24. A NEW FRIEND
THE FIRST THING LEESA DID when she got back to school, after putting her stuff away in her room, was go down to Cali’s room. She had only seen her friend once over the break, when Cali had borrowed her mom’s car and driven to Meriden two days before Christmas. That had been nearly two weeks ago, and Leesa missed her best friend. Texts were nice, but there was nothing like getting together in person.
Cali’s door was wide open. Inside, Leesa could see Cali and Stacie sitting at Cali’s desk, their backs to the doorway. She knocked lightly on the door to let them know she was there and entered the room.
The two girls turned at the sound of Leesa’s knock, and she immediately saw she had been mistaken. The second girl was not Stacie—this girl’s long straight black hair, so similar to the half-Japanese Stacie’s—had fooled Leesa. She had never seen this girl before. She was very pretty, with large, almond-shaped dark brown eyes and high cheekbones that gave her an attractive, exotic look, as did her café au lait complexion.
“Hey, Leesa,” Cali said happily. She got up and crossed the room to give Leesa a big welcome back hug.
Cali was wearing black jeans and a bright, pinkish-orange lightweight sweatshirt with I Love Pink printed across the front in giant block letters. Smaller letters proclaiming Pink Rules ran down the length of one sleeve. Leesa had never seen this sweatshirt on Cali and guessed it was probably a Christmas present. One thing about the Pink people—they were certainly not bashful about letting the world know which clothes belonged to their popular line.
“This is my friend Vanina,” Cali said when she let Leesa go.
The new girl rose gracefully to her feet and extended her hand. When she stood up, Leesa saw Vanina was a couple of inches taller than she was, at least five-ten, maybe taller. Her outfit was much less colorful than Cali’s, but almost as attention grabbing. Black leggings showed off her long, slender legs, while on top, she wore a loose, long-sleeved dark gray shirt unbuttoned over a crimson cami.
Vanina’s hand was soft and smooth. Leesa wondered why she had never heard Cali mention her before. Maybe she was an old friend from high school.
“Hi, Vanina,” she said. “That’s a pretty name. And so unusual. I’ve never heard it before.”
“It’s Corsican,” Vanina said. This girl was, in fact, Edwina, but she knew Leesa would recognize that name instantly, so she had introduced herself to Cali using the name of Vanina, her long departed mentor.
“Corsica…isn’t that were Napoleon came from?”
Edwina smiled. “Very good. I’m impressed. Not many people know that nowadays.” She winced, hoping Leesa wouldn’t make anything out of the “nowadays” comment. Edwina was skilled at blending in with the humans, but every now and then something slipped past her lips that could lead an astute observer to wonder where the statement came from.
Leesa thought she saw a strange look flicker momentarily in Vanina’s eyes, but it was gone before she could make anything out of it. The girl had just a hint of some kind of accent, too.
“Is that where you’re from?” Leesa asked. “Corsica?”
Edwina laughed. “Don’t I wish. How cool would that be? But no, I was born in Virginia. I haven’t lived there in a long time, though.”
“She lives in East Hartford now,” Cali said. “We met at the mall over break.”
Leesa nodded. That explained why she had never heard Cali mention Vanina before. She was a new friend. “What dorm do you live in?” she asked, assuming Vanina was a Weston student.
“Oh, I don’t go to Weston, I go to UConn,” Edwina said, using the cover story she had come up with to explain why she wouldn’t be around all that much. “We don’t start back at school until tomorrow, and I live at home, anyway.”
“She drove me back to school this morning,” Cali said. “Saved my mom the trip.”
Edwina had learned to drive more than a decade ago, taught by a human boyfriend, when she realized the skill would help her blend in. As far as she knew, she was the only vampire in the entire coven who knew how to drive. Of course, most vampires had little use for a car. Cali did not know the car Edwina had said was her mom’s was in fact stolen.
“It was no big deal,” Edwina said. “Besides, I wanted to see where Cali lived.”
“Pretty luxurious, huh?” Cali said sarcastically.
“It’s not bad,” Edwina said. “At least you have your own room. All the rooms at UConn have at least two people in them.” She knew this, because she had often hunted at UConn. “That’s one of the reasons I decided to live at home.”
“Yeah, I guess having our own rooms is pretty cool,” Cali said. “Leesa lives up on the fourth floor.”
“Cool. It must be nice to live so close to each other.”
Cali draped her arm around Leesa’s back. “Yep. Sure is. Leesa’s my BFF.”
“What year are you in at UConn?” Leesa asked.
“I’m a junior, but I took a year off and traveled after high school.”
Leesa nodded. She had guessed Vanina was probably a little older than her and Cali.
“How’s Rave?” Cali asked. “Is he back yet?”
“Not yet. I only saw him that one time I told you about.”
“That sucks,” Cali said sympathetically.
“Who’s Rave?” Vanina asked. “Your boyfriend?”
“Yeah,” Leesa replied.
“He’s smokin’ hot, too,” Cali said. She licked her fingertip, then held it out and made a sizzling sound to emphasize just how hot she thought Rave was.
Edwina laughed. Now she knew the volkaane’s name: Rave. She had already carefully scouted the area where the volkaanes lived—another of the coven’s rules she had broken, going so close to their settlement—and discovered they had all departed. Where, she had no idea, but she would not have risked being in an enclosed space like this with Leesa if there was any chance her boyfriend might show up. Even so, she did not want to remain here too long, because she didn’t know when the volkaane might decide to return.
“If he’s that hot,” Edwina said, “I hope I get to see him one of these days. Sounds like you’ve got a good one, Leesa.”
“Yeah, I do,” Leesa said, smiling. “Rave’s the best.”
“Well, I’d better get going,” Edwina said. “My mom might be needing her car. It was nice to meet you, Leesa.”
“You, too,” Leesa said. “I hope we’ll see you again.”
“Oh, you will, I’m sure of that,” Edwina said.
She grabbed a black coat from Cali’s bed. How easy, she thought, it would be to kill one or both of them, right here, right now. But what would be the fun of that? As delicious as their blood might be, her thirst for revenge was even stronger than her thirst for blood.