“Hey, all the more for us!” Zack said.

Aurox drank with them, thinking that there was something very relaxing in just standing there with the two boys, and not having them look at him like he was a freak.

Aurox took another long drink, finishing the cup. He wiped the foam from his mouth with the back of his hand, and then he heard himself blurting, “I’m Heath. Do you guys come here often?”

Jason refilled all of their cups, then the two boys sat on the grass, their backs against the wall. Aurox sat across from them.

“Nah, we just found this place a few nights ago.”

“How?” Aurox asked and drank.

“Well, we was drivin’ by, mindin’ our own business, and Zack says to stop—he sees lights through the wall,” Jason said. “I thought he was crazy.”

“You thought I was drunk,” Zack corrected him.

“You were both, dude,” Jason said, and laughed.

“Yeah, but I was right. When we got out and I gave him a leg up, Jason found the hole.”

“It was easier to see before. They had a bunch of Christmas tree lights strung all over the campus in there. Got a good look at some vampyre pussy. Damn, those girls are hot.”

“Fledglings,” Aurox corrected him automatically.

“What’s that?”

“You probably didn’t see vampyres. You probably saw fledglings.”

“Like I care? I saw leg and tit and it was hot,” Jason said. “So, did you find a hole, too?”

“No,” Aurox said.

“Damn! I was hoping you found somethin’ with more to see,” Jason said.

“Hey, dickhead, you need to be happy with what I found. This is the best look we’ve had at real vampyres,” Zack told his cousin.

“Fledglings,” Aurox corrected again, holding his cup out for another refill.

Jason opened the spout again, refilling his cup, but Zack was watching Aurox carefully.

“How do you know so much about them?” Zack asked.

Jason sat up straighter. “Hey, are you one of their donors? Like, do you let them suck your blood?”

“And fuck you?” Zack added.

“No. No,” Aurox said, shaking his head, noticing that it was feeling strange—woozy—and the ground seemed to be swaying a little under him.

“Look, we won’t say shit to anyone if you tell us how to get that gig,” Zack said.

“Seriously, nobody. Not one person will know,” Jason said.

“I’m not anyone’sss mate,” Aurox said and belched. Then he laughed. His speech was giving him trouble, but he felt good. Really good.

“Dude, why are you laughing?”

“It’s not fucking funny that you’re keeping this shit to yourself.”

Aurox finished the third cup of beer in one long gulp. “I was laughing at the bubbles in my head.”

Zack frowned. “Lightweight. You better not have far to drive to get home.”

“Don’t have to drive,” Aurox said happily.

“Then you do stay here!” Zack said.

Aurox blinked several times, trying hard to focus on the boy. “Sssometimes I do,” he slurred.

“Okay, look, we’re not kidding. We could be into the bloodsucking. They don’t even need to pay us,” Jason said.

“But not with guys. I can’t go there,” Zack said.

“Oh, for sure. Not guys,” Jason agreed. “But chicks, yes. Totally yes.”

“So, what do we have to do?” Zack asked.

Aurox’s head was filled with amazing little bubbles, and his legs felt funny—like they were too heavy. But his mind seemed to be working fine. He knew the boys shouldn’t be out there, and he knew he—for sure—shouldn’t have run into them. But all that came out of his mouth was, “Wwwwait. Thinking.”

Jason sighed and took another swig of beer. “Maybe having his blood sucked so much fucks up his alcohol tolerance level.”

“I don’t give a shit, as long as I get more than my blood sucked,” Zack said.

“I hear ya on that,” Jason said.

They stared at Aurox.

Aurox was considering and rejecting options. While he considered, he held out his cup to be refilled.

“Are you sure? You’re gettin’ pretty wasted,” Jason said.

“Thinking,” Aurox slurred.

Zack shrugged. “Give him more. He said he’s not drivin’.”

Aurox thought about his options while he drank. He could morph part way into the bull creature and scare the two boys away. Or, he could just pick them up and toss them toward the road, and growl. Either way they’d be scared way.

He’d keep their beer, though.

