I stared at all three of them. “What on God’s green earth are you all talking about?”
CJ frowned suddenly. “Wait.” He looked at Bianca. “Did Winnie never have the talk with him?”
Bianca’s eyes widened. “Oh no.”
I looked between them completely lost. “What talk?”
Nobody answered. Then Billie blurted, “Winnie’s a vampire.”
I stared at her. She stared back earnestly. Then I laughed. What else was I supposed to do with that sentence? “Avampire?”
“Yes.” Billie nodded.
“Like Dracula?” I asked.
Bianca crossed her arms. “She likes Dracula movies but says Bram Stoker was being extra.”
I looked to CJ, hoping he’d admit this was all one of his elaborate fibs.
“She’s definitely a vampire.”
My laugh died immediately. “What?”
CJ leaned forward urgently. “We saw her.”
My stomach tightened. “What do you mean yousaw her?”
“The robbers,” Bianca said quickly. “The day they broke in. She fought them with her super vampire strength.”
“She beat the junk out of them,” Billie added proudly.
“And her fangs came out,” CJ finished. “She was considering drinking their blood to help with her burning skin from the sun.”
I stared at them. Nobody smiled. Nobody looked like they were joking.
“She admitted it to us afterward,” Bianca said quietly. “She said she was going to tell you herself.”
My brain genuinely stopped functioning for a second. “No. Guys, vampires aren’t real.”
“She sleeps in a coffin,” Billie informed me.
“What?”
“A casket. In her car,” Bianca clarified.
CJ nodded quickly. “She doesn’t eat food. Ever. Not really.”
“Her skin is always cold,” Billie added.
“And she doesn’t have a heartbeat,” CJ said.
Something inside me lurched violently. My mind immediately flashed through dozens of moments. Her cold hands against my forehead when I was sick. The way she never actually ate dinner. The car that looked a lot like a hearse. The impossible strength when she’d shoved me into the vehicle yesterday. The incredibly graceful way she moved sometimes?—
No.
Nope.
Absolutely not.
