Bloodlines (Bloodlines 1)

"Unbelievable. If you'd been playing since you were a child, you'd be a pro by now," Eddie told me as I knocked my ball into a gaping dragon's mouth. The ball rolled out the back, down a tube, bounced off a wall, and into the hole. "How'd you do that?"

I shrugged. "It's simple geometry. You're not that bad either," I pointed out, watching him make his shot. "How do you do it?"

"I just line it up and putt."

"Very scientific."

"I just rely on natural talent," said Adrian, strolling up to the start of the Dragon's Lair. "When you have such a wealth of it to draw from, the danger comes from having too much."

"That makes no sense whatsoever," said Eddie.

Adrian's response was to pause and take out a silver flask from his inner coat pocket. He unscrewed it and took a quick drink before leaning in to line up his shot.

"What was that?" I exclaimed. "You can't have alcohol out here."

"You heard Jailbait earlier," he countered. "It's the weekend."

He lined up his ball and shot. The ball went directly for the dragon's eye, bounced off it, and shot back toward Adrian. It rolled and came to a stop at his feet, nearly where it had started.

"Natural talent, huh?" asked Eddie.

I leaned forward. "I think you broke the dragon's eye."

"Just like Keith," said Adrian. "I figured you'd appreciate that, Sage."

I gave him a sharp look, wondering if there was any hidden meaning behind that. Mostly, Adrian seemed amused by his own wit. Eddie mistook my expression.

"That was inappropriate," he told Adrian.

"Sorry, Dad." Adrian shot again and managed not to maim any statues this time. A couple more shots, and he sank the ball. "There we go. Three."

"Four," said Eddie and I in unison.

Adrian looked at us incredulously. "It was three."

"You're forgetting about your first one," I said. "The one where you blinded the dragon."

"That was just the warm-up," Adrian argued. He put on a smile I think he hoped would charm me. "Come on, Sage. You understand how my mind works. You said I was brilliant, remember?"

Eddie glanced at me in surprise. "You did?"

"No! I never said that." Adrian's smile was infuriating. "Stop telling people that."

Since I was in charge of the scorecard, his play was logged as four, despite his many further protests. I started to move forward, but Eddie held out a hand to stop me, his hazel eyes gazing over my shoulder.

"Hold up," he said. "We need to wait for Jill and Lee."

I followed his gaze. The two of them had been in deep conversation since we arrived, so much so that they'd slowed and lagged behind the rest of us. Even during his bantering with Adrian and me, Eddie had continually checked on her - and our surroundings. It was kind of amazing the way he could multitask. Thus far, Jill and Lee had only been one hole behind us. Now it was nearly two, and that was too far for Eddie to keep her in his sight. So, we waited while the oblivious couple meandered their way toward the Dragon's Lair.

Adrian took another drink from his flask and shook his head in awe. "You had nothing to worry about, Sage. She went right for him."

"No thanks to you," I snapped. "I can't believe you told her every detail of my visit that night. She was so mad at me for interfering behind her back with you, Lee, and Micah."

"I hardly told her anything," argued Adrian. "I just told her to stay away from that human guy."

Eddie glanced between our faces. "Micah?"

I shifted uncomfortably. Eddie didn't know about how I'd gone proactive. "Remember when I wanted you to say something to him? And you wouldn't?" I proceeded to tell him how I'd then sought out Adrian's help and found out about Lee's interest in Jill. Eddie was aghast.

"How could you not tell me any of this?" he demanded.

"Well," I said, wondering if everything I did was going to result in the wrath of a Moroi or dhampir, "it didn't involve you."

"Jill's safety does! If some guy likes her, I need to know."

Adrian chuckled. "Should Sage have passed you a note in class?"

"Lee's fine," I said. "He obviously adores her, and it's not like she'll ever be alone with him."

"We don't know for sure that he's fine," said Eddie.

"Whereas Micah's a hundred percent okay? Did you do a background check or something?" I asked.

"No," said Eddie, looking embarrassed. "I just know. It's a feeling I get about him. There's no problem with him spending time with Jill."

"Except that he's human."

"They wouldn't have gotten serious."

"You don't know that."

"Enough, you two," interrupted Adrian. Jill and Lee had finally reached the start of the Dragon's Lair, meaning we could move on. Adrian lowered his voice. "Your argument's useless. I mean, look at them. That human boy doesn't enter into it."

I looked. Adrian was right. Jill and Lee were clearly enthralled with each other. Some guilty part of me wondered if I should be a doing a better job of looking out for Jill. I was so relieved that she was interested in a Moroi that I hadn't stopped to wonder if she should even be dating anyone. Was fifteen old enough? I hadn't dated at fifteen. I'd actually, well, never dated.

"There is an age difference between them," I admitted, more to myself.

Adrian scoffed. "Believe me, I've seen age differences. Theirs is nothing."

He walked off, and a few moments later, Eddie and I went to join him. Eddie maintained his simultaneous vigil of Jill, but this time, I got the impression the danger he was watching out for was right beside her. Adrian's laughter rang out ahead of us.

"Sage!" he called. "You have got to see this."

Eddie and I reached the next green and stared in astonishment. Then I burst out laughing.

We had reached Dracula's Castle.

A huge, multi-towered black castle guarded the hole some distance away. A tunnel was cut out through the center of it with a narrow bridge meant for the ball to go over. If the ball fell off the sides before getting through the castle, it was returned back to the starting point. An animatronic Count Dracula stood off to the castle's side. He was pure white, with red eyes, pointed ears, and slicked-back hair. He jerkily kept raising his arms to show off a batlike cape. Nearby, a speaker blasted eerie organ music.

I couldn't stop laughing. Adrian and Eddie looked at me as though they'd never seen me before.