But as he thought about it more Aurox realized scaring the boys was probably a bad idea. The House of Night was already on lockdown. It wouldn’t be good for the school if the boys were scared enough to go to the human authorities.

What Aurox needed was to turn back time and not to have run into them. He’d still like to keep the beer, though. He really liked the beer.

Everything else needed to be wiped away from the night. Gone. Forgotten. Never happened. Except for the beer.

Zack leaned closer to Aurox. “Hey, you okay in there?”

“You want to give us a number to call or whatever? Like we said, we won’t tell nobody.”

That’s when Aurox got the idea. It was a good one, too. It would fix the problem with the boys who had found the hole, and it would show Stark that he wasn’t his enemy—that he actually wanted to be his friend. Plus, he’d get to keep the beer. He grinned at the boys. “No number. Wait here. I’ll bring ’em to you.”

“Seriously!” Zack said.

“Vampyres?” Jason seemed more skeptical.

“Not females. I’ll bring vampyre-donor-ssspecialist vampyre,” Aurox stumbled over the words.

“Uh, we said we weren’t into guys,” Jason said.

“No, dude, shut up! He’s gonna get the guy who’ll take us to the chicks,” Zack said. “You just can’t walk in and do this shit like it’s nothing. There’s rules that have to be followed. Right, Heath?”

“Yes,” Aurox said. “We will follow the rules.” He stood and held his cup out for another refill. Then he pointed at Zack and at Jason. “You. And you. Stay. I’ll be back with the vampyre and the rules.”

Holding his full cup carefully, Aurox crouched, and then sprang up to land on the top of the twelve foot wall.

“That was awesome!” Jason said.

“No wonder they keep this shit quiet. If everyone knew that you got, like, superpowers from vamp sucking there’d be a line around the fucking school to get in!” Zack said.

“Stay,” Aurox said. Holding the red cup carefully, he dropped down into the school grounds.

He meant to run swiftly to the field house. That was where the entrance to the basement was, and that was where he thought Stark would probably be, helping the red fledglings get settled in. But Aurox’s run was more of a sideways jog. And instead of a swift, stealthy entrance to the field house, the doorknob was turning wrong and when he finally managed to open it, Aurox’s momentum had him stumbling inside, staggering across the sand and into the hallway that led to the door to the basement and somehow bumping up against Kramisha.

“Damn, Aurox! ’Scuse yourself,” she snapped at him.

“I didn’t mean—I couldn’t get the door—well, sorry,” he finally managed. He saw that she, and the group of fledgling behind her, were staring at his beer. He followed their gazes, looking down at an almost full cup. When he looked up it was to grin at her and slur, “I didn’t sssspill any!”

“You’s shitfaced,” Kramisha told him. Then she turned toward the open door to the basement and shouted, “Z! Your boy’s out here makin’ an ass of hisself!”

“Noooo! Not, Zo, I need—” Aurox tried to whisper to her, but Kramisha waved a hand in front of her face, screwed up her nose, and backed away from him.

“Shewww!”

“Kramisha?” Zoey was coming up from the basement. Aurox was relieved to see Stark right behind her.

“That smells nasty.” Kramisha pointed at Aurox. “He been drinkin’. A lot. I ain’t entirely sure what he is, but I’m sure gettin’ shitfaced can’t be good for him.” The other fledglings were still staring at Aurox, and she motioned for them to follow her. “Let’s get settled. And leave Z to her own business.”

Watching them go, Aurox said, “I’m not a that.”

Zoey and Stark walked up to him. Zoey sniffed and looked from his almost full cup to his face. Her big, pretty eyes got bigger, but not really prettier. “Holy crap! You’re drunk!”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Stark

“Drunk?” Aurox said. He looked confused and, well, drunk. “Drunk,” the kid repeated. Then he nodded with exaggerated seriousness. “Yes. Drunk.”

Zoey opened her mouth, no doubt to ask Aurox what the hell was going on, but he ignored her, stepped into Stark’s personal space, and in a gush of beer breath spoke way louder than the whisper he’d been trying for, “Stark, you come with me. You have to pretend to be vampyre-specialist-donor vampyre and make them forget vampyre pussy.”