"Do you turn into a bat?"
"No. We don't." Ricky laughed, shaking his head.
"Don't laugh!" I covered my face. "You promised you wouldn't laugh!"
He continued laughing though, doubling over on the couch while still holding up his beer, careful not to tip it over. I crossed my arms over my chest and let out an angry sigh.
"I'm sorry." He chuckled. "It was just an amusing question."
"You promised you wouldn't laugh." I repeated.
He stopped laughing, and gave me a serious look. "Okay. I won't laugh anymore."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Right."
He smiled, patting my leg. "I promise. I will not laugh anymore."
I took a deep breath, still glaring at Ricky, watching for any sign of a laugh. "Does the sun burn you?"
And then he was laughing again. I groaned, hopping off of the couch and stalking through the kitchen and out the back door. I sat down roughly on one of the stumps, resting my elbows on my knees.
Ricky was still laughing when he sat down beside me.
"Would you shut up!" I hissed, kicking him in the shin.
"Ouch!" He whined, rubbing his leg where I'd kicked him. Then he smiled up at me and laughed just one more time before reaching his hand out towards mine. He seemed to be doing that quite often.
I took his hand and he began rubbing circles on my palm with his thumb. I shifted uneasily on the stump, trying to situate my mind. What the hell was he doing?
"Um, so, I still.. I still have a few more questions." I managed to get out, though I fumbled awkwardly over the words. Ricky just looked at me, waiting.
I cleared my throat and gently took back my hand, lacing my fingers together in my lap. "How do you... you know, get blood?"
The humor in his eyes was gone. He looked at me with a very solemn expression. "You don't want me to answer that, Natalie."
I shook my head. "Yes, I do."
He stood up abruptly and walked quickly into his house, not bothering to shut the door behind him. I ran after him, making sure I shut and locked the door behind me, because I'd learned he was paranoid about that.
"We're not always the worst thing you can run into at night in this neighborhood." He'd said.
I could see him sitting on the couch from where I stood in the kitchen, so I walked over and sat down very slowly next to him. He sighed, looking over at me.
"Do you really want to know?" He asked, his voice strained.
I nodded, leaning closer to him like he was about to tell me the nation's secrets. Maybe he was.
He took a deep, audbile breath and then closed his eyes. I'd almost thought he'd fallen asleep when he finally spoke.
"We kill. That's how we get blood. We find someone, bite into them, and drink their blood."
I felt myself shudder. "Okay."
I was very calm and collected on the outside, but I was screaming on the inside. It wasn't like I didn't already know, but it made it so much more real coming from him, more frightening.
"Last night," I began, not looking at him. "You asked me if I was afraid of you."
"Yes?"
I felt a lump form in my throat. "I'd like to change my answer."
I could see his shoulders drop out of the corner of my eye, like he was a balloon that someone had just deflated. I looked over to see that he was already looking at me, his eyes full of pain.
"Would you like to leave?" He asked, standing up. I did the same.
I thought hard about that. Did I want to leave? Ricky was interesting, I had to give him that. He said he wouldn't hurt me, but could I trust him? I didn't even know him!
"How have you managed to stay out of trouble?" I whispered, dropping my gaze to the floor.
"We usually go for people nobody would miss, people that don't seem like they'd have a family. Druggies, hookers, the occasional drunk party girl."
"And you bring them here?"
When he didn't answer, I looked up at him. He nodded.
"You didn't lock the door last night because of the neighborhood." I said, feeling like my stomach was about to jump right out of my mouth. "You locked it out of habit, didn't you? Because you lock the doors after you've brought them here, don't you?"
He nodded again, and I turned to the door. But he was there before I was.
"Just wait." He begged. He grabbed my wrists gently and I involuntarily yelped. His eyes grew wide.
"You said I could leave if I wanted to." I whispered, squeezing my eyes closed.
His grip on my wrists tightening just slightly, just to the point that I knew it would leave bruises.
"Then say it." He croaked. "Say you want to leave. Call me a freak, a monster. I've heard it before. I want to hear you say it." His voice cracked on the last word, and his grip tightened again.
"You're hurting me." I whimpered.
I opened my eyes, and he was looking at me. He didn't look angry, just upset. Afraid, broken, like I had last night in Chris's SUV. We stared at each other for a few seconds.
"Let go of me." I pleaded, pulling against him.
"Say it." He repeated, and his grip loosened a bit.
As I opened my mouth to speak, a knock on the door behind me made me jump. Ricky cursed under his breath and released one of my wrists, it was red and slightly swollen.
He unlocked the door and pulled it open, groaning.
"Nice to see you, too." Chris said sarcastically, walking inside.
He glanced at me, and then my wrist, which Ricky was still holding.
"What's going on?" He asked warily, his eyebrows pulling together.
Ricky let go of my wrist and I took a step away from him, dropping my head.
"I want to leave." I said, glancing up at Chris.
He nodded, his face expressionless. "Well, the thing is... you can't."
"Why?" I shouted, clenching my hands into fists.
He held up his hands in defense. "The police are looking for you. They got a call of a noise disturbance last night after we left, and they found Noah. You're officially a suspect."
"How am I a suspect?!" I shrieked, folding my arms across my chest, trying to hold myself together. "I didn't even do anything!"
Chris sighed. "Regardless, you can't leave right now. Someone tell me what was going on before I got here."
Ricky finally spoke up. "She was trying to leave."
"And?" Chris said, gesturing for him to continue.
"I didn't want her to."
Chris reached his hand out towards me. "Can I see your wrists?"
I nodded, holding my arms out towards him. My wrists were already turning an ugly shade of purple.
"Christ, Ricky. Hasn't she been through enough already?" Chris said, sighing.
But I ignored whatever Ricky said back to him. I walked slowly to the couch and laid down, resting my head against the fluffy blanket that I had slept with. I was a suspect in Noah's murder. Me. Everyone, all of our friends, my family... They all probably thought I was a murderer.
I closed my eyes and tried to turn everything back to normal.
