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  Absently, she looked back over her shoulder, her odd purple eyes landing on mine, and they flickered with frightened recognition. She traded in the thick black eyeliner for something subtler, making her prettier and younger, more innocent. Turning into a vampire made her look around nineteen or twenty, but something in her eyes led me to believe she was younger than that.

  “Violet?” I said, but she instantly looked away, shielding her face with her hair.

  “You know her?” Jack was at my side, looking at her quizzically. He had only met her very briefly when she looked much different, so he didn’t recognize her.

  “I think that’s Violet.” I walked towards her, but Jack put his hand on my arm.

  “Wait, wait. That’s the girl that was stalking you before? Why are you going to talk to her? Are you gonna…” His face darkened. “What are you gonna do?”

  “I don’t know. I wanna talk to her.” I shook my head, unable to explain myself.

  “What’s going on?” Milo asked. He stood in the doorway, his arm around his boyfriend. He hadn’t seen Violet, and that was for the best. He would take running into her much worse than I would.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said and hurried over to Violet before she hid or escaped. Jack was right behind me, but he didn’t try to stop me.

  The drunk guy talking to her was mid-sentence, and she stood up without explanation. I know I should’ve felt angry. She had almost gotten me, Milo, and Jane killed, but I wasn’t out for revenge. I just wanted to talk to her.

  “Hey. Violet.” I blocked her path, and she looked at me with wide eyes. All of her former cockiness was long gone, and that probably had to do with the death of her boyfriend.

  “I don’t know what you want but…” She trailed off, her eyes flicking from me to Jack. “I don’t want any trouble.”

  “Neither do I.” I glanced back at Jack to make sure he wasn’t glaring at her or anything. Jack had such an open face, it was pretty hard for him to look threatening unless he was really pissed off.

  “What do you want then?” Violet tried to look strong and angry, but without the confidence behind it, she just looked like a whiny child.

  “I don’t know.” I chewed my lip. “Before, when you were chasing after me, what did you want?”

  “I didn’t want anything with you,” Violet said. “I mean, at first, I went after you as a joke because you were so tasty…” She lowered her eyes. “But Lucian, he wouldn’t let it go. I think he liked the idea of stealing you from another vampire.”

  “Well, now he’s gone and she’s a vampire, so that’s settled then,” Jack interjected with a clumsy smile.

  “How old are you?” I asked, ignoring Jack.

  “I don’t know why that matters,” Violet said, but she looked flustered. “I was fourteen when I turned, and that was like two years ago.

  “Look, it wasn’t my idea.” A strand of blond hair fell into her eyes, and she looked at me, as if daring me to defy her. “Not going after you, not turning into a vampire. It was all Lucian. He thought this was all some great big fantasy, and he had somebody turn him, and then stupidly, I had him turn me.

  “But he’s dead. And I’m over it. So…” Blinking hard, she tried to keep me from noticing the tears in her eyes. “Are we through?”

  “Yeah. Sure,” I nodded, unable to think of a reason to keep her talking to me.

  Violet brushed past me, disappearing into the dance floor. Even after everything she had put me through, I felt this strange sadness for her. To be so powerful and young, and yet so confused and alone. She had been a dumb kid playing around with Hot Topic makeup and got in way over her head.

  “You okay?” Jack touched my arm.

  “Yeah.” I remembered we weren’t here to check up on my enemies. Jane was here somewhere, probably losing blood as we spoke. “Sorry. Let’s go.”

  “Who was that girl you were talking to?” Milo asked when reached them, and Bobby craned his neck around to see.

  “Nobody. Where’s Jane?” I asked.

  “I haven’t seen her yet, but we’ve just been waiting here.” Milo gave me an irritated look, so I pushed past him into the adjoining room.

  The light above glowed dull red, the kind of lighting that was most pleasing to vampires’ eyes. This room was smaller than the last and dressed more like a coffee shop than a club. Soft couches filled the room, and a small bar in a dark corner served drinks, but only ones of the type AB variety.

