“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 Egofound 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’tneedfood, 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.
Chapter 8
Scotty
“Can I see?”I asked, trying my best not to let my inner-paranormal freak flag fly.
Ego gawked at me, clearly horrified, and Lysandro chuckled softly. “I’m not sure Ego’s seen them yet himself, Scotty. Unless it was an accident?” he finished, staring at Ego.
“No,” Ego muttered. “I haven’t seen them, nor do I want to.”
“What? Ego, come on. I bet they’re cool as fuck.” He turned to Lysandro. “Do they look like those long, spikey nails people get at salons or are they more like talons? I’ve always?—”
I cut off as Lysandro’s normal-length nails instantly transformed into long, yellowish spikes, tinged with black.
“That’s so sick,” I whispered in awe.
“Are you kidding me?” Ego asked, voice going high at the end. “Are mine going to look like that, too?” He pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, and began to rock.
Now that I really looked at him, I saw how pale he was. Not translucent in the way I’d always described Lysandro’s skin in my mind. Which all made so much more sense now.
