"Why did you say no?" Bri's voice crackles through the speaker on my phone.
I shrug even though she can't see me. "Why not?"
"Nuh uh. Don't pull that BS with me."
I can't help but laugh but I don't respond. Instead, I roll a loose thread from Aurora's bed comforter between my fingers.
"What is it, Gwen?" she prompts. "Might as well use the human before you kill her."
My chest clenches. I try to keep those thoughts to a minimum. I'm trying to stay optimistic, even though I won't say it out loud. I want Jamie to walk away from this uninjured. The more I get to know her, the more I want her to survive.
"I'm scared," I answer. "I'm scared that if I find out who killed my parents and turned me into this bloodthirsty murderer, I'll hunt him down and kill him."
"Don't talk like that." Bri's voice is quick and sharp, followed with a long silence. She lets out a frustrated sigh. "You have to stop bashing on blood suckers."
"I'm not bashing on them."
"Us," she corrects. "You're bashing on us."
"Bri—"
"No. You know what they'll do to you if you're not like the rest of us. You need to take this seriously."
There's a long pause as I think about my fight with John. Did he put her up to this? A twinge of guilt runs through my chest. We've never fought like that before, and we still haven't made up but maybe Bri is different. Maybe she'll understand. She's still young like me. She wasn't turned decades ago like John.
"Maybe I'm not like the rest of you."
"Stop talking like that, Gw—"
"No, Bri. Seriously. Did you feel bad when we killed those kids in the forest?"
"Don't ask me that."
"Did you?"
"No." Her tone is all acid. "Humans are food. And even if I did feel bad, I'm not going to say it out loud. That's like pointing a loaded gun to my head in the daytime and telling a hunter where to find me. Look, I have to go. I'll talk to you later." With that, she hangs up.
The call is ended before I can look at the phone screen. Great. I've pissed off two people I care about now. But, within seconds, the hollow thud in my chest is numbed by the doorbell.
"It's Jamie. I got it!" I call into the kitchen as I half-jog down the hallway but when I pull the door open, it's not Jamie staring back at me. It's Faith. The mousy looking girl from the beach. The one who saved me from drowning and tried to make me drink from her. She shoves a moving box into my arm and takes another from the older woman standing behind her.
"What are you doing here?" I whisper.
It's not until they both step into the house that I notice the resemblance, both with long brown braids down their backs, pale skin, and hazel eyes.
"Hey, you," Faith says, cocking her head to the side a little. "Miss me?"
I have to physically stop myself from shaking my head.
"Oh, Gwen." Aurora's strong voice comes from behind me as she wipes her hands on a dishrag. "You've met Faith already. How lovely. This is her mother, Denise. She delivers extra blood to me and a few other bloodsuckers in town."
The older woman, Denise, looks at me but her eyes are empty. "Nice to meet you, dear. Faith was so excited to run into a blood sucker out in the city, she couldn't keep herself from talking about you."
I swallow. I don't know what to say and Aurora must sense it because she gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"How 'bout you set those in the kitchen for me." She clears the freshly baked pecan pie from the counter and motions for us to set the boxes down.
"You know, Faith," she starts. "You're lucky it was Gwen. Most of our kind can't control their thirst. You should both be careful." She looks between the women, both of them stiff. Aurora produces one of her warmest smiles. "We wouldn't want one of you to get hurt is all I'm saying."
Denise produces a robotic smile and leans against the counter. "Faith has always had a strong interest in your kind." She opens her mouth to speak but stays like that for a moment while she thinks of what to say. "There's a blood shortage at our donation center, Aurora." Her tone is strong as she changes the direction of the conversation. She's picking at a hangnail, her eyes focused on her hands as she talks. "You haven't felt the consequences of the shortage because... Well, because I like you." Her eyes flick up to Aurora's and stay there but the warmth is gone from the room.