  A lot of doors and darkened hallways led out of it, and while I had never been in one of the rooms, I knew exactly what they were for. Some vampires required more privacy when they were with the bloodwhores, while others were camped out on the couch, drinking openly from their human donors.

  With one quick scan of the room, I knew Jane wasn’t there. Her heart and her scent were almost as familiar to me as Jack and Milo’s, and they were nowhere in this room. I turned back to Milo, and he had come to the same conclusion.

  “She was here before,” Milo said.

  “She was with a guy,” Bobby added.

  Jack walked around to look more closely, in case we missed something. I had taken too long getting ready or staring at the people outside or randomly talking to Violet. I had been wasting time when I should’ve been tracking down Jane. I still had her phone number, but she hadn’t answered my calls since I turned into a vampire.

  “Alice! He finally did it!” a voice purred, and a vampire got up off the couch and walked over to me. She left a girl discarded on the couch behind her, a thin trail of blood drying on her neck, and she moaned softly, reaching out in the empty space where Olivia had been.

  With long black hair past her knees, Olivia had ageless beauty, but she had been in her forties when she had turned, which had probably been a very, very long time ago. Her clothing was entirely tight black leather, and I had never understood how she was able to move.

  While we weren’t exactly old friends, Olivia had been the vampire who had first rescued me from Lucian and Violet. There seemed to be a wisdom lurking below her hazy grin, and even though she had the slow, slurred movements of an aging junkie, she still had the killer instincts of a vampire.

  “What?” I tried to return her smile, but I was too frustrated over not finding Jane.

  “He turned you,” Olivia said, and she reached out, caressing my cheeks. Her eyes were glazed, but her voice was low and surprisingly seductive. “And what an exquisite creature you are.”

  “Thanks,” I replied uncertainly, and Jack appeared at my side.

  “Maybe you can help.” Milo walked over to us. Bobby trailed after him, and Olivia looked at him with disdain. Her interest apparently didn’t go past human girls, or probably girls in general. “We’re looking for a girl, a friend of Alice’s.”

  “She’s a bloodwhore, we think,” I said. “She’s tall and thin, and very pretty, like a model. Her hair is short and dark, and she’s always dressed to the nines. Her name is Jane, and I think she’s in trouble.”

  “If she’s the girl I’m thinking of, she definitely is in trouble,” Olivia nodded gravely. She licked her lip and pointed down the hall. “She’s been coming around here a lot more than any one person should, and she went down that hall an hour ago with a vampire.”

  “Thank you,” I smiled and turned down the hall.

  The hall was pitch black, but I saw the outlines of the doors. I smelled the blood and heard the erratic heartbeats and happy moans, and I had to concentrate on it without thinking about it. I had to find Jane without giving into my own thirst.

  Jack was a few steps ahead of me listening for her. Bobby complained about being unable to see anything behind us, and Milo tried to reassure him.

  Before I could even smell her, I heard her overly sultry moan. Unfortunately, in my years of friendship with her, I had heard it far more than I had ever cared to. Without thinking, I threw open the door, and a figure flew at me.

  - 14 –

  I didn’t have a chance to
react, and Jack was already in front of me, shielding me from the vampire coming at my throat.

  Jack threw him back, slamming him against the wall and holding him there while he gnashed his teeth. Jack managed to hold him in place, but Milo rushed past me to help him restrain the seriously pissed off vampire.

  Jane was lying on a bed stained dark with blood. She wore some tiny piece of clothing that passed for a dress, revealing her pale skin. While she had always been thin, her arms were bony and her face was gaunt. Her heartbeat was almost nonexistent.

  The room was filled with the scent of her fresh blood, and it was impossible to ignore. She moaned and stirred in the bed, and somehow that let my urge to protect her override my urge to eat her.

  “Jane!” I ran to her, leaving Milo and Jack to contend with the thrashing vampire on the wall.

  I got on the bed, ignoring how disgusting and tantalizing the blood stained mattress was, and I slapped her cheek. I had meant for it to be gentle, but the panic mixed with my unmastered strength made me slap her a little hard, not that she even noticed or woke up.

