Jack was a few steps ahead of me listening for her. Bobby complained about being unable to see anything behind us, and Milo tried to reassure him.
Before I could even smell her, I heard her overly sultry moan. Unfortunately, in my years of friendship with her, I had heard it far more than I had ever cared to. Without thinking, I threw open the door, and a figure flew at me.
- 14 -
I didn’t have a chance to react, and Jack was already in front of me, shielding me from the vampire coming at my throat.
Jack threw him back, slamming him against the wall and holding him there while he gnashed his teeth. Jack managed to hold him in place, but Milo rushed past me to help him restrain the seriously pissed off vampire.
Jane was lying on a bed stained dark with blood. She wore some tiny piece of clothing that passed for a dress, revealing her pale skin. While she had always been thin, her arms were bony and her face was gaunt. Her heartbeat was almost nonexistent.
The room was filled with the scent of her fresh blood, and it was impossible to ignore. She moaned and stirred in the bed, and somehow that let my urge to protect her override my urge to eat her.
“Jane!” I ran to her, leaving Milo and Jack to contend with the thrashing vampire on the wall.
I got on the bed, ignoring how disgusting and tantalizing the blood stained mattress was, and I slapped her cheek. I had meant for it to be gentle, but the panic mixed with my unmastered strength made me slap her a little hard, not that she even noticed or woke up.
“Is everyone okay? What’s going on?” Bobby asked. He couldn’t see anything in the darkness, and he only heard the sound of struggling.
“Everything’s under control!” Milo shouted as the vampire tried to bite his throat.
“What the hell is going on?” the vampire growled, and when he saw me tending to Jane, he stopped fighting. “You’re after the whore?” We interrupted him in the middle of feeding, the time when vampires are most animalistic, and he seemed to be coming down from that.
“Her name is Jane!” I snapped, trying futilely to rouse her. She was completely out, and I knew how impossible blood loss was to wake up from.
“I know her name!” the vampire shouted. “I want to know what you want with her!”
“What do you care?” Jack countered, doing his best to sound tough. It would be comical if he wasn’t trying to hold back a vampire from slaughtering us.
“Jonathan,” Jane murmured, still mostly asleep.
“No, it’s me, Alice,” I said. She moved her head, and I turned it towards me, trying to get her to focus on me. “Jane, wake up. We need to get you out of here. ”
“She’s talking about me, you silly twat! I’m Jonathan!” The vampire pushed against Jack. “Will you let me go? I’m not gonna fight you! I don’t have to. She’s not gonna go with you. ”
Jack lessened his grip, and when Jonathan didn’t attack him, Jack took a step back from him. Milo did the same but more hesitantly. Jonathan smoothed out his shirt and glared at them.
“Jane, honey, wake up,” I said and shook her.
“No, Jonathan, let me sleep. ” Jane swatted at me.
“She’s not going with you,” Jonathan repeated. He stepped closer to me, and Milo growled and moved in between him and the bed. “I’m not gonna stop you. What do I care if you take the whore?”
“I think it might be better if you just shut the hell up,” Jack said.
“Jane, come on. ” I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her so she was sitting up. Her head lolled back, revealing the open wounds on her neck. Then she opened her eyes and lifted her head. “Jane, come on. Let’s go. ”
“Alice?” Jane squinted. “What are you doing here?”
“Taking you with me. ” I put my arm around her to pick her up, but she pushed back at me. She was much weaker than me, but I didn’t want to force her. “Jane, you’ve gotta come with me. ”
“No! No! Why would I wanna I go with you?” Jane pushed away from me so she could lie down on the filthy mattress. “Get away from me. I’m staying with Jonathan. ”
“I told you,” Jonathan said and crossed his arms over his chest.
His hair was cropped short, almost shaved, and he had that perpetual unshaven look. He was undeniably foxy, the way all vampires seemed to be, and I was fairly certain that I had seen him on a billboard modeling men’s underwear before.
“What are you even doing here?” Jane sounded incredibly irritated, because I was ruining her buzz. She was awake now but not entirely alert, and she ran her fingers through her hair in an offhandedly sexy way. Her reflexes were even seductive.
