"The one and only," Jenny said. She squeezed my bicep. "But I don't think you have anything to worry about."

I pulled my arm away and sighed. Katie and Brad were no longer an item since my newfound popularity had catapulted me from zero to hero in the eyes of the jocks, nerds, and the vast majority of girls it seemed. The spotlight of popularity was the last thing I needed considering the dark secret behind my football skills. Supernatural abilities were the only reason I could play the game and survive. The old me would have been squashed like an insect. Ignoring Brad seemed like the best thing to do, should I run into him.

The bell finally rang and I dashed out of the room. On my way to History class, I saw Alan Weaver and Cindy Mueller making out next to the lockers. He saw me and gave me a thumbs up. I forced a smile and dodged around them. I'd hooked the two of them up during a disastrous test of my incubus abilities, nearly causing a pornographic scene in Calculus.

Just down the hall, a familiar face regarded me from the doorway of his classroom. Mr. Turpin, aka Underborn, curled one corner of his mouth into a lopsided smile. A chill washed over me. I returned his gaze, a part of me wanting to grab him and bodily hurl him out of the building. No doubt he was watching and waiting for me to fulfill my bargain. If vampires could use compulsion to disguise themselves, it was going to be hard to identify Maximus's recruiters. Then again, they really might be the group with hoodies. I had to check them out pronto.

After History I was headed for Biology when I spotted one of the hoodie crew stepping inside a bathroom. I figured it was a good a time as any to take a surreptitious peek at the face beneath the hood and hope they didn't notice me peering sideways at them from an adjoining urinal.

Gross.

I peeked inside the door. A white cinder-block wall shielded the inside from view so I stepped in and edged to the corner. The cold presence of something not quite human abruptly revealed itself to my supernatural radar from less than a foot away. A pair of hands shot out from the other side of the wall, pulled me all the way into the bathroom, and slung me against the stalls. The partitions rattled and groaned with the force of the impact.

Three hooded figures regarded me from across the bathroom. The shortest of the three lowered his hood and grinned as the shock of recognition registered on my face.

"Mortimer?" He looked hardly older than a kid, frozen in time after being turned into a vampire.

"So, you know my name." He seemed pleased as punch by his notoriety.

"I remember that you whine a lot too." He'd been with Felicia when the vamplings had attacked Elyssa and me while trying to save Dad. I clenched my teeth as anger surged through me. Felicia and I might have made up, but this kid was fair game, even if he looked ten years old.

The next figure lowered his hood. I recognized the face, but didn't know his name. He'd been there too. But when the third person lowered his hood, my face went slack with disbelief and horror stole my voice.

It was Brad Nichols.

Chapter 33

"Brad?"

He smiled as his canines extended into sharp fangs. "Where have you been, Case? I've been waiting for you."

"When did you become a vampire?"

"Maximus recruited me after he heard about our scuffle. He told me about your unfair advantage and told me he'd level the playing field."

"By turning yourself into a stupid vampire?"

"Vampires are cool!" Mortimer shouted. "A lot better than dumb spawn are."

"Yeah? I'd like to see you seduce a woman, pipsqueak."

"You think spawn are the only ones with seduction abilities?" He shouted back. "I can have any woman I want."

My face twisted into a grimace. "That's just gross, dude. You look prepubescent."

Mortimer launched himself at me with a high-pitched war cry but Brad hauled him back by his hoodie. The three vampires looked paler than noms, and they were definitely wearing colored eye contacts to disguise the red tint of their irises. It seemed to me that hoodies made them more conspicuous—all except for Mortimer, of course, who could barely pass for a freshman unless they glued a goatee on his chin.

Brad cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Maximus wants you, Case. Big time. But before we drag your sorry ass back to him, I plan on getting a little payback."

"You want to fight again? Seriously?" I sighed and gave myself a face-palm for good measure. "You attacked me in the parking lot, threw me in mud, a frozen water puddle, and then tossed my favorite knit cap into the bushes. And you're the one who wants payback?"

"You knocked me out in front of everyone and made me look weak!" He pounded a fist against his chest. "I have a rep to protect and I'm not letting a stupid nerd like you ruin it."

I looked to the third vampire who, to this point, had remained silent. "What's your say in all this? You one of Maximus's pets too?"

He pointed to himself and looked around for a second, his eyebrows arched in confusion. "Who, me? Uh, my name's Mick. I'm just here to help them."

