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  I sighed once again when I suddenly heard voices coming from downstairs. I walked out to the top of the stairs and stood for a little while, listening.

  It was my parents. They were discussing something, trying to keep their voices down, but not succeeding.

  "She's been bitten, Doyle," Mom said. "It no longer matters who it was, who did it. She will change, soon, and then people will start asking questions. Or she'll go on a rampage. Do you want that on your hands, huh? I swear, if it wasn't for those…irresponsible people across the street, this would never have happened."

  "Now, you don't know for certain that it was…" Doyle tried but was soon overpowered by his wife.

  "Nonsense. Of course, it was them. Who else would be so careless?"

  "Well…"

  "Don't you dare say Adrian. He would never have been…"

  "We don't really know that," my dad said. "You know how it is in the beginning. The thirst, the cravings. It's hard to control. And, at that age, you're so careless. You just don't think about the consequences."

  She exhaled deeply, then let out a small snort. "That may be," she said, "but I don't care who bit that girl. It might not be our responsibility, but it will end up affecting all of us. It needs to be dealt with. Fast."

  Chapter Forty-Three

  I ran back into my room and closed the door behind me. Panting, I hid in my bed, my eyes staring widely at the ceiling, wondering what I had just listened in on. Had I really heard what I thought I did?

  They had to be talking about Melanie Peterson, the girl on TV, didn't they? She was bitten, they said. By something she claimed was a wolf. But could it have been…something else? Something whose bite would turn her into…something horrible?

  I didn't want to think the thought through.

  I stared at the ceiling. The little figures shaped in the wood above me that I had looked at since I was a young child seemed to be laughing at me. Mocking me for being so stupid.

  Is Jayden right? Are my parents…that? Is my brother…?

  I grabbed my pillow and hid my face in it, clenching it tightly like I was trying to squeeze out the many thoughts lingering in my mind.

  I exhaled into it, then shook my head. There was no way around it, was there? I had seen that wound in my brother's chest. I had seen it heal before my very eyes and the boy get to his feet, laughing, like nothing had happened. I had seen all that. I had seen it with my own eyes and there was nothing natural about any of what I had witnessed.

  If the shoe fits. Isn't that what they all say?

  I shook my head again in dismay. I didn't want to believe it. There had to be some other explanation. There simply had to be. Of course, my parents weren't vampires, of course not. My parents had to be talking about something else. Of course they did. When they talked about changing, they probably meant that she would never be the same. Heck, maybe they weren't even talking about Melanie Peterson; maybe they were just talking about someone else that I didn't even know about or maybe it could have been Renata? The dog might have been bitten by some other animal and…now they were talking about getting it dealt with, yes…

  I sighed. I grabbed my phone and looked at it. I contemplated calling Jayden. I knew it might get me in trouble, but he was the only one I could talk to about this, wasn't he?

  You know what he'll say. He'll tell you to get away, to get out of the house. He’ll tell you that your family is dangerous and that you should leave. But where to?

  "They'll just find me," I said toward the ceiling and the small wooden shapes. "They'll never let me get away. They will hunt me down even if they have to go to the ends of this world to get me home. I’m stuck here with them."

  I bit my lip, thoughts of Melanie Peterson rushing through my mind. What if they were actually talking about her? What exactly did they mean by dealing with it?

  I shot up from the bed.

  "Oh, dear God, they're going to kill her, aren't they?"

  Startled at my own realization, I grabbed my phone and texted Amy. YOU HOME?

  Chapter Forty-Four

  "That is some crazy stuff, are you sure about all this?"

  Amy stared at me. We were sitting in her kitchen, eating asparagus soup that Amy had made while I spoke. When I had asked her to please stop and listen, she had told me she couldn't.

  "When I’m distressed, I cook. It’s how I focus best."

  I had then gone on and on, telling her the entire story of my brother's changing, of seeing my mother with blood on her lips coming out of his room, of finding him in the park, shot, and then healing while we watched it, about the missing pulse and then what I had heard my parents talk about. I had let it all out, all my concerns, and it had felt so incredibly good, even though I was slightly terrified that Amy would tell me she thought I was crazy as a bat and that I needed help. Professional help.

  But she didn't. Instead, Amy, while slurping the asparagus soup, listened carefully to every word, then sat in silence and let the realization sink in before she said, "I have to say, it all makes sense."

  "Are you sure about that?" I asked, baffled at her reaction.

  "Think about it," she said, pointing her spoon at me, dripping soup on the counter. "Your mom is never in the sunlight. Always wears long sleeves, big hats, sunglasses, and even gloves when leaving the house. Even when the sun isn't shining. She is extremely pale. And she doesn’t seem to age at all."

  "Well, she is also a health fanatic and stays out of the sun to not get a sunburn," I said.

  "True, but still. It makes total sense to me."

  "Really? Because it doesn't to me. Not at all," I said. "We're talking fairy tale creatures here. Old folklore caused by hysteria, the fear of the dead. My mom doesn’t sleep in a coffin or anything like that."

  "Maybe not, but I find it believable. There's a lot on this earth we don't know about. Plus, I think we'd be surprised at how much we don't know about our parents."

