Chapter 7 #2
Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “You’ve got some explaining to do. Sky’s worried sick about you.”
I knew better than to look at Lysandro for help, but I tried anyway. As expected, he quirked a brow in an I-told-you-so way.
I gulped, then rolled my eyes at myself internally.
How long would it take me to quit doing these totally pointless human things?
Although…my gaze slipped back to Lysandro, and I realized how totally normally human he seemed at all times.
You know, outside of his eccentric sense of fashion, and the whole slicing his wrist open to drain his blood into a goblet for me to drink.
“Ego!” Scotty yelled, drawing my attention back to him, and, necessary or not, I gulped again.
He looked so yummy. I’d always thought he looked good, but…there was something different now. Something so enticing.
The swoosh of the blood through his veins.
The rhythmic thumping of his heart.
Craving his scent, I yanked the amulet from around my neck and just breathed.
As if from a far-off distance, I heard him ask Lysandro, “What is he doing?”
The other man sighed loudly, standing and blocking my view of Scotty with his body. He held out his hand. “Give me your chain. I need to fix it before I leave.”
Panic set in, and I scrambled over the back of my couch like a hunted animal. But it wasn’t me that I feared for, it was the confused man who’d invaded my house. The man who I’d crushed on as a mere mortal, but as this nightmare I couldn’t wake up from continued, I craved.
“Ego?” Scotty asked, for the first time not sounding angry, but concerned. “Are you okay?”
“You should leave, Scotty. It’s…it’s not safe for you here.”
He stood, taking a tentative step in my direction. “Are you sick? Is that why you’re hiding out here?” He glared past me at Lysandro. “What’s wrong with him? Why are you here instead of a doctor? What does he need?” He reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone. “I’m calling Sky.”
In the blink of an eye, I’d flung myself over the couch and gripped his wrist. “No!” I boomed.
All the color drained from Scotty’s face as he gaped at me fearfully. Between the way he was looking at me and my own response to the feel of the warm, enticing blood flowing under his delicate skin, I jumped back, hunkering back into my safe spot.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I muttered over and over, clutching my hair in my hands as I tried to curl in on myself.
With wide eyes fixed on me, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and held his hands up in surrender. “It’s okay, Ego. I won’t call. But…but you have to tell me what’s going on.”
Lysandro came up behind me, reached over my head to settle the amulet over my chest, and clasped the Byzantine chain at the back of my neck. “Here you go, Ego. This will help.”
With shame slithering through my core like a parasite, I focused on the pattern at the edge of the cushion.
I didn’t know what had come over me. I didn’t know how I moved so fast, so instinctually.
I’d always thought Scotty considering me nothing but a prima donna was the worst thing in the world, but it wasn’t. Scaring him was.
“Lysandro, I need you to explain to me what the fuck is going on. And I need you to do it right now.”
“Have a seat, my friend.”
Scotty muttered something about doubting their friendship, but I heard him sink onto the chair, then Lysandro took the other one.
“Unfortunately, and I only say unfortunately because he didn’t ask for this, Ego has been turned.”
After counting twelve beats of heavy silence, Scotty asked, “Turned into what?”
“He’s one of my kind now,” Lysandro responded.
“Uhh…what does that mean? Your kind? You’re not human?” Scotty asked, sounding curious rather than fearful.
“Scotty, surely you know that I’m a vampire.”
“What? No. Wait. Vampires aren’t real, are they?” He sounded baffled.
Lysandro chuckled, and I finally peeked up. “How can you live at Willowhope Manor and not know that I’m the resident vampire of our fine little town?”
“Well.” He frowned. “Actually, I’ve never told anyone we’re so friendly. It was nice having…” He trailed off.
Lysandro leaned forward and patted his knee. “I only have a few entities that I consider true friends. I have grown to count you among them. I hope that’s okay.”
Staring at him hard, I saw the flicker of hurt cross Scotty’s face. “Generally, friends share important details with each other like being part of the supernatural beings in town.”
Lysandro smiled at him warmly. He never smiled at me like that.
Of course, I never did what he said, so that might have something to do with it.
“I really thought you knew. Even Ego found out before he left town. But then you kept bringing me sandwiches for dinner every night, and I began to wonder.”
Scotty’s cheeks went scarlet red before he slapped his hands across his face. “I’m so embarrassed,” he mumbled between his fingers. “You don’t even eat food.”
Lysandro hummed. “I don’t need food, but I quite enjoy the taste.”
I sat up straighter. “We can eat food? I didn’t know that.”
The warmth fell from Lysandro’s expression as he pinned me in place with the weight of his scowl. “It’s hard to know anything when you won’t listen to the only elder available to teach you.”
He sighed, sitting all the way back into his chair.
“I’ve begged you to go see your family, but it’s obvious that you leaving the house isn’t an option right now.
You’ve taken no time to understand your new nature or how your body moves.
” His voice deepened, going almost growly. “You could’ve hurt Sc—”
“No,” Scotty cut him off with his own hardened tone. “Ego didn’t hurt me.”
“But I grabbed you,” I said, feeling worse than I ever had in my life, and I’d survived childhood trauma.
“You barely touched me. See.” He held out his arm so that we could see that his flesh was free of any redness or a handprint.
Lysandro clicked his tongue. “But he could’ve crushed the bones in your wrist since he doesn’t know his own strength. Or pierced you with his nails if they’d descended since he hasn’t learned how to use them properly either.”
I shrank back again, embarrassed by these changes, but Scotty leaned forward with an expression I hadn’t expected.
Fascination.