Page 35 of Don't Bite the Boy Next Door
“I told myself I would never kill again,” he shakes his head, his shoulders hunched in defeat, “but no matter where I go it seems death is drawn to me.”
‘Yes, in the very literal sense of the word – dear Lord, don’t tell me I’ve killed him after all, or worse, turned him into the monster I am.’
“And now apparently, if all the folklore about vampires is true, I’m going to kill to eat.” He puts his hands once more to his face, rubbing them harshly over his features, as though he could erase every one.
“No,” I croak, my voice a little stronger, “I don’t kill. I drink these,” I hold up the bag to show him, remind him, noting he looks at it in both disgust and hunger.
“You will need to drink, if you are really a vampire now,” I whisper, “because you won’t be able to eat human food. Unless you can? Can you eat real food?”
“No,” he pinches his nose between his finger and thumb. “I haven’t eaten since they discharged me, not until last night.”
“Last night?”
“When I fed you the blood, I spilt a little, and licked my finger,” he shrugs. “I’ve been trained to eat anything and everything I need to survive, no matter how disgusting. I helped myself to a bag, and my stomach stopped bleeding. I thought it weird, but after the second bag, I could think straight.”
“I’m so terribly, terribly sorry,” I begin crying again. “I had no idea. You have to believe me, Ryan, I would never, ever turn anyone into a vampire, I promise you.”
“I believe you,” he says, after a long minute of silence. “You saved my life, either way – I would have drowned if you hadn’t acted.”
“And you saved my life last night – such as it is. Thank you.”
“He was going to kill you,” he nods as though trying to convince himself.
“Yes,” I whisper, “he was. He already killed Shelly. Can you please help me up? I think I want to go to bed.
He nods and slips his hands around my waist, gently pulling me to his chest. I hold his shoulders as he waits for me to orient myself, leaving his hand on the small of my back as I rise and standing by my side, close enough to catch me if I fall, but not too close. Despite the pain I am in, his touch thrills me, sending little shivers down my spine, and lower.
“I heard him say you were meant to kill me,” he says, as I begin to shuffle towards the stairs.
“Yeah,” I gulp, walking like a zombie, one painful step at a time until I reach the first-floor landing and continue shuffling to my bedroom door. “But,” I turn back slowly, and painfully, to face him, “I couldn’t. I was planning on killing myself, just to make sure that never happened, but my sisters stopped me. Later I,” I gulp, “watched you and developed ways of being around you that helped me not bite you.”
“And is that what I’ll do? Bite people even if I don’t want to?” he mutters.
“No,” I shake my head, grimacing as pain rips through me, “it’s not like that.”
Seeing his eyes shift to the room behind me, his face startled, I turn away from him and consider my room. I imagine a pink and cream colour scheme and floral wallpaper is not quite what he expected.
“Did you think I slept in a coffin?” I joke weakly, “or upside down in a belfry?” But seeing he isn’t going to comment, I answer his unspoken question, “the killing you part is kind of a long story.”
“Areyou going to kill me?”
“No! Of course not – I don’t want to now.”
“Now?”
“I mean, I told you, I neverwantedto, it was just...”
He interrupts before I can go on, raising his hand in a stop motion and turning away. I notice he is limping quite heavily and assume the stairs cost him as much as they did me.
‘I’m so selfish, making him take me to my room when he is hurt. When will I stop making him pay for my mistakes? No wonder he is so angry.’
“It’s a moot point now, isn’t it?” he mutters, turning to look back at me. “Aren’t vampires technically dead?”
“Yes,” I murmur sorrowfully.
“But apparently they can’t live without a head.”
“No.”
