EVIL LOVE

Chapter 3

Roseline swats at the voice that has been calling incessantly

for nearly five minutes. Can’t this girl take a hint?

“Hey, new girl. Wake up.”

After a swift kick slams into her chair leg, Roseline bolts

upright. Her bag clatters to the floor, pens rolling in all directions. “Where am I?” she slurs in her native tongue.

“Huh?” A bright pink mohawk fills her vision; the scent of watermelon gum overwhelms her senses.

“Forgive me,” Roseline amends, slipping into an American accent. Even after her years studying the English language, her thick accent still comes through. “Where am I?”

“You’re in Mr. Robert’s class, and just so you know, he doesn’t take kindly to students drooling on his periodic table.”

Glancing down, Roseline spies the open textbook, slightly damp around the edge. She winces, rubbing her lip with the back of her arm. Her thoughts are fuzzy and the fluorescent lights overhead make her eyes water. She groans and buries her head in her hands. Jet lag is a killer.

The flights were mind-numbingly boring. Not even the bed in first class had eased the aches in her healing body as they flew over the Atlantic from London’s Heathrow airport.

An epidemic of night terrors has followed her to America. Dreams soiled by pain and blood. She wipes her eyes, wishing she could bleach away the images.

“I am sorry.” Roseline smiles weakly, struggling to focus on the girl across the aisle from her. “I am normally more polite when I wake.”

“No biggie,” the girl shrugs, pursing her lips to blow a small bubble the same shade as her hair. Roseline cannot help but wonder if the girl took a pack of gum with her to the salon as an example of what hair dye she wanted.

Amazingly enough, her obnoxious look does not stop at her hairline. Deep black circles the shade of artist charcoal ring her eyes, giving her a rabid raccoon look. Black lipstick with nails to match contrasts against her snow-white skin. Throw in the spiked neck collar and leather bracelet and this girl knows how to make a statement.

“Welcome to Rosewood Prep. Home of valley girl knockoffs. Don’t let the fancy name fool you, though—free wedgies and swirlies are handed out by the football team each morning,” the girl says, leaning back on her stool.

“Are these friends of yours?” Roseline asks, amused by Mohawk Girl’s running commentary.

“Hardly.” The girl rolls her eyes; the ring in her upper lip rises as her lips curl to reveal two rows of perfect white teeth. Rich, but still an outcast, most likely by choice.

Kind of like me, she muses silently.

No, she shakes her head. She is nothing like her classmate. Eccentric as the girl might be, she has nothing on Roseline’s dark past.

Mohawk Girl stares openly at her. “The name is Sadie Hughes. Lover of all eighties rock gods, purveyor of the right to freedom of dress, and one badass mini-golfer.” She grins. “What’s yours?”

Sadie’s voracious chewing reminds Roseline that she failed to eat, skipping out on lunch to avoid the crowds. In hindsight, that was probably a foolish idea as she has begun to feel a tad light-headed.

Roseline rubs her temples. “I appreciate your desire for small talk, but I am only here for the class.”

She turns her attention back to the tweed-loving science teacher at the front of the room. By the sound of it, he is adamantly preaching at his bleary-eyed class about why science is relevant to their lives today.

Like anyone cares.

Sadie stares hard at Roseline’s profile. “I get it, you know. The tough exterior, moody rejection. You’ve been hurt. Join the club.” She tosses her chewed pencil onto the desk, small chucks of pink rubber falling into her lap as she sits upright. “But at least I have manners.”

A smirk tugs at Roseline’s lip. The girl has spunk. She likes that.

“Alright.” She turns to face Sadie. “My name is Rose Danbry. I detest summer, adore ice swimming, can run faster than a bullet, and can easily kill a man with my bare hands.” She raises her delicate fingers, as evidence of the brute strength that miraculously lies hidden within her hands.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Sadie’s mirroring grin is wide and toothy. “I’d work on your intro a bit, though. It’s pretty lame. And that accent? Killer, by the way! Where are you from?”

