“I thought you and Diah were out?”
“We were. And now we’re back.”
I hear my other brother at the foot of the staircase, and another voice. Elijah. I shift my gaze back to Liz and her stare is sharp and focused on me, not them.
“Plans?” I ask.
Elijah sort of stumbles a little when he sees me, and Liz’s cheeks turn red as roses. Her heart rate picks up and it beats in my ears like a bass drum. Diah reaches out and rubs his hand on the small of Liz’s back while Elijah stays a couple steps behind.
“Movie night,” she whispers.
“Liz, can I talk to you?” I blurt.
“I’m a human, Ezra, not an idiot.”
“I know. Not like…” I glance down at my brother and his best friend. “Not about whatever. Something else.”
“Alright then.” She eyes me speculatively. “I’ll walk you out.”
Elijah and Diah head up the stairs and Liz loops her arm through mine as we head down the stairs.
“What’s up?”
“How did he tell you?”
“Tell me about what exactly?” She speaks slowly, like there’s the slightest possibility I could really be asking her how my brother propositioned her for a “movie night” with him and his best friend. Right. No, thanks.
“About us.”We reach the bottom of the stairs and I dig my keys out of my pocket.
She huffs out a relieved sounding laugh. “Oh, the whole…thing.”
“The thing.”
“He showed me.” She points at her teeth.
“And you thought, wow, this dude is a decades old vampire just because he flashed some pointy canines? Come on, Liz.” I roll my eyes and she smacks me in the chest.
“No, dumbass.” She leans in a little closer, lowering her voice. “He’s shown me stuff, and sometimes he bites me.”
“What stuff?” I try to gloss over the fact that my brother has bit her. I mean, that’s his deal. If he wants to turn his human girlfriend into a vampire on accident, that’s his prerogative. It’s risky. I’ve never done it, but that’s why I’m in the situation I’m in now.
“When we first started dating, I bought him a ring. Not like a serious ring or anything. It just made me think of him, but it was silver. Which I mean, obviously, is problematic.”
“You didn’t know.”
“No.” She smiles a little at the memory. “He didn’t want me to think he didn’t like it, so he showed me what happened if he kept it on his skin for too long.”
“It’s an allergic reaction,” I tell her.
“That’s an understatement and you know it.”
“And so you saw how his skin reacted to silver and you were, like, yep okay, vampire?”
“He told me he was, and I didn’t believe him, but I knew things about him didn’t add up. Like the way he acts sometimes or things he says. Anyway, he punctured me.” She shows me the pad of her pointer finger. “Then healed it.”
I lick my lips and try not to think about my brother and Liz like that. Try not to think about myself and Declan like that…Tasting. Licking. Wanting.
He came across as a smart guy. Young for sure, but intelligent and unafraid, and I can’t begin to presume how he would react if I tried to have that conversation with him.
