Flutter (14 page)

“We came to get you. We’re worried about you,” I told
her as sincerely as possible. I put my hand on her arm, but she
pulled it back from me.

“We
?” Jane
squinted harder in the darkness, trying to see who I brought with
me, and pushed herself to sit up. Her skeletal arms were stretched
out behind her, holding her up precariously so she didn’t fall back
on the bed.

“That
was
your little brother I saw
grinding up on some boy on the dance floor! I thought that was him,
but I didn’t believe you were letting him date yet.” She gave a
laugh, and Milo scowled at her. “That’s just like him to narc on me
anyway. I bet you just ran home to tell her right away, didn’t
you?”

“This isn’t the kind of life you want to have,” Milo
said, his cheeks reddening.

“Tell that to your boyfriend,” Jane laughed again,
but it was a tired, hollow sound.

“Jane, come on. This is enough. Let’s get you home.”
I got up off the bed and reached out for her, planning to throw her
over my shoulder if I had to.

“No! I’m not going with you!” Jane yelled. “You’ve
barely even talked to me since you got Jack, and you have the balls
to condemn me for doing the exact same thing as you?”

“I
never
did this!” I shouted. “And I
was avoiding you to protect you, and then you avoided me. I called
you like a million times but you wouldn’t answer!”

“Doesn’t that tell you something?” Jane smiled darkly
at me. “I don’t want to be your friend anymore, Alice! You don’t
need to save me from myself! I am just fine without you!”

“You are not fine! And I’m not
saving you from
you
! I’m saving you from vampires!” I knew that sounded really
dumb since I planned on bringing her back to a house full of
vampires, and Jane laughed at the stupidity of my
argument.

I bent down and scooped her up. She yelped in
protest, but I tossed her easily over my shoulder. I was much
stronger than before, but it was almost too easy. As soon as I had
her, she hit at my back and screamed at me.

“Put me down, you stupid bitch!” Jane shouted,
pounding her tiny fists as hard as she could against my back. Of
course, it didn’t hurt at all, but that didn’t stop her from
trying.

“She doesn’t want to go with you!” Jonathan made a
step towards me.

Jack and Milo moved closer to him. Jonathan held his
hands up in a gesture of peace, but his face contorted with
contained rage. If I tried taking away food from a starving wolf, I
imagine that he would make a similar expression.

“What’s going on?” Bobby asked, terrified.

“Everything’s fine,” Milo told him
unconvincingly.

“You can’t kidnap her,” Jonathan said.

I hadn’t moved towards the door yet because I hoped
Jane would calm down, but he was right. I couldn’t take her kicking
and screaming onto the city streets.

“Just put me down!” Jane shouted. Sighing, I set her
on her feet next to me. She slapped me once more for good measure,
and I had to remind myself that she was my best friend. “You are
such a control freak, Alice! Just because you’re a prude doesn’t
mean I’m wrong!”

“I don’t want any trouble but she
is
mine
,” Jonathan
exchanged a look with Jack, and Jane puffed up.

Jane misinterpreted his use of the word “mine.” She
saw it as something resembling love, like he cared so she belonged
to him. All he really meant was that he had bitten her first, so he
laid claim on her until he gave her up.

She reached out in the darkness, feeling around for
Jonathan to protect her. Milo moved, allowing Jonathan to walk to
her. He put his arm around her in something that she perceived as
affection, but it was nothing more than ownership.

“We’ll talk later,” I said finally.

“Fat chance,” Jane scoffed.

Milo comforted Bobby, who frantically clung to the
door. Jack put his arm around me, escorting me from the room.

I looked back over my shoulder at Jane. Thin and
frail, she hung onto Jonathan just to keep from falling over.
Before we had even left the room, he tilted her head back and sunk
his teeth into her neck. She moaned and her blood filled the
air.

Jack tightened his arm around me to prevent me from
rushing at Jonathan and getting myself killed. He pulled the door
shut behind us and drug me down the hallway, past all the rooms
where vampires were feeding on other people’s best friends.

