Mommy says they found out about my blood when I was a baby. And some of my daddy’s most important friends know about it too.
Good blood is a very special gift,my mommy says.
My daddy and my mommy aren’t vampires. They’re humans like me. But my mommy says that I am so special because of my special blood that I will be chosen by one of the most important, strongest, most special vampire boys when I’m a grown-up girl.
I make the vampire doll stand taller than the girl.
“I will take care of you,” I say for him.
“Do you love me?” my Blair doll asks.
“Yes, I love you. You’re a special girl.”
I wish I could tell my best friend Laura about my vampire dolls and my special blood, but my mommy and daddy said that Laura’s family doesn’t know the secret. Not many human families know about the special blood and special vampires.
I’m not allowed to talk about any of it at school. Or at church. Or anywhere, really. And I only ever hear my parents talk about it when certain people are at our house. Only humans who know. And vampires too. Sometimes my mommy and daddy have special vampires at our house. They’re big, strong men and they’re kind of scary, but I think that’s just because they’re so strong.
“I won’t tell anyone about the secret,” my Blair doll says to the vampire doll.
“Good. You’re a good special girl,” the vampire doll says.
“And you love me?”
“And I love you.”
I set the vampire doll down and smooth the Blair doll’s hair down her back. “You don’t have to worry,” I tell her. “A vampire will choose you. Because you have the special blood.”
My mommy says when I’m a grown-up girl, I’ll go to secret special events and a vampire man will choose me because he loves me and my special blood.
“They’ll feel it,” Mommy told me. “And you will too.”
I pick my favorite vampire doll back up, the blond one with the green-but-sometimes-purple eyes and examine his face closer.
“When I grow up and get chosen,” I whisper. “I hope it’s someone like you.”
Kane
If this were a normal party, I’d be enjoying myself.
I’d work the room, make people laugh their asses off, and probably convince at least three total strangers they’ve known me for years. I’d flirt a little with the bartender in the name of getting her to employ longer pours and talk the host into letting us fuck around with karaoke rather than listen to this fancy classical shit.
I bring golden-retriever-with-a-knife energy.
I’m charming as shit and excellent at making friends, but if someone starts trouble, I won’t hesitate to be the one to end it—or them.
But this isn’t a normal party, and tonight, I can’t be myself at all.
Tonight, I’m background noise.
Tonight, I’m a nobody in a mask.
Being invisible isnotmy natural state, but if I let even ten percent of my personality out in this room, someone would notice. And if someone notices, someone dies.
Real talk, my brother Cal and I shouldnotbe here. Naturally, that means it was mostly my idea, and the purpose of our mission is to find out how far up shit’s creek we are.
Very early this morning, my brothers and I may have made aslightly controversialdecision involving the elites—by killing three of their gofers in Kylie Moon’s driveway and kidnapping her.
Technically, werescuedher. Though, I’m guessing the elites won’t be interested in that particular distinction since they’re the villains in our scenario.
