Ghostly Shadows

  unfortunate blood book three:

  ghostly shadows

  by

  H.G. Lynch

  Vamptasy Publishing

  The right of H.G. Lynch to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it was published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Cover Design by Riley Steele

  Edited by Elizabeth A. Lance

  Copyright© 2015 H.G. Lynch

  All rights reserved

  Vamptasy Publishing

  www.vamptasy.com

  Chapter One

  **Ember**

  There were vampires in the school. Werewolves and witches, ghouls and zombies…and slutty nurses. And slutty cat women, slutty angels, slutty devils, and one girl who didn’t seem to be wearing a costume so much as just her lingerie.

  Acorn Hills Academy’s main hall was packed with students dressed up for the Halloween Dance – though the dance was being held a day early since Halloween was a Saturday this year and the teachers didn’t want to waste their weekend chaperoning a bunch of dressed-up teenagers.

  Still, it looked like almost everyone in the school was here, including teachers keeping an eye on things. The Art Club had done a great job decorating the hall for the occasion; the high, beamed ceiling was hung with webs of orange and purple streamers, cardboard skeletons danced on the walls, fake gravestones hunched in the corners, and the smoke machine poured eerie mist over the dance floor. The Monster Mash blared over the hall from the big speakers on the stage, and the dance floor had turned into a writhing, jerking mass of nightmares.

  Anyone who wasn’t up and dancing was sitting at one of the roundtables at the back of the hall, each table covered with a black tablecloth and holding a glass pitcher of red liquid– too clear and thin to be real blood, so it was probably just cranberry juice. Ember had seen enough blood in the last few months to be able to tell the difference, plus if it was real blood, she’d have smelled it.

  A boy with slicked back hair wearing a cape and fake fangs strolled up to Ember where she lingered near the doors of the hall, and hissed at her, “I vant to suck your blooood!”

  Ember smiled at him and flicked down her own, completely real fangs. The boy’s eyes widened and he leaned forward.

  “Whoa, cool. Are those the retractable ones you get online?” he asked, losing the fake accent.

  Ember’s smile widened, and she simply nodded.

  The guy gave her a thumbs-up and went off to try and bite some other girl.

  Ember stayed where she was, watching the festivities with amusement. Normally, she hated any kind of dance, but around Halloween was her favourite time of year, even after everything she had been through since arriving at Acorn Hills Academy – you’d have thought finding out the boy you fancied was a vampire, being attacked by a werewolf, and being kidnapped by a group of witches would kind of dampen anyone’s excitement for Halloween.

  But not Ember’s. Actually, this year she was more excited than ever about it, because this year she had a boyfriend who was the real deal, a true blood-sucking creature of the night, fangs and all. And she couldn’t wait to see what his costume was.

  Out on the dance floor, Ember caught a flash of familiar pale-blonde hair and smiled. Sherry was laughing as Ricky twirled her round and round, the gauzy skirt of her fairy costume lifting. She was wearing a pair of sparkly lilac wings, and Ember had helped her tease her hair into a complicated knot of curls dotted with purple flower hairclips. She looked ethereal and beautiful in the arms of her boyfriend. Ricky, who was always handsome, looked outright stunning in his James Bond black tux. His dark brown hair was smoothly combed, instead of the wild mess it usually was, and if the flash of white teeth brought out the paleness of his vampire skin, you were distracted from that by the brightness of his smile and his gleaming blue-green eyes.

  “Excuse me?”

  Ember blinked as someone spoke at her elbow. She looked round and found an attractive Army soldier smiling at her. He was wearing camo fatigues and had a large plastic gun– a paintball gun by the look of it –slung over one shoulder. He had a nice, friendly smile and reddish-brown hair and clear green eyes, but he was nobody Ember had ever met before.

  Startled by the warmth of his smile and the fact that he was talking to her at all, Ember stuttered, “Um, hi?” It came out sounding like a question, and the boy’s grin grew wider, causing dimples to pop out in his cheeks. That was just adorable, and Ember found herself smiling back at him helplessly.

