A look of realization at the words. I took a moment to re-break his legs, then put out the fire that had been burning through his pants. He should be relieved but instead he was still agonizing. His arms were slowly healing. Nowhere near completely. But enough that the raw fingers of his left hand could move.
I pretended not to notice and let him have his moment. His hand reached to pull the largest cross from his neck. He took in a ragged breath, finally able to fully inhale. I took the crucifix from his trembling hand.
“Thank you,” I murmured. I stabbed it into his throat. His scream died to a gurgle as blood pooled. “You sound nice when you do that.”
His eyes widened as I pressed his head back and slowly dragged it across his neck.
Violent, Volatile
I wandered down the hall, hoping to see where everyone was. Ari’s heartbeat was in the living room along with one of the guys, but I couldn’t tell who.
“Good afternoon.”She peered up from an open textbook,smiling as I walked in.
“Morning,”I replied sleepily, then furrowed my brows when her words connected.
“It’s way past morning,” she said, reading the question on my face. “Apparently, your body’s slowly adjusting to vampire time. Which makes sense, ‘cause you were awake for forever when you came to bed. I swear you wouldn’t stop humming for like three hours.”
“You were awake?”
“Not until you woke me up singing and whispering nonsense. It took me forever to fall back asleep.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve hung out!”
“Because I wanted to sleep and if you noticed me awake, you would’ve talked my ear off.”
Meh. It’s true, so whatever. Can’t be mad! I started rifling through my bag for an outfit when I noticed Sean reading one of her textbooks.
“Why are you studying?”I asked, catching his reluctant attention.“You’re not even in school. Are you?”
“No. I graduated last year. But I never knew so much goes on underwater. It’s really interesting.”He turned the page and kept reading.
“Nerd.” I chose an outfit and stood.“Where’s Dennis?”
“Dunno.”Sean shrugged.
I briefly wondered where he might be before leaving to get showered, dressed and ready for the day. When I returned Ari and Sean were still being nerds and no other heartbeats were in the place. I dug through my bag for happy pills andhad just finished taking them when the door opened and Dennis walked in.
“Hi,Dennis!”
“Hey.”He barely acknowledged me which was sad, but I felt a little better when hepassed the couch without a word, ignoring Sean and Ari completely.
“Where were you?”I asked.
He paused near the hall to look at me. His eyes drifted to my low-cut shirt for a second, but he didn’t mention it.“Running errands,”he said coolly.“I’ll be in my room.”
I watched as he walked away, wondering what was making him so antisocial today.
“Ifeel like food,”Sean said.
“Oh, thank god.”Ari hopped up as if she’d been waiting for a chance to eat all day. “I’m so hungry, but you guys hardly eat. I didn’t wanna complain.Let’s make something.”
“Make lasagna! She makes amazing lasagna from scratch,”I piped up.“It’s the best thing ever.”
“Really?”Sean looked at her in awe.“Wait, aren’t you lactose intolerant?”
“I have pills, but I save them for my favorite meals. I guess I can take one today.”
“Can you teach me how to make it?It’s my favorite.”
