I thought back to the stench of alcohol on his breath. The threat to make it easy so he wouldn’t hurt me. He didn’t do any damage, but what if I were human and I hadn’t cooperated? If I hadn’t been a vampire. If it was Ari instead…
“I don’t think I want him to be,”I realized.“What if he does this to someone else?”
Dennis brushed past me and lifted the manbyhis neck, then snapped it and dropped the body.“Problem solved.”Hekneeled and took the crooked neck. “Do you want any more?” I shook my head.“I’m gonna drink the rest of this before it gets stale.”
I watched in a daze while he drank, wondering how he could kill someone without hesitation orremorse.Not even a hint of guilt.
“Am I gonna be like that?” I asked once he’d finished.
“A ruthless murderer?”Heread my thoughts word for word. For once I wished he hadn’t for a reason other than annoyance. I didn’t mean for it to sound so harsh. He licked his lips and smiled.“Don’t worry, I’m not offended.”He pushed the body aside and stood.“I doubt you’ll be like me. It’s a choice. I chose it. I don’t think you will.”He stared at the corpse for a few seconds before walking around it.
“Wait, what’re we gonna do with it?”I gestured toward the thing. It didn’t look very appetizing anymore. The lack of blood made it just a dead body.
“Leave it. Someone’ll find him eventually.”
“We can’t just leave it. We’re right by Mikaila’s house. What if she sees it and gets traumatized?”
“Who?”
“The little girl I walked home,” I said. It took him a second to remember, and even then he barely seemed to care.
“Oh. Right.” He lifted the bodybyitsdisfiguredneck.“Can you open that?”Henoddedtowarda largedumpster.
I crossed the alley and held the lid up, then cringed when the body soared past and smacked the hard surface. It bounced off and crumpled to the bottom.
“Ew.”I dropped the lid.
“Better?”
“Yeah.”I wiped both hands against my skirt in disgust.“And you’ll come back to get rid of our DNA or whatever?”
“I always do.”
I shuddered as we set off down the street.His answer was more disturbing than comforting. But at least he wouldn’t be going to prison anytime soon and leaving me to fend for myself. Because that would be horrible. I’d never be fully trained on how to drink, or find out what initiations exist that he was pretending weren’t a real thing, or—
“There are no initiations.”
“Okay, this is ridiculous. Either there’s something wrong with my head or you lied about when you can and can’t hearme.”
“Do you want a real answer?” he asked.
“Yes!”
“Something’s wrong with your head,” he said. I glanced over, expecting the usual teasing smirk, but he was serious. My face fell. “I didn’t realize until your change yesterday. Sean and I were talking about how often he hears Ari, and I realized I do hear you way more than I should.”
“Because of the bipolar disorder?” I asked quietly.
“I assume so.”
“I guess that makes sense. You said you can hear more when I’m drunk or sleeping, right? And my mind is like a drunk person sometimes. Or a drugged person. Or a completely useless person.” I bit my lip, praying a wave of sadness wouldn’t hit.“Why didn’t you tell me this when you figured it out?”
He didn’t respond, but the answer was clear enough: he was worried I’d have another breakdown. Great. Another person walking on eggshells around the bipolar girl who’s prone to explode at the slightest sign of a problem.
“That’s not why,” he said halfheartedly.
“I really miss having private thoughts. This is soannoying.”
“What’s annoying?The fact thatAriand I are the only people who understand you?”His teasing smirk was back.
