LOVE, LIKE BLOOD

me we had to move ci

he first time vivi

time I'd actually died. Just... t

es watching, too

tal doesn't even be

gured. Limbs twisted in wa

e told that anyone would've b

ce we always had our kind in hospitals, as doctors and nur

ought that ki

at the time, our people were the one

had already been summoned for our farewell. My dad packed up eve

abandoned homes our kind uses - for dark meetings, quiet arrivals, and final goodbye

n the woods.

houses were just ruins - h

Untouched by time. Humm

verything look spooky on pu

we're myths - rare, extinct, maybe once real bu

uth? We're

ce. Behind the DJ booth at the club. Smiling a

re born. Som

tching. Alwa

ublic death, we

lt like I'd actual

ed I'd have to

friends. I was well

emale athletes in

ly, why wo

friends. I

e I could open up to them, really open u

was

e never to make fri

n't l

nted to feel normal, to believe I wasn't

.. they're too weak for the kind of feelings that

ived a quarter of human life po

sked

f my closest friends -

flirted with me in secret, ev

? I didn't

d handle it with

ch to break her he

hreatened to come cl

the whol

make it look like I wa

e in the chemistry

veryone else

voices low

lf in a position to fi

me. Not in streng

escalated.

ingers tight around my

h her off, my elbow smashed th

sn't

ver understand about fall

out just to let yo

uld be my last day in New York. The city I

n awake for

my eyes, we were al

ies that always looked li

ry side, and the houses sat too sti

aces like this -

it felt l

excitement.

k in my mouth... and the lingering memory o

fact that it was going to be like this for the rest

first week in Ravensholl

stairs was to grab snacks or

had never tasted human blood, made me realize just how di

e to lie abo

age, still acted

our kind, I actuall

, chocolate, a

ve

d, the real kind, h

t it much, but I saw the way

erned. Like they were waiting for

ay I'd jus

far?

No visions.

ts, binge-watching horror m

ards, and not by vampire ones eith

than any stake-through-the-

heard my mom coming up the

o you," she said from t

, N

elle. Just Noah-b

st asked her why she

from my face, looked me str

already try to soften yo

idn't understand

w, I g

me sharp. U

me like

re you i

louder t

e door and

we got here-not out of an

am

down. For ignoring every

times about human friends,

as right - and

thing?" I asked i

f in there forever, swe

r first day at

tung like somethi

happened? Other kids will get thera

wouldn't sur

ther week,"

rowed h

get out of this roo

nd and gently pulled

should look around," she smiled. "I hea

Human

hou

e for that. Not e

me of everything I'

time you've said things like that...

- sharp and hot, sliding down my cheek

ng? Why is the feeling of betrayal sti

ted nothing more than

s halfw