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“They’re desperate. I couldn’t tell them no.” Ezra tried to convince himself. Both Milo and I wouldn’t say no to them either. “But they can’t stay here. Not for more than a few days. Or maybe at all. The child can’t be around people.” He stared off at nothing, and he sounded completely lost. “I have no idea what will become of them.”
After a moment of confused silence hanging over us all, Ezra turned and walked back down to his den. I tried to stop him, but he shook his head and said he had some thinking to do. I’m sure he did, but I didn’t know if even he could come up with a plan to fix this.
This was exactly why he’d been so against Mae turning Daisy in the first place. He knew nothing good could come of it, and he couldn’t clean it up.
“This is so messed up.” Milo leaned back against the couch and let out a deep breath. “Did Peter say how bad things were?”
“He didn’t go into graphic detail but things were definitely not good. Some people might be dead.”
“And now she’s coming here?” Milo looked up at me.
“And now she’s coming here,” I repeated.
“I want to help Mae, and I don’t necessarily want Peter to die.” He stood up straighter and crossed his arms over his chest. “But what are we supposed to do? Daisy is dangerous, really dangerous. And even if she wasn’t, her poster is plastered all over town. Mae kidnapped her, remember?”
“I know,” I nodded. “She can’t live here, not in the city.”
“Where else can she stay?” Milo asked.
“I don’t know…” I trailed off, thinking. “But Olivia is the oldest vampire I’ve ever met. She might know something about child vampires.”
“You’ve only met like five vampires. That doesn’t really mean anything,” Milo said.
“I’ve met way more than that,” I scoffed. “And she’s still like six-hundred-years-old or something. She has to know something about them.”
Jack groaned from the other room, and I remembered that I’d heard him fall while Milo’d been arguing with Ezra.
“I gotta go take care of Jack, then I’m going to Olivia’s,” I said. “You can come with me if you want.”
I went into the kitchen and found Jack passed out between the island and the counter. When I pulled him up, he barely even stirred, so I carried him up to our room and dropped him off. I’d never seen Jack this knocked out before, but I’d never seen him drained either.
Watching Jack sleeping on the bed, looking peaceful and vulnerable, I had this weird sensation. He’d never been the weaker one before. But lately, things had been shifting.
I’d become stronger as a vampire, and thanks to my training with Olivia, I’d become a better fighter than him. We’d done some play fighting the other day, and I’d tackled him without really trying. I was growing more powerful than Jack, and it felt… disorienting.
“Are you gonna just stare at Jack or are we gonna go?” Milo asked, poking his head into the bedroom.
“Hold on. I gotta change real quick.” I hurried into the closet to throw some clothes on, and Milo stood impatiently by the door, texting on his phone. “Who are you talking to that’s so important?”
“Bobby. I’m telling him not to come over after class.”
“Why not?” I started walking towards the stairs, and Milo followed, still typing away on his phone.
“Because it’s not safe here anymore,” Milo said. “You saw what happened in Australia. He can’t be around Daisy anymore. I won’t risk it.”
“Yeah, but she’s not here now.” I glanced back at him as went down the stairs.
“That’s exactly what he said. I think you two spend too much time together.”
“He’s the only human friend I’ve got,” I shrugged.
“I’m pretty sure he’s the only friend you’ve got,” Milo sighed.
Just as we reached the kitchen, Bobby walked in from the garage. Apparently, he planned on ignoring Milo’s texts of warnings.
“Turn around,” Milo said.
“Look, she’s not here now. I’m not going anywhere,” Bobby insisted.
“Well, we are.” I brushed past him towards the garage. “We’re going to Olivia’s if you wanna come with.”
I quickly regretted inviting Milo and Bobby to tag along. The car ride downtown consisted of the two of them arguing about whether or not it would be safe to visit the house. Bobby pointed out that he hadn’t signed up for a dorm this semester, so he didn’t have anywhere else to stay.
Milo relented and said Bobby could stay for tonight, and they’d figure something else out in the morning. But that only happened after ten minutes of constant bickering.
While I understood the beauty of the glass walls of the penthouse suite at night, during the afternoon, it made no sense to me. The sun had started to set, so it was level with the windows. Even though they were tinted, the bright pink rays stung my eyes and skin.
Her place looked clean, but Milo brushed off her sofa before sitting down, as if he thought he might catch something from it. Bobby had been here with me a lot more often than Milo had, so he was more comfortable with the surroundings and flopped down on the overstuffed sofa.
I’d tried convincing Milo to come here and train with me, but he wasn’t into it. He didn’t really care for Olivia, mostly because he thought she was a drunk, and he didn’t like fighting either. He wanted to live a normal life, the same kind of life he would’ve had if he hadn’t turned, and in his normal life, he wouldn’t have done combat training. That was his stance.
Before I could knock on her bedroom door, she opened it. It scared me so much I gasped. She smiled tiredly at me, wrapping her silken robe more around herself. She wore her long black hair braided down her back, swinging like a rope as she walked out.
“What are you doing awake?” I asked.
“Trouble sleeping.” She waved her hand vaguely and went over to the couch.
This wasn’t the first time she mentioned trouble sleeping. I’d said something about it to Ezra once, and he’d explained that insomnia could be a side effect of her cutting down on blood. Drinking that much blood that often had become a sleep aid for her, and without her excessive daily dose, she was having difficulty learning to sleep without it.
“Hello, Olivia.” Milo forced a smile at her, doing his best to be polite.
