Bloodlust (The Blood Series #1)

Chapter 20

My stomach feels funny. I couldn't down a bite while I fretted the school day ahead of me. All the secrets I have come to know slump my shoulders down and I take the bus to school just so I won't alarm Andrea. Of course, when I text her that I'm taking the bus she sends me a landslide of interrogative texts back. I really hope she isn't texting and driving but knowing Andrea she probably is. I try to reassure her that I'm fine, our friendship is fine and that I'm not mad at her but she doesn't seem convinced. With terror I await for the time she sees me face to face because she'll try her hardest to squeeze my secrets out of me. And when Drea Giorgio wants something, she usually gets it.

Troy. Callum. Nathan. They are the ones I'm nervous to see. Well, in Callum's case more like seriously pissed off. Troy I don't want to see and hope he has gotten his letter to go study in a vampire school in Transylvania. With Nathan I'm nervous in a different way. It was a really strange weekend I had and now that we are brought back to reality, what will happen? How will we act? Are we friends? Something more? Something less?

The thought tugs my heart. What if he won't say anything to me and pretend like I don't exist like he did all of last week?

"What was it this morning?" Andrea demands as soon as she corners me in the hallway after second period. I'm sure that one day the FBI will be happy to call her their best interrogator.

I shrug. "I woke up early and wanted to be in time for once."

She scrunches her nose. "Okay, ouch. I'm not that late."

I raise my eye brows at her but don't say anything.

"I heard that your biology teacher is out today", Andrea gossips. She always hears things like these first because her mom works at our school's administration which is handy because every year on our birthdays Drea steals absence slips for us and we skip school to do something fun. I'm sure her mom has noticed that but she has never busted us. Oddly enough because usually the Giorgios are pretty strict. I don't know, maybe she remembers what's it like to be young and stupid. Or she simply doesn't want to get int trouble for losing absence slips. That seems more likely when it comes to Mrs Giorgio. Now, I'm not saying that she's too harsh in her parenting but I think she'd make Dolores Umbridge proud.

"And here's the best part: Annabelle Reese says that the sub is SERIOUSLY hot. Finally the school takes into account the aesthetic needs of their female pupils. God, I hope Bells wasn't making it up. I couldn't bear it. I'm pretty sure that I have this medical condition that acquires me to be around hot guys to be able to breathe."

I laugh and tease: "Aren't you happily taken?"

"Oh, many times", she smirks and I gag. "Yes, yes, Cal is my soul mate and all that, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating beauty outside of my relationship."

"You have issues, my friend", I state shaking my head in disbelief.

She giggles and says: "Come on, I'll walk you to bio. If the sub is even as nearly as hot as Annabelle described, I'm staying for your lesson. Everyone should know their biology, right?"

"Sometimes I wonder how on Earth we became friends", I mutter audibly under my breath.

"Because I'm awesome and all it took was one simple glance to realize that with me you'd have the time of your life. Now, hurry up, I want to get a good seat."

I roll my eyes but follow her nonetheless. For once in our lives Drea and I are early so the classroom is still half-empty when we get there. We sit down and I immerse myself in taking out my books so that I won't accidentally look at Nathan. I couldn't bare it if his face would look as emotionless as it did all of last week. Someone looks at Drea questioningly and starts to protest that she's sitting on their seat. Drea shows her teeth and growls like a mad dog and they run away from her. Drea looks very pleased with herself.

I'm so wrapped up in my thoughts that I don't notice when the sub walks in. I don't notice how all of the girls make a synchronized sound, something between a sigh and a moan. I also don't notice how Nathan glances at me. No, I'm lost in my own world and would probably stay there for the entire lesson if Andrea didn't kindly kick me. I jump a little and glance at her questioningly. She nods her head towards the front of the classroom and I reluctantly look there.

No. No way.

A fit blonde boy, a man really, stands in front of the class and smiles at us. His eyes rest on me a little too long and even from as far as I am I can see a faint flash of red in them. Oliver the Psychopath is here, in my school, in my biology classroom. I immediately tense up. What is he up to? Is he going to go through with his threat to make one of my friends his next victim?

"Hello, class. Your teacher couldn't be here so you're stuck with me as your sub for her classes, both biology and history. My name is Oliver Knight, you may simply refer to me as Oliver. I'm not really one for that pretentious title crap", he says winking and makes every girl in the room laugh at his bold words. Well, everyone except me. I'm too busy freaking out to really listen to his words. Oh the joy. I have Ms Reyes for both history and biology. So today I have to deal with Oliver for two lessons. I should have skipped this day too.

"Where's Ms Reyes?" I ask with my teeth pressed together.