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“We came to get you. We’re worried about you,” I told her as sincerely as possible. I put my hand on her arm, but she pulled it back from me.
“We?” Jane squinted harder in the darkness, trying to see who I brought with me, and pushed herself to sit up. Her skeletal arms were stretched out behind her, holding her up precariously so she didn’t fall back on the bed.
“That was your little brother I saw grinding up on some boy on the dance floor! I thought that was him, but I didn’t believe you were letting him date yet. ” She gave a laugh, and Milo scowled at her. “That’s just like him to narc on me anyway. I bet you just ran home to tell her right away, didn’t you?”
“This isn’t the kind of life you want to have,” Milo said, his cheeks reddening.
“Tell that to your boyfriend,” Jane laughed again, but it was a tired, hollow sound.
“Jane, come on. This is enough. Let’s get you home. ” I got up off the bed and reached out for her, planning to throw her over my shoulder if I had to.
“No! I’m not going with you!” Jane yelled. “You’ve barely even talked to me since you got Jack, and you have the balls to condemn me for doing the exact same thing as you?”
“I never did this!” I shouted. “And I was avoiding you to protect you, and then you avoided me. I called you like a million times but you wouldn’t answer!”
“Doesn’t that tell you something?” Jane smiled darkly at me. “I don’t want to be your friend anymore, Alice! You don’t need to save me from myself! I am just fine without you!”
“You are not fine! And I’m not saving you from you! I’m saving you from vampires!” I knew that sounded really dumb since I planned on bringing her back to a house full of vampires, and Jane laughed at the stupidity of my argument.
I bent down and scooped her up. She yelped in protest, but I tossed her easily over my shoulder. I was much stronger than before, but it was almost too easy. As soon as I had her, she hit at my back and screamed at me.
“Put me down, you stupid bitch!” Jane shouted, pounding her tiny fists as hard as she could against my back. Of course, it didn’t hurt at all, but that didn’t stop her from trying.
“She doesn’t want to go with you!” Jonathan made a step towards me.
Jack and Milo moved closer to him. Jonathan held his hands up in a gesture of peace, but his face contorted with contained rage. If I tried taking away food from a starving wolf, I imagine that he would make a similar expression.
“What’s going on?” Bobby asked, terrified.
“Everything’s fine,” Milo told him unconvincingly.
“You can’t kidnap her,” Jonathan said.
I hadn’t moved towards the door yet because I hoped Jane would calm down, but he was right. I couldn’t take her kicking and screaming onto the city streets.
“Just put me down!” Jane shouted. Sighing, I set her on her feet next to me. She slapped me once more for good measure, and I had to remind myself that she was my best friend. “You are such a control freak, Alice! Just because you’re a prude doesn’t mean I’m wrong!”
“I don’t want any trouble but she is mine,” Jonathan exchanged a look with Jack, and Jane puffed up.
Jane misinterpreted his use of the word “mine. ” She saw it as somet
hing resembling love, like he cared so she belonged to him. All he really meant was that he had bitten her first, so he laid claim on her until he gave her up.
She reached out in the darkness, feeling around for Jonathan to protect her. Milo moved, allowing Jonathan to walk to her. He put his arm around her in something that she perceived as affection, but it was nothing more than ownership.
“We’ll talk later,” I said finally.
“Fat chance,” Jane scoffed.
Milo comforted Bobby, who frantically clung to the door. Jack put his arm around me, escorting me from the room.
I looked back over my shoulder at Jane. Thin and frail, she hung onto Jonathan just to keep from falling over. Before we had even left the room, he tilted her head back and sunk his teeth into her neck. She moaned and her blood filled the air.
Jack tightened his arm around me to prevent me from rushing at Jonathan and getting myself killed. He pulled the door shut behind us and drug me down the hallway, past all the rooms where vampires were feeding on other people’s best friends.
I spent the entire car ride home sulking and glaring out the window. Jack tried to talk to me and cheer me up, but I wanted nothing to do with it. It wasn’t his fault that Jane wouldn’t come home with us, or that vampires were such horrible creatures, but he was the only one I had to take it out on.
When we pulled in the garage, I slammed the car door behind me and stormed into the house, noticing that Milo and Bobby hadn’t returned yet.
