CHAPTER 8
I knew what I was doing.
As much as I wished it weren’t true. As much as I hated what was happening. As much as I wanted to believe it was out of my control, I knew what was going on.
And I let it happen.
The black tiger on his forearm crawled away from me, but the end of its tail was hidden under my mouth where I bit the boy.
His blood was incredible. It reminded me of warm butterscotch, thick and sticky and salty but sickeningly sweet as I drew it into me from his wrist.
I was pretty sure butterscotch didn’t actually taste like blood, but my fractured memory remembered it that way now.
My fully extended fangs hovered halfway inside the holes they’d made in his hot skin as I drank deeply. I’d never felt so warm, so awake, so alive.
The irony did not escape me.
And with the warmth came disgust. Such an intense sense of satisfaction accompanied by an equally intense sense of hatred for who I was, what I was, what I was doing. But this did not stop me.
As I drank, I thought about the encased dragon at the base of his neck. Oh, how I would enjoy sinking my teeth into it. But the neck felt so intimate. Practically romantic. Biting his wrist had allowed me to keep my distance, and kept us from touching much.
It was practical.
Only I would care to consider being practical while drinking the blood of an intoxicated human. Why do I have to be so weird?
He was very drunk and I was starting to be able to taste the alcohol in his blood. The annoying boy swayed with eyes half open, watching me. He wasn’t sure what was going on, locked in a drunken stupor of stupidity. Part of him was excited, the other part scared.
Idiot human, I could drain you if I wanted.
It would be easy, and he would stand there like a moron watching as I murdered him, part of him scared, the other part aroused until he lost consciousness.
So easy…
…so very easy…
With great effort, I wrapped my fingers around his arm and pulled his wrist from my mouth.
I could have drained him. Yet I’d only taken enough to satisfy my hunger. The boy would probably pass out from weakness and alcohol. In the morning, the puncture wounds on his wrist would ache, and the boy wouldn’t understand where they came from. But he would be alive.
“Hey, Lena, are you back here?” Will’s cool voice tingled my ears.
Uh oh.
Maybe if I stayed still, he wouldn’t be able to find me. I was sneaky after all. And a vampire. Surely I could go undetected by one measly human. But I couldn’t manage to focus.
“There you are,” his voice chimed.
The annoying boy picked that moment to pass out and crumble to the ground.
Figures.
And his wrist flopped into the light, remaining pools of blood filling the two punctures and shinning in the dim light above.
Will stared down at him, his telling face trying to work out what he was seeing. The boy was breathing, he had to see that. Yes, sure, there were conspicuous puncture wounds on his wrist and he looked rather pale, but none of that screamed vampire.
But then he looked at my face, and he knew. My fangs were still fully extended, still taut from the delicious drink. Warm, sticky butterscotch. Mmm…
I closed my mouth and looked away. If I were human, I would have looked ashamed.
“What are—?” he began.
Vampire, my brain screamed, and I think he heard it. His eyes grew wide and he took a step away. His heart rate quickened, but he didn’t tremble and his breathing stayed calm. There was no smell of fear on him.
“You’re a vampire,” he said quietly, probably too quietly for a human to hear, but this occurred to me too late.
“How do you know?” I replied, then shook my head at my own idiocy. Denial was not a talent I possessed.
Will shook his head back and forth, his face pinched into a confused scrunch.
“Is—” I began, but wasn’t sure what I was going to ask until the stupid words left my mouth. “Is that okay?”
And his self-control broke.
“What? Is it okay? No! It is not okay, Lena. Not okay. I knew it. I knew it when I found you under that tree. You’re a crazy person. A nut job. How’d you do that?” he pointed at the boy’s wrist. The blood was still glistening. “A knife? Ice pick? Great! Gorgeous Ice Pick Vampire Murderer, news at eleven.”
He cupped his hand around the side of his mouth to announce the last part. I was grateful everyone in the house was drunk and mostly passed out.
I had wisely waited until the party wound down to begin my hunt.
“Is he a friend of yours?” I asked, not sure what the right thing to say would be. They didn’t seem friendly before, but human relationships maybe complicated.
“No, he’s a douche.” Will looked down at the lump on the ground. “But that is so not the point. Is he dead?”
