Page 67 of The Human’s Heart

We all headed into the living room, and I sat squished up to my viramore. But I was pleased when Toby sat close by. He sent me a smile that I returned.

Wow. He was my sire, and I really could feel that bond now that Zay pointed it out.

Key was in an armchair on Zay’s other side, and I kept catching him shooting me glances. When he did it for the hundredth time, I stuck my tongue out at him.

He laughed. “Sorry. I just… you’re a vampire now. It’s so cool.”

I laughed and nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I really think it is.”

Zay tightened his hold on me and kissed my temple.

Toby said, “Just so you know, Ailin’s coming over in about two hours with a sunlight amulet. Well, actually, he’ll probably make you wear about three different kinds of them so you’re less vulnerable.”

“Um, I don’t know what that is.”

“Oh. It’s so you can go out in the sun without burning.”

I blinked at him. “Um, what? I thought all vampires burned in the daylight?”

“Ailin figured out a spell decades ago, and I found out recently that once you get to a certain age, you actually gain the ability to go out in the sunlight again. Jules isn’t there yet, but Anton and all his fledglings are.”

Thay snorted. “Yeah, well, they’re all like a few thousand years old, so…” He shrugged.

“I still can’t believe that. Are they really that old or are you guys just pranking me?”

Kian laughed. “They’re really that old. We’re not pranking you, I swear. Although, none of us know the exact number. We do know Jed is at least a few thousand years old, and he’s the youngest.”

My eyes widened. “Holy shit, are you serious? I knew they were old, but I didn’t know they were that old. Wow. That’s… insane.”

“Don’t I know it.” Thayer grabbed the remote and started flicking through some options.

“Oh wait!” Kian suddenly said, pulling out his phone. “Do you remember that weird video Phia showed us with that witch-not-a-witch dude?”

It took me a moment to remember, but how could I forget the video that made her so upset?

“Yeah,” I said as Zay nodded.

“New ones keep popping up on my phone. It’s so weird. Someone’s either really great at special effects, or there’s a type of supe we don’t know about who has witch-like magic.”

“What are you talking about?” Toby asked him.

Kian explained the weird video to them, then said to Zay and me, “I’ll send you the links to the new ones so you can watch them later, yeah?”

We both nodded, and Thayer said, “Send it to us too. You’ve got me curious.”

Kian grinned at his uncle, nodded, and motioned for us to find a movie. Zay and I shrugged at each other, then focused on the TV.

The witch-not-a-witch thing was strange and interesting, for sure, but Kian seemed weirdly focused on it. Maybe because Phia had liked all of that so much? Maybe it was his way of coping.

We’d have to indulge him and watch all the videos he sent us so he could talk to us about it.

He actually seemed… okay tonight. And he’d even brought up Phia a couple of times without crying or looking like he was about to shatter.

That had to be a good sign.

Once we picked a movie, we all settled in.

I shouldn’t even have been a little bit surprised that I fell asleep ten minutes into it.