Vampire High Sophomore Year - By Douglas Rees Page 0,6

the gray light dimmed and dinnertime heaved into view. “We’ve got a two-hundred-year-old house in a nearly four-hundred-year-old town, a wood-burning stove in the kitchen, birch trees in the yard, and now—a crazy relative in the attic. Perhaps we ought to chain her up.”

I shook my head. “Good luck trying,” I said.

Exactly at six, a limousine purred up to the curb behind the little black Volkswagen, and Ileana and Justin got out.

Just seeing Ileana made me glow inside. We’d been together for four months now, and things kept on getting better and better between us. Sometimes, I could hardly believe that this beautiful little girl really liked me better than the jenti boys she could have had. She just came up to my shoulders—sometimes jenti are small—and she was perfect. Shining black hair, an ivory-pale face with glowing brown eyes, and lips like the bow on a present waiting to be unwrapped.

As for Justin and me—best friends. Enough said.

They came up the walk together, Ileana in a little black dress and Justin in a dark suit. I kind of wished they hadn’t gone to so much trouble for Turk. But that’s the jenti way. All out, whatever they’re doing. There’s no such thing as a casual jenti.

Ileana danced into the house, looking cool even on this muggy evening. She gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Look at Justin,” she said. “He has become a Mercian.”

“A what?” I said.

I looked more closely at Justin’s coat and saw he was wearing a two-headed silver eagle on it. There was a crown balancing on both the eagle’s heads, and under its feet was the word MERCIA.

“Neat,” I said. “What’s a Mercian?”

“Just a kind of old jenti thing,” Justin said quietly. “I was invited to join.”

“He was invited to join because of you,” Ileana said. “Because you and he saved the school.”

Justin shrugged.

“So what do you do?” I asked.

“Oh, just talk about stuff here in town,” he said.

“It is more than that,” Ileana said. “Only certain families may belong. Even my father could not join, because he is not out of the Mercian line. And to be invited to join so young never happens.”

“Well, congratulations,” I said.

Sitting around with some old guys talking about New Sodom did not sound like much of an honor to me, even if it was secret and ancient and all that other jenti stuff, but if Justin was happy, I was happy.

Ileana handed me a small box wrapped in white paper and silver ribbon.

“For your cousin,” she said. “Please give it to her tonight.”

She flashed a smile that showed her cute little fangs.

“Oops,” she said, and covered her mouth. “They are out, are they not? Excuse me. I must be a little excited.”

“Don’t be,” I said. “My cousin—”

“Of course I am excited,” Ileana said. “This is the first of your relatives I have ever met, apart from your parents.”

Jenti are big on family. But then, when your reunions are attended by people who’ve been alive since the fifteenth century, relatives probably seem a lot more important.

“Thanks for having us over so soon,” Justin said, and handed me a small package wrapped in brown paper and blue ribbon. “This is for your cousin, too.”

“Why don’t you give her these?” I asked.

“Because you are the connection between us,” Ileana said. “If I give something directly to your relative on our first meeting, it is a great insult to you.”

“Like cutting you out,” Justin said.

Jenti manners are only slightly less complicated than their special language, which even most of them don’t speak well anymore.

“Well, thanks,” I said. “Let’s go into the dining room.”

Mom and Dad were already there. I noticed Dad had his wineglass in hand. Lucky Dad. All I had was the certainty that Turk was going to do something to show us how little we all meant to her.

Then Turk made her entrance.

She was barefoot, and wearing paint-smeared black jeans and one of her T-shirts. There was a lot of paint on her, too, most of it black. I wondered how much time she’d spent decorating herself.

“Oh. Hi,” she said. “Sorry. Didn’t know it was so late.”

Like Mom hadn’t told her twenty times to start getting ready.

Ileana and Justin both smiled. This time, without fangs.

“Welcome, kinswoman to Cody,” Ileana said. Then she added something in jenti that means “Rest beneath the shadow of my wings,” which is a huge compliment to a gadje, especially one you’ve just met.

“Hello,” Justin said.

“So you guys are vampires, right?” Turk said.

Polite. I was going