"Food first," I said. "You want to come?" I told her where we were going.
"No, just grab me some goat fried rice," the dhampyr called back.
Lina had a flying carpet with her, so we took it down to the town of Queens Gate in the valley below. From the mountain, the town looked like a miniature replica of Victorian London. Brick roads wound through mazes of townhouses along the outer edges, the gas lamps twinkling like stars, while shops and restaurants formed neat squares with water fountains and quaint parks around the middle. A giant clock tower rose from the center of town, faced on either side by impressive, domed buildings I assumed had some function of state.
Once on the ground, the town reminded me of the Grotto, filled with vendors, restaurants, and supernaturals of just about every persuasion. The Chinese restaurant Shelton liked, the Copper Swan, looked exactly like a giant version of its namesake. Lina and I had dinner. We talked about classes, her brother, Alejandro, and her plans for after college.
She sounded a lot like most people my age—clueless about what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. At least she had time to figure things out. Lina looked so exhausted, I didn't dare feed from the poor girl, and instead took advantage of other female patrons in the vicinity. Thanks to Vallaena's pro tips I was able to do it without drawing any unwanted attention.
I tried to keep up my end of the conversation, but couldn't stop thinking about Nightliss or Mom's imprisonment. I have to win Ivy's heart somehow. With her help, we might be able to free Mom. But I hadn't seen Ivy all day. It was hard to win someone's trust when they weren't around.
Lina's phone chimed, snapping me from my thoughts. She glanced at it and smiled.
"Someone you wanted to hear from?" I asked.
She nodded. "My boyfriend. He wants to meet outside in a few minutes." She looked up. "Is that okay with you?"
I shrugged. "Why wouldn't it be?" I'd forgotten about her mysterious boyfriend, but hadn't figured out a way to ask for more info without giving the wrong impression.
Lina pressed a hand to her forehead, and closed her eyes. She seemed even more exhausted than before, and her skin looked a pallid gray.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Just really tired," she said. A smile. "I'm fine, Justin."
We split the bill and went outside. People wandered the streets, their modern clothes anachronistic in the vintage setting. The denizens of the Overworld seemed to enjoy keeping things classic as opposed to modern, and I had to admit I liked it. Instead of trolleys or the horseless stagecoaches which frequented the Grotto, people here favored flying carpets or the shiny rocket boards I'd seen at the Science Academy.
As Lina and I walked toward the sidewalk, I nearly collided with someone. I looked up and was about to apologize when I saw the arrogant face looking back at me with disdain. William Vanderbilt's eyes flared with recognition, and his lip curled into a sneer.
I was just about to steer around him and tell Lina all about how much of a jackass he was, when she gave him a hug and pecked him on the lips. She turned to me and said, "Justin, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Billy."
Chapter 30
Billy, flanked by two other guys, stared at me with an almost comical look of surprise plain on his face. I felt certain the expression on my face reflected his.
"This guy is your boo?" I asked.
"This guy is your friend?" Billy said at almost the same instant.
We stared at one another again.
"You know each other?" Lina looked back and forth between us.
"He's a bloomer and a techie," Billy said, his surprised expression melding into a sneer. "I don't like you talking to his kind."
Lina's eyes flashed. "You don't tell me who I can talk with, Billy." Her Spanish accent thickened as she set her arms akimbo and said, "You promised me you weren't going to say those sorts of things anymore."
Billy looked at his two friends, one a short, heavyset guy with hair so thick, it looked like porcupine quills, and the other, a slender male with gray slacks, a pink polo, and silky blonde hair combed to the side. The three of them looked like escaped mental patients from a prep-school asylum circa nineteen-eighty.
"Let's get out of here, babe," Billy said, trying to put an arm around Lina's shoulders.
She threw off his hand with her own, and wobbled for a moment before regaining her balance. "You weren't acting like this the other night when we were alone."
I was sorely tempted to chime in with my thoughts on elitism, spoiled blueblood kids, and maybe even give Billy a token punch in the nose, but decided placing myself between Lina's anger and Billy's obstinacy might be a bad thing.
"C'mon, babe, I'm just joking. You know how I am."
Lina's eyes flared. She opened her mouth to speak. And then she dropped to the ground like a lead weight.
Everyone stood stunned as she lay on the ground like a broken doll. I bent down and pressed a hand to her neck. Her pulse felt fine, but, damn it, I was an incubus, not a doctor.
