Аманда Хокинг - Flutter

Harmless.”

“That’s hardly an assertion,” I laughed. “But still, that’s not a reason to get a cat. You don’t get cats so your dog has something play with, and possibly snack on.”

“Sounds like a good enough reason to me,” Jack countered.

When I came home, I hadn’t noticed anybody’s heartbeats. I was well-fed and less inclined to that sort of thing. But I was naturally kind of tuned into Jack’s and Milo’s. Even if I wasn’t paying attention, when they were distressed, I’d be able to pick up on it. Upstairs, I suddenly heard Milo’s heartbeat racing in a panic. I think it had already been beating kind of fast, but it hadn’t been terrified like it was now.

And on top of that, I could smell blood. I pushed off of Jack’s lap, but he got up, so he noticed it too. Before I could do anything else, Milo started screaming.

“Help! Oh my god, help!” Milo was screaming at the top of his lungs, and I was racing up the steps. Jack flew past me because he was a lot faster than me, and Ezra and Mae weren’t that far behind me.

When I reached the top of the stairs, Peter and Jack had already zoomed into Milo’s room, but Milo was still standing in the hallway. He was shirtless, and almost all the color had drained from his skin. His cheeks were flushed unnaturally red, contrasting even more with the unusual white of his skin, but that’s what happened after feeding. His big brown eyes were wide and horrified, and tears were already sliding down his cheeks. Fresh blood stained his lips, and there were a few splatters of on it his bare chest, most of it smeared.

He just stared at his bedroom, until Ezra pushed past me to get to his room, and then Milo turned to look at me.

“I killed Bobby.”

Milo looked like he might faint after his confession, and I ran over to him to catch him. Mae had been behind me, but she stopped moving. I wrapped my around my brother and stole a glimpse inside his room. There wasn’t much to see since everyone was blocking the view, but Bobby was definitely immobile on the bed.

Peter was kneeling on the bed, and Ezra was bent over Bobby. Jack was standing in front of the door, his arms crossed, and he was feeling incredibly worried and sick over this. For some reason, he had really liked Bobby.

“Everything’s gonna be okay,” I lied, trying to pull Milo away from the door. He was crying, but they were completely silent tears, and I had a feeling he was in shock. Still, pulling him away was like pulling a marble statute. He did not want to move.

“I need AB positive!” Ezra shouted suddenly.

“AB positive?” Jack repeated.

“Yes! Now!” Ezra barked. Jack rushed past me and practically leapt down the stairs.

“Where’s Mae? I need the IV!”

“I’m right here, and I’ll get the kit!” Mae sprang to life and darted down the stairs.

“He’s alive?” I asked hopefully.

“Get Milo downstairs!” Peter growled, glaring at up at me with his intense green eyes.

“But is he-” My question was completely cut off when Ezra started pumping Bobby’s chest, giving him CPR. I tried to listen for the sound of Bobby’s heart, but over the frantic beating of Milo’s and my own and everybody’s really, it was impossible to hear. That didn’t mean anything, though. If he’d lost a lot of blood, his heartbeat would be really faint, probably too faint to hear over all the noise.

“Alice!” Jack shouted as he came barreling back up the stairs. “Get Milo out of here! He doesn’t need to see this, okay?”

Using all my strength, I started pulling Milo away from his room. I had no idea where I would take him, but away as much as I thought the plan through. By the time we made it to the stairs, Mae was already bounding back them.

“Everything will be okay, love,” Mae promised with a sad smile, but Milo didn’t even really notice.

After his initial screaming, it was like he had gone into a waking coma or something. He was completely shell shocked.

Here’s what made sense to me: I needed to take Milo someplace where he couldn’t hear everything that was going on with Bobby, and he needed to get cleaned up. So I took him into the main bathroom and I turned on the sink and shower to drown out all the other sounds. I put the lid down on the toilet seat, then forced Milo to sit down, and I got a washcloth wet to start wiping off his chest and mouth.

“Did I really kill him, Alice?” Milo asked quietly, staring off into nothing.

“They’re working on him,” I evaded really answering it. “They saved my life like that before, too. Ezra is really good at giving blood transfusions, apparently.”

“I didn’t even…” Milo trailed off, and I stopped wiping at his chest to look at him. “We were fooling around, the same way we had been, and then… I bit him. And I didn’t even realize how much…. I didn’t know his heart stopped.”

“You didn’t mean to.” That was the best I could come up with. Sure, he might’ve killed somebody, but he didn’t mean to. That was the consolation that I gave him.

“The thing is…” Milo was starting to become more animated, and his tears were getting heavier and less quiet. “I know that he isn’t ‘the one’ or whatever, not like what Peter was to you. But I love him, you know? I really do love him.”

“I know, sweetie. It’s gonna be okay.” I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. He was out and out sobbing by then, and I just kept telling him it would be okay. I had no idea if that was the truth, but that was the only thing I could say.

We stayed down in the bathroom for what felt like forever. I folded up towels and laid them on the floor, and I sat down with my back up against the tub. Milo lay down next to me and rested his head on my lap. All I could do was brush his hair back with my fingers, and eventually, he even stopped crying. When Jack opened the bathroom door, Milo jumped to his feet instantly. I was too scared to move, as if me standing up would have an impact on whether Bobby lived or died.

“He’s alive,” Jack said, but he wasn’t smiling. Milo almost fainted in relief, and he had to grab onto the counter to keep from falling. I got to my feet because I figured it would be better if I caught him. “But he lost a lot of blood. So he’s not exactly stable yet. We’re in kind of wait and see mode to see if the transfusion works.”

“I understand,” Milo nodded and wiped at his eyes. “Can I see him?”

“Yeah, Ezra’s up there, and he’ll probably wanna talk to you too.” Jack touched Milo’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, but Milo just sniffled and hurried past him.

“So… how is Bobby?” I walked over to Jack and looked up at him.

“Not good,” Jack said grimly. “He really almost didn’t make it. I mean, Milo almost drained that kid dry. It was bad.” Then he forced a smile at me. “But his heart’s beating now, and that’s something.”

Jack wrapped his arms around me, and I buried my face in his chest. Even though I hadn’t been that fond of Bobby, I found myself crying. Milo would never kill anyone, and he really loved Bobby. It was terrifying to think that he might die. And he might die because they were in love, and they were careless.

It scared me even more when I thought about my relationship with Jack, and how I had almost lost control the other day with Peter. Milo was way more in control of himself than I was, and he had nearly killed Bobby. What would I do to Jack? Even with him being a vampire, I could just as easily find myself in the same situation, and that was too much. I was starting to think that maybe I would never be ready for anything more with Jack.

Worse still, Jane was still out there, doing that kind of thing all the time with strangers. Most of the vampires she picked up were probably more in control of themselves than Milo and me, but maybe they weren’t. She had no way of knowing, and we could just as easily pick up a bloodwhore as someone like Ezra or Peter. And even if they do know what they were doing, they were still draining her of her blood, over and over again. Accidentally or on purpose, the odds of her dying were getting exponentially higher ever day that passed. I couldn’t let her do it anymore. As soon as things were settled with Milo and Bobby, I was taking Milo the club, and we were taking her away. I don’t care if we had to kidnap her; I wasn’t going to just let her die.