“Alice!” Jack called after me, but I didn’t slow down.
Matilda waited at the door for us, but when she greeted me, I pushed past her. Jack indulged her more than I did, but he was trying to keep up with me so he made it quick.
“Alice, come on. I know you’re upset, but you didn’t really think you could swoop in there like Batman and save the day, did you?”
“I don’t know what I thought,” I muttered.
I reached the kitchen and stopped. I wanted to eat something. Not that I was actually hungry, not for human food, but whenever I had come home frustrated, Milo always fed me. It was probably for the best I turned into a vampire, otherwise I would’ve ended up as a very fat stress eater. Out of habit, I opened up the refrigerator, which actually had food in it again, thanks to Bobby.
“What are you doing?” Jack asked.
“Making Bobby a snack. ”
Since I’d never had a conversation with the kid, I had no real clue what kind of foods he might like, but Mae stocked the fridge for him, so it was a safe bet that anything in it would work. I hadn’t really meant to make him anything, and it was a well known fact that I couldn’t cook, but it would give me something to do.
The crisper was filled with fruits, so I grabbed them all, thinking that chopping them up for a fruit salad might go a long way to alleviate my anger.
“Do you need any help?” Jack asked, watching me drop the armload of fruits onto the island.
I shook my head and searched the kitchen drawers until I found a large butcher knife. I couldn’t tell the last time anybody had used it, so I rinsed it off. Then I realized I hadn’t washed off any of the fruit, either, so I grabbed it all and dropped it in the sink to clean.
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“Are you mad at me?” Jack leaned against the island with Matilda rubbing up against him so he could scratch her head.
“No,” I said, but that wasn’t exactly true. “You and Milo could’ve taken that Jonathan idiot. And I’m sure Jane would’ve followed you out of there. We could’ve taken her if we really tried. ”
“Maybe,” he admitted.
I picked the fruit up out of the sink, but they were wet and slippery, and the grapes and strawberries tried making their escape onto the floor. He came over and caught what was falling and helped me carry it back over to the island.
“Thank you,” I muttered, not ready to give up on my anger yet.
“If we had to kidnap Jane, what good would it have really done?” Jack looked at me. “You watch that Intervention show about junkies. What do they always say? You can’t make a person change, and they can’t quit for anybody else. Jane has to want to stop. ”
“Then why did we even go down there?” My hands felt shaky when I started chopping a pear, but I ignored it. I couldn’t forget the image of how sickly Jane looked, and how content she was with that.
“I thought maybe you’d be able to talk some sense into her. ” He shrugged. “But now she knows that you still care, and if she has a change of heart, she’ll talk to you. ”
“Jane’s never listened to me about anything, and you know it. ”
“Maybe so, but this is her choice, and you have to let her make it. ” He was on the other side of the island from me, leaning across it.
My body was naturally pulled to him, and I pretended like pears and apricots were more interesting. Unfortunately, I’d never been a coordinated person, and I didn’t do much better as a vampire. I was distracted by Jack and thoughts of Jane, so it was only a matter of time before the knife sliced my finger.
I yelped and pulled my hand back, sustaining my first real injury as a vampire. The pain was much sharper and more intense than any I had felt as a human, but it died away instantly. The cut was nasty, hitting the bone in my index finger. If my bones hadn’t been so strong, I probably would’ve sliced the tip right off.
I stared down at it, watching the blood seeping from my wound with some amazement. This was my blood, and I could smell it, warm and strangely exotic.
“You do smell really good,” Jack said in a hushed tone.
The pink edges of the cut were already healing, right in front of my eyes, and I glanced up at him. His eyes had gone translucent, and I heard his heart speed up. Nothing in the world was more enticing to him than the scent of my blood, and that hadn’t changed when I became immortal.
“Want a taste?” I offered my hand to him, knowing how wonderful it felt when he tasted me and how crazy it drove him. I imagined him throwing all the fruit off the island and pushing me back down on it, kissing me ferociously until his mouth found my neck…
“In the kitchen?” He raised an eyebrow, his breath shallow.
