“James?”
He nods a couple of times, like someone else is talking to him. Then his gaze snaps back to mine.
“I’m starting to think that you and I were supposed to meet.”
I’m surprised how relieved I am that he isn’t running. “Don’t go all romance novel on me.”
Finally he smiles again, just a small one. “So what do they call themselves?”
“Vampires. Same as us.”
“Unbelievable.”
“Says the kettle to the pot.”
“You know, I…” He scratches his head. “I almost feel normal now.”
I try to put myself in his shoes, but I can’t. I’m just a girl in a strange place. He’s not the same as me. Not the same as the vampires. Not like anyone.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“You’re asking me that? I just told you about the existence of fairy tale monsters and you’re—”
“You’re pressing on your cuts,” James says. “Kinda burns.”
I separate my hand from my wrist. “I didn’t even know I was doing it. I guess you can feel that…”
“You’ve been doing it the whole time, actually. Like you’re nervous.”
Withdrawal. I don’t want to tell him that. “It’s, well, it’s just, the nauth. The poison in their bite. It does things to you. You never get used to it.”
“Are you feeling it now?”
“No…I guess I’m coming off it. When you’re on it, you’re crazy, and when you’re off it, you’re also crazy. No escaping it.”
Talk about nauth makes me antsy. It’s time to go. I make a show of checking the clock on the wall before saying, “I’ll tell you all about it next time, but I should get going right now.”
“Y-you want to meet again?” he stutters.
“Yes. I want to meet. But I’m not going to kiss you again.”
He laughs again, fully. It’s a good laugh. “Uh…Noon. Tomorrow. At Love Park?”
I nod. “Fine.”
He smiles wide. He’s not nearly as boring as he was that first time.
“It’s Bianca, by the way.” I pick at a napkin. “Bianca St. Germain.”
He pulls himself together, then extends his hand across the table. “James Fields. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Part Two
High
Bianca
The night Micah saved me, I burned the image of his face into the back of my head. I searched for him in every crowd. Every man I saw with blond hair or blue eyes, I wondered if it was him. It took years before I saw him again. Not until I was at the Night House.
All I knew that night was that I was getting an officer. Alex had told me about officers, the enforcers of vamp law. Most of them act like they’re way more powerful than they are just because they get to punish others. They like to rub it in the girls’ faces. Some of them get pretty rough.
I was in one of the cheaper rooms, designed like a hotel room without a bed. I stood with my back against the wall expecting an animal to walk through the door. What I got was Micah.
“It’s you,” I said, barely able to contain my shock.
He closed the door quickly and lowered his voice. “You’re so familiar.”
It occurred to me that it had been years since he’d seen me. Even though he looked exactly the same, I was no longer the same kid.
“You saved my life.” I became lost in the memory. “When I was younger, you saved me from the others. You were supposed to kill me.”
He put a finger to his lips. “That lie has kept me safe for a very long time. I never thought I would see you again. You’re still alive, but…what are you doing here?”
The accusation in his eyes pinned me to the spot.
“I…work here.” I tried not to let the shame of it show on my face.
He came closer to me, and I could see he was healthier than he was before: less feral, but he was still too skinny.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Bianca.”
Micah sank down onto the couch and rubbed his temples. “I shouldn’t have left you,” he said. “I should have stayed with you. I could have protected you better. This is my fault.”
He shouldered the blame so easily; I almost let him take it. But I couldn’t, because it wasn’t true.
“You did protect me,” I said quietly.
“So you could wind up here?” His blue eyes were filled with pain.
I shook my head. I hadn’t spoken about that night in a long time. Especially not to someone who knew the truth. And yet, here was the man—the vampire—who had saved me. There was something so fragile about him that drove me to comfort him.
“Neither of us could have stopped it.” I sat back on the couch and pulled my legs against my chest. “Why are you here? I thought you were good.”
The sting of my remark forced his gaze onto the floor. “After that night, they made those who survived into officers. I had to accept the position or admit I faked your death. That would have been bad for the both of us.”
“I guess you want blood, right?”
“I’m not going to feed tonight, if that’s okay with you,” he said.
“Won’t you starve?”
“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “But I’m used to that.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around him. He asked me how long I’d been there, if Finn treated me nicely. He held true to his word. He didn’t feed on me. We just talked. Mostly about the Night House. I was on guard the whole time, so it was still an awkward conversation. But then he made more appointments with me. And he still didn’t feed.
It didn’t take long for me to anticipate his visits. It was a reprieve from the usual night. He’d always make sure I was okay. He gave me his own blood to heal any wounds I had that Finn didn’t feel charitable enough to fix himself. But he was sicker every time he met with me. After a while, I convinced him to feed on me. I was okay with it because I didn’t want him to get hurt.
When he did start feeding, he was always careful. He let the nauth set in before taking blood, so I wouldn’t feel the effects. Micah never took more blood than he needed. Always living on the bare minimum.