I spent the entire car ride home sulking and glaring
out the window. Jack tried to talk to me and cheer me up, but I
wanted nothing to do with it. It wasn’t his fault that Jane
wouldn’t come home with us, or that vampires were such horrible
creatures, but he was the only one I had to take it out on.

When we pulled in the garage, I slammed the car door
behind me and stormed into the house, noticing that Milo and Bobby
hadn’t returned yet.

“Alice!” Jack called after me, but I didn’t slow
down.

Matilda waited at the door for us, but when she
greeted me, I pushed past her. Jack indulged her more than I did,
but he was trying to keep up with me so he made it quick.

“Alice, come on. I know you’re upset, but you didn’t
really think you could swoop in there like Batman and save the day,
did you?”

“I don’t know what I thought,” I muttered.

I reached the kitchen and stopped. I wanted to eat
something. Not that I was actually hungry, not for human food, but
whenever I had come home frustrated, Milo always fed me. It was
probably for the best I turned into a vampire, otherwise I would’ve
ended up as a very fat stress eater. Out of habit, I opened up the
refrigerator, which actually had food in it again, thanks to
Bobby.

“What are you doing?” Jack asked.

“Making Bobby a snack.”

Since I’d never had a conversation with the kid, I
had no real clue what kind of foods he might like, but Mae stocked
the fridge for him, so it was a safe bet that anything in it would
work. I hadn’t really meant to make him anything, and it was a well
known fact that I couldn’t cook, but it would give me something to
do.

The crisper was filled with fruits, so I grabbed them
all, thinking that chopping them up for a fruit salad might go a
long way to alleviate my anger.

“Do you need any help?” Jack asked, watching me drop
the armload of fruits onto the island.

I shook my head and searched the kitchen drawers
until I found a large butcher knife. I couldn’t tell the last time
anybody had used it, so I rinsed it off. Then I realized I hadn’t
washed off any of the fruit, either, so I grabbed it all and
dropped it in the sink to clean.

“Are you mad at me?” Jack leaned against the island
with Matilda rubbing up against him so he could scratch her
head.

“No,” I said, but that wasn’t exactly true. “You and
Milo could’ve taken that Jonathan idiot. And I’m sure Jane would’ve
followed you out of there. We could’ve taken her if we really
tried.”

“Maybe,” he admitted.

I picked the fruit up out of the sink, but they were
wet and slippery, and the grapes and strawberries tried making
their escape onto the floor. He came over and caught what was
falling and helped me carry it back over to the island.

“Thank you,” I muttered, not ready to give up on my
anger yet.

“If we had to kidnap Jane, what
good would it have really done?” Jack looked at me. “You watch
that
Intervention
show about junkies. What do they always say? You can’t make a
person change, and they can’t quit for anybody else. Jane has
to
want
to
stop.”

“Then why did we even go down there?” My hands felt
shaky when I started chopping a pear, but I ignored it. I couldn’t
forget the image of how sickly Jane looked, and how content she was
with that.

“I thought maybe you’d be able to talk some sense
into her.” He shrugged. “But now she knows that you still care, and
if she has a change of heart, she’ll talk to you.”

“Jane’s never listened to me about anything, and you
know it.”

“Maybe so, but this is her choice, and you have to
let her make it.” He was on the other side of the island from me,
leaning across it.

My body was naturally pulled to him, and I pretended
like pears and apricots were more interesting. Unfortunately, I’d
never been a coordinated person, and I didn’t do much better as a
vampire. I was distracted by Jack and thoughts of Jane, so it was
only a matter of time before the knife sliced my finger.

I yelped and pulled my hand back, sustaining my first
real injury as a vampire. The pain was much sharper and more
intense than any I had felt as a human, but it died away instantly.
The cut was nasty, hitting the bone in my index finger. If my bones
hadn’t been so strong, I probably would’ve sliced the tip right
off.

I stared down at it, watching the blood seeping from
my wound with some amazement. This was my blood, and I could smell
it, warm and strangely exotic.

“You do smell
really
good,” Jack said in a hushed
tone.

