+++
"Rayne, Rayne! Wake up!"
"Mmmm," I moan. "Five more minutes, Mom." "It's Jareth, not your mom. And you've been in a car accident."
I open my eyes, suddenly remembering my close en-counter of the guardrail kind. I'm sitting in the driver's seat still, an inflated air bag pushing into my chest. Jareth is outside the car, peering in with a concerned expression on his face.
"Don't say I told you so," I mutter as I crawl out of the vehicle. I take a look at my car. The hood's crumpled and there's smoke coming out of the engine. Great. Mom's going to kill me.So's Sunny, considering we share this car.
"Rayne, are you crazy?" Jareth demands. "Did you hit your head too hard? Why would I say I told you so? I'm just glad you're okay!"
I roll my eyes. "I'm a vampire, remember? I can't die. And look, my injuries are already half healed." I gesture to the bloody cuts on my arm, sealing up before my eyes. Way cool. I should try skydiving next.
Or some other extreme sport.
"I know, but . . ." Jareth stares at me, looking helpless and upset. Part of me wants to go over and hug him, but the other part, the angry, bitter, hates-the-world part, doesn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"I'm fine. What I'd like to do is go to England now."
"But you've just been in an accident. We need to get you to a doctor or something."
"I'm fine!" I repeat. "Stop smothering me!"
Jareth takes a step back, as if he's been slapped. He stares at me, then shakes his head. "You know, Rayne," he says, "sometimes when people first become vampires they don't adjust smoothly. It takes some time and counseling to get used to their new existences. We have a great coven doctor who specializes at making transformations smoother—"
"You want me to go to see a shrink?" I cry.
"Well, we don't really call them that in the vampire world, but—"
"You do. You think I'm crazy!"
"No. I think you're angry. Angry enough to put yourself in a situation where you could get seriously hurt."
"For the last time, I'm a vampire! I can't get hurt. Can you get that through your thick skull? And secondly, for your information, I have plenty of reasons to be mad."
"I'm sure you do," Jareth says, reaching over to stroke my cheek. "But that doesn't mean you want to live your life likethis."
Iwhack his hand away. "Maybe I do, okay? What are you going to do about it?"
The anger inside of me is building to frightening propor-tions. I just want to lash out and hurt someone, but there's no one who deserves my wrath. So I slam my fist into my car. Then kick it with my boot. I may not have vampire strength, but I still manage a few satisfying dents. I keep kicking, chan-neling all my hatred into my Volkswagen Bug.
"This is for you, Mandy! You self-centered bitch!" I bel-low as I kick. "And this is for you, Mom! How dare you side with David over me! And David! You're not mydad, you bastard! And this is for—"
"Rayne! Stop it! Just stop it now!" Jareth cries. "Destroy-ing your car is not going to help things!"
What does he know? It's helping a lot. And he should be grateful I'm not kicking his ass instead.
He grabs me. I kick and scream, but he's too strong for me to escape. He may not have his vampire superstrength, but he's still a guy. I struggle to free myself for a few minutes, then reluctantly give up, suddenly weary of the whole ordeal.
I just want to go home. To my own bed. But I have no home or bed. I'm an undead creature of the night. Destined to roam the earth alone.
"Come on," Jareth says, loosening his hold. "Let's go back to the coven."
+++
The next morning I wake up in a beautifully carved four-poster bed. The room is richly decorated, with fancy jewel-toned paintings and a fire roaring in a mammoth stone fireplace. My head still feels thick and foggy, but at the same time I feel very relaxed. Almost drugged.
"Are you feeling better?"
The voice makes me turn my head. I realize Jareth's sit-ting at my bedside, reading some self-help book.
He sets it down on the coffee table. "You had quite a fit out there, Rayne."
"Yeah, sorry," I mumble. Wow. In the comfort of this cozy room I'm feeling pretty dumb and immature about what I did."Idon't know what came over me. I was just so mad."
"Inoticed," Jareth says wryly. "You have some issues you need to work out, my dear."
I sigh. "I know. I'm sorry. You must think I'm the biggest loser."
"Not at all." Jareth crawls into bed next to me and strokes my head. "You're just going through a tough time. It's natural for a new vamp to have some adjustment issues. You've got new hormones raging through your body. It'll take a while for them all to settle. It's a bit like hitting puberty and it affects different vampires in different ways."
Great. So what do I have, PMS? Pre-Monster Syndrome?
"Well, I promise to be better behaved from now on," I say. "Really."
"I still think you need to see a counselor. We have a great one in the coven. He'll help you deal with some of your anger issues. Give you methods to control your rage."
Yeah, right. I'm so not seeing a shrink. "Uh, maybe. Sure. We'll see when I get back from England."