“If you don’t shut up, I will kill you,” I glared back at him, and he rolled his eyes, but he fell silent. I turned back to the supposed-vampire hunters. “I’ve already told you everything I know.”

“What about the child vampire?” Thomas asked, and I fought to keep my expression neutral.

“The only child vampire we have here is Milo upstairs, and you just kicked his ass,” I said.

I wanted to look over at Ezra to see how he reacted, but I knew that’d give something away. Milo had stopped groaning upstairs, and his bones weren’t cracking, but I couldn’t see him or Jack.

“I don’t know if I should believe you.” Thomas crossed his arms over his chest, staring at me with false contemplation. “I want to, but something about you just screams ‘liar’ to me.”

“I don’t know what I can say to make you believe me,” I told them honestly.

“I tend to think that people are most honest under pressure,” Thomas said, and Dane stepped forward.

“I have already told you everything!” I shouted and put my hands up. I’m not sure if Dane meant to hurt me or kill Bobby or what, but I didn’t want to find out.

“Really?” Thomas asked. “Are you sure?”

“This serial killer, he killed my best friend Jane, and I’ve been hunting all over for him,” I said hurriedly, thinking if I said it quickly it would make it more believable. “I know that the killer is a vampire, that he’s branding the girls, and he wants to get caught. He wants people to know that it was a vampire, but I don’t know why. He knew Jane, but I don’t even know if it is a him. It could be a girl. Or it could be a group. Or it could be… anybody.”

“You don’t know why he wants to get caught?” Samantha looked at me seriously.

“No. I have no idea why,” I said.

Samantha stared at me a moment longer, but my answer seemed to satisfy her. She looked over at Thomas, and finally, he nodded. Dane rolled his eyes and groaned, so I assumed it was good news for us.

“We won’t be wasting any more of your time,” Samantha said shortly.

“Sorry to bother you,” Thomas added.

The three of them turned to leave. Dane hissed at Bobby as he walked past, and Bobby jumped in surprise, then scoffed at himself. As soon as they left out the front door, I ran upstairs to see Milo with Bobby hot on my heels.

Milo was shirtless, slumped against the wall. His eyelids were half-open, and one of his sides was swollen and red, looking strangely lumpy. His left arm hung at an odd angle, and his skin had turned almost purplish around it. The cheek below his eye was puffy and covered in drying blood.

“He’s okay,” Jack said when I fell on my knees next to Milo. Jack was crouched down next to him, watching him.

“Are you sure?” I asked, confused by how horrible a vampire could look after a fight. “What happened to him?”

Wisdom

“Milo? Can you hear me?” Bobby asked. He sat on the other side of Milo, afraid to touch him, and tears filled his eyes.

“You should let him sleep,” Jack told him. “He had a lot of broken bones, and the more injuries he has, the longer it takes to heal. I gave him some of my blood to speed it up, and he should be alright soon.”

“Should I give him my blood too?” Bobby sniffled and wiped at his nose.

“No, my blood is stronger,” Jack said. “He will be fine. I promise.”

“Oh my god.” I let out a massive sigh of relief and ran my hand through my hair.

Milo had just had the shit seriously beaten out of him because of me, because I wouldn’t let Jane’s death go. It made me want to throw up, but when I remembered how Jane had felt when she died, I knew I couldn’t stop.

“So.” Jack turned to look at me, his voice cool and even. “What the hell have you been doing?”

20

After I got Milo comfortable in his room, I left Bobby to care for him, and I went downstairs to where Jack and Ezra waited for me. Jack had gotten dressed and paced the living room. The patio door was still wide open, letting in a cold wind and the morning sunlight. Some snow had drifted into the house, but nobody seemed to notice or mind.

I sat down on the couch, and Ezra sat on the chair across from me. Even though he knew what I’d been up to, the fact that I’d failed to mention the vampire hunters was a pretty big deal. Jack refused to sit down, and instead paced the room with his arms crossed over his chest.

“What do you guys want to know?” I asked, swallowing hard.

“Tell me everything,” Jack said simply.

Taking a deep breath, I started from the beginning. I even told them about things they knew, like how I’d felt so helpless after the lycan attacked and I vowed to never feel that way again. I told them how it felt when I bit Jane, and how sad and lonely she was. How she called me from rehab and told me that was the only time she’d felt like someone cared about her.

I even told them what I’d learned from Peter, and how I felt her die. And about how I had decided I would stop the monster that had killed her almost right away, and everything I had done to find him. How I’d taken Bobby along with me, and he was the only one who knew exactly what I’d been doing.

Once I began talking, it all poured out of me, and I couldn’t stop. I’d hated keeping this all from Jack, and I wanted him to know.

“And that’s everything,” I said at the end, staring up at them, and Jack stopped pacing.