"Where are Lauren and Tammy?" Mortimer asked Brad.

"How should I know? They were supposed to be here by now."

It occurred to me that now might be the time to find out who Maximus's recruiters were. Obviously, Brad had been recruited by someone. "So, you're the ones recruiting students for Maximus?"

"Mick, Lauren, and Tammy are," Mortimer said jutting his chin out proudly. "I help out at the middle school."

"Sweet baby jeebus!" I couldn't believe my ears. "Middle School? What kind of sick perv is your leader?"

"Oh, he doesn't get them—"

"Shut your pie hole, dumbass!" Brad yelled. "He's just stalling for time."

"Mortimer, you idiot!" Mick shoved the smaller vampire in the chest. "Why the hell would you give him everyone's names?"

Brad narrowed his eyes. "How does he know about the recruiting in the first place?"

"I told you there's a friggin undercover Templar here," Mortimer said, sputtering. "Besides, what does it matter if he knows their names?"

Armed with the information I needed, it was time to make a graceful exit. "I don't have time for this crap. I'm out of here." I stepped toward the door. Brad sidestepped and blocked my path, his hand reaching out to push against my chest. "Not so fast, Case. I think it's time I tested out my new muscles."

"Are you out of your mind?" I said, grasping at straws. "We can't have a fight where noms might see us."

"Noms?" he asked.

"Yeah, normals." I glanced at the other vampires. "You haven't told him about nom-noms or the Overworld rules yet?"

Mortimer looked abashed. "We haven't had time to fill him in on much."

"Nom-noms like the Cookie Monster?" Brad asked.

I gauged the space between him and the door. One hard shove ought to give me room. But what if they chased me down the hall? "Yeah, it kind of sounds like 'normals' but since a lot of supers feed off normals, they call them noms."

Brad laughed. "Oh, that's good! I like that one."

I pushed his hand off my chest. "Wonderful! I'm so glad I could add joy to your life today. I guess they also haven't told you we can't show our supernatural abilities in front of noms? It's against the Overworld rules."

He shoved me in the chest again. "I don't give a squat about rules, dweeb. Fight me now or I'll hunt down your nerd friends and beat the crap out of them."

"Actually, he is right about the rules," Mortimer said to Brad. "It might be risky doing it here. Maybe we could stuff him in the trunk of the car and take him back to the compound."

Mick crossed his arms and nodded. "Maximus told us to get him if he showed up, Brad. I don't think he'll be happy if we attract attention with a fight."

"I'll do what I want!" Brad roared, his eyes rolling insanely until only the whites showed. He shoved me with an insane burst of strength. I slammed against the back wall, my back cracking the disgusting green hospital tiles.

I picked myself up off the floor, a queasy feeling bubbling in my stomach as the veins on Brad's face darkened, lacing his skin with black webs. Mortimer backed away.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" I asked as Brad doubled over, clutching his stomach.

"Oh Christ," Mortimer said. "This can't be happening!" He stumbled for the exit, only to meet a vicious backhand from Brad, crashing him through a toilet stall. The sound of shattering ceramic preceded a trickle of dark blood-stained water from beneath the warped partition. The preadolescent vampire staggered out, blood dripping from the back of his head. "Brad, you've got to listen to me—"

A ghastly bubbling noise erupted from Brad's mouth, and then he puked, spraying the bathroom tiles with a black foul-smelling goop. I gagged and held back a vomitous mass of my own, as I tried to skirt past the reeling vampires. Brad recovered at the last instant and blocked the exit with his arms, his lips speckled with dark blood. I backed off, unwilling to get within range of his arms. A hard lump in my jeans pocket gave me an idea.

Reaching into my pocket, I withdrew one of the spider balls and threw it overhanded. It smashed to bits against Brad's hard head, poofing into a cloud of dust and…well, apparently that was it. If I survived the raw anger blazing in Brad's eyes, I planned to beat the bloody crap out of the guy in the joke shop because the joke, apparently, was on me.

Something pattered to the ground followed by another barely audible thump. The bits of dust were expanding and sprouting into creepy crawlers of all sizes in a rapidly increasing chain reaction.

Mortimer was the first to scream as an army of small spiders paraded around on his arms. The black smudge of dust where the marble had impacted Brad's forehead transformed into a camel spider the size of his face. He swatted it away with a hysterical scream and raced out of the bathroom, the sounds of his maniacal flight fading into the distance.