SEVEN
December in the mountains had arrived with a thick layer of frost and a gray sky laden with snow clouds. Sophie realized she hadn’t packed her snowboots as she trudged on foot to Ramsey Court, her sneakers wet and her fingers freezing. In spite of the cold, her skin refused to turn rosy. She stayed arctic white. If it wasn’t for her clothing, she wondered if she’d be invisible against the sky.
Invisible like that lady Auntie Izzy helped.
Or feeling like a ghost.
Or a monster.
She signed in at the front desk, now that an RA was there. The lobby was full of shambling figures in pajamas, skipping morning class or basking in the luxury of afternoon commitments.
Jesse would be working. Unless that was a lie, too.
Wondering if she should have texted first, she rapped on his door and stood back, heart hammering.
“Yes?” a voice called out.
Her heart instantly twisted. There was no glib mockery in his tone, no college playboy who loved scoring off the broken hearts he made. He sounded utterly bereft and crushed.
“It’s me.”
Silence.
The door remained shut for a long time, but just as she was opening her mouth to call out again, it slivered open. “Sophie?”
“Hi.”
“You... what? What are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?”
There was a second of hesitation before Jesse opened the door fully, letting her see his face.
Any thoughts of Jesse indulging in mocking laughter faded from Sophie’s mind as she took in his pouched, bloodshot eyes, the swelling around his lids, and the utter wreck of his normally sexy hair. Wordlessly, he stepped back to allow her to enter the room, which looked like it had survived a burglary. Books and CDs were thrown across the floor. The chair and table lay on their sides, far from their original positions.
“Jesse. I think... maybe you need help.”
“Ha. I know. There’s just no cure for this. You live with it until you die with it,” he rasped, voice raw. He followed her eyes around the destruction and hastily yanked the table and chair upright. “Sorry about the mess. I— I was upset.” As he gathered up the books, he shook his head. “Upset is an understatement. I was devastated, whether you think I have a right to be or not. I was mad at myself on top of everything else.” Books back in place, he turned and regarded her. “What are you doing here?”
Sophie’s heart ached at the loathing in his voice, not directed at her but at himself. “If you love someone, you don’t leave them because of mental health issues. I should have listened to you. If you believe you’re a vampire—”
“Soph,” Jesse held up a hand, stopping her as the lines of regret etched deeper into his otherwise flawless face, “I’m not mentally ill. Well, not disillusioned about being some nightmare creature. I am what I am, but I’m not that scary.”
This is going to be much harder than I thought.Sophie found herself struggling to rectify what surely must be a formof madness with his calm tones and his hopeless shrug. “Okay, then. Show me. Vampires have fangs.”
“Yep. They retract.”
“And they can’t go out in the daylight.”
“They can’t go out in thesunlight. I can do a cloudy day with no problem.”
