“You’re delusional.” I smiled as I said it.
He pushed off the wall and sauntered to me. When he reached me, he ran a hand across my cheek and behind my head. He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. I wanted to resist him—I’d spent a whole two months doing just that—but I was so tired of trying to deny this.
Instinctively I closed my eyes, and behind them I saw a flash of red as someone took a photo.
So much for holding off telling Caleb about Andre and I. Tonight those photos would hit the Internet and he’d find out. At the back of my mind I wondered what kind of awful person didn’t care about another’s feelings. Because right now, with Andre’s lips warm on mine, I felt no guilt for the choices I’d made.
Andre pulled away. “Ready?”
I nodded.
We’d drawn the attention of a small crowd. They hung off to the sides, far enough away to indicate that they thought we were dangerous. The girl becoming a vampire, and the king of them.
I got in the car. “Where to?”
Andre revved the engine and peeled out, probably just to give our onlookers a show.
His gaze flicked to me. “The scene of the first crime, Glen Maye.”
***
The ride to Glen Maye was a short one. Now I understood why a Peel student would come here; it was so close. We got out of the car and began trekking through the glen.
A little ways in we saw the taped off area. Andre and I stepped over it. “The body was found over there.” Andre pointed to an area near a large boulder. “When they found her, her legs pointed to our left and her arms were spread out at her sides.”
I moved over to where her body had been found and looked around. One particular patch of the glen was greener than the others. According to Andre it was what her legs pointed away from.
“Why is that area greener?” I asked Andre.
He followed my line of sight. “That’s near the entrance to the Otherworld. Around this particular entrance you can find rare and powerful plants. That’s why witches and others come here. Here they can find ingredients for heightening their abilities or performing spells.”
“Huh.” I mulled over why a serial killer would position his or her victim away from this entrance.
“Gabrielle?”
“Yeah?” I said, distracted.
“We need to go.” Andre’s voice had an edge to it.
I glanced at him. “Now,” he emphasized.
I paused, only for a second of a second. But long enough to realize what had startled him. Nothing moved, no creature made a sound—not even the ethereal music I’d heard last time I was here. Animals hid from vampires, but they didn’t disappear. Here, right now in Glen Maye, the animals were gone.
And we hadn’t scared them off.
Knowing Andre would follow, I bolted. Andre fell in step behind me. The trees and plants blurred as we ran. Next to me, I thought I heard the snap of a branch and the hint of a whisper. Just my imagination.
Around us the trees rustled violently, though the night wasn’t windy.
Getting to the car took less than thirty seconds. I snapped on my seatbelt and Andre cranked the ignition. The car roared to life and Andre floored the gas pedal.
The car shot off like a rocket, and then Glen Maye was just a strange and disturbing memory.
***
“What was that?” I asked Andre, looking through the car’s side mirrors even though we were far away from the crime scene.
“Nothing holy.”
I remembered Leanne’s warning from earlier in the day. “What would’ve happened if we’d lingered?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea.” Then he fell silent. Just like Leanne, he wasn’t going to say more.
I exhaled. I couldn’t tell if he was also withholding information from me, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to figure this one out on my own.
***
We pulled up to the entrance of Douglas Cemetery and Andre cut the engine.
“Do I have to go in?” I asked.
Andre took my hand. “I swear on my life I will let nothing happen to you,” he said, his eyes moving between mine.
I was sort of hoping to stay in the car, but it was the next best thing. “I appreciate it,” I said.
We got out of the car. I approached the wrought iron gates that loomed ahead of us. “Uh, Andre, they’re locked.”
As he passed me, he glanced over. “You haven’t done this much, have you?”
“What are you—” Andre yanked apart the metal chain that was wrapped around the middle of the gate with his bare hands.
He pushed it open. “Ladies first.”
“How chivalrous of you,” I said, passing through the entrance. Only then did I realize that I was standing in a graveyard, the land of the dead.