That was all there was in this world.
“You’re looking better,” Cara said when the last of our tour group was gone.
I pointed to the moon and stars above us.
She nodded. “So how do we do this last part? If I’m not home, my roommates are going to send out a search party. But I’ve never… taken a guy home with me. I’m not sure how that will go over with them.”
“Your roommates? Who are they?”
“Zack, Niles, Mooney, and Parker. They’re guys who go to the same school I do.”
“Men?” I asked, feeling my temper flare. “You live with four men?”
She smiled. “It’s nothing like that. I am dirt poor. They had an extra room and put an ad out. I met all of them before I agreed to stay there, and they all seemed super nice. None of them have ever tried to make a move or anything like that. They’re basically like little brothers to me.”
“I see,” I said. “And you’re worried these little brothers will not approve of me?”
“They’re protective. They might interrogate you. So it’s going to seem weird if you don’t know the first thing about me.”
“Okay,” I said. We began walking in a direction I assumed was toward her house. I knew I’d need to drag her back to my world tomorrow and make sure Alaric and Seraphina didn’t end up going on some sort of suicide mission assuming Bennigan had taken me captive.
“You’ve got to try really hard to talk normal, okay?”
I nodded. “What do I need to know about Cara Skies, the abnormally short human?”
She gave me a wry smile. “I didn’t know vampires were teases.”
“I was a person before this was done to me.”
She looked curious but appeared to decide the most pressing issue was getting me to pass this pending interview with her roommates and didn’t push for details.
“Then I should ask questions about my new girlfriend,” I said, watching the little tick of frustration and amusement on the corner of her mouth.
“You should.”
“Do you have family?” I asked. “I imagine someone with close family ties might not resort to living with four men.”
“You imagine correctly. My family is dysfunctional, at best. I have a dad who cheated on my mom and now lives in Wyoming with a woman he calls his sugar momma. Then I’ve got a mom who never stopped feeling sorry for herself and gambled away everything she got out of the divorce. She lives in Florida and her only passion in life is going on sunset casino cruises when she gets her social security checks.”
“Should I pretend I understand what most of those things are?”
Cara smiled a little sadly. “Probably better if you don’t. The short version is my parents are in no position to be involved or really care about what I’m doing.”
“Brothers or sisters?”
“Nope,” she said. “It’s pretty much just me. At least that’s how it feels.”
I didn’t plan on it, but I put my arm around her and pulled her into me as we walked. I felt her stiffen at my touch, but she relaxed a few steps later, surprising me by allowing the contact. “For the duration of our bond, that won’t be true,” I said.
“Maybe that’ll be nice for a change. A temporary one,” she added.
I had enjoyed teasing Cara and testing her to see how she’d react to provocations, but I felt myself in danger now. I liked how it felt to walk with my arm around her. I liked listening to her speak and studying the many different ways that tempting mouth of hers spelled out her thoughts. Most dangerously, hearing that she was alone in the world made me want to protect her some way. To give her the bond she was missing.
I wanted to fill that space for her, except I knew I couldn’t. I was poison and she was a fertile plant in need of water and sunlight. It didn’t matter how much I might’ve wanted to be that nourishment she needed. All I would bring her was decay. More pain. More heartache.
“And what about your interests?” I asked, hoping to draw myself from my spiraling thoughts. “What does Cara Skies do for fun?”
“Well, I had this friend in high school named Lana. She ended up getting diagnosed with a rare blood disease. I remember when I first found out, I figured they’d say they knew all about it and they had a cure. Or at least there would be some experimental treatment they were going to try. Except they just had no idea. Like there was absolutely nothing they could do, and she ended up wasting away.
“I didn’t exactly have the grades to make it into any kind of medical program at a college. I also didn’t have the money. But watching that made me realize I wanted to do something worthwhile with my life. Even if it was just figuring out how to help people who were diagnosed with what she had. So I took all the part time jobs I could find, saved money, and eventually got into the cheapest community college I could. Then I knocked out the pre-req courses and applied to basically every hematology program in the US until I got in here.