“What are you doing?”

She sighed. “I was hoping his teeth would come out if he felt the bag against his mouth.”

“He needs to smell blood I bet.” Chris pulled out a pocket knife. “Here cut the bag.”

She opened the knife, but paused. “He needs something stronger than bagged blood to get him going.”

“What are you talking about?”

Madison pressed the knife to her wrist. “Just trust me.”

“What are you doing? No! Madison, don’t!” He reached out for the knife too late. She nicked her wrist. Blood began welling up in the area.

“Now what?” Chris asked.

“I-“

Two strong hands clasped around her wrist, pulling her into the tub. She fell on top of Ephraim. Seconds later her wrist was in his mouth. She felt two sharp points pierce her skin and tried to yank her arm away. One hand released her arm, but the other tightened painfully.

She looked up to see Ephraim stare at her with fiery red eyes. He looked pained.

He watched in agony as Madison tried to pull away from him. He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t. Blood lust more powerful than he’d ever known was taking him over. His brain was screaming to release her, but he couldn’t.

The scent of her blood called him out of the darkness. He didn’t know what he was doing until her blood rushed down his throat. It was the sweetest most enticing flavor he’d ever experienced. It was a thousand times better than he imagined it would be.

“Let her go!” Chris yelled. He brought down a stake aimed at Ephraim’s chest and Madison's arm. Ephraim’s hand shot out and pushed Chris away, hard. He would have hit Madison’s arm.

“Please, baby, let go!” Madison was whimpering.

Ephraim pulled harder on her arm. He was going to kill her. He brushed his free hand down her cheeks before dropping his hand away.

It hurt so much. If felt like her arm was stuck in a powerful vacuum with teeth and she couldn’t pull away. She was starting to feel light headed. She closed her eyes, waiting for the darkness to come. She heard a click and opened her eyes.

Ephraim held his gun against his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut before he pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced his skin and bone like a hot knife through butter, making a path through his heart until it slammed into his spine. His body slammed violently against the tub. Her arm fell away and she instinctively moved to cover her ears as Chris dragged her limp body out of the tub seconds before a river of blood would have soaked her pants.

Chapter 15

“Wakey, wakey,” Chris’s taunting voice said.

Ephraim opened his eyes and swore. Chris stood at the end of his bed, holding his gun.

“Put that down before you hurt yourself.”

“Sure thing. As soon as I know you won’t attack Madison again I’ll just go ahead and do that.”

His head shot off the pillow. He tried to sit up, but was pulled short by his arms. “What the hell?” Both wrists were handcuffed to the iron frame of the bed. Four pairs of cuffs attached to each hand. “A little over kill, don't you think?” He looked pointedly at the cuffs.

“Oh, I would say that anyone that could shoot themselves in the heart and fully recover two hours later should be tied to the bed with as many handcuffs as we could find.”

“Where’s Madison? Is she okay?”

“You mean after she passed out from the shock of you shooting yourself and of course let’s not forget the blood loss? Yeah, she’s peachy.”

“Chris, I’m not in the mood for this shit, tell me where she is.”

“You’re no fun.” He gestured towards the front of the house. “After the gun went off, grandma came running. Thankfully Madison convinced her that the gun you gave her for safety accidentally went off.” He cocked his head to the side. “By the way you’re in deep shit with Mrs. Buckman for giving Madison a gun.”

“That’s the least of my worries right now, wouldn't you say?”

“True, anyway Mrs. Buckman, or Grandma as I’m allowed to call her,” he grinned, “dragged Madison downstairs for a surprise birthday dinner. But don’t worry I stayed and mended you to health when Grandma wouldn’t take no for an answer from Madison. We told her I was upset from my mom abandoning me and all that jazz.”

“So, she’s okay?”

“Yup.”

“Your mom left you?”

“Yup.”

“What a bitch.” Ephraim managed to pull himself up a little on the pillows.

“That she is, but not to worry, Madison is taking over.”

“God help us,” Ephraim muttered.

Chris placed the gun in the top drawer of the bureau. “She thinks you forgot her birthday you know.”

“Fuck, I didn’t forget her birthday.”

“I know.”

His eyes shot to Chris. “Wait, how do you know?”

Chris rolled his eyes as if it should be very obvious. “I found the boxes when I was taking your clothes off.”

Ephraim looked down at his body and for the first time noticed that he was clean and naked. “You cleaned me?”

“Hell no!” Chris said, disgusted. “Madison snuck back up to do that. Then she helped me put you in bed.”

“She didn’t see the boxes, did she?”

“No, I put them under your pillow before she turned around.”

“Good, thank you,” he said relieved. “You think you could uncuff me now?”

“Sorry, man, I have orders not to do that. Madison said she would bring me a huge slice of cake if I left you cuffed.”

“You’re leaving me like this for cake?” he asked dumbfounded that cake held that kind of power over the boy. He wondered if it was like bloodlust.

“Well, that and you are a bloodsucker.”

“Shit. Did Madison explain it to you?”

He nodded. “Pretty much. I got the basics down. I’m to keep my mouth shut. Vampires really exist. You’re a Pyte, which I don’t completely understand what the hell that is except you can go out into the sun and all that shit.”

“Anyone ever tell you that you swear too much?”

He pondered that question. “I believe it may have been mentioned a time or two.”

“What is it you want to know?”

“You’re going to answer my questions?” he sounded surprised.

“In exchange that you keep what I tell you between the three of us.”

“I will. I promise!”

“Okay then, ask away.” He laid back and tried to get comfortable.

“Okay, um how old are you?”

“Two-hundred and six years old.”

Chris’s eyes shot up. “Little old to be dating a twenty-four year old wouldn’t you say?”

“Chris.” That one word held a world of warning.

Chris put his hands in surrender. “Relax big guy, I’m just saying.”

“Say something else quickly if you want answers.”

“Hmm, where were you born?”

“London.”

“You don’t have an accent.”

“I lost it seventy-five years ago. Next.”

“How did this happen to you?”