Voice of the Undead Read Free

slamming sideways and tumbling off the bike, the red Ducati sailing end over end in Alex’s rearview. He lost sight of Elle, but knew he had missed her heart. She’d be back.
    One of the worms was at his neck and he grabbed it, pulling it away, feeling a pinch on the skin as it had already latched on. It squirmed in his glove, trying now to bite into his fingers, and he flicked it away.
    The other one on his sleeve had made its way through, and Alex tried not to scream as he felt it make contact with his forearm.
    What do you have?
    Alex kept his right hand on the throttle even as the worm chewed and began to bite, and reached back with his left hand to find a glass ball. He brought the ball out, feeling its weight and the slosh of holy water inside. Alex smacked the ball on the front of the bike, cracking it like an egg, and brought it back, letting the water stream over his sleeve and body.
    The worms hissed, their bodies bubbling and drying up. The one on his arm shriveled into a husk and Alex saw it blow away into the wind as he rounded one more turn and saw the main gate of Glenarvon Academy come into view.

Chapter 2
    Within two minutes Alex had ditched the motorcycle in the woods across the road from the main gate of Glenarvon Academy and covered it over with leafy cut limbs. He switched to a regular bicycle, a more appropriate vehicle for a freshman heading into town, and pedaled through the gate. He was a little shocked to see his hands were shaky. The Scholomance had come for him. He had been genuinely surprised, and Alex Van Helsing was not used to being surprised.
    No time for that now—he’d come this far and wasn’t about to get busted yet. Dusty, jittery, and still ink-stained on the neck, he locked the bike at the rack and headed into the shadows of the hulking, forbidding castle that was Glenarvon’s main house, Aubrey House, where he shared a room on the third floor. He hustled through the side entrance and bounded up the dim stairs, taking the steps two at a time.
    As he came out the door into the third-floor hallway, Alex heard voices coming from the lounge and hesitated before moving past the door. He saw a room full of boys, all classes, gathered on couches and dragged-in extra chairs. Javi Arroyo, a senior and the RA for Aubrey House, had his back to the door as he fiddled with the DVD player next to the giant TV in the lounge.
    â€œSo I know everyone was hoping for Doctor Zhivago ,” Arroyo was saying as he plugged in an A/V wire, “but all we have is this thing about guys in metal suits.” Arroyo turned around, holding up a copy of Iron Man 2. The crowd let it be known that they were duly appreciative not to be watching a three-hour movie about the Russian Revolution.
    Alex hovered by the door until he saw Sid and Paul. Paul had commandeered a couch with Sid and had a giant bowl of popcorn. He was wearing a sweatsuit and sneakers, while Sid was still in his school uniform, his tie loosened. Alex remembered that Sid had been doing Academic Decathlon that afternoon. He caught their eyes and Sid made a gesture with open hands that somehow perfectly conveyed that Alex was cutting it a little close.
    â€œUnfortunately it’s dubbed in French,” Javi said loudly, and the group groaned. Europe—you take what you can get.
    Alex shrugged at his roommates and felt the jitteriness wearing off. He moved past the door and down the hall to his room. There, Alex threw his jacket and shirt on his bed and splashed at the sink in the tiny, white-plaster bathroom, scrubbing away at the ink on his neck. The room filled with steam from the hot water.
    The vampires had tried to kill him. He’d lost his radio; he needed to call Sangster and do a debrief or an after-action or whatever the heck they would call it. He needed to talk.
    A slight movement caught Alex’s eye in the mirror, barely visible through the fog on the glass. Alex turned off the water and swiped at