Sam turned back to me after Angela's car started on the driveway. He coerced me silently to one of the chairs at the kitchen island and laid my palm flat on the countertop. His eyes were carefully fixed on my wound as he wiped up some of the blood that'd dripped all the way to my wrist. He looked like a professional doctor but, at the same time, like he had no idea what to do.
The question eating at me was right on the top of my tongue when he distracted me, drawing in a breath to speak. The silver of his eyes expanded again. "You have two options," he told me, nodding to the gash, "either I can fix that the normal way..." he paused, unsure. He glanced at the front door then back at me. "Or we could do this the vampire way."
"What's the vampire way?" I asked cautiously. The word didn't freak me out like it probably should have: I was impervious to anything thrown at me by now. At least I was for 'vampire stuff'. Realising I had grown up with it was both a sad and comforting thought; it was familiar to me in a foreign way.
Sam didn't look like he wanted to tell me the vampire way of healing my arm. I couldn't tell if it was because he didn't want to tell me, or because Colby didn't want him to tell me. I decided on the former when Sam opened his mouth to speak again. "It might gross you out," he said, "but if you drink a vampire's blood, your cells heal something like a hundred times faster. I don't know the science; just that you will heal almost instantly."
"That sounds too good to be true," I murmured, staring at his face. He looked regretful.
"There are catches." He agreed.
"Like?"
"Well, humans aren't supposed to have our blood in their system. It acts sort of like an adrenaline boost: gives you lots of energy and your reflexes get better. It's also disgusting, so there's that."
I almost smiled. "Where's Colby?"
"I'm not sure. He uh... he couldn't quite handle seeing your blood in such high quantity. He had to get away for a minute."
I narrowed my eyes. "Is he going to... feed, or whatever you boys say?"
Sam snickered. "Feed is exactly what we say. And no, he doesn't feed on live people anymore." I didn't ask. "Why did you want to know?"
"No reason," I muttered, my eyes flicking down to my lap. I didn't know what to do, was the real reason. I didn't know whether to accept the vampire blood—and if I did, whether to take it from Sam. It didn't feel right, like the idea of Colby biting someone to feed on them. Not that I wanted to be bitten or anything.
I snapped out of my thoughts and sighed. "Can you find him?"
Sam paused for a moment, his mouth opening to say something but slamming shut almost instantly. Slowly, a little smile came over his face; a mischievous smile. "I could always make you scream. Then he'd come running."
I rolled my eyes. "Still bleeding here, Sam. You're not helping."
"Right," his focus snapped back. "Well, I shouldn't get Colby until we've done something about this anyway. We can't risk what would happen if he hurt you. For our sakes and yours."
"So I have to decide whether I want to switch roles with a vampire for a minute or just be a normal person?"
"Yes." Sam smiled—a smile I hadn't really seen before. It looked a little shy, as if he hadn't talked about all of this before. I started to think about Katrina and how she felt among all of these vampires knowing they were vampires. Did Sam feed on her? I had so many questions I wasn't sure I would be able to keep them quiet.
I forced myself for now when everyone in the house could hear me. There was plenty of time to ask her later.
"Is there anything else I should know about the vampire way?"
"If you die with the blood still in your system, you'll turn into a vampire," Sam replied instantly. I raised a brow but didn't say anything, staring down at my wound.
"I hate to break it to you, but I'm not planning on dying anytime soon. How long until the blood leaves my system?"
Sam shrugged. "We usually go by about twenty-four hours. Depends on how fast your blood replaces itself." Sam sniffed. "I would say fairly quickly for you; I can smell how much is created as you're currently bleeding... we really need to fix it soon."
"I know. Excuse me for wanting fucking details." I realised I hadn't been nearly as rude as I should have been this whole time, but it was too late now to go back. I had a decision to make. "I'm picking who. I don't want your blood in me."
Sam laughed quietly to himself, shaking his head. "I think Tara's making that decision for you." Sure enough, my best friend appeared in the room with us, her silver ring only slightly bigger than usual. She was smirking at me. "As long as Tara can control herself..."
"I can control myself." Tara snapped as she darted to the space next to Sam instead. She looked at the blood on my arm, her silver ring getting bigger before returning to normal size entirely. She smiled triumphantly to herself.
Sam clenched his jaw. "I still don't know. If you—"
"Yeah, I know. Colby's hovering nearby anyways." My head automatically flicked up to Tara. She rolled her eyes. "What, think he completely left you here with a bunch of vampires while you were bleeding?" She snorted. "Please. He hardly leaves you alone here when you aren't bleeding."
I glanced down at the gash as a wave of lightheadedness rushed over my mind. My elbow pressed into the countertop, my head on my hand. "Just... do whatever," I murmured.
"It's gross, I'm warning you," Tara said. I waved her off. She glanced at Sam, who nodded and disappeared. She lifted her wrist to her mouth, a pair of fangs clearly on show. I would have been interested if I wasn't completely out of it already.
Just before she bit herself, a breeze flew passed us.