Bloodlines

hair over her shoulder, and stormed off.

Uh-oh, I thought as I watched her stalk down the hall. Is that going to come back and haunt us? It was one of those moments when I could have used a lesson in social cues.

I went to Ms. Terwilliger’s classroom afterward and spent most of that initial meeting setting up the semester’s goals and outlining what I’d be doing for her. I was in store for a lot of reading and translation, which suited me just fine. It also appeared as though half of my job would be keeping her organized—something else I excelled at. The time flew by, and as soon as I was free, I hurried off to find Eddie. He was waiting with a group of other boys at the shuttle stop to go back to their dorm.

When he saw me, his response was the usual: “Is Jill okay?”

“Fine . . . well, kind of. Can we talk somewhere?”

Eddie’s face darkened, no doubt thinking there was a legion of Strigoi on their way to hunt Jill. We stepped back inside one of the academic buildings, finding chairs in a private corner that enjoyed the full force of air conditioning. I gave him a quick update on Jill and her sunny PE misadventures.

“I didn’t think it would be this bad,” said Eddie grimly, echoing my thoughts. “Thank God Micah was there. Is there anything you can do?”

“Yeah, we should be able to get something from our ‘parents’ or a doctor.” As much as I hated to, I added, “Keith might be able to expedite it.”

“Good,” said Eddie fiercely. “We can’t have her getting beat up out there. I’ll go talk to that teacher myself, if that’s what it takes.”

I hid a smile. “Well, hopefully it won’t come to that. But there is something else . . . nothing dangerous,” I amended quickly, seeing that warrior look cross his face again. “Just something . . .” I tried not to say the words that were popping into my mind. Horrifying. Wrong. “Concerning. I think . . . I think Micah likes Jill.”

Eddie’s face went very still. “Of course he likes her. She’s nice. He’s nice. He likes everyone.”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it. He likes her. In the more-than-friends way. What are we going to do about that?”

Eddie stared off across the hall for a few moments before turning back to me. “Why do we have to do anything?”

“How can you ask that?” I exclaimed, shocked by the response. “You know why. Humans and vampires can’t be together! It’s disgusting and wrong.” The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. “Even a dhampir like you should know that.”

He smiled ruefully. ‘“Even a dhampir like me?’”

I supposed I’d been a little insulting, but it couldn’t be helped. Alchemists—myself included—never believed dhampirs and Moroi worried enough about the same problems we did. They might acknowledge a taboo like this, but years of training said that only we humans really took it seriously. That was why the Alchemist job was so important. If we didn’t look after these matters, who would?

“I mean it,” I told him. “This is something all of us agree on.”

His smile faded. “Yeah, it is.”

Even Rose and Dimitri, who had a high tolerance for craziness, had been shocked at meeting the Keepers, rogue Moroi who intermingled freely with dhampirs and humans. It was a taboo the three of us shared, and we’d worked hard to tolerate the custom while with the Keepers. They lived hidden in the Appalachian Mountains and had provided excellent refuge when Rose was on the run. Ignoring their savage ways had been an acceptable price for the security they’d offered us.

“Can you talk to him?” I asked. “I don’t think Jill has any strong feelings. She’s got too many other things going on. She probably knows better anyway . . . but it’d still be best if you could discourage him. We can stop this before she gets involved.”

“What do you expect me to say?” Eddie asked. He sounded at a loss, which struck me as funny, considering he’d been ready to go make all sorts of demands to Miss Carson on Jill’s behalf.

“I don’t know. Play the big brother card. Act protective. Say she’s too young.”

I expected Eddie to agree, but he once more averted his eyes. “I don’t know if we should say anything.”

“What? Are you insane? Do you think it’s okay to—”

“No, no.” He sighed. “I’m not advocating it. But look at it this way. Jill’s stuck in a school full of humans. It’s not fair that she be banned from hanging out with any guys.”

“I think Micah wants to do more than hang out.”

“Well, why shouldn’t she get to go on a date now and then? Or go to a dance? She should get to do all the normal things a girl her age does. She’s already had her life radically changed. We shouldn’t make it any harder.”

I eyed him in disbelief, trying to figure out why he was so laid back about this. Admittedly, he didn’t face the same consequences I did. If my superiors found out I was “encouraging” human and vampire dating, it’d be more evidence against me and my alleged bias. After all, my reputation wasn’t yet restored with the Alchemists. Still, I knew Eddie’s people didn’t like the idea of dating, either. So what was the problem? A strange answer suddenly came to me. “I feel like you just don’t want to confront Micah.”

Eddie looked right at me. “It’s complicated,” he said. Something in his face told me I’d hit the mark. “Why don’t you talk to Jill? She knows the rules. She’ll understand that she can be with him without getting serious.”

“I think it’s a bad idea,” I said, still unable to believe he was taking this stance. “We’re creating a gray area here that’s eventually going to cause confusion. We should keep it black and white and ban her from dating while she’s here.”

That wry smile returned. “Everything’s black and white with you Alchemists, isn’t it? Do you think you can really stop her from doing anything? You should know better. Even your childhood couldn’t have been that abnormal.”

With that slap in the face, Eddie stalked off, leaving me aghast. What had just happened? How could Eddie —who was so adamant about doing the right thing for Jill—be okay with her casually dating Micah? There was something weird going on here, something connected to Micah, though I couldn’t figure out what. Well, I refused to let this matter go. It was too important. I’d talk to Jill and make sure she knew right from wrong. If necessary, I’d also talk to Micah—though I still felt that conversation would be better coming from Eddie.

And, I realized, thinking of how I had to go hunt down a doctor’s note, there was one more source I could appeal to, one that had a lot of influence over Jill.

Adrian.

Looked like I’d be paying him another visit.

CHAPTER 9

CONSIDERING I WAS ONLY SUPPOSED to visit Clarence’s twice a week for feedings, I was kind of amazed that I seemed to be here practically every day. Not only that, this was my first time visiting the estate alone. Before, I’d been with Keith or Jill and had a very well-defined goal. Now, I was on my own. I hadn’t realized how much that would freak me out until I was approaching the house, which became even more looming and dark than usual.

There’s nothing to be afraid of, I told myself. You’ve been with a vampire and dhampir all week. You should be used to it. Besides, really, the scariest thing about this place was the old house itself. Clarence and Lee weren’t all that intimidating, and Adrian . . . well, Adrian was pretty much the least scary vampire I’d ever met. He was too bratty for me to feel any real fear, and actually . . . as much as I hated to admit it, I kind of looked forward to seeing him. It made no sense, but something about his infuriating nature made me forget about my other worries. Weirdly, I felt like I could relax around him.

Dorothy escorted me in, and I expected to be taken to the sitting room again. Instead, the housekeeper led