Blood Beast Read Online Free Page B

times when it really gets to me.
    “Keep it up,” I growl. “Maybe I’ll tell Misery Mauch about you. I doubt if he’d see the funny side of a sick joke like that. Wouldn’t surprise me if he took me out of your custody and put me someplace where the people are halfway normal.”
    “If only.” Dervish sighs, then squints at me. “I don’t want to lay it on heavy, but I’ve got something to say and I want you to pay attention.”
    “What now?” I ask with a sulky sneer. “Ma and Pa Spleen are my grandparents? Misery Mauch is your long-lost brother?”
    “This house has been wrecked once already,” Dervish says. “I don’t want it destroyed again. Keep your freakish little friends under as much control as you can. A certain amount of wear and tear is unavoidable, I accept that, but they’ll only run wild if you let them. Lay down the law and they won’t cause too much damage. And for heaven’s sake, don’t let any of them into my study. Remember that it’s guarded by spells, so if anyone wanders in there uninvited. . . ”
    “What are you babbling about?” I snap. I hate when he starts on a spiel without making it clear what the subject is.
    Dervish frowns. “A bit slow today, aren’t you?”
    “What?”
I roar impatiently.
    “I’m going away.” He raps my head with his knuckles. “You’ll have the house to yourself.” He raps it again. “It’s the weekend.”
    He goes to rap my head a third time. I catch his hand in midair, my face lighting up with a smile as I finally get it. At the exact same moment we exclaim, me excitedly, Dervish sarcastically —
    “Paaarteeeeeee!”
    “Strip poker,” Frank says earnestly. “It’s a must.”
    “Hey!” Loch barks. “My sister will be there.”
    “So we’ll wait till she sneaks off with Grubbs, then. . .
ba-da-boom!
”
    Everybody laughs, even Loch.
    “Have you told the girls yet?” Charlie asks.
    “No. I wanted to discuss it with you all first, get some ideas, like how many people to invite, if I should have a theme, if —”
    “Theme?”
Loch snorts. “This isn’t a fancy dress party, fool!”
    “I wouldn’t invite too many,” Leon says, a worried look on his face. “I made that mistake once. Had just about the whole school at my place while my parents were away skiing. I did what I could to clean up the next day, but it was impossible.”
    “Yeah,” Frank nods. “This is your first party. You don’t want to blow it by taking on more than you can handle.”
    “Especially since there’s so much opportunity for the future,” Loch agrees. “That mansion could be highly valuable over the next few years. Loads of rooms — loads of
bed-
rooms — and an uncle who knows the score. . . .It’s a gold mine. But we’ve got to be careful. If we trash the house now, Dervish might never leave you alone again.”
    The discussion continues. Everyone — Loch, Frank, Charlie, Leon, and Robbie — chips in with their own ideas. Music, food, drink, the guest list. . . each is debated at great length. But the guest list is the one we keep coming back to, the topic that creates the most divisions.
    “Two girls to each guy,” Frank insists. “If not three.”
    “Nah,” Robbie grunts. “Equal numbers, or else they’ll gang up on us.”
    “What do you care?” Leon challenges him. “You only have eyes for Mary.”
    Robbie winks. “A lot can happen at a party.”
    Out of the blue, Charlie shouts, “Jelly beans. You’ve got to have jelly beans. Plates of them everywhere.”
    “
You’re
a bloody jelly bean!” Loch roars as we fall apart in tears of laughter.
    “What are you hyenas splitting your sides about now?” Reni asks, appearing on the scene without warning, Shannon by her side.
    “We’re —” Charlie starts.
    Loch elbows him and nods sharply at me — my party, my news.
    “Dervish is away this weekend,” I tell Reni, wishing my heart wouldn’t throb so loudly — I’m sure she can hear it.
    “I’m having a