  The music blaring from the speakers on stage changed to something slow and haunting. The Army soldier let go of his plastic gun and held out a hand to her. “Care to dance?” he asked courteously.

  He had a slight Irish accent, which raised her ‘cuteness measurement’ of him up about four notches. She’d always had a thing for Irish accents, and after three months of being surrounded by English boys, it was a nice change – she sometimes had to tone down her own Scottish accent to be understood, even with Reid, who thought her accent was sexy.

  With a flash, Ember remembered the last time a guy had asked her if she wanted to dance– on her date with Joseph Rian. And look how that turned out; he’d dragged her into the alley behind the bar and attacked her. She didn’t like to think about what would’ve happened if Reid hadn’t shown up and beat the crap out of Joseph.

  Uneasy, Ember muttered, “I-I’m waiting for my boyfriend.”

  Army guy shrugged. “I can keep you company till he shows up.”

  She bit her lip, eyeing his outstretched hand. He seemed nice enough…but then, so had Joseph. And why her? Why would this cute random guy want to dance with her, when there were half a dozen other girls– tall, beautiful girls in skimpy costumes –all giving him sexy-eyes?

  He must have sensed her hesitation, because the stranger softened his smile into something almost bashful. “Please? I promise I don’t bite.”

  Ember couldn’t help it; she laughed. The boy grinned, dimples flashing, and Ember gave in, deciding to quit being so paranoid. She took his hand and he led her onto the dance floor, where other couples crowded around them and fog from the smoke-machine swirled around their legs like ghostly hands reaching up from the floor.

  Amidst the crowd of bodies, Ember could smell sweat and perfume and the faint, tangy scent of pounding blood in their veins. Then the Army soldier put his hands on her waist, light and careful, and she felt herself blush. She felt the warmth of his hands through the fabric of her costume– dressed in a long, black-and-red Victorian-style dress and black choker, she was costumed as, what else?, a vampire. She’d teased her blonde hair into curls that fell over her bare shoulders, and her eye-shadow was dark and smoky. Her lipstick was blood-red.

  Cautiously, Ember reached up and put her hands on the Army soldier’s shoulders. He was quite a bit taller than her– who wasn’t? –but not quite so tall as Reid, she thought. With her mind turned to her boyfriend, she wondered where he’d gotten to. As she and the cute Army soldier swayed awkwardly, she couldn’t help but glance around for a familiar blonde head.

  Then the Army soldier spoke, and she pulled her attention back to him, realising how rude she was being. “So, do I get to ask your name, girl-with-a-boyfriend?” he asked, his green eyes twinkling with amusement.

  This close, Ember could see his smile was slightly crooked, but his teeth were very white. Quietly she answered, “Ember.”

  The boy’s eyes widened slightly, and she felt her stomach drop an inch.

  Oh no. He recognised her name. That couldn’t be a good thing.

  “Oh,” he said in an entirely different tone. “So you’re Ember.”

  Reluctantly, she nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

  “Honestly, I expected you to be...taller,” he said with a grin.

  Ember rolled her eyes. “I get that a lot. But why? What have you heard?”

  The Army soldier shifted his feet and they came to a halt. His hands loosened their grip on her waist, and he looked as if he wanted to back away from her, as if she were some sort of dangerous snake. “Um…a lot of stuff actually,” he admitted, looking uncomfortable. But then he raised his green eyes back to hers, and smiled his dimpled smile again. “But now that I’ve met you, I definitely don’t believe any of it.”

  Ember eyed him warily. “Any of what?” she asked hesitantly. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know – but she needed to know.

  The boy shook his head.

  Ember gave him a hard look. “Tell me, or I’ll have my boyfriend kick your ass.”

  It was meant to be a joke, but judging from the sudden flash of fear on the guy’s face, he knew exactly who her boyfriend was. “Alright, alright! Just…don’t shoot the messenger, right?”

