Page 84 of The Last Vampire
“He had a green book that he took from the LUB.”
My heart pounds harder, and I hope the vampire doesn’t detect that I already knew and had been keeping this from him.
“I compelled him to give it to me, and I found the Legion’s symbol buried in its pages.”
That’swhy Trevor was so insistent that we search all the books. He had already found something.
“That doesn’t mean he’s Legion,” I say. “He might not even know what the symbol means—”
“I asked him, and he said it was his family crest.”
Trevor’s family is part of the Legion.
I can’t believe it.
“I could not risk him saying anything suspicious about me to his parents,” says William, “so I erased his memory of the conversation.”
Something distantly clicks for me, like finding the missing piece to a puzzle I’d abandoned. “Did you compel him not to ask Salma to the dance?”
William doesn’t answer out loud, but the way his lips thin into a line tells me he did.
“Why?”I ask. “Why did you have to pull a Bingley and Jane on them? They could’ve been good for each other, maybe even fallen in love—”
“Are we suddenly back in English class?” he asks, sounding bored. “Because I thought we were talking about real life.”
“What doyouknow about real life?”
“What doyouknow about falling in love?”
I feel prickly hot shame rising to my cheeks, and I say, “I renounce my role as your Familiar.”
Then I storm through the curtains, done with him for good.
CHAPTER 25william
William steals glances at Lorena all through English class.
Neither one has contributed their thoughts onPride and Prejudicetoday. It is as if their dialogue has been cut off on every level since their fight yesterday.
This is for the best,he assures himself. Especially since this is his last week at Huntington.
When class ends, he joins the swarm of students in the hall, all of them eager to enjoy the rest of their day now that lessons are over. Yet even in the middle of this feast of warm blood, his thirst does not stir.
He is still too full of Lorena.
He watches her as she hurries down the stairs with her friends, no backward glance, and a different kind of emptiness grips him. Not hunger, but perhaps its companion.
The hall is now clear, sans a girl who lingers by the top of the stairs. This has been happening all day. Word spread that he and Lorena have parted ways, and now other students seem to think he must be eager to replace her.
“Hi, Will,” says the girl as he approaches the stairs, flashing him an inviting smile. If only she knew what he was, she would not be so welcoming.
He holds her gaze to compel her: “Stay away from me.”
Her breath catches, and she soars down the steps as if on wings instead of legs.
By Thursday, William and Lorena are still being conspicuously quiet in class, and he has stopped attending meals altogether. He spent the whole week trying to unlock the mystery of the green book, but he cannot figure it out. His brain feelsstuck.
Even worse, he keeps having this annoying impulse to ask Lorena and hear what she thinks. Though he has no idea why, given that if he cannot solve it, how could she?
