I stumbled around the house most of the day, and I’m surprised that I didn’t bump into any objects. Milo forced me to eat, but swallowing felt like a massive chore. I put on comfy sweats and a tee shirt and didn’t even bother with showering. It would be too much work, and I didn’t even know if I’d see Jack or Peter today. There was a very good chance that I’d never see either of them again. Peter had run away, and Jack…
“Alice, I don’t think you should go over there anymore.” Milo stood next to the couch, frowning at me. I had curled up in a ball, and I stared blankly at the TV with my phone gripped in my hand. “You keep coming home looking completely drained. I don’t know what they’re doing to you, but it can’t be good.”
“You should see what I do to them,” I mumbled.
“What?” His soft brown eyes were filled with concern, so I just looked away from him.
“Nothing.”
“Alice, I’m serious.” Milo had that parental vibe going on, and normally, I’d cave under it, but I was too numb to react to anything. I just pulled the blanket up over my head so I wouldn’t have to look at him.
“Just leave me alone!” I said as forcefully as I could.
Eventually, he walked away, and I stayed buried underneath the covers.
The horrible truth was that I didn’t really want to be alive anymore. Last night had devastated me too succinctly. Everything was confusing and it hurt, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all some kind of bad dream. Then, my phone played “Time Warp” and my eyes snapped open.
Ezra’s back. He’ll be there to pick you up in fifteen minutes.
Why not you? Are you okay? Is everything alright? I demanded, feeling my heart race painfully.
I can’t be alone with you. I’m fine. Ezra will explain more. I’ll see you soon.
Jack messaged me back, but somehow, I still felt relieved. I had been anxious to have a car ride alone with him so I could talk to him more, but he was right. It was probably safer for both of us if that didn’t happen.
“You’re not going over there!” Milo watched me as I pulled on my Famous Stars and Straps zippered hoodie, the one I had worn the night Jack had been attacked by that dog.
“Yeah, I am,” I replied flatly, searching around for my shoes.
“Dressed like that?” Milo asked in disbelief.
“Yeah.” Finally, I found my shoes and slipped them on. “Things have changed. I don’t need to impress them anymore.”
“Are you like breaking up with them or something?”
“I don’t know.” I hadn’t really thought about me not choosing to see them, but as soon as I did, I dismissed it. It would be impossible for me to ever end things with them. I was inexorably tied to Peter, and I’d probably fallen in love with Jack.
“We have school tomorrow!” Milo called as I opened the door.
“I don’t care,” I said and then left.
Ezra didn’t drive quite as fast as Jack, or maybe he felt it was more polite to actually give me time to get ready. Either way, I beat him outside. I sat on the curb, shivering in the cold, and trying not to envision the worst, when he finally pulled up in the Lexus. I had never been in the car, but I recognized it instantly from the garage.
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting long,” Ezra smiled warmly at me when I got inside. He saw me shiver, so he turned up the heat. “Let me know when it gets warm enough for you. We don’t really feel the cold the way you do.”
“Okay.” The seat felt warm and comfortable, especially after freezing on the curb, and I sunk deeper into it.
“How are you doing?” Ezra asked sincerely, and I tried to answer him as honestly as I could.
“I’m… absorbing a lot of things. Is Jack okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine,” he nodded. “He just needed some time to get himself together.”
“Is he going to be okay being around me again?” There was a bitter catch22 that had been plaguing me. I didn’t want to be around Jack if it was going to torture him so much, but I couldn’t imagine not being around him either.
“Yes. Last night, there were a lot of emotions going for you both. It’s very new territory, for all of us really, and there’s going to be some missteps.” He spoke evenly, and his deep voice managed to soothe me in a way that had been lacking since I came home last night. “But you both will have to be more careful around each other. It should be easier now that you’re both aware of the limitations.”
“I hope so.” I pulled my sweatshirt tighter to me, even though I wasn’t cold anymore. “Is Peter back?”
“Not yet. But he will be soon.”
“Jack said that I’m meant for Peter. What does that mean?” I looked over at Ezra, and half-expected him to give me the same run around as everyone else.
“We don’t fully understand why it happens, except that vampires are pack animals. Mythology has set us up to be extreme loners, but at our core, emotionally, we’re very human. We desire companionship, like anyone else, but ours has to be more selective.” As he spoke, he kept one hand on the wheel, while the other one bobbed a silver ring over his fingers. “Our blood is almost magnetized to our — for a lack of a better word — soul mates. We feel it intrinsically when we find each other.”
“Is Mae your soul mate?” I asked quietly.
“She is.” His eyes had that faraway look again, and the corners of his mouth curled up ever so slightly. “I lived 255 years without her, but now, I couldn’t imagine existing a single day without her. I even ‘dated’ before I met her, but it was impossible to make lasting relationships. That was part of the reason that I turned Peter. I was desperately lonely, and he traveled around with me for awhile. But then he met his mate.”
“Wait,” I interrupted. “I thought I was Peter’s ‘mate.’”
“I told you this was new for all of us,” Ezra looked over at me. “Peter met a vampire named Elise, and they lived together for only a brief time. Maybe ten or twenty years. He knows it to the exact day, but he never speaks of it.”
“What happened?” I glanced out the window, and I realized we weren’t taking the normal route to his house. In fact, if my guess was right, he wasn’t taking me anywhere near their place. “Where are we going?”
“I thought it would be better if the two of us had some time to talk before we went back.” Ezra must have read the confusion on my face because he continued. “Some of this would be better if Jack didn’t hear.”
“Oh,” I said. Jack had mentioned that they didn’t like to tell him anything, and he wasn’t kidding. “So what happened with Peter?”
“Elise was killed.” Ezra heard my sharp intake of breath and smiled humorlessly. “We’re not truly immortal. There was some fight amongst vampires. They were arguing over who had control over a certain area.
Vampires are notoriously territorial and possessive, but then again, so are humans, and in most ways, we are just heightened versions of yourselves.”
“So you’re saying that another vampire killed Elise?” My eyes were wide, and he nodded.
“It nearly killed Peter. He went into a very dark period for awhile.” A troubled expression went on Ezra’s face, and I was certain that I didn’t want to know what Peter had been through or what he had done. “He’s fought in every major war since WWI, up until this last excursion in the Middle East. He had a bit of a blood lust or a death wish, or some combination of that, for a very long time, but he’s mostly come out of it now. He’s not the same man he once was, though.”
“It must’ve been terrible for him,” I murmured. I had spent hardly any time with him, but it would be agony for me if anything happened to him. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have eternity with his soul mate, and then have it ripped out from under him.
“It was,” Ezra agreed solemnly. “But he had moved on, as best he could.
After Elise died, he had just assumed that that part of his life was over. We all had. But then you came along.”
“How did you know I was meant for Peter?” I asked. Jack had stumbled upon me long before I met Peter.
“We didn’t, not at first, although Mae suspected immediately.” With that, Ezra gave a small shrug. “Toss it up to women’s intuition. None of it really made sense at first.”
“What do you mean?” I crinkled my forehead, trying to understand.
“For starter’s, your human.” Ezra gave me an even look, and I shook my head. “We’re never intended for
