“For what?”
“The other night, when you closed my window. It rained and I would’ve been very cold if you—” My words dissipated with a gasp of air; I projected forward, nearly striking the dash as the car screeched to a halt in the middle of the road. “David! What the hell!” I pried my fingers from their grip of fear on the seat, then slapped him hard—not hard enough, though. He didn’t even flinch.
“When was this, Ara? Which night are you talking about?”
“Friday. Why?” I rubbed at my now throbbing hand.
“Tell me exactly what you think I did.” He grabbed my face, turning it from one side to the other, then let out a breath.
“Umm, you closed my window.” I pushed his hand off my face. “Why the sudden freak-out?”
After a moment of stillness, he looked over his shoulder, then back at the dash. “Because, Ara, I never close your window.”
My blood ran cold.
“I’m pretty sure my brother came to visit you.”
“What? How do you know my dad didn’t close it?”
David reluctantly turned his gaze to me. “The scent.”
“The scent?”
“Yes. It’s nearly exactly the same as mine, only, I should’ve followed my gut when I realised it was on things I never touch—things I’ve never been near.”
“Are you saying there was some strange vampire in my room? While I was sleeping? Oh my God.” I shook my hands around, taking short breaths. “I think I’m hyperventilating.”
“It’s okay, Ara. Really. He would never hurt you—you have nothing to worry about.” He placed a calming hand to my shoulder.
I didn’t feel convinced.
“He’s like me, my love—in so many ways,” he said, rubbing my back. “He’s a good guy. He was just curious about you.”
“Then why did he sneak into my room? What is it with you Knight boys?”
“It’s my fault. I wouldn’t let him meet you.”
“Why?”
“Because my personal life is not his business.”
“How is it not? He’s your brother.”
He looked forward, almost pouting. “You’re starting to sound like my uncle.”
I reached across and touched his arm. “David?”
He looked at me again.
“I don’t see what the big deal is? Why didn’t you just let him meet me? It would’ve saved all this…” I motioned to us, stopped dead in the middle of the desolate road. “Drama.”
“He doesn’t fit into your world as well as I do—anymore.” David wrapped his fingers over his thumb, cracking it absentmindedly. “I was afraid he might scare you.”
“Scare me?”
“Yes.” He smiled into his lap, tossing a sideways glance at me after. “He can come across as a little...malevolent.”
“And you tell me not to worry that he was in my room? With me? Alone?”
“Yes.”
“David!”
“I'm sorry.”
“How do you know he didn't do anything…unsavoury? I mean, touch me, breathe on me—look at me?”
“I know my brother. He’s—for all his faults, violence and depravity are not among them. He wouldn’t do anything…dishonourable to you.”
“Then why did you study me like that?”
“Involuntary reaction.” He shrugged; he looked so human when he did that. “It was silly of me. If he’d bitten you, you’d already be a vampire.”
“Do you really think he’d have done that?”
He rubbed his chin. “I don't know. I guess I was just worried he might.”
“Why? Isn't it against the law?”
“Yes, but, I—” His gaze drifted into the world of nothing, coming back with a trace of alarm. “If you ever see me or speak to me and you feel something is slightly off, just—just ask me something only I’d know, and don't think about the answer.”
“Why? Can he read minds, too?”
“Yes. And not just human minds, either.”
“What, like, dogs and cats?”
“And vampires.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
I held back the urge to laugh. “So, he’s more talented than you. I bet that sucks.”
He brushed my hair from my face and stared at me intently, a hint of a smile returning to one corner of his mouth. “What would suck is having your fourteen-year-old brother inherit the height in the family, while you were left…short.”
“Hey! I am not short.”
He laughed and turned back to the steering wheel. “Yes, you are.”
“Well, you make up in annoyance what I lack in height.” I folded my arms. “So, can I meet him?”
“Who, Jason?”
“Yeah.”
“No,” he answered swiftly.
“Why?”
“There’s no need—he was obviously satisfied.”
“Er! That’s so creepy.” I dusted myself off as if I’d walked through an empty web.
“I’m sorry, Ara. I’ll talk to him, okay?”
I swiped my hair from my face, looking out the window. “You better.”
David put the car in gear and we pulled away again, gaining speed a little faster than usual. I sat watching the world go by for a minute, sorting out my inner fears by imagining everything; that vampire slipping through my window, standing over me, his face and his smile just like David’s, while his eyes told a different story. And that damn cat. He was on my bed that night. How could he call himself a guard cat if he couldn’t even alert me to strange predators sneaking into my room? I bet he would’ve slept through my death, had it been a murderous vampire. “So, you said I’d already be changed if he’d bitten me. How long does it take?”
“A day or so. For some it can take only hours.”
“Why?”
“It’s based on the strength of your immune system; the venom kills it slowly, and when it finally gives out, you change permanently into a vampire—assuming you have the gene.”
“What if I don’t?”
“Well, it won’t matter, because you refuse to become what I am. So—”
“David! Tell me. What if he’d bitten me, and I didn’t have the gene?”
“Then—” he went quiet again until he looked at me, “—you die.”