“Well, I definitely wouldn’t go to Vegas on the odds…”
“Exactly.” Sunny nods. “And you know what? I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. Do you?”
“But Sunny, look what happened the first time around!” I protest. “You were killed. Magnus was brought in for treason. The Blood Coven was kicked out of the Consortium. We don’t want to start the chain of events all over again.”
“Of course not,” my sister agrees. “That would be crazy. But what if we could do something else? What if we could change things for the better? Figure out a way to not only save the Blood Coven and the rest of the Consortium from Pyrus’s reign of terror but also get our boyfriends back?”
I frown. “It sounds good in theory, Sun, but how the heck are we going to make that happen? I mean, we essentially tried to do that already, and look what a disaster it turned out to be.”
“But this time will be different,” my sister says fervently, a strange light in her eyes.
“And how do we know that?”
Sunny smiles. “Because this time we know the future.”
8
Sunny
Turns out, once you’ve made the decision to embark on a mission to save the world (once more with feeling), it’s really tough to spend the entire next day locked away in a boring old high school. But unfortunately, since we can’t clue Mom in to our superhero plans, she sees no reason why we can’t make the bus on time. And I suppose there’s not a ton we could do during the day anyway, seeing as all good vampires are fast asleep in their coffins during school hours.
Not to mention, as Rayne points out, you can’t very well list saving the world from a vampire apocalypse on your college application as one of your extracurriculars. And now that she’s no longer an immortal vampire with riches beyond belief, she’s going to need to score a scholarship or two.
And so I’m forced to content myself to suffer through endless classes and tedious lunchtime talk, offering up a polite “Mm-hm” at all the appropriate pauses in conversation. But truth be told, if you asked me what my friends and teachers were going on about, I wouldn’t have had a clue. All I can focus on is our master plan and how I’m going to get Magnus to go along with it, without spilling all the time-travel technicalities.
Rayne and I spent most of last night planning our strategy. Our idea is simple, really. I’ll warn Magnus about Slayer Inc.’s threat to Lucifent’s life and by doing so, earn the respect of him and the entire Blood Coven. Then, once they trust us, we can move on to the bigger fish we’re hoping to fry—well, stake. Pyrus himself. It’s perfect, really.
Finally the day ends and the sun goes down and Rayne and I head over to Club Fang, the scene of the crime, so to speak. As we get out of the car in the back parking lot, my eyes wander over to the simple wooden post where long ago (or next month, in this case) Magnus accidentally bit me and started my vampiric transformation. At the time, I’d been royally pissed off, not to mention horrified beyond belief. I mean, turning into a vampire one week before prom? So not cool.
But looking back on it now, after all of Magnus’s and my adventures over the last year, that night will, without a doubt, go down as one of the most romantic in my entire life. I remember leaning against the post, my body pressed up against his, his lips brushing my neck—his fangs scraping my skin. It was the night I met my soul mate. A night that would change my life forever.
I still wonder sometimes what would have happened if we hadn’t been able to reverse the curse in time. What would it have been like to stay a vampire forever? Living as Magnus’s blood mate for all eternity with nothing to tear us apart. Maybe things would have turned out differently. Maybe Bertha wouldn’t have been able to kill me. Maybe Magnus and I could have fought against Pyrus and saved the Blood Coven right then and there. Maybe we could have lived happily ever after.
But I can’t think of that now. It does no good. All I can do is focus on our current mission to change history for the better and hope for the best.
Rayne and I pay our cover and head upstairs into the club, pushing past all the weird Gothy patrons, all doing the same “foot stuck in the mud” dance on the dance floor. Seriously, dancing to Goth music seems like the dumbest thing ever to me. I mean, most of it’s so freaking slow. How do you work up a good sweat just swaying your arms like that?
We leave the dance floor behind and head through a wooden door into a small coffeehouse at the back of the club. Or what appears, at first glance anyway, to be an establishment that serves coffee. The place actually specializes in a fine merlot that’s not exactly fermented from grapes, if you get my meaning.
There, among a mess of motley patrons, sits Magnus, as expected, flanked by his two donor chicks, Rachel and Charity. Rayne nods to me and pushes me forward, then slinks back into the crowd, presumably to find Jareth. As I step toward the table, Charity recognizes me immediately from the night before and give out a delighted squeal before running over to hug me.
“How are you?” she asks, squeezing me with exuberance. “You ran out so fast last night I didn’t even get a chance to say good-bye. Is everything okay?” She peers at me with concerned eyes. “You haven’t changed your mind, have you? I mean, about being a blood mate? Because Magnus really needs a good blood mate.” She glances over at the vampire, a fond look in her eyes. “He’s been kind of lonely, you know? Rachel and I have tried to keep him company over the last few years. But there’s only so much we can do. He really needs that blood bond with another vampire. And you seem like such a nice girl. I think you’d be perfect for him.” She gives me a worried smile. “So don’t back out, okay? Don’t break his heart.”