Showers, Flowers, and Fangs by Aidan Wayne

Author:Aidan Wayne [Wayne, Aidan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult
ISBN: 978-1-64080-435-7
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2018-12-11T06:00:00+00:00

DARREN WAS feeling better the next day, mostly because he had the warning to keep himself dosed up on his herbals in advance. School wasn’t the greatest, but he was able to deal all right, and the hands-on magic classes were a good way to expend some of the pent-up energy that wouldn’t stop for some reason.

Vlad still came over after school, though, to check on him, which Darren thought was totally uncalled for, but nice. And he brought a bar of dark chocolate with him too, which hello, yes, this was a good week for chocolate.

Vlad also tried to get Darren to pay attention to physics, which was less fun but no less appreciated. He was taking his makeup test tomorrow at lunch and could probably stand another review.

They were flopped on Darren’s bed, heads together as Darren worked his way through a word problem, when he jerked up into a sitting position, cutting himself off.

“Hold up, wait, wait, shhhh!”

Vlad stilled.

“Did you feel that?” Darren asked.

“Feel what?” Vlad whispered, looking from side to side. “What’s wrong?” His voice had gotten higher, scared, and Darren felt a spike of rage at the vampire who’d turned him, even amid his excitement. If he ever met her, he’d—he’d—

Well, he didn’t even know what he could do, but he’d make sure it was awful.

Maybe he’d feed her garlic.

He quickly held up a hand, and Vlad obligingly fell silent. And he only looked, like, half trepidatious now, props to him. There was a faint boom of thunder, and Darren leaped to his feet.

“Yes, thunderstorm yes yes yes! Oh man, finally!” He grabbed at Vlad and pulled him up. “C’mon, we gotta go outside. Come on come on come on!”

Vlad actually allowed himself to be manhandled out of the room and down the stairs, probably too concerned by Darren’s weirdness to do anything, but if it was getting them outside faster, Darren didn’t care. He ran to the back door and flung it open. The only thing that stopped him from leaping out was Vlad, who had grabbed a handful of Darren’s shirt. “Oof strong, yes, okay, I’m stopped, what is it, hurry up, I’m gonna miss the storm!” He flailed a little, trying to will himself onto the porch.

Vlad raised an eyebrow. “It hasn’t even started to rain yet. What is going on?”

“Not just rain, thunderstorm!” Darren emphasized the importance of this by pointing outside, where the sky had darkened promisingly. “Lemme go, it’s gonna start, c’mon Vlad!” He twisted around enough that Vlad either had to maybe choke him or let go. Vlad released his shirt.

“Will you explain?” he asked, following Darren out of the house. There was another crack of thunder, and Darren was pretty sure his grin had taken over his face.

“Sure, sure, in a sec, lemme just—”

Vlad shrugged, and Darren took that as permission, making a beeline off the porch and into the backyard. He stood there and beamed at the sky for a second before realizing that Vlad had stayed outside and was watching him, expression unreadable.

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