  “Is everyone okay? What’s going on?” Bobby asked. He couldn’t see anything in the darkness, and he only heard the sound of struggling.

  “Everything’s under control!” Milo shouted as the vampire tried to bite his throat.

  “What the hell is going on?” the vampire growled, and when he saw me tending to Jane, he stopped fighting. “You’re after the whore?” We interrupted him in the middle of feeding, the time when vampires are most animalistic, and he seemed to be coming down from that.

  “Her name is Jane!” I snapped, trying futilely to rouse her. She was completely out, and I knew how impossible blood loss was to wake up from.

  “I know her name!” the vampire shouted. “I want to know what you want with her!”

  “What do you care?” Jack countered, doing his best to sound tough. It would be comical if he wasn’t trying to hold back a vampire from slaughtering us.

  “Jonathan,” Jane murmured, still mostly asleep.

  “No, it’s me, Alice,” I said. She moved her head, and I turned it towards me, trying to get her to focus on me. “Jane, wake up. We need to get you out of here.”

  “She’s talking about me, you silly twat! I’m Jonathan!” The vampire pushed against Jack. “Will you let me go? I’m not gonna fight you! I don’t have to. She’s not gonna go with you.”

  Jack lessened his grip, and when Jonathan didn’t attack him, Jack took a step back from him. Milo did the same but more hesitantly. Jonathan smoothed out his shirt and glared at them.

  “Jane, honey, wake up,” I said and shook her.

  “No, Jonathan, let me sleep.” Jane swatted at me.

  “She’s not going with you,” Jonathan repeated. He stepped closer to me, and Milo growled and moved in between him and the bed. “I’m not gonna stop you. What do I care if you take the whore?”

  “I think it might be better if you just shut the hell up,” Jack said.

  “Jane, come on.” I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her so she was sitting up. Her head lolled back, revealing the open wounds on her neck. Then she opened her eyes and lifted her head. “Jane, come on. Let’s go.”

  “Alice?” Jane squinted. “What are you doing here?”

  “Taking you with me.” I put my arm around her to pick her up, but she pushed back at me. She was much weaker than me, but I didn’t want to force her. “Jane, you’ve gotta come with me.”

  “No! No! Why would I wanna I go with you?” Jane pushed away from me so she could lie down on the filthy mattress. “Get away from me. I’m staying with Jonathan.”

  “I told you,” Jonathan said and crossed his arms over his chest.

  His hair was cropped short, almost shaved, and he had that perpetual unshaven look. He was undeniably foxy, the way all vampires seemed to be, and I was fairly certain that I had seen him on a billboard modeling men’s underwear before.

  “What are you even doing here?” Jane sounded incredibly irritated, because I was ruining her buzz. She was awake now but not entirely alert, and she ran her fingers through her hair in an offhandedly sexy way. Her reflexes were even seductive.

  “We came to get you. We’re worried about you,” I told her as sincerely as possible. I put my hand on her arm, but she pulled it back from me.

  “We?” Jane squinted harder in the darkness, trying to see who I brought with me, and pushed herself to sit up. Her skeletal arms were stretched out behind her, holding her up precariously so she didn’t fall back on the bed.

  “That was your little brother I saw grinding up on some boy on the dance floor! I thought that was him, but I didn’t believe you were letting him date yet.” She gave a laugh, and Milo scowled at her. “That’s just like him to narc on me anyway. I bet you just ran home to tell her right away, didn’t you?”

  “This isn’t the kind of life you want to have,” Milo said, his cheeks reddening.

  “Tell that to your boyfriend,” Jane laughed again, but it was a tired, hollow sound.

  “Jane, come on. This is enough. Let’s get you home.” I got up off the bed and reached out for her, planning to throw her over my shoulder if I had to.

  “No! I’m not going with you!” Jane yelled. “You’ve barely even talked to me since you got Jack, and you have the balls to condemn me for doing the exact same thing as you?”

  “I never did this!” I shouted. “And I was avoiding you to protect you, and then you avoided me. I called you like a million times but you wouldn’t answer!”

