“What?” I didn’t think I understood him right, so I looked at Mae. “What’s he talking about?”

“A vampire club.” Mae smiled in way that I knew that she wasn’t as keen about the idea as Milo. “We told you a little bit about them before. They’re similar to a regular bar or club, but with obvious differences. Jack frequents one off Hennepin Avenue, and I’ve been there a few times.”

“Obvious differences?” I asked. “Like what? Do they have a keg of blood?”

“No, no.” Mae laughed nervously and looked away. “Well, not exactly. They do have some kind of blood on… tap.” If that was meant to ease my nerves, it failed. “Humans go all the time, though, and they have bouncers. People aren’t…” She sighed as she floundered for words. “They don’t harm people there.”

“That’s where Jack goes to eat, isn’t it?” I gulped.

“Yes. They have donors there. And most of them know that’s what they are.” Mae tilted her head, thinking. “They call them bloodwhores. But mostly it’s people and vampires doing what anybody does at a club.”

“Getting drunk and looking for sex?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Some of them, yes,” Mae laughed. “But it’s all in fun.”

“It’s gonna be a blast,” Milo said. “I’m so excited to get out of this house and actually do something. Especially with other vampires! Aren’t you excited?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, but I didn’t really know how to feel about it.

I’d never met any other vampires, not that I knew of, anyway. I’d love to see what they’d be like. And dancing and being out is exactly how I wanted to spend my last few days before school.

On the other hand, I was going to be in a room full of vampires, which still had some frightening implications. Thinking about Jack eating made me physically ill, and the prospect of seeing where he got his “food” didn’t thrill me either. There could be someone there he had bitten, someone who knew him more intimately than I did, and that thought made me sick.

“Are you okay, love?” Mae asked me.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied.

“You look really pale,” Milo agreed. His eyes softened with worry. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you not want to go? We don’t have to go. We just thought it might be fun.” He desperately wanted to do this, and he would give it up for me, so I just shook my head.

“I want to. Really. I do,” I said, and sighing, I decided to explain my ambivalence. “I don’t want to see anyone that Jack’s… bitten.”

“Oh,” Mae nodded.

“What?” Milo gave her an odd look.

“You don’t understand because you’ve never been bitten,” Mae told him, then turned to me. “Jack doesn’t feel it like you feel it. Being bitten is not the same as biting, and it’s not the same when you do it for food, versus pleasure.”

“I don’t follow,” I shook my head. Milo sat on the bed, on top of the clothes, and listened. Apparently, this was new information to him, too.

“It feels amazing,” she said. “Few things in life are better than drinking someone’s blood. But in order for the prey-predator relationship to work, humans willingly give themselves to us, and that happens because they develop an emotional attachment that we don’t feel. For us, it’s purely physical.”

“That sounds like something a guy says after he cheats on you,” I pointed out dryly.

“I suppose it does,” she smiled. “But it’s the truth. Your feelings on this are slightly misleading. Your only experience is with Peter, and you’re bonded. When you love each other, it’s intimate and intense. But just eating, that’s nothing really.”

“Uh huh,” I said skeptically.

“Let me put it this way: Ezra bites other people,” Mae said. “And on occasion, so do I. This doesn’t bother me, and it doesn’t bother him when I do it. If he let someone bite him, that would bother me. That would be tantamount to cheating.”

“I think I understand.”

What I had felt with Peter had been because we were already bonded and I was victim. If anyone bit me, I’d feel similarly, but if I bit someone else, I’d feel good, but without all the emotional connection.

“When you’re a vampire, you’ll understand,” she assured me, but that only touched on another raw nerve. Realizing this, she smiled and brushed past it. “Anyway, let’s get you dressed.”

“I know you love jeans, but I’m thinking a skirt, definitely.” Milo hopped off the bed so he could inspect the clothes.

I just agreed with everything they said as Mae and Milo sifted through the clothes. Milo spoke animatedly about everything. Being a vampire sat very well with him. I had never seen him so comfortable in his own skin before. Jack’s tutelage must’ve been helping, because it was an improvement from even a few days ago.

Mae did my makeup, since that was one area that Milo had never been any help with. He left to finish getting ready while she styled my hair and assured me that I would have fun. I asked why she wasn’t going, and she just shrugged and said she was too old for it.

When she finished, she paraded me out into the kitchen to show the boys. Jack leaned on the island, looking rather handsome. He traded in his shorts uniform for dark washed denim and a fitted shirt.

As soon as he saw me, he grinned happily and let out a long whistle, making Matilda bark.

“Look at you.” Jack stood up straight and looked me over. His eyes lingered at the hem of my skirt, and I squirmed. “I might like that skirt even more than I like those little short things you were wearing this morning.”

“Jack,” Mae said disapprovingly.

“You’re the one that dressed her up,” Jack pointed out.

“Just be good,” Mae warned him.

“I’m always good,” he muttered.

“You do look really good,” Milo said.

“So do you,” I told him. He’d changed his shirt, and he did something infinitesimal to his hair, but he did look good.

“I want you kids to have fun, but you need to be careful,” Mae said gravely. “And I’m talking to you, Jack. You need to keep your eyes on both of them. Milo’s really young, and Alice is… well, you need to watch them both.”