Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Drake fills one vial, replaces it with another, continues to draw blood. Each filled vial goes into a small cooler by his side, nestled into his backpack. Kyle watches, absentminded. “I’m a bartender,” he murmurs.
“Really? That makes one of us.” Drake chuckles. Kyle can’t quite crack a smile yet, too sickened by the whole scene. Drake seems to notice. “This making you queasy? When was the last time you’ve been to the doctor?”
“Not since I was alive.”
“Who says we’re not still alive? You breathe, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You eat and sleep, too. We’re not dead. We’re far from it. I take about 200 milliliters, by the way.” He replaces the filled vial with the next. “Each thingy holds 10. So I fill twenty per person. I would take more, but they’re drunk, and I don’t want to leave them feeling too shitty when they wake up, since they’ll probably be dehydrated from all of the alcohol. It’s still risky, but I think they’ll be fine. Also, Maya has a big test in the morning, poor girl. Stress really gets to her.”
“I don’t understand you guys.”
Drake peers up. “What do you mean?”
“You talk so casually about uncles and aunts and their old ways, about disposing bodies, stealing these kids’ blood … and if it wasn’t so late, you’d be taking them back to your lair?”
“Think of it like a library. Borrow a few bodies. Take a sip. Return them on time to avoid the late fees. A victimless crime.”
“There’s nothing ‘victimless’ about this.”
“A necessary evil, then. But is it really that evil? I see it as …” Drake swaps out another vial, observes Federico. “… symbiotic. They had quite a night. Likely won’t remember it, but if they do, boy, the amazing stories they’ll tell …”
Kyle listens to Drake’s heart. “You don’t even believe that.” Drake peers up at Kyle curiously. “You aren’t like Lazarus. You have doubts. You don’t wanna do this. It’s why you’re dragging your feet, why you took your time, hung out with them … You enjoyed playing the role of a college student all night.”
“What’s going on here?” asks Drake with half a chuckle. “You can read my mind?”
“No. Your heart.”
“Oh. Is this a special gift of yours? Not all of us have them, y’know. Some of us never develop one.” He swaps out another vial. “Did Laz happen to mention that you’ll lose that ability if you become like him? Yeah,” he says when Kyle’s face stiffens, “bet he didn’t mention that tidbit. The more blood you drink, that special part of you drowns. But in exchange, your body gets stronger. Your hair and nails, too. It’s why most of them stop bothering to cut their hair. You can shatter a pair of shears on my brother’s hair, no joke. He’s invulnerable.”
“No one’s invulnerable.”
“Just a few more to go. Who should I draw from next?”
“We don’t have to do this.”
“Maybe I should spare Maya completely,” Drake goes on. “She really needs all the brainpower she can get for tomorrow.”
Kyle comes right up to Drake, their faces close. “We don’t have to do this,” he repeats. “There are other ways to live. I’ve gotten by for nearly thirty years without hunting people.”
“Are you single?” His voice turns sweet. “You didn’t say.”
Kyle swallows. “No, I’m not.”
“Are you in love with him? Whoever he is?”
“Who said it’s a he?”
“Your racing heart. Maybe I can read hearts, too.” Drake’s lips curl cutely. Kyle would be lying if he said his heart wasn’t, in fact, fluttering in Drake’s presence, especially this close. “If I may be so bold, I might also say you seem conflicted by the idea of love. My question annoys you. Why’s that? Has someone in your past hurt you beyond forgiveness? Were you betrayed?”
Kyle sees Tristan’s face. Tristan’s smirk. His superior tone of voice mixed with his lofty, carefree one, each and every time he answered another one of Kyle’s questions—always having the answers, Tristan and his misty blue eyes.
“Fuck you,” snaps Kyle, both to the image of Tristan and to Drake’s question.
Drake stares deeply into Kyle’s eyes, unmoved. “You may be able to see into my heart, but I wonder what I’d find if I saw into yours. I wish I could eliminate the memory of that person who ruined the notion of love for you forever.”
Kyle steps back, turns away, stares at a poster on the wall, at the generically happy and sterile stock-image faces on it, the bold collegiate font boasting some lame motivational quote.
“Seems I struck a chord,” murmurs Drake. When Kyle says nothing, he hears Drake sigh. “I’m sorry. Should’ve been more sensitive about the lucky guy you’re with. Maybe some part of you worries whether it’s truly love you’re feeling for him … if you can ever even feel love again … if you can ever trust it, after you were betrayed. Has he even helped you heal from your past love? Has he helped you see through the forest of trauma? I’ve been through a forest of trauma before. Maybe I’m still in it. Maybe we can help each other out of our own forests.”