Without a Sound

After I was changed into my pajamas, I entered Mikey’s room. He was sitting in his chair, waiting for me. He didn’t look at me, though. His eyes were glued on his bed.

I hesitated. Of course I wanted to climb right into his bed, but I knew I just couldn’t do that. So I went to the bed I’d made on the floor two days before.

Mikey made a noise halfway between a sigh and a grunt. “Charlotte, you don’t have to sleep on the floor.”

I turned around. He was very convincing. He almost looked like he meant it. I smiled sadly back, saying, “Really, I’ll be okay on the floor.”

Slowly, he rose from the chair and came to sit next to me on the blankets spread out over the floor. “Don’t sleep on the floor,” he replied persuasively. “Sleep in the bed.”

Either he was extremely forceful, or I just really wanted to obey him, but I felt my foundation crumbling. I knew he was looking at me, so I studied my hands, not wanting to look into his eyes. “I would,” I admitted, praying I wasn’t saying too much. “It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s that I don’t want to take Ivy’s spot.”

Mikey took my hand, so I was forced not to only look at my hands, but to look at his too. “No, it’s not like that,” he assured me. “You’re not taking her place. I mean, you are, but it’s like… there’s extra room for you that wasn’t there before.”

I wasn’t sure if we were still talking about the bed or if we’d changed to talking about me in general, but I had to look up at last to accuse, “You’re just saying that to change my mind. It’s not how you really feel; you’re just too nice to make me sleep on the floor.”

Mikey cupped my chin in one of his hands so I couldn’t look away. “You don’t really think that, do you?” he breathed.

I could only blink in reply.

He actually laughed. “Oh, God, you’re just making this harder than it should be. It’s not that complicated. I don’t think you should sleep in the bed, I need you to sleep in it. I want you to.”

I was slightly distracted by how close he was, how soft his eyes were, how gentle his hand was… Not to mention what he said. I wanted so much to believe what he was saying, but I couldn’t quite do it. “Why?” I demanded.

Mikey’s smile faded and was replaced by a scowl. “I can honestly tell you that I don’t know why. I wish I could tell you,” he insisted, “but I really don’t know.”

You know, I thought sharply. You know you love me. Why can’t you just admit it? I couldn’t say it out loud, though. The words would cut him too deeply, and they wouldn’t sound right on my tongue. Instead, I just replied, “I’m not sure.”

“Please?” he begged, tucking a long strand of my hair behind my ear.

I couldn’t have resisted if I put all my effort into it. Luckily I gave in right away before I could humiliate myself trying. “Okay, Mikey,” I whispered.

I was about to get up, but he scooped me up, grinning. Holding me with one arm, he set me on Ivy’s side of the bed and tucked me in. Then he turned off the light and hopped in next to me.

For a second we were trapped in an awkward silence. Then he said “Good night” and held my hand. “I’ll wake you up. We’ll hunt tomorrow.”

I nodded, having expected we would hunt soon. “’Night.”

He didn’t kiss me. Maybe he thought it would be too much, considering we were in a bed. So I closed my eyes and prepared to sleep. Little blood was left in his veins, so little that it was hard to sense it, hard to know where exactly he was. I though I was dreaming it when I felt the tiny bit of blood in his face close to mine.

Then his lips touched mine, and I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing I wasn’t dreaming. Then I remembered I couldn’t be dreaming. My imagination wasn’t wild enough to make up how this felt.

He was actually kissing me. And it was way better than I thought it would be. I felt a tingling like static electricity all over me, and I wanted to forget about everything but him. All too soon, he pulled away.

With his index finger, he drew a line from my temple to my jaw. I kept my eyes shut. “Have sweet dreams,” I murmured, preoccupied.

“I will now,” he replied, squeezing my hand and not letting go. We were both awake for a long time after that. It might’ve been hours. When at last I slipped into sleep, I felt on top of the world.

When Mikey woke me up, I figured I was still asleep, dreaming the kiss from the night before all over again. But this time it was different. One of his hands was on my upper arm, while the other stroked my cheek. “Wake up, Charlotte,” he crooned.

I smiled. “I’m awake now.”

I opened my eyes after he pulled away and got out of his bed. For the first time I realized he was wearing nothing but boxers. When he saw the look I gave him, he looked very amused. He was confusing me more than I thought was possible.

We were both pretty quiet while we got ready to go and ate breakfast. When we got into his car, I noticed we were a little late. It was already eight, so it was almost totally dark when we got into the city. Mikey was wearing his leather jacket even though it was warm. I saw the glint of metal when it opened up. He had a gun and a knife this time.

Mikey found our prey very quickly, although I couldn’t quite find who he was focused on. I followed him anyways, trusting that he knew where he was going. We were almost running down the deserted sidewalk, hand in hand with only dim streetlights to light our way.

When we slowed down and he put his finger to his lips. I finally sensed the man. He was kneeling down, and there was no blood on him, but there was something small and dead in from of him. Not a whole body. That scared me a little.

Mikey looked disgusted. We turned a corner behind a building. The only light was coming from a few windows high up in the building, so Mikey and I hid in the shadows. When I had a full view of the man, I was disgusted too.

He was tall and lean, and he was kneeling in front of a wooden crate. He tore at the crate ravenously, and the wood splintered into sharp edges and broke away. Around his neck was a string of bones, and I knew they were human bones. Fingers. When he had the crate in enough pieces to take out what was inside, he pulled out another finger, only this one was more than just bone.

Mikey silently motioned for me to follow him. With a fluent, easy movement, he drew his knife, crept up behind the man, and slit his throat.

I didn’t feel guilty while we drank. I believed this had to be one of the most evil men on earth, as crazy as they come. I was glad he wasn’t alive anymore.

Just as we were finishing up, an even more evil creature stepped hungrily out of the shadows. I recognized the vampire instantly, as did Mikey.