nose-to-nosewith Orcus Locke. Let’s be honest, no one is surprised, not now. My spinetingled and I felt muddled. I gave him the best warning stare I could muster,and turned back around. It didn’t feel safe to speak, and I knew I’d botchthings up royally if the words weren’t threatening enough.

His fingers crept back to my wrist.

“Don’t,” I ground out; it wasn’t a very ominous sound.

Orcus wasn’t fazed. In fact, he looked quite happy tomaintain his current position. It began to look as though words, and perhapsviolence, were necessary.

“Orcus, stop it. Now,”I commanded.

He smiled his softly cruel smile. “No.”

“Take your hand away, or I’ll bite you,” I warned.

Orcus’ eyes were laughing. “I remember the last time youbit me.” My face went bright red.

“Don’t even getany ideas,” I growled. “Take your hand away.”

He didn’t move, and sensibility told me he wasn’t goingto do something he didn’t want to do. I turned back to the beaker, and hisfinger started trailing again. I bit my lip and narrowed my eyes, determined tofocus on what was in front of me.

“If you aren’t going to keep your hands to yourself,could you at least wait until I’m not pouring acid to feel me up?”

He smirked. “Why?”

“Because I’d like to not stand under the high-pressureshower-head.” He’d need more incentive than that. “Please.” My voice was picking up that strained quality, oftenindicative of a strong desire for and tendency towards violence.

Orcus, I swear, was about to die laughing; thatconclusion didn’t come from rocket science. He eventually nodded and removedhis phalange from my person, and I went back to my acid.

By the end of the class Iwas murderous and irate, primarily because I was replaceing myself distracted byOrcus Locke’s sudden sex appeal, and that was simply not okay. How could hepossibly know. . .? Of course, in his case it could have been a lucky guess,but the likelihood of that. . .was extremely high, now that I think of it.Orcuswas very good at making educated guesses.

I stopped by my Hall to switch out books, and was on myway to ‘English’ when I noticed him tailing me. I tried to ignore it; we hadthe exact same schedule, thanks to him, so it wasn’t really all thatsurprising. This was different, though. His attention was targeted, and hismovements quicker.

I meandered at my own pace, and quickly ducked down intoa small alcove under the pretense of checking my books and notes. I was hopinghe’d just pass me up and head straight down the hall on the off-chance that hewas eyeing someone else. I was rather stupid, wasn’t I? He didn’t do anythingof the sort. When I looked up again Orcus was towering over me, his facepassive.

“What was that phone call?” he asked, his tone pleasantand curious.

“Nothing,” I answered, and tried to push past him.

Orcus’ arm shot out, blocking my path. “We both knowthat’s not entirely true, don’t we, Mallory?”

I rolled my eyes. “My mom, okay? Happy now?” I triedshoving him out of the way, but he pushed me back into the alcove.

“What did she want?” His tone hadn’t changed.

By now ‘Chem’ had been completely forgotten, and I wasbecoming more than a little obstreperous (another word for the week!). “It isnone of your business, you self-obsessed tomato-half.” I shoved him harderthen, and he was forced to take a step back. I tried to slip past him again,but his obnoxiously long fingers closed over my wrist, and I found myselfsuddenly pinned between him and the wall.

“What did your mother want?” His voice still didn’tchange, but the grip on my wrist hurt badly; he was becoming dangerous. Thatwasn’t what had me scared: The halls were filtering out, and if he decided tobecome violent the odds were definitely not in my favor. So I did the onlything that seemed to offer any lucrative reward: I bit his hand.

Orcus isn’t the type to admit when he is in pain unlessthere is a greater goal to be achieved. It was just so this time. There was noindication that he’d even felt it; hesimply slammed me into the wall with a little more force than usual; the airleft my lungs in a rush.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be, Mallory.”

I sneered. “You know me; always doing it the tough way.”

“Tell me what I want to know, and we can walk away fromthis, no marks on record.”

“No marks on record?”

“I’m sorry, which of us is hiding a vampire in her room?”Again, this should not surprise anyone.

“What exactly do you think you can do to me that youhaven’t already?” I snarled.

He let out a laugh that sounded almost giddy. “D’you needa kiss to convince you?”

I felt my eyes turn into slits. He’d been giving me flakabout this since I’d made it quite clear that the deal we’d made with Sebastianwas never to be discussed with anyone ever, nor was it to beinvoked. This, however, just got a hundred times more complicated.Orcus doesn’t joke about making people uncomfortable. I was seriously thinking itover, and found myself in quite the dilemma. On the onehand it would make my mother exceedingly angry. On the other, I knew his notknowing would bother him a lot, and his discomfort was my only aim.

“She was asking what I wanted for my birthday.” It wasn’tworth it.

“Why?”

I snorted. “How should I know? It’s not like my mothertells me what she’s thinking. She doesn’t like you though, so at leastthere’s sense.”

Orcus leaned in so close our noses were almost touching.“What did she say?”

“I’ve just told you.”

“You’re lying, Mallory, and we both know it.”

“Well,I’m pretty sure it’s none of your business,” I said coolly.

“Mallory,I’m going to allow you five seconds to tell me what she said. If you’d like toavoid what has the potential to be a very awkward situation when our dear hallmonitor comes ‘round that corner, you’ll not try my patience.”

Unfortunately,I took too long to make my decision. Some of my peers would disagree; a kissfrom Orcus was, after all, rumored to be the only aphrodisiac necessary.

I nearly died from the head-rush. You wouldn’t thinkthat, would you? I mean, sixty-three kisses in three weeks, I should have hadmy shit together. Excepting for the fact that I am a senior in high school –and one could correctly assume from this information that I am a teenager – andno teenager ever has all of their shit together, it’s not an outrageousrequest. That being said, head rush. Endorphins. Happy hormones. Orcus’ mouthand everything else. So….

He pulled away all too soon, and he knew it. That was, without doubt, the best damnkiss I’d ever had, including the sixty-three in the last month. At the sametime, I’d discovered a level of hate I wasn’t aware existed. It was a quandarylike no other: Should I do somethingpotentially suicidal, or should I just bite the bullet and let Lord SociopathExtraordinaire have his way? My rapidly de-fogging brain settled on the former.Garroting would have been better! The wheel of torture! Pressing! Trunchbull’schokey! Anything, really, I’m not going to be picky about my list ofpreferences.

I schooled myself. “That was very nice of you,” I saidicily, “and now I must be going. I have a class.” I moved to leave, but hecaught my arm again.

“Don’t leave, darling. We’re not done here.”

“We have class, Orcus,” I said, trying to retain my cool.

“I’ve just said I’m not finished,” he replied.

I, for one, had had enough. When he opened his mouth tospeak again I brought my knee up and scored. Orcus crumpled, his eyes squeezingshut.

“But we are finished,Mr. Locke,” I replied. “I’ll probably see you later, much as the thought irksme.” I knew he’d take me to task for this later, but I was so beyond caring atthis point. I just wanted to get away. With any luck he’d have forgotten aboutthe phone-call next time I saw him.

And as I walked away I resolved to keep that kiss buriedin the back of my mind.

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