“I’ll bite your neck and drink most of your blood. You’ll pass out for a while and wake up a vampire. But the thirst is so strong at first that you’ll have to kill. It’s impossible not to. It usually takes two or three humans to fill up and gain control. After that, killing is a choice. That being said, you,” he switched focus to Ari, “can’t come.”
“I can’t?” She frowned.
“I mean, you can. If you wanna be murdered.” He chuckled at her expression. “You’ll stay here with one of them.” He nodded toward Mateo and Sean.
“So Emy’s gonna have to kill three people?” she asked.
“Two or three. She’ll basically wake up feral until she gets enough blood in her system, then pass back out for a while, then wake up fully aware and back to normal.”
“And it’s like that for everyone?”
“Yup. I killed my first sixteen, I think?” Mateo paused to count.“Yeah, it was sixteen.”
“Sixteen?” Ari echoed, eyes wide.“Why did you kill sixteen people if you only had to kill a couple?”
“The thrill?” He shrugged.“It’s an adrenaline rush. I grew out of it. I don’t kill very often anymore.”
“Can you guys keep me from running off to do a murder spree?” I asked quietly. Everything was sinking in, even with the painkillers fogging my brain. “I don’t wanna accidentally kill a bunch of people before I come back to my senses.”
“Sure. We’ll figure something out,” Dennis said.
“Thank you. I also don’t wanna kill random people. If I’m killing people, they need to be irredeemable. Like pure evil, people you know for a fact do horrible things. I don’t wanna take an innocent life.”
“We can do that,” Sean said.“Like he said, we’ll figure something out.”
“Thank you,” I mumbled, suddenly painfully exhausted. My eyes were lulling shut. I tuned out of the conversation until their voices faded away.
Into the Woods
“No,”Ari said, shoving it back.
“Please?I’ll love you forever.”
“I don’t want to.”
“If you don’t, I’ll hate you for the rest of my life.”
“I already hate you because you never gave me a blow pop.”Ari crossed her arms to match mine. We fell into a silent stare down until she caved.“Fine. Give it back.”
“I officially love you again.”I beamed and held out the razor.
“Uh-huh.”She sat on the edge of the tub as I awkwardly held outa leg.“I don’t understand why you have to shave the day after you broke an ankle.”
“BecauseI’m wearing shorts today and we’re with Dennis. I want smooth legs.” I held a hand against the shower wall to keepsteadywhile she worked.“Thanks,Ari.Have I ever told you that you’re my favorite cousin?”
“Well, you’re not mine.”
I gasped.“I’m so offended. You hurt my feelings. All of them. Every single one. They’re gone because they withered away at your hate.”
“You can’t even feel anything.”She giggled.“I don’t know why they gave you so much Vicodin again. I think they like watching you act more ridiculous than usual.”She straightened up and gave the razor back.“Your legs are silky smooth. Now hurry up so I can take mine.”She slid the shower door shut.
“Thank you.” I went backto showering, keeping the makeshift cast far from the cascading water.“What time is it?”I knew we’d been in the bathroom for a long time, but that was all my foggy brain could remember.
“Too early,”she said, digging through the bag of bathroom supplies.“I couldn’t sleep at all.”
“How come? I don’t remember anything after eating ice cream last night.”
“Lucky. They were so loud all night. Shouting about random shit and playing video games until like six-thirty. Apparently vampires don’t sleep much.”