I called him Micah the Merciful.
When he stopped coming to the Night House, I thought for sure he’d been killed. No warnings, no goodbyes. He just stopped making appointments. The Night House had never been lonelier.
James
It’s coming back to me. She’s coming back to me.
Bianca St. Germain.
With each step away from her, I get a jolt of feeling that I know doesn’t belong to me. It’s not like the first time I saw her, when everything came rushing into me; instead, it’s a slow descent into her state of mind.
By the time I get back to my house, I start to shake. It’s just my hands, but it’s bad. Once I’m inside the house, I have to shove my hands into my pockets and breeze by my parents, heading up to my room.
They absolutely cannot know about Bianca.
Once I’m alone, I head straight for my clay. I close my hand around a lump of it, letting it form to my fingers and palm. As I work, it occurs to me that I’m never really alone. Despite the time I spend with walls between me and everyone else, I am never alone.
This time, though, it’s okay.
Bianca
I knock softly on the door.
Micah shields his eyes to the sunlight. “Bumble Bee?”
“Hey,” I say.
“Come in, already. I’m going blind.”
I step inside, and Micah shuts the door behind me. He wanders into the kitchen and sits on the counter. He’s wearing worn-out jeans and a white T-shirt, the same as always.
“Nice to see you,” he says.
I smile. “Easy for you to say.”
I’d guess Micah to be about twenty, though he’s looked that way for as long as I’ve known him. It’s weird the way vampires work.
They reproduce the same way that humans do, but they age differently. For them, there’s always a point when they simply stop changing. It’s whatever age suits their body and their personality best. To be the most beautiful, or the strongest, or the cleverest. To kill humans the fastest.
Twenty suits Micah. Even though he’s sick, he’s beautiful. It’s as if he knew he was going to wind up on his deathbed, because he could use it to his advantage. He’s got an innocent face, a pitiable one, and those sad, blue eyes. Any girl could fall for him: the sweet boy with a death sentence. They could make a movie about him.
“You look tired, Bee.”
I let out a sigh and lean my head on his chest. He rests a hand on the top of my head.
“It’s not often I’m the one who’s holding you up,” he whispers.
My smile is fleeting. Gravity feels stronger here. All I want to do is lie down.
“I’ve had a long day…” I say.
“You’ve had a long life.” Micah strokes my hair.
We stay like this for a while. These moments are rare, when I’m not donating, when he’s not dying. It feels great to actually be friends, even for just a few minutes at a time. But I realize my temples are starting to get pins and needles—a sign that I’m going to pass out.
“Do you need to sleep here?” Micah whispers.
“Maybe…I’m feeling a little tired.”
He immediately takes my face in his hands, studying me. “You seem more pale than usual.”
There is a chill creeping up my spine and a sickness in my gut. I take a slow breath.
“Bee?”
“I might be sick.” The nausea comes hard. Before I know it, he has me in his arms. The motion sends me spinning, and I close my eyes tight. He sets me on his bed, and I immediately lie back.
He is setting a cold washcloth over my forehead. I’m shaking, so I try to pull the covers over myself, but they slip out of my grasp.
“Oh, Bee…”
Time is a blur for a while. I’m in and out of consciousness, forgetting where I am. I wind up vomiting all the food James bought me. I am deflated. There’s nothing in me, no bones, no muscles, just pain and sickness.
Micah’s voice floats through my mind, but I don’t grasp any of his words. It’s all just concerned mumbling. I’m sinking farther and farther down into the sheets, through the mattress and into the floorboards. It’s freezing cold. Now I’m falling past the concrete and cement, into the subway. The trains are screaming toward me, but I’m stuck on the tracks, frozen to the metal. They are shaking the earth around me, and the lights are blinding. Just when I think I am going to be run down, I’m drowning—gagging on water.
Micah is trying to get me to drink, but it’s warm and my throat is resistant. He slows up, and I manage to get some down before I start coughing. Darkness comes rushing in.
Nothing.
As soon as the light starts coming back, I feel better. I’m not as heavy as I was before. It takes a long time to feel like I can open my eyes. When I do, Micah lets his head drop onto the mattress with a sigh. He is kneeling by the bed, like he was praying to me.
“Thank God,” he says into the covers.
“Do vampires believe in God?” My voice is hoarse.
He touches my arm lightly. “Maybe some.”
I take a deep breath. “How long was I out?”
“It’s almost dark out.”
My gaze drifts to the window. The sky is starting to turn red.
“Bee, I thought you were dying.”
I turn my head back to him. “Don’t be dramatic.”
But the expression on his face tells me he isn’t.
“I came back, though,” I mumble.
“I had to give you my blood.”
I don’t understand the science behind vamp blood. Why only certain vampires can heal you and how it works. Micah says that vampires evolve faster than humans, and the healing blood started occurring because vampires were starting to depend on humans for more than just food. I think Micah’s a dreamer.