I watch her closely, the air sucked from my lungs. This isn't small talk anymore. This is a threat. "I care very much for my daughter and if Faith would like to spend time with a blood sucker, I will allow it. If that's an issue with you... Then you should look into finding a new supplier."
Aurora opens her mouth to speak, closes it again. Her eyes are wide with confusion as she stammers through ways to begin her sentence.
Finally, she settles on, "Of course not, Denise. That's a family decision." She smiles again, regaining her composure. "I only care for your well-being."
With that, Denise nods once and they begin discussing payment options as if Denise didn't threaten to cut off Aurora's life source less than a minute ago. I use the distraction to excuse myself from the room and, like clockwork, someone knocks on the front door. Jamie. I practically jog to the door and pull it open, forgetting to hide the enthusiasm on my face.
"Hey, let's get out of here." I say as I pull my jacket from the coat rack and squeeze by Jamie.
"I wanted to say hi to Aurora," Jamie says, and I grab her wrist.
"Trust me... You don't." I'm pulling her down the walkway, my chest warmed by the way she giggles and half-jogs to keep pace with me.
"You wanna drive?" Jamie asks, dangling the keys at me.
"You wanna die?"
She laughs and slides into the car. She's in the middle of saying something about how her car is the easiest to learn in since it's so small when she stops.
"Isn't that the girl who pulled you from the ocean the other day? Yeah, she's in the Bolton County Climate Crew too," she continues.
I know the answer to her question, but I follow her eyes to the girl standing on the other side of the kitchen window anyway. Faith is looking at us, not even pulling her eyes away when it's obvious she's been caught staring.
I clear my throat, buckle my seatbelt. "Yeah."
"Are you guys friends? She can come with us, I don't—"
"No," I say too quickly. I force a smile when she looks at me curiously. "Her mom does business with Aurora, and she tagged along."
Jamie's eyes linger on mine. I could melt under those forest green eyes if I wasn't so focused on the tightness in my throat. In the chaos of Faith and her mother's arrival, I forgot to drink a bag of blood. My willpower is always weak when I wait too long between meals. I want to kick myself for putting Jamie in danger over something so stupid.
Jamie's lips pull into a smile at one side. "What are you keeping from me, Gwen?"
My heart skips a beat and stills. I let out a nervous chuckle. "What do you mean?"
She scans my face before she turns and shoves the key in the ignition. "You seem like someone who has hella secrets."
I shake my head. "I don't know what you're talking about."
She nods. "Suuure." She shrugs and pulls the rattling car away from the curb. "No hard feelings."
She's smiling as she turns the knob on her radio and rolls the windows down. A cool breeze blows into the car, blows her hair around her face, blows her scent away from me and finally, without the heat of her scrutiny and the warm smell of iron and rust, I can breathe again. We drive to the sound of acoustic remixes and her humming along to every track that plays until we pull into the parking lot of the hospital.
Jamie looks at me after she puts the car in park and we sit in silence for a moment as she opens her mouth to say something and snaps it shut again, replacing it with a smile.
"You ready?"
I watch her curiously. "Everything okay?"
She nods and pulls herself from the car, but I can tell something is wrong as we make our way to the sliding glass doors to the Bolton County Regional Hospital. I pick through our most recent conversations and try to think of what she wanted to say as we take the elevator up to the floor that offers recovery services and physical therapy. My thoughts are racing in and out of every room as I hold my breath for as long as I can. My lungs are on fire as we round the corner into Liam's room.
Jamie gives two light knocks on the doorframe and Liam looks up from a thick Stephen King novel, but instead of a smile or a typical Liam-eye-roll, his eyes go round with horror and he lets out a scream that makes everyone stop what they're doing and stare.
"Liam." Jamie holds a comforting hand out. "Liam, what's wrong?"
But he doesn't stop. He screams until his face runs a deep red and nurses are shoving us to the side and pushing him down against the light blue sheets fitted to his bed.
"Liam," Jamie tries again but it only makes him shake his head and scream louder until spittle is flying from his lips and a nurse is escorting us from the building.