SIMON
Cold lips, cold mouth.
I’ve never heard Baz’s heartbeat.
And I’ve lain all night with my head on his chest.
BAZ
My favourite part of kissing Simon when he’s cold is the way he goes warm in my hands. LikeI’mthe living campfire. Like I’m the one who lives. I warm him in my arms, and then he warms me in his. He gives it all back to me.
SIMON
I’d give him all that I am.
I’d give him all that I was.
I’d open up a vein.
I’d tie our hearts together, chamber by chamber.
BAZ
It’s good, it’s good, it’s so good.
And I resist demanding an explanation.
Why now, what’s the key? How do I get back here tomorrow? Promise to let me back in.
Sometimes Simon kisses me like it’s the end of the world, and I worry he might believe that it is.
The truck stops too soon. Shepard doesn’t want to drive into Vegas at night. “We’re less likely to get noticed in the morning,” he says.
He pulls into a campground, and all four of us bed down in the back of the truck, Penny between Simon and me, for safety. There’s only one sleeping bag, but I spell the truck soft with“Cushion the blow!”
Shepard can’t get over it. He keeps jumping up and down like a kid in a bouncy castle.
“So,” Bunce says, “what do you know about this hotel we’re headed to?”
“The Katherine?” he says. “It’s one of the vampire hotels. The oldest, I think. The parties there are infamous—every night in the penthouse suite.”
“There are vampire hotels?” Simon asks.
“There are vampire everything in Vegas,” Shepard says. “There are probably vampire dry cleaners. Vampire taxis. Vampire accountants…”
“I thought you said you’ve never met a vampire,” I say.
“I haven’t. I hadn’t.”
“So how do you know where they party?”
“I know people who know,” Shepard says. “Well. Not exactlypeople…”
Bunce huffs. “So we’re going to crash a vampire party and hope your charm attack works on them?‘Hi, I’m Shepard, and I just want to be friends. Please tell me all your vampire secrets.’”
“God, no,” Shepard says. “I’d get drained. Vampires are notoriously tight-lipped. They keep to their own.”
“So?” Bunce asks.
