“Better get back to your fan club,” said Trey. He left, and a strange thought occurred to me. Were all of Trey’s recent bruises really from sports? He kept making a lot of references to his family, and I suddenly wondered if something far more insidious than I’d suspected was keeping him away. It was a troubling idea, one I didn’t have a lot of experience with. Another buzz from the phone pulled me out of my worries.

I checked the phone and found another text from Adrian—a long one that spanned two messages. It was a response to my question about him taking a self-defense class.

It’ll give me a reason to avoid S&D. Besides, u aren’t the only one who might need protection. Those guys were human and knew S was a vampire. Maybe vampire hunters r real. Ever think Clarence might be telling the truth?

I stared at the phone in disbelief, processing Adrian’s words and the implications of last night’s attack.

Ever think Clarence might be telling the truth?

No. Until that moment, I hadn’t.

CHAPTER 12

WHEN I SHOWED UP for my dinner date, Brayden was sitting at a booth with a laptop. “I got here early,” he explained. “Figured I should get in some work. Did you get yours done?”

“I did, actually. I was researching self-defense classes. You won’t believe what I found.”

I sat down on his side of the booth so that I could use his laptop. Like usual, he smelled like coffee. I’d never get tired of that, I decided. I directed him to a website I’d found just before coming here. The site looked like one I could have made about ten years ago and had a lot of over-the-top animated images on it. Wolfe School of Defense – Malachi Wolfe, instructor.

“Really?” Brayden asked. “Malachi Wolfe?”

“He can’t help his name,” I said. “And look—he’s actually got a number of awards and commendations.” Some of the awards were even recent. Most were from at least a few years ago. “Here’s the best part.”

I clicked on a link entitled “Upcoming Classes.” Malachi Wolfe had a pretty busy schedule, but there was one promising part. He was holding a four-week class, starting tomorrow, that met once a week.

“This isn’t exactly the kind of instructor I’d had in mind,” I admitted, “but it starts right away.”

“Not a very long course,” added Brayden. “But it’d give you a good intro. Why the interest?”

An image of the alley flashed back into my mind, the figures in the dark and the helpless feeling as I was shoved against the wall. My breath started to catch, and I had to remind myself that I was no longer in the alley. I was in a well-lit restaurant, with a boy who liked me. I was safe.

“Just, uh, something I feel it’s important for a woman to learn,” I said. “Although… it’s open to men and women both.”

“Trying to sign me up?” At first I thought he was being serious, but when I looked up, he was smiling.