With great effort, he managed to pull his eyes from me to look around the room, pointing out how completely exposed we would be. At any minute, Milo and Bobby would come home, and Mae and Ezra had to be somewhere around here
“Suit yourself. ” I shrugged, pretending it meant nothing, even though I knew he could hear my own ragged heartbeat. The cut had healed completely, and the blood dried on my skin. I put my finger in my mouth, cleaning it off.
“You’re horrible. ” He shook his head and took a step back from the island, trying to clear his head of me.
Within seconds, Milo and Bobby came in from the garage. They both eyed up the fruit spread on the island with confusion, but Milo’s face contorted into something different. He sniffed, giving me an evil look that was somehow hungry as well.
“Why does it smell like your blood in here?” Milo demanded, then shot a glare at Jack.
“I just cut my finger,” I sighed and held up the knife that still had my blood on it. A few droplets were on the island, and I wiped at them with a rag.
“Oh really, Alice. ” Milo rolled his eyes and came over to me. “Do you want me to do this for you? What are you doing anyway?”
“I thought you didn’t eat,” Bobby said. A strand of his black hair fell into his eyes, and he pushed it back, walking over to the island to inspect what we were doing.
“I thought you might be hungry,” I said. Milo had taken over chopping up the fruit, and he looked back at me with surprise.
“Thanks,” Bobby said and blushed lightly. Everyone clearly assumed that I hated Bobby, and they weren’t that far off base, but I did like distractions.
“Milo always used to cook for me when I got home,” I said lamely.
Tucking hair
behind my ears, I caught Jack smiling at me. He knew the whole snack thing was about busy work, not Bobby, but he was glad that I made nice with Bobby. Jack liked Bobby, which for some reason, made me angry with Jack again, so I sighed and leaned back against the kitchen counter.
“Milo is a very good cook. ” Bobby smiled at me before looking adoringly at my brother.
“He was gonna be a chef,” I said.
“I still can be,” Milo cast me a look. “I’m not dead. ” Jack laughed at that sentiment, and Milo rolled his eyes again. “I have lots of time to become whatever I want. ”
He finished cutting the fruit, and he went to the cupboard to get out a serving platter. Once he brought it back to the island, he arranged the fruit. Bobby smiled and delicately picked at grapes, afraid of disturbing the masterpiece that Milo had created.
The bedroom door to Mae and Ezra’s room slammed loudly, followed by quick footsteps, and Mae repeatedly saying the word no. She appeared in the kitchen, looking haggard. Her cheeks and eyes were red from crying, and her honey curls were pulled back in a very messy bun. Tissue was wadded up tightly in her hand, and she glared at us.
- 15 -
Ezra followed close behind Mae, looking better than he had in days. He didn’t appear as upset as her, but his expression was grim. When he reached out for her, she pulled away from him.
“Where have you been?” Mae demanded, her warm voice more shrill. Bobby had been in the middle of chewing, but he gulped it down whole and moved closer to Milo.
“Why? Did something happen?” Jack asked carefully.
“Just answer the damn question!” Mae shouted, making us all jump. Her hands were balled up at her sides, and stray curls stuck to her tear stained cheeks. “You think you all can just come and go as you please. This isn’t a hotel. We are a family, and this is our home!”
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“Sorry?” I apologized uncertainly. I looked to Ezra for help, but he was too busy watching her to give us any hint about what the hell was going on.
“Yeah, we’re really sorry,” Milo said, more sincerely than I did.
“We didn’t mean to not tell you,” Jack said. “We just left in kind of a hurry, I guess. ”
“Where did you go that was so important you couldn’t let me know?” Mae fixed her gaze on Jack because he had offered the most up, and he shrunk back from it, wrapping his arms over his chest. He shifted uneasily and glanced at me, but I shook my head. I didn’t want any part of her hysteria.
“We just, uh, went to the club to look-” He’d barely gotten out the word “club” before her eyes widened and she cut him off.
“The club? Not the vampire club? None of you would be that stupid to do something as risky and dangerous as that without even letting me know. ” Mae was completely aghast, and Jack looked at his feet, so she turned to the rest of us. “What were you thinking? Do you all have a death wish? Just because you can live forever doesn’t mean you will!”
“We were going there after Jane,” I said quietly, hoping to appease her some.