Oliver's eyes flicker to me. "I'm afraid that's the million dollar question. The school hasn't heard from her and she didn't show up to her first lesson so I was called in to help."

Ms Reyes is missing? My eyes meet Oliver's and a hint of amusement flashes in them. Did he do something to Ms Reyes?

Yes, yes he did, his eyes sing. Anger shudders through me. Not her. Not my favorite teacher. Oliver has crossed a line. I need to do something, I've already wasted enough time on uncertainty.

Without noticing it I have stood up and start to take steps toward him, possibly to slap him for smirking like he has painted the walls of his house with Ms Reyes' blood. But before I manage to take more than two steps a hand closes around my wrist and pulls me to a stop. I look down and meet green eyes. Don't, he mouths to me. I narrow my eyes but sit down nonetheless just to have every single person in the room stare at me. Right. They didn't know about Nathan and I. Well, so much for keeping it under the wraps, I guess.

Oliver claps his hands together to get their attention. It's unnecessary though because as soon as the girls in this room hear him speak, their heads snap back to his direction. "Okay, if this fascinating Twilight scene is over, I guess we can get to the subject of the day", he says sounding annoyed. I tune him out and ignore all the little evil clues thrown in my or Nathan's way during the lecture. Maybe if I just ignore him for long enough, he'll get bored.

Or maybe that will only make him crave my attention more, I ponder but push away the thought.

Andrea gushes about the psychopath all the way to my history class. I try my best not to start cursing her out. It's not her fault that she doesn't know that the man she is so smitten with has the most twisted mind I have ever encountered.

When the history class begins, Oliver smoothly sits on the edge of the teacher's desk. "I'll tell you a tale. It's a vicious story about royals. You see, often people think of themselves as rulers when in reality you could very easily make them crumble down. This royal family had gotten too comfortable in their skin, too trusting, too cocky. They didn't think anyone could possibly make them fall. They didn't know that there was an angry mob outside the palace doors, the Russians were starving and the family in power did nothing to save them. Yes, you guessed it, today we'll be discussing the Russian Revolution. The rise and the long fall of the Romanovs."

I can practically feel Oliver's smirk on my skin although this time his dig is aimed at Nathan and his nearly royal family. He's threatening to destroy them and after what Nathan told me about fallen angels, he just might be able to. I see Nathan tense and it's my turn to stop him from attacking a substitute teacher in front of the entire class.

"But we are supposed to be learning about the Aztecs", a preppy girl with a bun too tight whines.

Oliver flashes her a killer smile and the girl falls silent. "It's my day, my rules and I say that we are going to study Russian History. After all I think it's important for all of us to remember that anyone can be brought down from their heights. 'A throne is only a bench covered with velvet'. Who said that?"

"Napoleon Bonaparte", I answer automatically, without thinking.

A pleasantly surprised smile spreads over Oliver's lips. "Very good, Haley", he says and once again I'm on the receiving end of odd stares because on neither of his lessons we went through a name list and therefore he should not know my name.

"Now the French Revolution is also an interesting subject. In France people were unhappy with their ruler so they decided to overthrow them. It's interesting how powerful an angry mob can be, even against royals. Nothing in this world is truly permanent, truly immortal. Except for cockroaches. Those little bastards will survive a nuclear explosion."

A snicker circles the classroom again and I can already see that my entire history class has fallen under Oliver's fake charm. For a sociopath and a narcissist he's very good at making others like him. I'm afraid that if people in my high school like him enough, they just might make his position in here permanent which would open a whole new world of opportunities to torture me to him.

When the bell rings and releases us, I wait for everyone else to clear out of the classroom. Nathan looks at me questioningly but I shake my head and motion him to go on ahead. He hesitates but goes after all. It takes a long time as I'm not the only one wanting to speak to the new sub after class. Drea is among the many girls trying to catch Oliver's eye. He is loving the attention and my glares seem to only make it feel that much better. Eventually everyone has to leave for their next lesson and I get Oliver alone.

I walk up to Oliver and snarl: "What do you want from me?"

"Now what makes you think I want anything from you?" he asks those cold amber eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Cut the crap. What's your deal? What are you planning?" I pester like he's going to answer.

His smile is a wicked one and for a brief moment I wonder if he smiles so much just to show off his perfectly white teeth that can probably cut through fingers. "One should not ask such tempting questions. The answers might scare you, beautiful Haley", he advises me.

Out of pure instinct I grab his arm when he walks by me. The image popping into my mind is gruesome: I see Andrea lying on the classroom floor, her lifeless eyes staring into infinity and blood pooling around her.

Oliver is planning on murdering my best friend next.