said, growling in her throat. "And I haven't had a good meal in days."
"Oh, crap. Oh, crap!" Steve said, trying to hide behind Nathan even as the bigger guy fought to hide behind him.
I might have laughed if I didn't feel so guilty. "Here's the deal, boys. No more bullying. If you pick on anyone else for the rest of your life, you're dead. In fact, it is now your sworn duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves. If you see someone else picking on anyone, nerd or otherwise, you have to step in and protect them. Do I make myself clear?"
"Y-y-yes," Adam said, his teeth chattering even harder.
Nathan nodded like a bobble head doll. "I swear to god, man!"
"Yes," Steve said, voice hoarse.
I stared them down for several long seconds before saying, "We'll be watching. If you slip up, we'll be ready." I was just about to tell them they were free to go, when one last indignity occurred to me. "One last thing."
"Anything, man, please just let us go!" Nathan hugged himself like a little kid, staying as far from Ash and Nyte as he could.
"You must join the Chess Club at school."
The three guys looked flummoxed, but not a one of them protested.
"Good, now—" A sudden throb of cold raced up my leg.
Maximus's face hovers over me, blood flowing down his face. He grins. Licks the blood. "You're mine, Slade. You and your little sister." He throws back his head and laughs as he pulls Ivy from the dark. Like a viper, his head strikes forward, and his fangs clamp on her neck. Blood spurts. Eyes wide with fear, she screams.
I squeezed my eyes shut as rage boiled into me. It's just a hallucination, I thought, desperately trying to return to reality. Pain cracked into my skull like a sledgehammer. A guttural growl rumbled through my chest. The world seemed to vibrate. Energy crackled around me, lancing my body with white and black bolts of energy. The world was breaking around me. Shattering to pieces.
I roared.
Someone squealed like a pig and a rotten odor drifted into my nostrils.
"Justin!" Elyssa said, gripping my arm.
I snapped out of my trance. Nathan and his pals were literally shaking in their shoes, huddled tight in the corner next to the window. One of them whimpered as a puddle formed at his shoes.
My voice, deep and inhuman, growled, "Do as I say, or die."
They screamed.
I made a slashing motion with my hand and walked into a dark corner as the world around me wobbled. Ash and Nyte herded the captives downstairs and outside. Elyssa appeared beside me.
"Justin, are you okay?"
I nodded as the sick feeling in my stomach subsided, and the cold bite of the vampling curse faded in my leg. "It's getting worse. The visions. The anger. We've got to get to Maximus and stop him before I go over the edge." The small horns on my forehead clattered to the floor as my body reverted from its half-demon form to normal.
She leaned her head on my shoulder. "We will." Her arms wrapped tight around me and we held each other in the darkness.
Chapter 35
Nyte and Ash returned later, having dropped Nathan and pals at a bus stop. They had hot pizza with them, probably hoping it would serve as a peace offering and save them from mine, Katie’s, and Elyssa's wrath. While we were shocked at the abrupt change in our friends from Goths to vampires, it was hard to blame them for wanting payback for all the cruel things Nathan and his goons had done to us. So instead of yelling or making a big deal out of the whole kidnapping, assault, and revealing the secrets of the Overworld to noms, we accepted the pizza.
Besides, it had mushrooms and olives on it—my favorites.
"I don't even want to think about how many times they crapped themselves," Nyte said, laughing as he passed out paper cups.
Ash giggled like a little kid. "Join the Chess Club? Classic! Can you imagine those morons trying to figure out how to play?"
Elyssa wiped her mouth with a napkin. "I think making them protect the other nerds from bullies was a nice touch. But do you really think they're going to keep it up?"
Nyte looked at me with wonder. "Man, if growing horns out of your forehead and roaring like a demon doesn't keep them straight, I don't know what will."
"Yeah, about that," I said, scratching my forehead where the aforementioned horns had been. "I