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"Isaac," I called, and when he looked up, I paused.
He didn't look well, I immediately noted. His hair wasn't as glossy as it usually was, he looked paler but sickly, and there were bags under his eyes.
“God,” I drawled when I stopped before him. “Are you okay?”
He nodded and looked down at the basket by his feet. There were six bags of blood, more than I'd ever seen him purchase. I wasn't going to pry, but I was concerned about why he looked like hell.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” he finally answered. “How are you?”
"You look a little paler than usual, Isaac. You don't look okay?" I frowned because I'd never seen him dressed so casually either.
He was wearing jeans with a black hoody, although I supposed with the way he looked, people might panic.
As if reading my mind, he pulled his hood over his head.
"I had some bad blood," he whispered with a small smile, but it wasn't the grand smile I was used to. "It'll pass soon."
“I’m sorry,” I said with an apologetic frown. “Please tell me you didn’t buy it from here?”
"No, it wasn't from here," he looked behind him, appearing a little on edge, but I could understand if he was sick.
He took several deep breaths while his eyes darted back and forth from me to everything else. He wasn't acting like himself, and I got the same odd feeling I'd gotten the night I saw red eyes through my window.
Seeing Isaac now and like this, after I argued with Dorian, was too much of a coincidence. I'd never felt uneasy around Isaac, not once, but now, as he stopped looking around to stare at me, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Maybe you should get some more blood?” I suggested. “Stock up on as much as you need until you get better.”
He started nodding, his head down, but he just kept nodding. "That's okay, I have enough. It was nice seeing you, Marian, real nice."
“You too,” I drawled because he’d already turned away.
What was troubling was that just before he turned, I saw his eyes under his hood, they were as red as that stormy night not so long ago.
***
I removed my laundry from the dryer and dropped each piece into the basket by my feet, but I was thinking about Isaac. I was sure my eyes hadn't played a trick on me this time. So did that mean I'd really seen him outside my house?
I closed the drier door and picked up the basket. He’d said he was stuck in the next town over the night of the storm but what if he was lying? What if all this time I was being stubborn when Dorian was right?
I felt sick. Was Isaac really a threat?
I was raised to appreciate all life, to give everyone the benefit of the doubt they deserved until they proved themselves to be otherwise. Sometimes in life, people meet each other, and immediately, a bond develops, and that was how I felt towards Isaac. As willing as I was to give people a chance, I was a good judge of character, or so I thought.
Isaac was the new guy in town, and I knew how isolating that could be. I'd felt the same when I left for college; during that time, I was depressed from my breakup with Dorian. I wasn’t the best of a company, but a part of me desperately needed someone to see the pain in my eyes and offer comfort.
My friendship with Isaac was a young one but the man I saw today was completely different, and I knew him well enough to know that the person I spoke with a few hours ago wasn’t Isaac. He looked sick, terribly sick but being sick couldn’t change who a person was at their core, and thinking back, even the way he’d spoken was different.
Sure, he still had that adorable accent, but his warmth was gone, his likeness and the air of calm he always had. He was tense, fidgety, and clearly on edge. I felt a coldness coming from him, especially with the way he stared at me.
Untamed.
The word echoed in my head, and I started chewing on the corner of my lip. Could it be? Was he reverting to being untamed? That was my only guess that fit because I had a feeling he was lying about drinking bad blood.
What constituted as bad blood for a vampire?
When my phone rang, I placed the sheet I was folding on the bed and answered the call.
“Hey, Mom,” I answered.
