“With fangs?”
“You just saw them.”
“With a coffin?”
I hesitated.
CJ pointed toward the driveway with wide eyes. “The car.”
Bianca nodded once, grimly satisfied. “That explains why it looks like a funeral car.”
“You three notice far too much,” I muttered.
CJ looked almost offended. “Your skin is always cold.”
“And you never eat with us,” Bianca added.
“And when I hug you, I can’t feel your heartbeat,” Billie said, then tilted her head. “I thought maybe your heart was shy.”
Despite everything, despite the pain and smoke and unconscious criminals currently decorating the kitchen floor, tenderness pushed through me with such force I nearly lost my composure.
“My heart is not shy,” I said softly.
Billie frowned. “Then where is it?”
“That’s a very complicated story.”
She sighed. “Everything with grown-ups is complicated.”
CJ stepped closer, still cautious but no longer frightened in the way I had expected. “Are you dangerous?”
I threw a glance at the unconscious men. “Yes,” I said honestly. “But only when I need to be.”
CJ crossed his arms. “So.”
I knew that tone. I braced myself. “So.”
“Can vampires get cavities?”
I blinked. Of all the possible questions, that was the one he chose to lead with? “Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Billie gaped at me. “Do vampire dentists exist?”
I considered this. “Probably, though I’ve never met one.”
“Do they have vampire toothpaste?” Billie asked.
“Uhh… I don’t know.”
“Do they brush upside down?”
Bianca rolled her eyes. “That’s ridiculous.”
Billie pointed triumphantly. “She didn’t say no.”
