Part 13 (1/2)

All through breakfast, Jason kept an eye on his aunt. She'd drawn her eyebrows in with some kind of make-up and she was acting normal, just eating and reading the paper. On the drive to school, he glanced over at Dani, who was frantically trying to finish her reading for English.

'Is there some new fad where you pluck out your whole eyebrow?' he asked.

Dani didn't glance up from her book. 'Why? You planning to try out a new look?'

'Aunt Bianca was doing it this morning.'

That got her attention. 'Aunt Bee? Really? Maybe it is a new fad.' She thought for a moment. 'There were some old-time movie stars who did that. Shaved off their eyebrows and drew in new ones with eyebrow pencil. They got the perfect shape they wanted that way.'

She kept reading. But Jason was still worried.

'How was shopping yesterday?' he asked.

Dani dropped her book into her lap. 'Well, I got this great new pair of jeans. They're distressed, but not too distressed, you know?'

'I meant, how was Aunt Bianca?'

'She was fine, Jason. What's this all about?'

'She's just being a little weird, I think,' he said. 'She's so moody and she doesn't want to tell Mom why.'

'Yeah, she was kinda moody yesterday,' Danielle said thoughtfully. 'At one store, she actually made the salesgirl cry.'

'How?'

'Oh, Aunt Bianca wanted these shoes and the only ones they had in her size were scuffed. So she had a little tantrum and she called the girl a wannabe. I felt bad for the girl.'

'That really doesn't sound like Aunt Bianca,' Jason pointed out.

'I guess not.' Dani frowned. 'It's pretty typical Hollywood behavior, though. And Aunt Bianca has been working in Hollywood for a while. Maybe it's rubbing off. She does seem very stressed about work.'

'That's true,' Jason said. 'And she's not dating or anything. Between losing Stefan and having this high-pressure career, she's probably at the end of her rope. She needs a vacation.'

'I know! I'll tell Mom to invite Bianca to a spa week. That's totally relaxing. They could just drive out to Palm Springs or something. It's perfect!' Dani picked up her book, a big grin on her face. 'I'm such a genius.'

Jason let her read for the rest of the drive. His mind went back to the question of becoming a vampire or not. He couldn't really think about anything else. What would it be like, to know you were going to live for a couple of hundred years? To not worry about sickness or injury?

He turned the VW into the parking lot at DeVere High and found a spot next to Brad's Jeep.

'There's Belle,' Dani said, peering at the vintage Beemer two s.p.a.ces away. She slammed her book shut, stuffed it in her bag, and jumped out of the car without a glance at Jason. 'Belle!' she yelled. 'What's up, homegirl?'

Belle laughed. 'Come here. I found the ideal shade of brown lipstick for you yesterday. As soon as I saw it, I thought of you . . .'

Jason climbed out of the car as Dani and Belle walked off toward the school.

'When did they become such good friends?' Adam asked, coming up behind him.

'Since Ryan Patrick,' Jason replied. 'And palling around with Dani helps take Belle's mind off Dom.'

Adam nodded. 'So, what are you up to tonight?'

'Why?'

'Because, mon ami, I have something to show you. Something you really want to see.'

'ParanormalPI.com?' Jason asked later that evening.

'That's what I said,' Adam replied, tossing Jason's Nerf basketball at the hoop attached to the bedroom door.

Jason typed the web address into his computer and watched as a serious-looking site appeared. 'It looks like a college information page or something.'

'Well, yeah, it looks all scholarly. And it is, compared to most of the vampire websites. But there's still a lot of trash. Check out the t.i.tles of the articles in the archive,' Adam told him.

Jason took a closer look. '”Ghost Gives Accurate Information on Mississippi Shootings”.'

'Oh, that one was cool,' Adam said, tossing the ball again. 'This ghost communicated with the homicide detective through his iPod.'

'”Woman Gives Birth to Flying Fish”,' Jason read dubiously.

'Like I said a lot of trash.' Adam threw himself down on Jason's bed. 'But it's a pretty good site even so. They investigate every paranormal story they find in the tabloids, and a lot of them are really hilarious. One or two even turn out to be true in one way or another.'

'OK. So why am I interested in this?'

'Um . . . because you're dating a vampire?' Adam said.

'We're just friends,' Jason corrected him.

'Yes. And I'm a world-champion body builder,' Adam replied, deadpan. 'So do you want to see the vampire-interest story or not?'

'I guess so.'

'Search for ”vampire” in the database.'

Jason typed in 'vampire' and hit ENTER. The first link that popped up was ent.i.tled, 'Priceless Vampire Artifact for Sale'. He clicked on it.

'”A Malibu, California, p.a.w.nshop is offering an antique chalice for sale to the highest bidder,”' he read aloud. '”This is no worthless trophy cup. This is a valuable piece of art which is linked with several legendary vampire rituals. Blood sacrifices, undead wedding ceremonies, and vampire initiation are only a few of the sacraments rumored to have been performed with this beautiful chalice.”'

Jason stopped reading. 'Well, they got one of the rituals right.' The chalice had definitely been used to initiate Zach Lafreniere into the DeVere Heights Vampire Council.

'I'm thinking this is where our not-so-friendly neighborhood vampire hunter got his lead on the DeVere Heights toothies,' Adam said. 'Tamburo probably lurked on sites like this all the time. He saw the notice about the chalice, he came straight to Malibu to find out whether it was a real vampire artifact or not. Because where there's an ancient vampire chalice, there are likely to be vampires to kill.'

Jason nodded, his face grim. 'I wonder how many other vampire hunters do the same thing.'

'And I wonder how the website even heard about the chalice,' Adam replied.

'That p.a.w.nbroker probably put it on this site to advertise it,' Jason said. 'It's a site for supernatural enthusiasts, after all.' He closed the page, and the 'vampire' search results filled the screen again.

'Yeah, I guess saying that it was mysterious and all that would get some publicity and drive the price higher,' Adam agreed.

But Jason barely heard him. His attention was on another link down toward the bottom of the search page: 'Blood Research Center Creates Top Secret Vampire Test'. Jason clicked on it.