  I nodded and ate my soup. Up until now, I had believed I knew everything there was to know about them. I never imagined they could have a life outside of the house, outside of being parents. That was all they had ever been to me.

  "I still find it a little insane."

  "Oh, it's crazy, don't get me wrong. This is the type of stuff they'll lock you up and strap you down for in a mental institution. Don't you dare tell anyone else about this. It stays between us kids. There is no way you can let your parents know that you know this."

  I nodded, suddenly feeling very alone in a big and dangerous world. The thought that my home was no longer a safe haven was distressing and left me slightly hopeless. If you can't feel safe in your own house, where can you?

  Amy slurped her soup, then put her spoon down with a loud clank. She looked intently at me.

  "We need to find Melanie Peterson. We need to find her now. Before they do."

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Melanie Peterson feared the evening approaching and watched the sun set behind the houses across the street from hers with a growing anxiety. During the day, she was fine—well, exhausted from the lack of sleep, but at least she didn't feel anything going on inside her body. Not until nighttime came; as soon as midnight approached, she would feel it.

  "You're going through the changes, you know, puberty," her mother, who used to be a nurse before the drinking began, had told her when she had told her she felt different and sick at night.

  "It's hormones. It's only natural. Teenagers can have hot flashes too, on account of the hormones rushing through them."

  But Melanie knew that wasn't all it was. It was also something else. Something a lot more intense and dangerous. The night before, she had completely blacked out and she woke up in their yard with no idea how she got there. Next to her in the grass lay a dead cat that she didn't know where came from or where it belonged. The sight of the dead cat had made her cry because she felt bad for the animal, but mainly because she was terrified that she had somehow killed it while she was blacked out. It was a
n awful feeling. It was like she no longer had any control over her own body.

  Now, as she watched the sun set, she wondered if it was going to happen again. Would she once again go to bed and then wake up somewhere else? The night before, she remembered waking up, in pain like the other nights, and then she had seen the claws and felt the…the teeth as they grew and then…the pain, the excruciating pain…before everything had gone black. After that, she remembered nothing. She didn't recall going out and had no memory of being in the yard. But that was where she had suddenly found herself. Next to that…dead thing.

  Melanie tried not to think about it. She pulled the curtains as the darkness fell on the rooftops outside, then walked to her computer and sat down. Downstairs, she could hear her mother fighting with Max. It hadn't taken them many days to get tired of each other and, by now, they were drunk enough to start yelling. Melanie gave Max one more week before he would leave, finally having enough. And then they would be back to her mother feeling sorry for herself, throwing a pity party, and drinking because she was never going to find a man.

  At least this one hadn't beaten her up yet. For that reason alone, she wanted him to stick around a little longer. At least to keep her mom from feeling like a failure because she couldn't hold onto any man.

  Melanie looked at the computer screen and at the many articles she had been reading about her condition. They were mostly about night sweats and trembling and if she kept reading, at some point, all her symptoms were explained by only one thing: Cancer.

  If it was in the thyroid or the liver or maybe both, Melanie hadn't figured out yet, but she was terminally ill. Of that, she was certain. If only she could figure out precisely what type of cancer she had, then she would know how long she had left.

  The loud brisk knock on her window startled her and she let out a small shriek before finally pulling the curtains aside to look.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  I grabbed my jacket and put on my shoes. Amy was right behind me. When I opened the door, I spotted Jayden right outside. The sight of him made me smile. Not that I wanted to, but it sort of just happened. Then, I spotted Jazmine coming up behind him, and my heart froze over once again.

  "I was just about to…" he said, staring at me. "I was just going to ring the doorbell."

  Amy came up behind me and closed the door to her house. "I hope you don't mind. I called for backup."

  I shook my head, my eyes desperately avoiding Jayden's. "No. No. Of course not."

  I walked past them into the driveway to Amy's truck and got inside, taking the passenger seat. Jayden and Jazmine sat in the back seat.

  "Jayden knows where Melanie lives," Amy said as she started the truck with a roar. She looked at him in the rearview mirror.

  "You tell me the way."

  Jayden leaned in between the seats. His closeness made everything turn inside of me. I realized I didn't really have a reason to be mad at him since he had been right, but I couldn't shake this feeling inside of me, the anger at him and at…her.

  I tried to suppress it.

  "I used to take Taekwondo lessons the same place she does and sometimes we would ride our bikes home together. She lives in those old houses behind the K-Mart," he said.

  "That's a bad neighborhood," I said. "My mom won't like me being in a place like that."

  "I think we're a little beyond what your mom is going to approve of by now, don't you think?" Amy said.

  "Amy has a point," Jayden said.

  "You don't get to say that," I said without turning around to face him. I couldn't stand looking at him, just the smell of him so close to me made everything inside of me squirm. Being close to Jayden had always been unbearable, but now that he was with Jazmine, it was worse than ever.

  Jayden scoffed. "Why do you have to be so mad all the time? What did I do to you?"

  I shook my head and looked out the window with a snort. "Everything. You…if you hadn't…"

  "If I hadn't what, Robyn? What is it exactly I have done? Tried to protect you? If so, then I don't regret it."

