Sorry. Digressing. I know.

"Uh, what do you mean?" I ask, not quite sure why I'm even attempting the innocent routine. There's no way she doesn't know.

"Jareth says he saw you down at the Blood Bar," Magnus clarifies. He has a s.e.xy English accent, too. According to Sunny he was once a knight in shining armor for King Arthur in Camelot. I wonder if Jareth was as well. Not that I care.

"He a.s.sumed you were me," Sunny adds.

"Hm. I wonder why," I say sarcastically, still mad at him for scaring me so badly back at the bar. "Oh, wait. Could it be that he didn't shut up long enough to listen to one word I had to say? Could it be that he was too much in a hurry to run and go crying to Magnus before I even had a chance to explain?" I narrow my eyes and shoot daggers at Jareth. Jerkoff. Getting me in trouble with the vamps. So help me if this interferes with my position on the blood mate waiting list. "Thanks, dude, for selling me down the river. Two seconds and we could have cleared this whole thing up. But no. You had to a.s.sume. And you know what a.s.suming does, don't you?" I elbow the vampire in the ribs. "Makes an 'a.s.s' out of 'you' and 'me.' Or however that stupid phrase goes."

"I wouldn't mind you turning into an a.s.s," Jareth growls in his throaty voice. "Then at least you couldn't speak."

"Oh yeah?" I cry, my blood boiling at this point. I'm, like, this close to smacking the guy upside the head. Or whipping out my stake, even. That'd show him. No one should be able to talk to me like that and live. "Well . . . then I could, um, bray, and I bet that would be even more annoying."

"I'd take my chances."

"Jareth! Rayne!" Magnus scolds. "This childish bickering is not helping us get to the bottom of this."

"You're right," I agree. Then when Magnus isn't looking I stick my tongue out at Jareth. He scowls back at me. OMG, what a loser, right? And that "a.s.s" comment was completely uncalled for. Especially since back at the Blood Bar he wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise while he ranted and raved and pulled out his hair. I take everything back about him being a s.e.xy guy I'd want to have vampire babies with.

"Why were you at the Blood Bar, Rayne?" Sunny asks, her voice all concerned and big sister like. Technically though, I'm the older one. By seven whole minutes. Just cause she's dating some guy who's, like, a thousand years old doesn't mean suddenly she's more wise and mature. "And that thing in your blog? About being a vampire slayer? Was that just a joke? Cause if that was a joke, it wasn't very funny."

Oh, I see. NOW she reads my blog. Now that she's back to being a human and it makes no difference whatsoever. I , begged her to read the thing when she was about to turn vampire. As you know, it has a ton of important info about the process.

But no! She had better things to do. Like make out with her cheeseball prom date Jake Wilder.

I swallow hard. Explanation time.

"It's not a joke. Your drama coach, Mr. Teifert, is really vice prez of Slayer Inc. And he's tagged me as the next slayer." I lean back in my seat, crossing my left leg over my right, somewhat enjoying the shocked looks on everyone's faces. Especially Jareth's. Heh. I bet he wishes he didn't make enemies with me now. Now that he knows how dangerous I can be. One wrong move and BAM! Stake that!

"Why would he pick you?" Sunny asks, the first to recover her voice.

I shrug. "I don't know. He was all saying it's my destiny or something."

"Can't you just refuse?"

"That's the messed up part," I admit. "He claims he's put some nanovirus in my bloodstream that will be activated if I refuse to perform my slayerly duties. I don't know if it's true or not, but I don't want to take any chances, you know?"

"Nano what?" Sunny asks, scrunching up her freckled nose. "That's crazy. He's got to be pulling your leg. Maybe he overheard us talking and ..."

"I'm afraid not, Sunny," Magnus says, reaching over to put a slender white hand on her knee. My virginal twin squirms a bit under his touch. She wants him, I can tell, but she's fighting the run to second base. I wonder how long it will take Maggy to score that first home run. "That's Slayer Inc.'s typical MO. They have operatives in every major hospital who tag infants in the maternity ward who they deem to be potential slayers."

