Page 62 of So Thirsty

I don’t believe her but I’m too tired to argue. “Okay, well, let me get the keys from the valet. Don’t get too close.”

“Okay, hoss.” She chews her lip for a moment, contemplating something. She punctuates her thought by blowing a raspberry. “Let’s just go back to the house. It’s somewhere to stay. No one will know we’re there. They have blood, Sloane. They said the first few days are the hardest. We can wait out the worst of our thirst there. See if that guy in the woods reports us or not.”

I know what she’s suggesting is likely smarter than just taking off without a plan, but I’m reluctant to go back to that place, return to the site of such horror. To seek shelter from monsters. Monsters I don’t trust not to fuck up our lives more than they already have. And going back would be giving them too much power over us. It’d be dangerous to set ourselves up for that dynamic, to put ourselves in a position where we need these strangers. These vampires.

We can’t go back. Even if part of me wants to see Henry again. Especially because of that.

The sound of an engine interrupts my thoughts. I go to the window, watch my car pull up in front of the cottage.

“No,” I say.

She shakes her head. “I don’t like it.”

“Need I remind you, the last time we went to that house it didn’t end too well for us?” I say, opening the door to meet the valet. Luckily, the sun has sunk behind the trees, twilight mild, making it more tolerable to be outside. “Wait here.”

Todd steps out of my car. “Hello.”

“Hi,” I say, the word catching in my throat. There’s that tickle, that itch, and I can hear his heart beating. I can hear the blood sailing through his veins. I can smell it. Pungent.

“Here are your keys,” he says, coming toward me, passing me the fob. I bristle on contact, pull away as fast as possible. Take two big steps back.

“Thank—thank—” A cough interrupts me. “Thank you.”

He narrows his eyes, maybe sensing something is amiss. But then he shrugs. “Okey dokey. Well! You drive safe. Slippery out there.”

He starts down the drive toward the road, but then—

“Hi, Todd.”

I stop breathing as he stops walking, turns back toward the cottage, where Naomi stands in the doorway. I can hear her wheezing. From the look on Todd’s face, he can, too.

“Naomi,” I say, failing to disguise the panic in my voice.

She takes a step forward, making eyes at him. Flirty eyes. Not her feral, thirst-crazed eyes.

He bows his head to her, which might just save his life, because his neck sinks into his collar and there’s no exposed skin for her to lunge at, to sink her teeth into.

Though I guess if she wanted blood badly enough, she could go after his face.

“Hope you have a great day, Todd. Stay warm,” she says. She looks at me, giving a smug grin, proving a point. In this moment, her desire to show me that she’s capable of restraint is stronger than her bloodlust.

Whatever works. I give her a thumbs-up, and she beams.

“All right, then. Bye, girls,” Todd says, walking away. I can only hope he goes straight back to the mansion and doesn’t take any detours through the woods.

Once he’s out of sight, I open the trunk of my car and we throw our bags in. I slam it shut and toss her my keys. “Go on.”

She catches them and does a spin, then hurries toward the driver’s side. I climb into the passenger seat of my own car, despondent. Naomi throws it into drive, accelerates. I’m surprised to find there’s some relief in movement. A false sense of freedom. It feels like we’re escaping something, though I know there’s no putting this weekend in the rearview. The things that happened here can’t be undone. I’m keenly aware. We left Matthew bleeding in the woods.

There’s no putting space between us and the problem, because we are the problem.

But for now, it’s just us in the car, like old times, and we can listen to some music, and we can fake normality for a little while, for as long as we can. Fantasize that this is enough to sustain us.

—

Naomi speeds. She’s got a lead foot—she’s told me on multiple occasions that she believes speed limits are “suggestions for people who can’t drive.”

“Slow down. We don’t want to get pulled over,” I tell her.