"What did you do to her, you filthy techie?" Billy said.
Someone clamped preternaturally strong hands on my shoulders and jerked me away from Lina. Before I could react, my feet left the ground. I plowed through a group of nearby students and rolled to a painful stop atop the brick road in front of the restaurant. As I climbed to my feet, I saw Porky the porcupine hair guy charging at me much faster than his stocky frame should have allowed. Billy produced an ebony rod about the size and shape of a magic marker, and gave a flick of his wrist. It sprang out lengthwise, and thickened into a staff that shined and glittered like polished coal.
I strafed right just as Porky blew past me like a locomotive. He hit the side of the Copper Swan, ringing it like a giant gong. He had to be seeing cartoon birds and stars circling his head after a hit like that. A flash of azure blue caught my peripheral vision. A bolt of heat seared into my ribs, slamming me hard against the side of the huge copper bird. The breath blasted from my lungs. Jagged bolts of energy pouring from the end of Billy's staff pressed me tight against the side of the restaurant. I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Heat from the magical energy washed over me, the temperature just barely beneath my pain threshold. Lina's boyfriend, his lips peeled back with rage, walked toward me.
"Let's see if your technology"—he spat the word like a curse—"can save you, bloomer."
I flailed with my free hands, trying to grab my phone, my practice staff, anything, but the miniature electrical storm washing over my torso prevented my hands from getting close to my pockets. "Lina needs help!" I shouted. "Why the hell are you attacking me?"
"You insulted me," Billy said. "Besides, you're a filthy spawn who attacked my girlfriend."
By now a crowd was gathering. People murmured, pointing. I could make out some individual conversations.
"Did that boy hurt the girl?"
"He started a fight with Billy Vanderbilt?"
"Dude is toast."
I had no choice. I'd have to spawn like Vallaena taught me. It might be my only chance of breaking free. I delved deep inside, and began to lower the barriers. Frost dug bone deep into my left leg, frost so cold it felt white hot. Boiling rage and helplessness churned like acid against the barrier holding back my demonic side. Shadows stretched from every unlit corner around me in the shapes of skulls and robed phantoms, their bony claws reaching for me.
Devour. Eat. Drain.
The voices rasped the same words in my head, a constant susurrus of ravenous need.
"Stop it!" I shouted, pressing my hands to the sides of my head. "Go away!"
The demon inside me surged for the crack in its barrier, rising like bile in my throat. I clenched my teeth and fought back. If I spawned now with the vampling curse raging in my blood, I would lose control. Fighting the curse and my demonic counterpart was a battle I'd nearly lost in the forest. I definitely couldn't lose it now.
"Buddy, you'd better let him go," said a familiar voice. "Or so help me god, I will turn you into a pile of rotten cow testicles."
Someone yelped like wounded dog, and the force holding me to the side of the building vanished. I dropped to the ground, landing hard on my knees. Hands pressed to head, and eyes squeezed shut, I rocked back and forth, fighting the tide of nauseating insanity. Fighting the voices as they demanded blood, death, and destruction.
The numbing cold receded bit by bit like ice under lukewarm water until only the usual chill of the curse drifted in my veins like permafrost. It was accelerating. I could feel it. Physical trauma, or magical trauma, or maybe some combination of the two was giving the curse new life despite the potion.
"Get the hell out of here!" someone roared, and I heard more cries of pain and yelps receding into the distance. "Holy farting fairies, kid. You okay?"
I looked up into Harry Shelton's eyes. He looked pissed and mildly confused. "Lina?" I said.
"The healers are here. They're airlifting her to the university." Shelton gripped me under an arm and hauled me to my feet. "The curse almost got you again, didn't it?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, you haven't done a good job avoiding trauma, that's for sure," he said in a gruff tone.
I raised an eyebrow, and considered him for a moment. "You're back."
He nodded. "Yeah. Don't get all sentimental about it, though."
"What made you change your mind?" I had to fight back a smile.
"I got bored sitting around Meghan's house, okay? The way she and Adam coo all over each other makes me sick. I figured I'd rather face certain death than hang around that love fest. One day was more than enough." He blew out a disgusted breath. "So, besides brawling in the streets and knocking out Colombian girls, what the hell else have you been up to?"
Pushing aside the dread I felt about the curse, I laughed and slapped him on the back. "It's good to have you back."