  Ember took her hands off his shoulders and crossed her arms. She was making no promises. “Talk soldier,” was all she said.

  The boy blew out a heavy breath and ran his hand through his red-brown hair. “Okay, well, um…like I said, I don’t believe any of it…” he said, clearly stalling.

  “You tell me what you heard, and I’ll tell you if it’s true.”

  He nodded reluctantly. “Fine. Well. A few of the guys said that you, um, got really drunk one night an
d sort of, um, flashed the whole football team?” The words poured out of the Army soldier in a rush, and his cheeks turned faintly red.

  Ember felt her own face redden, with a mix of both embarrassment and anger. Those bastards. She’d known the football team were bad-mouthing her; they all had a thing against Reid, and now that she was his girlfriend, she was an acceptable target for their slander. If Reid ever heard what they were saying…the idea of what he’d do made her want to shiver and laugh at the same time.

  Resolutely, she shook her head. “Lies. For a start, I don’t drink. What else?”

  The soldier nodded again, still a little pink. “Um, I heard this one girl say you had a threesome with your boyfriend and the pool lifeguard.”

  At that, Ember rolled her eyes. Yeah, that rumour had been circulating for ages now. It was old news. “Lies. That one started because I took a compromising picture of Reid and the lifeguard, back before I started going out with him – Reid, I mean, not the lifeguard.”

  Green eyes narrowed on her face with a look of confusion, the soldier frowned. “Why would you do that?”

  She smiled, not an innocent smile. “I didn’t like him. We sort of played a game for the first couple of months I was here – well, it was more like a war really.”

  Smile returning, the boy asked, “And who won?”

  Ember laughed and shook her head. “Not a clue actually. I guess…both of us. Or neither of us.” She shrugged. “So did you hear anything else about me that I should know about?”

  The boy grinned, seeming more comfortable now that she clearly wasn’t going to kill him for repeating the rumours he’d heard. “Well, did you really–”

  She never got to hear what she might or might not have done, according to the gossip whores, because just then she heard a familiar voice call her name over the music. “Ember! Hey, you better not be trading me in for a soldier!”

  Laughing, Ember spun around and spotted Reid hovering on the edge of the dance floor, grinning at her. Before she could stop herself, she flew forward into his arms. He caught her, rocking back in surprise, and spun her around. When he set her down, his smile was different. He touched her face lightly.

  “Hey there,” he murmured quietly. He bent his head, and Ember tipped her face up.

  He kissed her slowly, light brushes of his lips over hers, and then harder, the kiss deepening until her heart was racing and she felt breathless.

  Finally, he pulled back and licked his perfect lips. His blue eyes were dark and simmering, his lashes half-lowered as he looked at her in that way that made her feel naked. Her stomach turned to jelly, and heat rose to her cheeks. He smiled slowly, that sinful smile that undid her, with his brass-blonde hair falling into his eyes. He whispered in her ear, “I like your dress. A lot. Except for these lacings…” He stroked his fingers over the back of the dress, where the corset-type lacings were. “It would take far too long to undo them.”

  Ember’s breath caught at his words. God, she thought, he’s so wicked. Reid chuckled low in his throat, and the sound made her toes curl in her strappy heels. “You’re evil,” she told him in a soft voice, and his smirk widened.

  “So you’re not trading me in for the Army guy then?”

  Oh. She’d completely forgotten about the guy she’d been dancing with a minute ago. Ember turned around, scanning the dance floor, and spotted him between a pair of slow-dancing zombies and Zorro doing a slow shuffle with a ballerina. He caught her eye and she made an apologetic face. He lifted a hand and smiled to show it was okay, then he turned and disappeared in the mess of dancing monsters as the song changed to something faster.

  “Huh,” she muttered. “Didn’t even get his name.”

