“Who the fuck was that?!” yelled Nathan, slamming the door of his Mustang. “And what the hell is going on around here?”
I stared at him, not knowing exactly where to begin. “Truthfully,” I said. “I don’t know what’s happening. And I doubt you’d even believe me if I told you.”
“Mom called me and she’s worried sick about you! She and Caleb are out scouring the town looking for your ass!”
I cleared my throat. “Well, I’m fine.”
He laughed coldly. “I see that. Who was with you just now?” His eyes scanned the woods. “Did he just take off somewhere into the woods?”
“It doesn’t matter, it’s just a friend. Listen, Nathan, I think dad was here and that he might have been hurt.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Dad?”
“Seriously.”
Nathan ran a hand through his hair and looked around the yard. “Tonight?”
I nodded and then showed him the footprints near the kitchen window.
“This doesn’t mean anything,” he said, crouching down.
“Look,” I said, pointing to some dark spots. “Blood.”
He reached over and touched it. When his fingers came back up to the light, they were bloody. “Oh, shit,” he whispered.
“Call mom,” I said.
He nodded, then took out his cell phone and dialed her number. I listened as he explained that I was home now and how we’d discovered some blood right outside of the kitchen window.
“Oh,” he said, nodding after listening to her response. “Okay. Well, I’ll let her know. I guess she was with some friend or something,” he said, looking at me with a frown. “Don’t worry, I’ll let her know.”
“What?” I asked when he hung up.
“First of all, she said you’re grounded because you took off and had everyone worried. Second of all, the blood was from a raccoon that tried attacking Celeste. Celeste killed it and Caleb helped to get rid of it.”
I closed my eyes and groaned. It was like talking to a wall. He’d never believe me. “Where’s mom now?”
“On her way home.”
“Okay,” I sighed, feeling mentally exhausted. I wasn’t going to win any arguments tonight. “I’m going up to bed.”
“Wait,” said Nathan as I climbed the steps. “How’s your wrist?”
I shrugged. “Pretty sore still. It’s sprained.”
He nodded. “Have you heard anything from Duncan yet?”
“No,” I said. “The last time I saw him was yesterday when we were attacked.”
He stepped closer to me. “Attacked?”
I frowned. “I know you don’t believe me, but we were attacked and now he’s missing. I mean, come on, Nathan, why would I be climbing a tree in the middle of the night?”
He stared at the tree in question. “I know. It didn’t make much sense to me either. But then again, you’ve been acting very strange lately. Especially with all of your vampire ramblings.”
“It’s true,” I said. I then told him about my conversations with Celeste and Caleb.
He gave me a pained expression. “Here we go again.”
I groaned. “Why are you being so pig-headed?”
“You know why, Nikki! Vampires don’t exist!”
I rubbed my forehead, I was getting another headache. “I’m going to bed. Obviously, you’re not going to be any help finding Duncan.”
He followed me up the steps to the porch. “Are you going to school tomorrow?”
“I’m going to try,” I answered.
We walked into the house and I went upstairs to my room. When I finally shut my eyes and started drifting off, it was well past midnight.
Chapter Ten
Luckily, I managed to get up in time for school the next morning. After being lectured from my mother for ten minutes, I took a quick shower, slipped on a long plum sweater and jeans, then grabbed a Pop-Tart to eat on the way to school.
“Don’t forget, you’re grounded!” called my mom, who was also leaving for work.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed my car keys. “Right.”
Like she would even be home to check on me, I thought. She was spending more time at Caleb’s than at home.
School was as boring and uneventful as usual. Everyone asked me about my wrist and I gave them some lame excuse about falling out of a tree after trying to rescue a cat. It was better than the truth, which would have made me the laughing stock of school.
During lunch, I sat down with a couple of girls from history class and they started talking about Duncan. Apparently, they’d heard Sonny was starting a search party to look for him since he was still missing. I decided to join when school was out.
“I’m coming, too,” said Nathan in the parking lot at the end of the day. “Sonny’s closed the marina and needs all the help he can get.”
“I’d better let mom know,” I said, sending her a text. I seriously doubted she’d be mad about me skipping out of being grounded when it came to finding Duncan. Fortunately, I was right.