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Elijah’s cheeks went red.
“What do youwantfrom me?” he asked her.
“What do you want fromus? A community? A chance to do something good? You came here tonight for a reason.”
Elijah’s whole face was red.
“I’m not trying to embarrass you or call you out,” Mia said. “But if we decide we’re going to do something, I’m not going to spend all my time begging you to believe me.”
“I want transparency fromyouthen. How did your aunt, or whoever, know there are”—he shuddered, as if even saying the word felt ridiculous—“vampires?”
“Because she was a witch. I’m a witch too. I wasn’t planning on telling you because I didn’t think you’d take me seriously.”
Saber realized she was holding her breath. She was sure Elijah was going to laugh and walk out, but he didn’t. He looked at Mia with his hard, clinical stare.
“And if I suspend disbelief, and just accept, for the purposes of this…experiment, that you’re awitch, will you respect my need for proof before I’ll act?”
Mia gave him a solemn nod.
“I will respect you if you respect me.”
“And if you really can read minds, will you stop reading mine? I don’tlikethat.”
“Of course. I’m sorry.”
Elijah looked at her for a long time. Then he took off his coat and hung it back up on the wall.
“So,” he said, sitting back down and rubbing his temple for a moment, “how are we going to prove or disprove this theory that there are…”
He sighed, and Lozen spoke for him, breaking the tension.
“Motherfuckingvampires!”
18
It was the day after Thanksgiving when they decided to attempt their plan. Saber had lunch with her dad that morning, Thanksgiving leftovers, and he kept apologizing for it just being the two of them.
“It’s fine,” she said, smiling before she took a huge bite of her turkey sandwich.
“I know your grandma used to invite a bunch of people over.”
Saber shrugged. She was far, far too distracted to care. Early in the afternoon, they would meet at Doug’s house, then they would drive together to the house, the mansion, to see if they could get inside. They’d made the plan in the latter part of their first meeting.
“First, we’ll ring the doorbell,” Doug had said, “like we did last time. And if no one answers, we’ll break in.”
“How are you certain there won’t be cameras?” Elijah asked, visibly anxious.
“Vampires don’t like cameras,” Mia said. “You just have to trust me. If there’s a camera we’ll leave, but there won’t be.”
“Why don’t they do cameras?” asked Lozen, and Mia shrugged.
“Because they never age.”
“But some of them drive,” Saber interjected. “Wouldn’t they need driver’s licenses?”
“They’re not, like,allergicto photos,” Mia said. “They just don’t like to have… I don’t know… a coherent record of their existence. There’s no way they’re recording in that house.”
“If they look so weird, why don’t we recognize them?” Elijah asked.
