Page 78 of Blood Sport

He tilts his head to the side. “Are you sure? I happen to enjoy wearing it if it means my little angel will react like that.”

I blush and push at his shoulder, the coldness of his skin sending a shiver down my spine. “Jaylen, come on.”

“Fine.”

When he removes the mask, his messy curls fall over his crimson eyes. I’m quick to notice that his fangs have pierced through his gums, glinting under the moonlight. Curiosity gets the best of me, and I lift my fingers to run across one of them gently, feeling just how sharp they are.

Jaylen pulls away, his hand coming up to wrap around my wrist. “Careful. I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

“How does it work?” I ask softly, lifting my eyes to his. They’re a mixture of red and blue now.

He frowns. “What do you mean?”

“How do you… turn someone into a vampire?”

Jaylen licks his lips and releases my wrist. I watch as he stuffs himself back into his pants and leans forward to fix my dress that got pushed askew.

“It’s a complicated process,” he answers vaguely.

“Can you tell me?” I don’t care that it’s raining and my clothes and hair are soaked.

The thought that Jaylen could turn anyone he crosses paths with into a vampire hadn’t entered my mind until now. It has me curious whether he could turn me into one right here, right now. Not that I want him to do it, but I’m curious to hear the process.

Jaylen stares at me long and hard for a moment, making me think he’s not going to tell me. He sighs and runs a hand through his messy hair. “To keep it short and sweet, a vampire has to drain the blood of a human, leaving them with a small amount, but it won’t be enough for them to survive. Once the human is dead, the vampire has to fill the body with their blood. At the same time, a small trace of venom will be produced by the glands in their mouths that will then mix with their blood and begin the transition of turning the human into a vampire.”

I let his words circle in my mind for a moment before I speak. “So, basically, the venom mixed with the vampire blood is kind of like a potion for immortality.”

Jaylen smiles. “Yeah, something like that. There is more to it than that, but that’s the general idea.”

I nod. “It sounds… painful.”

He shrugs. “I guess it would be.”

I raise a brow at him. “Have you never turned anyone before?”

“No. I haven’t felt the need to. And as I said, it’s a lengthy process. One that I don’t want to deal with.”

I nod. That makes sense. If you have to go through all the effort to drain a human's blood and replace it with your own, you would want to have a good reason for doing it.

“Can you heal humans with your blood?”

Jaylen nods and shoves his hands into the pockets of his pants. “I can.”

When he doesn’t elaborate further, I decide to change the topic. As much as I would like to ask him more questions, it seems he doesn’t want to talk about it. I point to his bare chest and the Ghostface mask on the ground beside his feet. “Want to tell me why you scared the shit out of me tonight?”

He shrugs, biting back a smile. Water droplets fall from the curls hanging in front of his eyes. “It’s Halloween, and I wanted to see my little angel.”

“How did you know I was here?” I question, raising a brow at me.

Jaylen licks his lips and tugs his lip ring between his teeth. “I always know how to find my girl.”

I want to ask him what he means by that but a cold shiver races down my spine, reminding me that I’m standing in the rain and it’s fucking freezing. I turn toward the frat house, barely able to see it through the trees and wonder if the girls have noticed I’ve gone missing. I don’t want them to worry about me, especially with a serial killer running around Pullman.

“I should probably go.” When I turn back to Jaylen, his eyes are boring into mine.

He steps forward and lifts his hand to my cheek, cupping it gently. I unconsciously lean into his touch. “I like your costume. It suits you.”

“My friends thought I should’ve been Cruella de Vil.”

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