I realize what this means: he gave me some of his precious blood.
“Take some of mine.” I reach for him. “You have to.”
“Hey,” he whispers, pulling my hands away. “I can’t undo what I just did. You needed that more than I did.”
“You always need it more than I do.”
His lips thin. “You’re going to die if you keep ignoring yourself like this.”
There is an edge to his voice that I’ve never heard before. Like he’s mad at me. It stings more than I expected.
“You should leave the city, Bee.” Micah clutches my hand. I feel the back of my throat burn. “You’re almost eighteen. You could really be on your own.”
It’s not easy, but I force the tears back down. “Yeah, right. Finn would love that.”
“He doesn’t own you,” Micah says, gentle but stern.
“Maybe not, but I have this client. He’s so obsessed, he’d probably come running after me if I ever left.”
“You’ve never told me about him.” Micah sits up, and I open my eyes. “Is someone giving you trouble?”
“No, Micah, calm down. He’s just another power-hungry vamp. They’re all the same; you know that. You worked for one.”
He frowns. “I don’t like it.”
“Too bad.”
A long, dramatic sigh escapes him before he stands up. I just watch as he goes to his open closet and reaches into the back. Then he unfolds the black button up shirt and black slacks of his officer uniform. Just as I remember. The shiny black pin that signified his position is still there on the front. He unhooks it and holds it out to me.
“I want you to have this.”
“But why?”
He closes my hand around it. “It’s more than just a badge.”
I examine the pin. The base is old. When I touch it, some of it flakes off in my hand. “Is this iron?”
He nods and flops beside me on the bed. “Yeah. All our pins are.”
“But…doesn’t iron kill you?”
“You little hunter, you,” he says with a smirk. “You’re not supposed to know that.”
“I’m guessing I’m one of only a few,” I say, studying the little weapon.
He nods. “Hunters are far and few between, and they are certainly the most knowledgeable. But a lot of your old human lore says that iron can repel demons. Problem is, most of them don’t know it’s not just the iron.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s the rust,” he says.
“Rust?” I set the pin on my stomach. “I always thought it was weird that iron was used as a weapon, when human blood has iron in it.”
“Yeah, when rust gets into our blood, it’s over. It’s like a poison that attacks our own bodies. Tries to rust us from the inside.”
I shiver and pull the covers closer.
“Why are you giving this to me now?”
He sits next to me, placing a hand on my face. “I almost lost you, Bee. I can’t protect you anymore. So the next time someone tries to hurt you, if you think they’re going too far, use this. Your life is more important than theirs.”
I run my thumb over the tiny pin. So much power in such a small thing.
“Promise me you’ll protect yourself,” Micah says.
I take a breath and close my hand around the pin. “I’ll try.”
James
To my great disappointment, Ally and Shiloh wait for me in my room.
I shut the door gently and lean my back against it. The two of them stare at me as if I’ve greatly offended them. Ally actually feels that way, but Shiloh’s upset is twisting into worry. I slide down until I’m sitting on the floor and hold my hands in front of me, trembling like my own personal earthquake. I have to get better at controlling this.
“What the hell did she do to you?” Ally leans closer.
Shiloh’s mouth drops open. �
�You connected.”
“Not quite,” I say. “It’s not as intense. But it’s definitely getting there.”
Shiloh sits down in front of me. “You have to tell us what happened.”
I hold my hand up, hoping they’ll stop. They are too much for me right now. I’m still getting used to her. Bianca. So I take a moment and reach out to Shiloh, with a hand on his shoulder, and with my mind. Though he is anxious and concerned, he is much calmer than Ally and that is what I latch onto. For a moment, I drown myself in Shiloh’s calm. I inhale his emotions and, just for a second, Bianca fades to the background. Then I exhale, and she slowly comes back to me, erasing Shiloh’s calm.
“I had to tell her.”
“Tell her what?” they both ask.
I face Shiloh so that I can ignore Ally’s hungry stare. “What I am.”
“Shit, James,” he says and covers his mouth. “Did she believe you?”
“I think so.” I wipe my now sweaty hands on my jeans. “It took a while, but yeah.”
“So she trusts you?” Ally asks.
“I don’t know. She told me her name. Bianca St. Germain.”
I can tell from Shiloh’s gaze that he understands how I feel. A name is personal. She’s given me a part of herself.
“How do you know she isn’t lying?” Ally will only settle for the cold hard truth. I don’t think this is quite the right time to tell them about Bianca’s line of work. I still don’t know how to process that.
I meet her stare with some trouble. “I felt how vulnerable she was. I don’t think she tells people her real name very often.”
Ally chews on this for a moment. I try to convey to Shiloh my desire for Ally to leave me alone.
“You look awful, Jay,” he says. “You need to eat something. When’s the last time you got some chicken fingers?” He slaps my knee. “I know. We’ll fill you up with cheap fast food, and you’ll feel good as new.”
The Night House Page 10