AllFreeNovel
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Thirty minutes ago, Jeremy reported that the total number of views had surpassed one and a half million.
No telling what it is now.
“So …” Cade sits on the edge of the desk. “In the video, in that video … you said your name was Kyle. Jer said you made it up. That true?”
Kyle opens his mouth.
Brain still not working. He closes it again.
“I’ll be honest,” says Cade, “the bar is a bit crazy right now. Lot of people out there. Some are … uh, concerned. Others are curious. I’m not sure yet whether this is great for my business or totally crippling, jury’s still out, but at least Chief Rojas is here doing his best to crowd manage. I don’t care whether you want to be called Henry or Kyle or something else entirely. I’m definitely not calling you ‘bloodsucker’. What an asshole thing for that guy to say.”
Everyone even knows the conversation, each word that was shared. It’s all out there. “I don’t know if I can face everyone.”
Cade shrugs. “Then don’t. You can stay in here all night. Until every last one of those nosy people out there go home.” A doleful sigh whistles through her lips. Then: “I’m so sorry.”
Kyle stirs. “What for?”
“My daughter. It’s … This is all …” Cade brings her hands to her face, rubbing it vigorously. “I can’t believe she uploaded that. She adores you. Why would she betray your trust?? She’s grounded for the rest of the school year. Rest of her life.”
“No.” Kyle barely has the energy. “It’s not her fault.”
“Like hell it’s not her fault. Kids these days, obsessed with followers and likes and attention … It blinds them.”
“I won’t blame her for this.” Kyle stares at the cold cup of coffee. “It’s on me. I am what I am. I did what I did. And I’m not going to blame anyone for my secrets getting out. It … was bound to happen someday.”
Cade studies him for a while. Then: “So … if I may, um … if I may be so bold … can I ask … what are you … exactly?”
Kyle answers in a set of soft and icily spoken words. “I’m exactly what you think I am.”
Cade pauses. “A kind of person who … drinks blood …?”
“Sure, that.”
“I assume it’s also why you only work the night shifts.”
“Yep.”
“And why you wouldn’t come to Layna’s sixteenth birthday party. The real reason. Because it was a Sunday afternoon.”
“Bingo.”
“And now, it’s …” Her voice softens, eyes turning sensitive. “It’s come out, your innermost secret. And you’re here. And … you’ve been here. Living among us. No one’s been harmed. You aren’t eating anyone, if I can be so crass as to word it that way.”
“Be as crass as you like. Word it however.”
“My point is that you’re not some evil predator, obviously. You’re not bad. You protected Jeremy. Stopped a criminal.”
“Yeah, with my face.”
“How did that feel, by the way? Did it hurt? The bullet … the gun really did fire, right? Couldn’t quite tell from the video. The gun fired and … and you …” She lets out a jagged sigh of amazement. “You aren’t anything like I’d expect. At all. Then again, what did I expect?” she suddenly asks, spreading her hands, her bracelets jangling loose. “What do we know about any of it other than from fiction? Movies? You’re no Dracula. You don’t even have fangs.” She reconsiders. “Do you?”
He bows his head. “Everyone’s going to find out.”
“Well, of course we can’t stop people seeing the video now, but, I mean … you do understand what people are like, right?”
He turns to her. “What do you mean?”
Cade pauses, eyes wide. “Haven’t you read the comments? The actual reactions to the video?”
Kyle squints at her, lost.
Cade purses her lips, then slowly nods. “Ah,” she says with a click of her tongue. “You haven’t. Okay. That explains it.”
“Why? What are they saying?”
After a second’s hesitation, she pulls out her phone, thumbs through it, brings up one of the postings, then hands it to Kyle. He glances at the top few comments, which seem to be general exclamations of surprise, disbelief, the expected reactions.
Then he scrolls farther down. Reads. His face changes. He scrolls down more, reads more. “The fuck …?” he mumbles.
“Yeah, people are shitheads,” she says. “See? Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks.”
Kyle keeps scrolling through them, jaw slackening.
> Fake AF, lol. #fake
> Obvious clickbait, bullet didnt even fire, look at 3:22 u can tell its fake, whos falling for this???
> Kyle guy is hot, I’d tap that tbh. But vid def edited
> wat do u think they used for the blood, bet it tastes like cherry lmao id lick that up too
> “anyone who’s no one can be deadly” omfg… im on the hoodie guy’s side, dude who wrote this script?