  “Doesn’t that tell you something?” Jane smiled darkly at me. “I don’t want to be your friend anymore, Alice! You don’t need to save me from myself! I am just fine without you!”

  “You are not fine! And I’m not saving you from you! I’m saving you from vampires!” I knew that sounded really dumb since I planned on bringing her back to a house full of vampires, and Jane laughed at the stupidity of my argument.

  I bent down and scooped her up. She yelped in protest, but I tossed her easily over my shoulder. I was much stronger than before, but it was almost too easy. As soon as I had her, she hit at my back and screamed at me.

  “Put me down, you stupid bitch!” Jane shouted, pounding her tiny fists as hard as she could against my back. Of course, it didn’t hurt at all, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

  “She doesn’t want to go with you!” Jonathan made a step towards me.

  Jack and Milo moved closer to him. Jonathan held his hands up in a gesture of peace, but his face contorted with contained rage. If I tried taking away food from a starving wolf, I imagine that he would make a similar expression.

  “What’s going on?” Bobby asked, terrified.

  “Everything’s fine,” Milo told him unconvincingly.

  “You can’t kidnap her,” Jonathan said.

  I hadn’t moved towards the door yet because I hoped Jane would calm down, but he was right. I couldn’t take her kicking and screaming onto the city streets.

  “Just put me down!” Jane shouted. Sighing, I set her on her feet next to me. She slapped me once more for good measure, and I had to remind myself that she was my best friend. “You are such a control freak, Alice! Just because you’re a prude doesn’t mean I’m wrong!”

  “I don’t want any trouble but she is mine,” Jonathan exchanged a look with Jack, and Jane puffed up.

  Jane misinterpreted his use of the word “mine.” She saw it as something resembling love, like he cared so she belonged to him. All he really meant was that he had bitten her first, so he laid claim on her until he gave her up.

  She reached out in the darkness, feeling around for Jonathan to protect her. Milo moved, allowing Jonathan to walk to her. He put his arm around her in something that she perceived as affection, but it was nothing more than ownership.

  “We’ll talk later,” I said finally.

  “Fat chance,” Jane scoffed.

  Milo comforted Bobby, who frantically clung to th
e door. Jack put his arm around me, escorting me from the room.

  I looked back over my shoulder at Jane. Thin and frail, she hung onto Jonathan just to keep from falling over. Before we had even left the room, he tilted her head back and sunk his teeth into her neck. She moaned and her blood filled the air.

  Jack tightened his arm around me to prevent me from rushing at Jonathan and getting myself killed. He pulled the door shut behind us and drug me down the hallway, past all the rooms where vampires were feeding on other people’s best friends.

  I spent the entire car ride home sulking and glaring out the window. Jack tried to talk to me and cheer me up, but I wanted nothing to do with it. It wasn’t his fault that Jane wouldn’t come home with us, or that vampires were such horrible creatures, but he was the only one I had to take it out on.

  When we pulled in the garage, I slammed the car door behind me and stormed into the house, noticing that Milo and Bobby hadn’t returned yet.

  “Alice!” Jack called after me, but I didn’t slow down.

  Matilda waited at the door for us, but when she greeted me, I pushed past her. Jack indulged her more than I did, but he was trying to keep up with me so he made it quick.

  “Alice, come on. I know you’re upset, but you didn’t really think you could swoop in there like Batman and save the day, did you?”

  “I don’t know what I thought,” I muttered.

  I reached the kitchen and stopped. I wanted to eat something. Not that I was actually hungry, not for human food, but whenever I had come home frustrated, Milo always fed me. It was probably for the best I turned into a vampire, otherwise I would’ve ended up as a very fat stress eater. Out of habit, I opened up the refrigerator, which actually had food in it again, thanks to Bobby.

  “What are you doing?” Jack asked.

  “Making Bobby a snack.”

  Since I’d never had a conversation with the kid, I had no real clue what kind of foods he might like, but Mae stocked the fridge for him, so it was a safe bet that anything in it would work. I hadn’t really meant to make him anything, and it was a well known fact that I couldn’t cook, but it would give me something to do.