Page 80 of Heathens

I dance toward the kitchen and start fixing up dinner as I sing along to the music. I wonder if she likes to dance. I should have asked her. We could have had some fun.

But it’s fine. We’ll have time.

She’s probably starving. She barely got to eat anything at all. Needs a bath, too. It’s important that I take care of her. It’s been so long since I’ve done this, I almost don’t know where to start.

A sigh leaves my body, and I smile, glancing back toward the bedroom door. This feels like a honeymoon.

Then the apartment buzzer rings, dragging me from my thoughts. I curse and toss the vegetables in the pan a few times more before wiping my hands and heading for the front door.

“Who the fuck is it?.”

“Dom, let me up!”Theo barks.

“You were supposed to be herebeforeshe got here last night! What the fuck happened?”

“I got held up!”

“Doing what?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute. Just… let me up!”

I buzz him in and head back to the kitchen. Whatever it is, he can tell me while I’m working. Sofie comes first. Within a couple minutes, I hear the elevator door open, followed by the quick patter of Theo’s footsteps. He paces a room or two before narrowing me down to the kitchen.

“Jesus Dom, there you are. We gotta talk.”

“You get her stuff?”

Theo points at the dining room table.There are two large suitcases resting on it, and I give him a nod of approval before turning the heat down on the stove and heading over to them. Makeup, hair products, clothes, shampoo, perfume, jewelry. He got everything. I can’t help the smile on my face as I glance back up at him.

“This is great.”

“Yeah, sure, it’s awesome,” Theo replies flatly. “Listen, that thing we were gonna talk about? I got to thinking– you got the formula up here, right?”

“In the drawer.”

I pull the key out of my pocket and toss it to him.

He nods and walks into the living room, returning with the piece of paper, his thick accent rising up as he mutters to himself.

“Yeah, see, I remember this… See this?”

Theo points to some numbers and letters that are all squished together with a bunch of lines underneath them. He might as well be asking me to read another language. I just nod and let him talk.

“This sequence here, whatever it is, ends up almost as pure as real vampire blood, but it’s all mixed with some kind of new barbiturate thatonlyworks on humans. For us, it’s a food source, maybe gets us a little fucked up, but for them… It totally rewires the brain, makes them compliant, desperate for more. Maybe permanently.“ He looks up at me as I blink. “He’s making a fucking bio weapon, Dom.”

“Why the fuck…?”

Theo pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I swear to god, man, did Luke and Mateo’s pea brains rub off on you?” He turns, furious, as his jaw ticks. “Jesus, can youturn that music the fuck down?!”

“Chill, Theo. God, make yourself a fucking drink.”

Theo sighs and heads for the liquor cabinet while I check on the food. The steak is cooking nicely, and I flip it once before I hear a glass clink on the counter behind me. When I turn around, he’s guzzling my Johnny Walker Blue right out of the bottle.

“Put that in a glass, you fuckin’ animal!” I bark.

“Think about it,” he tells me as he sets the bottle down, ignoring me. “Whatever’s in that formula, it’s coming out like vamp blood, and what do humans need our blood for?”

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