“I’m afraid not, Sunny,” Magnus says, reaching over to put a slender white hand on her knee. My virginal twin squirms a bit under his touch. She wants him, I can tell, but she’s fighting the run to second base. I wonder how long it will take Maggy to score that first home run. “That’s Slayer Inc.’s typical MO. They have operatives in every major hospital who tag infants in the maternity ward who they deem to be potential slayers.”
Ugh. So the nano thing probably is true. Great. I was so hoping Mag would laugh it off and tell me Slayer Inc. had no real hold on me. Evidently not so much.
“But Rayne can’t kill vampires!” Sunny interjects. “I mean, she wants to be one! And . . . and what if she has to kill you?” My twin looks close to tears at this point. She had a run-in with Bertha, the old slayer, once upon a time and it scarred her for life.
“You know, you’re going to score lousy on the reading comprehension part of the MCATs,” I say. “You obviously only skimmed my blog entry.”
“Well, I’m sorry. My twin sister announces to the world that she’s the next Buffy. I’m supposed to spend time reading between the lines?”
“Listen, Sun,” I assure her, trying to play nice. “They only want me to kill the bad vampires. Not the ones who coexist peacefully with humanity. For example, Magnus here. He’s one of the good guys. So I’d never be asked to slay him.”
“Oh.” Sunny sniffs, still frowning in bewilderment. “Well, that’s good, I guess.” She glances over at Magnus. He smiles at her and reaches over to brush a lock of hair from her eyes, then kisses her softly. Bleh. Enough with the PDA. I steal a glance over at Jareth. He’s staring out the window doing the brooding thing.
“Um, anyway,” I say, clearing my throat. “They’ve asked me to go undercover in the Blood Bar. I’m supposed to do recon on this baddie vamp called Maverick. Evidently he’s up to no good. Wants to do something takeoverish to Magnus here. So actually, I’m helping the cause.”
“Well, there’s no need for that,” Jareth butts in, turning back from window stareage. “I have ‘the cause,’ as you call it, completely under control. I certainly do not need assistance from an operative of Slayer Inc.”
Oh, right. Of course he doesn’t. After all, he was doing such a fine job on his own this evening, what with running out of the Blood Bar practically screaming simply ’cause he met a girl that looked like his boss’s GF.
“Let’s not be so hasty, Jareth,” Magnus says slowly. “Perhaps Rayne can be of some use.”
“Yeah,” I say, making a “nyah, nyah” face at Jareth. “I’m very . . . useful.”
“I can’t imagine,” Jareth mutters.
God, I’ve never met such an arrogant, pain in the butt vamp in all my sixteen years. Not that I’ve met boatloads or anything, but still.
“Here, as Sunny would say, is the 411,” Magnus interjects, and I chuckle, despite myself. It so sounds funny to hear a former knight in shining armor, now Master of the Vamps, use twenty-first-century slang. “Slayer Inc. is not the only group concerned about Maverick’s extracurricular activities. I, too, have gotten intelligence that leads me to believe that he has some kind of plan brewing as well. I’ve sent Jareth in undercover to do some reconnaissance. That’s why you met him in the bar. He was working for me.”
“And it was all going very well before she came along,” Jareth mutters under his breath.
“Uh, hello?” I say, waving my hands in his face. “The ‘she’ in this scenario is sitting next to you!” I am so not going to take his BS.
“Jareth, I know you’re frustrated because you lost a night of recon due to Rayne’s appearance,” Magnus says, staving off Jareth’s retort before it can leave his lips. “But I think if we look at the long-term situation, this could actually work out in our favor. As a human, Rayne will be given a different view of the Blood Bar. Between the two of you, we can probably get a very decent picture of what’s going on down there. I think you should work together.”
I raise my eyebrows. Hold on one gosh-darn second. Work together? Magnus wants me to work together with this guy? Bleh.
I glance over at Jareth, who looks even less pleased at the idea than I am.
“I can’t work with . . . the slayer!” he cries, spitting out the job title as if it were poison. “Never in a million years.” He looks to Magnus, his piercing blue eyes pleading. “I can do this myself, Your Majesty. I am your general. I command your army. I don’t need some high school kid tagging along. She’ll only get in the way.”
“Rayne is more than just a high school student. She’s the first slayer in a thousand years to have gone through all the vampire training. To have an insider’s look into our world.”
“But—”
“This could be the beginning of a great partnership between Slayer Inc. and our kind,” Magnus continues. “I’m not going to ruin that opportunity because of your personal hang-ups. I’m sorry about what happened, Jareth. But that was long ago. If we are to survive as a species, we must learn to adapt. Rayne can be helpful to you. And I expect you to accept her help.”
“Never!” Jareth growls. “I will never accept the help of a slayer. Magnus, you are a fool if you trust them. Look what happened the last time. And look what they did to Lucifent.” The limo pulls up at a red light and Jareth reaches for the door handle. “I am overdue for my feeding,” he says, as if that’s really the reason he’s bailing. Before anyone has a chance to speak, he’s out the door and into the night.