Page 35 of Afflicted

“What about her?” I hope I sound nonchalant.

“You like her, don’t you?”

I laugh incredulously, stretching on the bed. “Like her? A bloodbag?”

“I see how you look at her.” Sam lifts an eyebrow. “You get that possessive glint in your eye whenever she passes you by.”

“Sam, come on.” I sit up, throwing my legs over the edge of the bed. “She’s pretty, for a human. That’s all. So I look at her, and?”

Sam’s mouth quirks. “Have you ever heard the expression, thou doth protest too much?”

“I’m not protesting anything.” I hold my hands up. “Nothing’s going on.”

Sam’s lips set in a hard line, and with a nod she pushes out the door.

I lie back on the bed, staring at the ceiling as it starts to reflect the orange light of morning.

Others are starting to notice. Sam has eagle eyes, she sees everything. But it’s only a matter of time before someone else notices me watching Juliet’s every move, sees the look on my face as my eyes follow her.

I have to be careful. I have to stop being stupid. I have to let this go.

But I’m obsessed. Even now, with Sam’s taste on my tongue, the second I conjure up the image of that blonde head of hair on the pillow beside me, I’m hard again.

CHAPTER12

JULIET

“We deserve answers!”The cry from the back of the dorm is met with angry shouts of agreement, fists waved in the air, nodding heads.

The red-headed vamp raises her hands for quiet. “I know you’re all anxious!” She’s barely audible over the angry crowd in front of her. “I know you’re all scared.”

“Fucking right we are!” Matt yells, clasping on to my hand.

The new dorm is much bigger than the old one, more space for the angry voices asking for an explanation as to what’s happening, why this happened, why fifteen people are now dead, to echo off the walls. I was in such bad shock I had to stay in sick bay for two days, and I still can barely eat or sleep a week later.

“Listen, please, I can assure you, you’re all safe,” the vamp says, and she’s met with boos and cynical laughs.

“What are you doing to keep us safe?” One of the younger men demands. “You keep saying we’re safe, we’re safe, but last week those zombies made it all the fucking way in here!”

“We don’t know what happened,” the vamp says. “It was a failure of the alarm system, but we’re increasing security and it won’t happen again.”

“How do you know?” Matt bellows, and everyone gets louder again. “We want to fucking know what you’re doing!”

“Everything we can!” The vamp calls.

“Tell that to all the people who died!” Gina clutches a hand to her mouth, tears running down her cheeks. The woman beside her puts an arm around her shoulders, and the crowd quietens a little. “We’ve all lost enough!” Gina’s voice cracks, her lips quivering. “I don’t feel like sitting here waiting to be torn to shreds if it’s all the same to you.”

“I promise you, we will protect you all.” The red-headed vamp looks almost sad as she looks down at Gina. “I know this was frightening, but I assure you, we’ve upped our security and it won’t happen again.”

Gina begins to cry, and the anger in the room dissipates to weariness. Everyone disbands, walking back to their beds. I feel sick. I wobble back to my bed, collapsing onto it heavily. Matt sits down beside me, holding my hand.

“I’d ask if you’re OK, but that seems like a stupid thing to ask right now.”

I huff out a laugh. “Yeah, I’m not OK, so…” I look up at him and shrug. “I hate this. It’s all scary. I feel like something really bad is going to happen.”

Matt pulls me close and strokes my hair. “I’m sorry.”

“It's not your fault.” I sniffle, trying not to start crying again. I don’t know what else to say. I don't want to live like this anymore, but I don’t want to die. I want some kind of promise that my life can be normal, that there’s some light at the end of this blood-soaked tunnel, but I can’t see one. I can't think about it too much, because it’s just too depressing.

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