“No, I didn’t kill him, see? He’ll be fine in the morning. Hungover, and sore, but that was going to happen anyway. And I didn’t take much. I stopped myself. He’s fine. I didn’t mean to feed on anyone. Honest. I thought I had it under control and then I saw him and…and it got away from me. Please don’t be mad. You’ve been so nice to me. I’d hate to have made you angry.”
Will stared at me with his lips slightly parted, “That’s the most I’ve heard you say all day.”
I couldn’t understand his expression. He was shocked, but also curious. I didn’t think he believed what I was. How could he ignore my extended canines?
Wait, what was I thinking? I shouldn’t want him to know the truth.
It was possible he still thought I was crazy. There was hope in that. Either way, he didn’t run away, but he didn’t let me get any closer to him either.
“I apologize for what I’ve done. This human will be fine in the morning, I promise,” I said, then tilted my head down at the tiger growling up at me. “Though, he might be suspicious.”
Will looked down too and I thought he understood what I meant. There were two distinct holes on his wrist, way too deep to be made in play.
“I think I can do something about that,” Will whispered in a slightly strange tone and motioned for me to follow. I obeyed without a look back at the boy on the floor.
As he led me through the house, I couldn’t even remember how I had gotten to the kitchen where the annoying boy had been. I had no memory of the inside of the house at all.
That was creepy.
The house smelled of cinnamon and fresh cut grass. Colin’s Castle was immaculate. And smelled like smoke and stones. Not exactly homey and inviting. There wasn’t much on the walls and the furniture wasn’t where I thought it ought to have been. Then again, there had been a party here. Humans, it seemed, were very messy.
I was learning so much. I hoped this incident wouldn’t be the end of my exploration.
“Hey guys,” Will hollered to Spencer and Julia, who were lounging on the front porch looking like they were ready to fall asleep there. “We’re gonna head out.”
Will glanced at my eyes, and I hoped my face had an encouraging, harmless, grateful expression. Then he looked down at my mouth, and I forced my lips together so no one else would see my fangs.
“Hey, we saw Kyle passed out in the kitchen, and I think he took a barbeque fork or something to his wrist. Might wanna check on him.”
He said it so casually I was shocked he could lie so effectively. His honest face didn’t falter even a little.
Julie and Spencer nodded and did not look surprised as they slowly made their way from the porch into the house.
Over her shoulder, Julie smiled. “It was great meeting you, Lena. We hope to see more of you.”
I thought I managed a pursed-lipped smile, but gave her a wave also to make sure. Spencer shot me a sweet grin over his shoulder too, then put his arm around Julia’s waist. He had to ben
d down a little to reach it.
“Kyle’s done weird stuff to himself before. I think that takes care of the suspicion problem. If he asks, they’ll have an answer for him tomorrow and that’ll take care of that.”
I felt the urge to touch Will, put my hand on his arm and thank him, and reassure him. I really wasn’t evil. But I didn’t think telling him would be enough. He had to be curious. Maybe being able to ask me questions would make him feel better. And would prove I wasn’t going to hurt him.
“Would you like to go somewhere to talk?”
He nervously laughed. “About what?”
“You have questions.”
Will didn’t say anything for almost a minute, and I let him think in peace. After all, I hated being pushed into doing things and being told what to do. Everyone I met deserved the same courtesy, if they treated me well.
And Will definitely did.
I really should have been nicer to him, paid more attention, and shown my appreciation better, like a human would.
“Yeah, I have questions. We’ll go to my place,” and he looked around and we changed course.
But he stopped and turned to me. “First I have to ask. Are you going to kill me?”
“No. You’ll be safe.”
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
“Never.”
“And you’re a vampire.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s the truth? Vampire. Like, Dracula, blood-sucking, creature of the night vampire?”
“Um…I guess.”
“But you won’t bite me.”
“No.”
“How can I be sure?”
I stared at him, confused. What did he expect? What could I do to reassure him? There was nothing.
“All I have is my word,” I said and he nodded, not looking satisfied. So I added, “and now I’m full.”
His lip curled for a second, but he turned and walked in the direction of his apartment. I guessed that was convincing.
This was going to be interesting.
Harsh Light of Day Page 15