Read Online Bad Blood by Mari Mancusi - Free Book Online

head down in her Nintendo DS and doesn’t look up from her game.
    “Stormy, put down the video game and meet your sisters,” Heather orders.
    “I’m right in the middle of a battle,” the girl—Stormy?—argues. She sounds like Rayne.
    “One of these days I’m going to throw that thing in the trash,” Heather mutters. Then she turns to us, her face all apologies. “Sorry about that,” she says. “She’s just going through a stage. Always has her face buried in a computer or video game. We’re hoping she’ll grow out of it when she starts high school.”
    Rayne ignores Heather and, to my surprise, gets down on her knees next to Stormy. She squints at the game screen, then her face lights up in recognition.
    “I love Final Fantasy,” she tells the girl. “I just got the latest one for my PS3. It’s freaking awesome.”
    Stormy looks up for the first time since entering the room. “Really?” she asks, her big brown eyes shining. “I want a PS3 so bad. But Mom . . .” She shoots her mother the kind of disdainful look only daughters can master. “ . . . .won’t get me one.”
    “Because you already have an X-Box, a Wii, and a PlayStation 2,” Heather reminds her.
    “Don’t worry,” Rayne says. “My mom doesn’t like me playing video games either. But eventually you’ll grow up and be able to buy your own console and she won’t be able to stop you.”
    Stormy giggles. “Yeah,” she cries, smiling up at Rayne. “That’ll be awesome.”
    She sets down the DS on one of the nesting tables and holds out her hand. She’s got chipped black fingernail polish on her nails. “I’m Stormy,” she says.
    “You must be my sister. Are you Rayne or Sunshine?”
    “I’m Rayne and she’s Sunny,” my sister replies, pointing up at me. “Nice to meet you, stepsister Stormy.”
    “Half-sister,” Stormy corrects. Rayne freezes, mid-handshake.
    “What?”
    I look over at our stepmom. She shrugs. “Actually Stormy is correct,” she says.
    “You guys have the same father. Uh, didn’t you know that?”
    Oh my God. I look at Rayne in shock, calculations whirring through my head. Stormy looks about eleven years old. Dad and Mom only got divorced a little more than four years ago . . .
    You don’t need to be a genius to do the math on that one. Suddenly I feel sick to my stomach. No wonder Dad’s always been evasive about his family out here. Does Mom even know about Stormy? And . . . that name! Sunshine, Rayne, and Stormy. He even named her like one of us. Has he no shame at all?
    Rayne drops Stormy’s hand like a hot potato and rises to her feet, her already pale face now white as a ghost. Stormy looks up at her, an unmistakable hurt look on her face at the obvious dis. Then she grabs her DS and runs down the hall. A moment later a door slams.
    The room is silent. Heather stands there, biting her lower lip. Rayne’s looking one step below enraged serial killer. And I . . . well, I’m just wondering if I should go run after Stormy. After all, our parents’ sins are certainly not her fault. She didn’t ask to be born into this mess.
    “So, um, are you guys hungry?” Heather asks, hopefully. “I’m not much of a cook, but there’s a great Chinese place just around the corner that delivers. Anyone for some dim sum?”
    “I’m not hungry,” Rayne replies through clenched teeth. Of course as a vampire she’s never hungry—at least for human food. But I have a feeling something besides the undeadness is ruining her appetite at the moment. “Can I just go to my room?”
    “Of course, dear,” Heather replies, looking more than a little nervous. “You two will be sharing a room with Crystal. It’ll be like a great big girlie sleepover!”
    Crystal smiles smugly at Rayne’s look of horror and I have a feeling the experience will be less of a sleepover and more of a visit to one of the lower circles of Dante’s hell if she has anything to do with it. And, seeing as it’s her room, I figure