“Romania.”

Sadie’s eyes light up. “Europe? Awesome. Your English is really good.”

“Thank you very much.”

“A tad formal, though.” Sadie frowns. “We’ll have to work on that.”

Roseline turns back to the front of the room, berating herself for letting any info slip. She needs to remain focused and avoid drawing any attention to herself. She makes a mental note to focus on adapting to the local lingo.

Tilting her head to the side, Roseline listens to the whispered conversations floating around the room, barely audible over the gentle hum of the heat pumping through the vents in the ceiling. She notes each sarcastic phrase, lilting laugh, and clipped slang word. She studies the sentence structure and files it away for future use.

Several guys dart glances over their shoulders at her throughout the lecture. Some blush and turn away while others meet her gaze, openly leering at her. Roseline rolls her eyes and slumps low behind her raised textbook.

Just what she needs—a bunch of hormone-crazed teens following her around.

One of the things she hates most about being immortal is how she naturally attracts human males. It doesn’t matter their age; they are all drawn to her. Some are more subtle, but others are downright obnoxious. She has been the source of more fights in her lifetime than she cares to count. Each detail of her mortal body was perfected during her immortal birth for one purpose: to hunt and kill. That is the truth that Vladimir has spent years trying to convince her of.

Perhaps he is right. For what other reason does she need lush ruby lips, a perfectly sculpted body, and endless legs? Her beauty is a work of art. Roseline despises it and all that it stands for.

“Earth to Rose,” Sadie calls, waving her hand before Roseline’s face.

She blinks, yanked back from her musings. The room has erupted into complete chaos around her. Students dart for the door, their backpacks swinging wildly behind them as they dive into the hallway traffic. Chairs screech against the hardwood floors, grating on her sensitive hearing.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sadie asks, her lips pursed with concern. “You seem a bit out of it.”

“Yes, I’m quite all right.” Roseline forces a smile as she snatches her bag off the floor, retrieving a pencil that rolled two desks over. She crams her science book inside, stretching the seams, and glances up to find Sadie staring blankly at her. Roseline swears internally and focuses on making her next words sound more natural. More human. More like a chatty teen. “Just daydreaming, I suppose. Nothing to worry about.”

“Good thing that bell wasn’t for a fire or you’d be toast.” Sadie hops off her stool and leans back to study Roseline. “The parking lot can be pretty hectic this time of day. Want some help finding your car?”

Her hesitation doesn't go unnoticed. “Let me guess, your mom is picking you up?” Sadie rolls her eyes. “Lame.”

The well-rehearsed lie slips smoothly from Roseline’s lips. “My mother is away for work. She took the car.”

“You only have one?” Sadie arches an eyebrow. Shrugging, Roseline throws her bag strap over her shoulder and glides down the aisle. “For now. We only moved here a couple days ago. Her job transfer was rather sudden. The movers have yet to arrive with our belongings.”

Sadie gives her a once over. “I guess that explains your crazy outfit.”

Glancing down, Roseline frowns. Her black V-neck tank narrows down to a trim white skirt and black leather knee-high boots. What is wrong with that? Rolling her eyes, Sadie points to the window. “Did you sleep through the sleet this morning, too?”

Roseline inwardly groans, realizing now how much her summer outfit must make her stand out among the hoodies and parkas. She forces a sheepish smile. “This is all I brought with me. I was under the impression it would be fall here.”

Sadie snorts, shaking her head as she leads the way into the hall. “Seasons mean squat around here. We have some crazy weather come off that lake. One minute it’s sticky outside and then the winds shift and hello winter.”

The hall is jam-packed with teens when Roseline arrives at the doorway. Sadie shoves straight through the human wall, unphased by its momentum. Her voice carries back to Roseline. “I gotta grab my brother first. He won’t mind giving you a lift.”