Ugh. So the nano thing probably is true. Great. I was so hoping Mag would laugh it off and tell me Slayer Inc. had no real hold on me. Evidently not so much.

"But Rayne can't kill vampires!" Sunny interjects. "I mean, she wants to be one! And . . . and what if she has to kill you?" My twin looks close to tears at this point. She had a run-in with Bertha, the old slayer, once upon a time and it scarred her for life.

"You know, you're going to score lousy on the reading comprehension part of the MCATs," I say. "You obviously only skimmed my blog entry."

"Well, I'm sorry. My twin sister announces to the world that she's the next Buffy. I'm supposed to spend time reading between the lines?"

"Listen, Sun," I a.s.sure her, trying to play nice. "They only want me to kill the bad vampires. Not the ones who coexist peacefully with humanity. For example, Magnus here. He's one of the good guys. So I'd never be asked to slay him."

"Oh." Sunny sniffs, still frowning in bewilderment. "Well, that's good, I guess." She glances over at Magnus. He smiles at her and reaches over to brush a lock of hair from her eyes, then kisses her softly. Bleh. Enough with the PDA. I steal a glance over at Jareth. He's staring out the window doing the brooding thing.

"Urn, anyway," I say, clearing my throat. "They've asked me to go undercover in the Blood Bar. I'm supposed to do re-con on this baddie vamp called Maverick. Evidently he's up to no good. Wants to do something takeoverish to Magnus here. So actually, I'm helping the cause."

"Well, there's no need for that," Jareth b.u.t.ts in, turning back from window stareage. "I have 'the cause,' as you call it, completely under control. I certainly do not need a.s.sistance from an operative of Slayer Inc."

Oh, right. Of course he doesn't. After all, he was doing such a fine job on his own this evening, what with running out of the Blood Bar practically screaming simply 'cause he met a girl that looked like his boss's GF.

"Let's not be so hasty, Jareth," Magnus says slowly. "Perhaps Rayne can be of some use."

"Yeah," I say, making a "nyah, nyah" face at Jareth. "I'm very . . . useful."

"I can't imagine," Jareth mutters.

G.o.d, I've never met such an arrogant, pain in the b.u.t.t vamp in all my sixteen years. Not that I've met boatloads or anything, but still.

"Here, as Sunny would say, is the 411," Magnus interjects, and I chuckle, despite myself. It so sounds funny to hear a former knight in shining armor, now Master of the Vamps, use twenty-first-century slang. "Slayer Inc. is not the only group concerned about Maverick's extracurricular activities. I, too, have gotten intelligence that leads me to believe that he has some kind of plan brewing as well. I've sent Jareth in undercover to do some reconnaissance. That's why you met him in the bar. He was working for me."

"And it was all going very well before she came along," Jareth mutters under his breath.

"Uh, h.e.l.lo?" I say, waving my hands in his face. "The 'she' in this scenario is sitting next to you!" I am so not going to take his BS.

"Jareth, I know you're frustrated because you lost a night of recon due to Rayne's appearance," Magnus says, staving off Jareth's retort before it can leave his lips. "But I think if we look at the long-term situation, this could actually work out in our favor.

As a human, Rayne will be given a different view of the Blood Bar. Between the two of you, we can probably get a very decent picture of what's going on down there. I think you should work together."

I raise my eyebrows. Hold on one gosh-darn second. Work together? Magnus wants me to work together with this guy?

Bleh.

I glance over at Jareth, who looks even less pleased at the idea than I am.

"I can't work with ... the slayer!" he cries, spitting out the job t.i.tle as if it were poison. "Never in a million years." He looks to Magnus, his piercing blue eyes pleading. "I can do this myself, Your Majesty. I am your general. I command your army. I don't need some high school kid tagging along, she'll only get in the way."

"Rayne is more than just a high school student. She's the first slayer in a thousand years to have gone through all the vampire training. To have an insider's look into our world."

"But-"

"This could be the beginning of a great partnership between Slayer Inc. and our kind," Magnus continues. "I'm not going to ruin that opportunity because of your personal hang-ups. I'm sorry about what happened, Jareth. But that was long ago. If we are to survive as a species, we must learn to adapt. Rayne can be helpful to you. And I expect you to accept her help."