  Reid wrapped a curl around his finger, and she turned back to him. For the first time, she noticed his costume, and all of a sudden, her heart was fluttering again because OMFG, he rocked the pirate look. Like, seriously. He was wearing a loose, old-fashioned linen shirt with lacings at the collar; tight black jeans with holes worn in the knees; knee-high black boots, and…

  “Is that an earring!” she gasped. Reid tilted his head, and her eyes widened. It was an earring, a small silver hoop in one earlobe. Ember didn’t normally like guys with jewellery, but wow, Reid made it look sexy. Then something occurred to her. “Wait, is that real? I mean, can–” She paused to glance around to make sure nobody was listening, and lowered her voice anyway. “Can vampires get piercings? Don’t you just…heal?”

  He nodded. “We can get pierced. As long as we keep the thing in, the hole won’t close up. But once I take this out, it’ll close over fast. So really, it’s just temporary.”

  Pity, Ember thought. She kind of liked the earring on him.

  Reid straightened and lifted his arms. She could just make out the shape of his body underneath the loose, thin shirt. “So, what do you think?” he asked. “I considered an eye-patch, but I thought that would be too clichéd.”

  Speechless, Ember shook her head. She couldn’t think of a word to say, except, Wow.

  As if he knew that, Reid grinned at her. He held out his hand. “Now then, I believe it’s my turn for a dance.”

  Chapter Two

  ** Ember **

  When the clock struck midnight, the 31st – Samhain – officially began, but the Halloween dance was almost over. Some students had already headed back to the dorms – undoubtedly some of them looking for an after-party, probably with alcohol they’d snuck in. A few people were still on the dance floor, but mostly everyone had taken seats at the tables and were talking and laughing, or making out when the teachers turned their backs.

  Ember, Reid, Sherry and Ricky had commandeered a table as far from the dance floor as possible, tucked away in a corner. Reid and Ricky were discussing the merits of Batman versus Zorro – Reid thought Zorro would kick Batman’s butt, and Ember had to agree – while Ember sipped a glass of red cranberry juice. Sherry looked a little tired, and her wings were wilting, but she was getting involved in the debate – she was Team Batman.

  Ember, leaning her elbows on the table and watching the red liquid in her glass slosh side to side as she lazily tipped the glass, felt an ice-cold shiver jolt down her spine. She gasped, jerking in surprise, and dropped her glass onto the table. The drink spilled out over the tablecloth, and she cursed, jumping to her feet and righting the glass, too late.

  Her friends all looked at her in surprise. Reid frowned. “You okay, Emz?”

  She nodded shakily, not really sure if she okay or not. “Yeah,” she breathed. “Just…shivers.”

  Reid relaxed a little and smiled. With a wicked glint in his eye, he wiggled his fingers at her and said, “Haunting Harry is watching you! Better be careful, Emz, or he’ll punish you.”

  Carefully, Ember sat down again, smoothing her hands over her skirt. Scowling at him across the table, she asked, “Who’s Haunting Harry?”

  He laughed, and Ricky smiled knowingly. “You haven’t heard about the school’s ghost yet?”

  She shook her head.

  Reid rubbed his hands together and leaned forward, clearly eager to tell the story. “Okay, here’s the story. Harry Holloway was supposedly the cruellest, coldest headmaster in the school’s history. He was said to beat the children who spoke back to him, or those he thought were arrogant. He locked up the girls who wore outfits he thought were too revealing. But the main story is that he killed a boy one winter…” Reid paused when Ember leaned in, interested now.

  He smiled and went on in a low voice, “The boy went out in the snow, playing in the trees with some of his friends, and Harry found out. You see, the kids weren’t supposed to leave the school building except to go to the dorms. So Harry went out and found the boy and apparently beat him to death. That’s why some people don’t like going into the forest. They think it’s haunted…” He tilted his head. “Okay, well, of course, it is haunted. But that’s beside the point.”

  Ember shivered at the story, but Ricky snorted. “Just as well Haunting Harry isn’t real, or you’d be in serious trouble, Reid.”

  Reid shrugged. “I admit it, I’m a very naughty boy.”