“Listen!” he hissed, shoving her ear to his chest.
Sophie struggled for a minute, but Jesse’s grip was iron. A few seconds ticked past and Sophie ceased wriggling. His hands relaxed.
What’s going on? Panic of a new kind seeped in.
She moved her head to the left. The right. Up. Down.
Jesse stepped back and looked at her, lips thin and eyes wide, the fear in them crystal clear. “What did you hear?”
“Nothing,” she mouthed.
“No heartbeat.”
The scream rose and faded, nothing left but a tiny wincing sound.
“Okay,” Jesse seemed to be talking to himself as well as his shaken guest. “That’s one thing. That’s proof right?”
Sophie said nothing. She didn’t move. She didn’t even blink. She briefly wondered if her body was frozen, finally lost in the arctic of her skin.
“I can show you the fangs. I can. But I mean it when I said don’t scream. I don’t want to scare you. I promise not to hurt you. I didn't show you before because I... It’s hard enough being something the world thinks is scary. It’s worse if the person you love looks at you like a monster.”
She spoke through gritted teeth, her jaw locked to keep from shaking or screeching. "I won't."
“I don’t have to show you,” Jesse offered, seeming relieved at the idea.
She wasn’t. Her mind, which was about to shut down anyway, was making the semi-appealing argument that if Jesse really was a vampire, then he hadn’t lied to her and he didn’t require medical help.
On the other hand...shemight be. Vampires didn’t exist. “Do it.”
Jesse turned away.
“Stop!” Sophie ordered. “Facing me. N-no tricks.”
“I wish it were a damn trick.” Jesse sighed and something rippled across his skin.
Sophie watched, mouth slowly falling open as Jesse’s face changed, eyes turning from blue to blood red, face rearranging, ever so slightly to appear more feline around his cheekbones. Then he smiled. Sharp fangs decorated the outer edges of his smile.
Sophie didn’t scream. She didn’t attack. She didn’t even run out the door that was right behind her.
She just fainted.
“SOPHIE, PLEASE. PLEASE, wake up, Soph. Look... if you don’t wake up, I’m going to smash your cello. No, no, I wouldn’t do that. Uh... I’ll call your mother? Oh, God!”
Sophie slowly opened her eyes. She was on a hammock. Or maybe a chiropractor’s table? Her head seemed to be above her feet, but she was lying down.
Broken couch, she realized. She was lying on Jesse’s broken couch, and Jesse was pacing around it.
“Jesse?”
“Oh, thank God! You’re awake!” Jesse fell to his knees beside the couch. His eyes were once again blue and his teeth were straight, white, and even.
“You didn’t lie.”
“No, I didn’t lie,” Jesse tentatively reached out to push her hair from her eyes.
“It’s not possible.”
“I said that, too, until it happened to me.”