  "You're just so…so…" I turned around.

  "So what?" he asked. "Just say it! You hate me. I get it."

  I looked into his eyes and it felt like everything fell apart inside of me. I turned my head away. Did he really think I hated him?

  "Turn right here. It's the blue house on the corner," Jayden said. "The one with the red bike parked in the driveway."

  Amy took the turn, then parked the car and looked out the windshield with a small gasp.

  "What?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

  "I think we're too late," Amy said.

  "What do you mean?"

  Amy pointed at the sky. What looked like two giant bats were flying away and between them—clenched in their claws—they were holding Melanie.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  "Oh, my God! Oh, my God, we’re too late. I can't believe we’re too late."

  I could hardly breathe as I watched the two human-sized bats fly off with the girl between them. I turned to look at the others.

  "We must stop them. We have to stop them."

  Amy swallowed hard. They were all glaring at the bats, eyes wide open, jaws dropped.

  "Up until now, I thought I could handle anything…that I would love…I mean, I have always believed in a magical world that no one could see," Amy said. "But this…this I don't think…"

  She stopped talking. None of us moved a muscle. Even Jazmine gaped along with the rest of us.

  "Where do you think they’ll take her?" Jayden finally asked. "Where are they going?"

  Finally, all four of us looked at each other and said in unison:

  "The abandoned house."

  Amy backed out of the driveway and swung back into the street, then rushed through town back toward Shadow Hills, literally standing on the pedal, since she was so small she had to actually stand up in order to press it all the way down.

  She turned the car into her own driveway, causing it to skid sideways, then managed to park in front of her house. We all got out and ran toward the old house at the end of the road. We ran up the stairs and onto the porch, when Jayden suddenly said, "Wait. How are we going to do this? We have no weapons and we're up against…vampires? Flying bloodsucking vampires?"

  "He's right," Amy said. "They might be your parents, Robyn, but there is no way we can fight them if it comes to that."

  "What even kills a vampire?" Jazmine said. "Aren't they like…dead already?"

  Amy exhaled. "Don't you watch TV? Or read books? A stake through the heart will kill them, or a silver bullet."

  "That's werewolves," I said.

  "Oh," Amy said. "Well the stake through the heart, that one I’m sure of. Almost."

  "Except we don't know if that’s true or not," Jayden said. "It could be just folklore."

  Amy went to one of the big wild trees, grabbed a low branch, and broke it off. Amy then peeled off all the leaves and made it pointy at the end, using her car key.

  She held it up in front of her. "I ain't taking any chances. At least now, I’m armed." She broke off more and handed them to the others, and soon they all had stakes in their hands, except for me, I threw mine down as Amy handed it to me.

  "Nobody is killing anyone here," I said. "This is my family you're talking about."

  "Who are freaking vampires about to kill a girl," Jazmine squealed.

  I wanted to say something back, to shut her up, but what could I say? Jazmine was right. So were Amy and Jayden. If it came down to a confrontation and my parents tried something, we would have to try and kill them, right?

  It just didn't feel right.

  "Let's go," Amy said and held the stick out in front of her like she was some tour guide leading the way.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  When Melanie woke up, she looked straight into three sets of blazing green eyes. She stared from one face to another, at first thinking she might still be dreaming, then slowly recollecting what had happe
ned earlier. She remembered opening the window for the woman who had knocked on the glass, wondering how she had gotten up on the second floor without a ladder. The woman, who looked like anyone's mother—one of those living in the nice neighborhoods—seemed nice and was smiling. Then, as soon as Melanie had asked her what she was doing up there, the woman had hissed, showed off a set of very strange teeth—yet so very like those Melanie had seen in the mirror when looking at herself during her bodily spasms. The pale woman had been floating in the air and there had been some guy behind her, looking strangely a lot like her. The woman soon turned into a huge bat, bigger than any of the bats Melanie had seen between the trees in the park at night. And also different because she still partly had the woman's body and face. She had let out an ear-piercing scream, then attacked Melanie with her claws and knocked her backward into the room. Melanie had hit her head on the corner of the table and blacked out.

  "W-who are you?"

  The three of them all showed off their fangs as they circled her, sounding like a gathering of cats.

  "W-what do you want from me?"

  "It doesn't matter," the woman said. "You're going to be gone in a short while anyway."

  "But…but why?"

  "When my son bit you…"

  "I told you, Mom," another of them said. "It wasn't me."

  "You just don't remember, son," the third one said. "It’s perfectly normal in the beginning. Until you learn to control it. Your mother and I failed in teaching you properly. We thought it was okay that you went out on your own, to make your own experiences. We thought you'd suck the blood of a couple of animals that you hunted down and get it out of your system. We didn't think that anyone would be running around the park at night. It's our fault."

  "But…it wasn't…"

  "It's okay," the woman said. "What's done is done. We are fixing this now. And to get you properly initiated, we will let you have the first drink. Now, satisfy your thirst. But remember, from now on, you don't feed on anyone from around here. At least not anyone who will be missed. We have our ways, son. We'll show you."