"Never!" Jareth growls. "I will never accept the help of a slayer. Magnus, you are a fool if you trust them. Look what happened the last time. And look what they did to Lucifent." The limo pulls up at a red light and Jareth reaches for the door handle.

"I am overdue for my feeding," he says, as if that's really the reason he's bailing. Before anyone has a chance to speak, he's out the door and into the night.

I lean back in my seat, pressing my head against the leather interior. Suddenly I'm very tired. And I'm not entirely sure I know what's going on. This slayer stuff is still pretty new. And now we've thrown an unwilling vampire in the mix. Super.

"Don't worry," Magnus says. "Jareth can be pigheaded at times, but he's a fine solider. A professional. He'll come around."

"Cool," I say with absolutely no enthusiasm. "Can't wait to be coworkers with the guy."

POSTED BY RAYNE MCDONALD @ 10 p.m.

TWO COMMENTS:

Angelbaby3234566 says . . .

If u ask me, that Jareth guy sounds like a big baby. What's his deal anyway? He should be honored to work with u! U rox!

DarkGothBoy says . . .

See? He'd rather jump out of a speeding limo then spend time with you. I told you the slayer thing would screw with your love life.

Shoulda hooked up with me when you had a chance, Slayer Girl.

Soulsearcher says ...

Obviously this Jareth guy's got issues. I wonder what he has against slayers? You think he's got some deep, dark, painful secret? I just love vampires with deep, dark, painful secrets. Maybe you'll be the one girl who can redeem his lost, tortured soul and the two of you will fall desperately in love and live eternity as a holy bonded pair. (Insert dreamy sigh here.)

Rayne says . . .

Oh yeah, deep, dark, painful secrets are SUCH a turn-on. But no, I just think Jareth is a big, arrogant loser. And he'd probably rather start dating a Chihuahua than have me redeem his lost, tortured soul.

8

SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 11 P.M.

OMG!

OMG, OMG, OMG! I just got some news that will totally blow you away! I'm so freaking out I can barely type.

And that's saying something.

It all came about after Sunny IMed me from her room across the hall. Transcript of convo is as follows:

SUNSHINEBABY: Hey, you awake?

RAYNIEDAY: Yeah. Just finishing up playing videogames with Spider.

SUNSHINEBABY: Ah. You and your gaming. You're such a geek.

RAYNIEDAY: And this is from a girl who likes Dave Matthews.

SUNSHINEBABY: How many times do I have to tell you? It's normal to like Dave Matthews.

RAYNIEDAY: If you say so, geek.

SUNSHINEBABY: Sigh. Anyway ...

RAYNIEDAY: Yes. What's up?

SUNSHINEBABY: Nothing. Just wanted to say sorry for going all ambushy on you earlier, but when Jareth came to Mag he was totally freaking out. So Mag figured it'd be better to just all sit down and work this all out ASAP.

RAYNIEDAY: Yeah, that's cool. I'm all for that. Don't know about Jareth though.

SUNSHINEBABY: Yeah, totally. I wonder what his deal is.

RAYNIEDAY: You didn't ask Magnus? SUNSHINEBABY: I tried, but he just said basically that Jareth has intimacy issues.

RAYNIEDAY: Don't we all.

SUNSHINEBABY: LOL.

RAYNIEDAY: It's too bad he's such a jerk. He's super hot. Totally blood mate material. Unless he already has one.

SUNSHINEBABY: No, according to Magnus, Jareth has always refused to accept a blood mate.

RAYNIEDAY: Really? I thought that was what all vamps wanted. Waited a thousand years to have.

SUNSHINEBABY: Shrug. Dunno. Evidently not Jareth.

RAYNIEDAY: I bet something really terrible happened to him. Like really, really bad. Maybe even by a slayer. Maybe he had a blood mate before and the slayer whacked her. His heart was broken and he swore he'd never love again.

SUNSHINEBABY: Yeah. That'd be soooo romantic.