As The Blood Is Drained, It's Bad For Business

By the end of the night, we’re allowed to take...Elizabeth, home. I refuse to call her Mom anymore; she’s not my mother. She’s just become a waste of space. We take her home and put her to bed. We lock up the liquor cabinet.

William has stayed with us the whole night, regardless of the fact that his parents ordered him to come home. He’s so loyal, and I’ve only known him for a short period of time. I glance over at him when he’s not looking-I can tell he’s for keeps.

“I’m going to bed,” Matthew says. We’re all lying on my bed, slumped over each other. I wiggle around to let Mattie loose and he stumbles the few feet across the room to his own bed. He lands with an “oomphf” onto his mattress.

Will’s cell phone rings. The vibrations from it make me jump. He quickly looks at the caller ID: ‘Mom’ it reads. He flips the phone open. I can hear her screaming through the phone.

*“Where are you? I told you to be home hours ago! Get your ass home, now!”* Her shrill voice wails. He smiles.

“Mom, calm down, okay? I’m at a friend’s house, he needs moral support. His mom’s in the hospital.” I smile into my pillow at his quiet little lie. Silence sings on the other end of the phone for a moment.

*“Oh...well you didn’t...you could have...okay. Be back by eleven tomorrow morning.”* I almost laugh at her sudden change of heart. William agrees and hangs up.

“You’re sleeping over?” I ask, smiling brightly. He smiles back, his snakebites shining in the darkness.

“Sure, why not?” My hand subconsciously grabs the loose ends of his shirt and I rest my head into the crook of his collarbone, falling asleep.

Cayden laughed.

“No, it’s not magic...technically speaking. It’s an old Pagan tradition. A lot of vampires follow the old ways. I guess it sounds ridiculous to you, but it works pretty well. Salt for protection.” I stared at him. “Come on,” he gestured, “let’s go back inside. It’s physically impossible for you to leave right now.” He stepped over the invisible barrier and headed towards me. What happened next happened so fast that it seemed...surreal.

Cayden brushed his shoulder against my back and reached his hand out, grabbing mine and pulling me forward. The physical contact made me shudder; I hadn’t physically touched someone since I passed out and he took me here. It felt like someone taking a taser to my entire arm...and trust me, I know what that feels like. Immediately upon contact I ripped my hand away from his and took a step back, too scared to move anywhere else. I stared at him wide-eyed. In a matter of seconds he realized what he did. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes.

“Come in whenever you want then,” he whispered, and took off at the speed of light for the house. I barely saw him leave. I thought back to what Daniel had said and bit down hard on my bottom lip. I went after him.

I found him in the kitchen, sitting on the floor with Killer in his lap. The dog growled at me and motioned to get up, but Cayden held him back. I held my breath until I was sure that it was safe. Cayden latched a silver collar on him that was hooked to a leash, obviously designed for dogs...like him. I would be fine. Cayden stayed where he was on the floor, and I went to sit beside him. Killer, sensing he was getting no where by snapping at me, walked off to the farther regions of the kitchen and through another door. I sighed.

“Why did you bring me here?” I whispered. I stared in front of me, instead of into the piercing violet eyes that I could feel tracing down my face and neck. He said nothing for a moment.

“Because I thought maybe I could change you...maybe. I just thought if you knew what we did around here was, in certain views, good, you would stop killing vampires. It’s not like I don’t know them. They’re my friends; my family. I know you know how that feels.” My breath caught in my throat and I didn’t dare look at him.

“You know,” I whispered even quieter. If he had not been a vampire it would have been impossible to hear.

“I know parts,” he said understandingly, as I saw him nod his head in my peripheral vision, “but I don’t know all of it. And maybe if you shared it with me, I might get to understand you better. You’re a very confusing person, Scarlett Tiernel.” I finally turned to look him in the eyes. He seemed to honestly care, honestly want to know more about me. I didn’t get it. He was just supposed to be this stupid vampire that got away. I closed my eyes and held my breath, counting to ten. And then somehow my counting got ahead of me, and I skipped to one hundred, and I didn’t know what I was doing...and I kissed him.

I kissed that stupid vampire right on the lips. It didn’t taste like blood, either...it tasted sweet. Like the morning dew before anyone gets up to walk on the grass, or a summer night’s breeze when you can see the entire moon. But it wasn’t too sweet; just right. I couldn’t find the words to describe it. His lips were smooth and perfect against my partially chapped ones. I breathed in heavily, kept my eyes closed, too afraid to open them. I parted my lips just barely, and I tasted another flavor-salty. And then I realized that I was crying; something that I hadn’t done in a long time. I broke away from the kiss and my eyes flew open.

“Shit,” I said breathlessly, and I got up and ran out of there faster than I had ever been able to get away from a vampire.