The pink edges of the cut were already healing, right
in front of my eyes, and I glanced up at him. His eyes had gone
translucent, and I heard his heart speed up. Nothing in the world
was more enticing to him than the scent of my blood, and that
hadn’t changed when I became immortal.

“Want a taste?” I offered my hand to him, knowing how
wonderful it felt when he tasted me and how crazy it drove him. I
imagined him throwing all the fruit off the island and pushing me
back down on it, kissing me ferociously until his mouth found my
neck…

“In the kitchen?” He raised an eyebrow, his breath
shallow.

With great effort, he managed to pull his eyes from
me to look around the room, pointing out how completely exposed we
would be. At any minute, Milo and Bobby would come home, and Mae
and Ezra had to be somewhere around here

“Suit yourself.” I shrugged, pretending it meant
nothing, even though I knew he could hear my own ragged heartbeat.
The cut had healed completely, and the blood dried on my skin. I
put my finger in my mouth, cleaning it off.

“You’re horrible.” He shook his head and took a step
back from the island, trying to clear his head of me.

Within seconds, Milo and Bobby came in from the
garage. They both eyed up the fruit spread on the island with
confusion, but Milo’s face contorted into something different. He
sniffed, giving me an evil look that was somehow hungry as
well.

“Why does it smell like your blood in here?” Milo
demanded, then shot a glare at Jack.

“I just cut my finger,” I sighed and held up the
knife that still had my blood on it. A few droplets were on the
island, and I wiped at them with a rag.

“Oh really, Alice.” Milo rolled his eyes and came
over to me. “Do you want me to do this for you? What are you doing
anyway?”

“I thought you didn’t eat,” Bobby said. A strand of
his black hair fell into his eyes, and he pushed it back, walking
over to the island to inspect what we were doing.

“I thought you might be hungry,” I said. Milo had
taken over chopping up the fruit, and he looked back at me with
surprise.

“Thanks,” Bobby said and blushed lightly. Everyone
clearly assumed that I hated Bobby, and they weren’t that far off
base, but I did like distractions.

“Milo always used to cook for me when I got home,” I
said lamely.

Tucking hair behind my ears, I caught Jack smiling at
me. He knew the whole snack thing was about busy work, not Bobby,
but he was glad that I made nice with Bobby. Jack liked Bobby,
which for some reason, made me angry with Jack again, so I sighed
and leaned back against the kitchen counter.

“Milo is a very good cook.” Bobby smiled at me before
looking adoringly at my brother.

“He was gonna be a chef,” I said.

“I still can be,” Milo cast me a look. “I’m not
dead.” Jack laughed at that sentiment, and Milo rolled his eyes
again. “I have lots of time to become whatever I want.”

He finished cutting the fruit, and he went to the
cupboard to get out a serving platter. Once he brought it back to
the island, he arranged the fruit. Bobby smiled and delicately
picked at grapes, afraid of disturbing the masterpiece that Milo
had created.

The bedroom door to Mae and Ezra’s room slammed
loudly, followed by quick footsteps, and Mae repeatedly saying the
word no. She appeared in the kitchen, looking haggard. Her cheeks
and eyes were red from crying, and her honey curls were pulled back
in a very messy bun. Tissue was wadded up tightly in her hand, and
she glared at us.

- 15 –

Ezra followed close behind Mae, looking better than
he had in days. He didn’t appear as upset as her, but his
expression was grim. When he reached out for her, she pulled away
from him.

“Where have you been?” Mae demanded, her warm voice
more shrill. Bobby had been in the middle of chewing, but he gulped
it down whole and moved closer to Milo.

“Why? Did something happen?” Jack asked
carefully.

“Just answer the damn question!” Mae shouted, making
us all jump. Her hands were balled up at her sides, and stray curls
stuck to her tear stained cheeks. “You think you all can just come
and go as you please. This isn’t a hotel. We are a family, and this
is our home!”

“Sorry?” I apologized uncertainly. I looked to Ezra
for help, but he was too busy watching her to give us any hint
about what the hell was going on.

“Yeah, we’re really sorry,” Milo said, more sincerely
than I did.

“We didn’t mean to not tell you,” Jack said. “We just
left in kind of a hurry, I guess.”