“I can’t eat it all.” I held up the bag.
She shook her head. “No, thank you, but I’ll sit with you. It’s such a nice day.”
Charlotte was right. I sank back down, and she joined me. It was sort of awkward to eat in front of people who weren’t eating, but I went at the sandwich anyway. It was delicious.
“I didn’t mind coming,” she said finally. “I wanted to get a better look at you. Everyone is trying to figure out who the girl is that has those guys all tied up a week before they move to the next level of existence.”
I almost choked. “The next what?”
“Well, when they get to be vampires, they move to a place above us.”
I wasn’t one to criticize other people’s religious beliefs. Not ever. But I was pretty sure she had this wrong. “I don’t think that’s how they see it. I’m surprised you still do, after everything you must have seen.”
“I can see why you might feel that way.” She shrugged. “I want to be a vampire. I want to have that power. I want to leave this world behind me and open the door to the next great thing. I’m hoping someone will make me their paramour eventually, then change me.”
My stomach tightened. I wasn’t going to be able to eat any more. I set down my lunch. “That’sreallywhat you want? To have to feed off of people’s blood?”
“I do. You don’t?” She leaned forward. “That was my theory. That you wanted them to change you.”
I shook my head, fast. “I don’t want anything to do with any of it. I only found out yesterday. I don’t want any more bites. I don’t want to be a vampire. I want to be free of this, and I want them free too.”
Her face fell. “Maci, you know…that isn’t going to happen. If the Great Ones dragged you into this, then you’re in it. The best you can hope for is to become a paramour, but you’re so young, I don’t think they would allow it yet. Which makes you one of us—the servants. Or I suppose they might…”
Charlotte stopped talking, but I filled in the blank. “Or they could kill me.”
“Yes.” She shrugged. “Maybe you’ll change your mind. I’d love to have you around. I mean, I’m only twenty years old. You and I are close in age. The others are older. I’d love to have a friend. I don’t have that many friends. Or any, really.”
I had the guys. They were definitely my friends. “I don’t have girlfriends.”
“Great, so when you come to your senses and you realize you want to embrace this gift you’ve been given, we’ll be besties. When we’re not working, we’ll watch movies and have fun. Unless they make me a paramour before then.”
Charlotte was weird, but then again, so was I. And it had been a really long time since any girls had been nice to me. “Okay. If somehow I am now a servant, I’d like very much for us to be friends.”
“Great.” She grinned.
Maybe someday, she’d tell me what she was trying to escape. It really was none of my business, but if this life seemed like the one to trade up for, then something was wrong. Lately, there had been so much airing of secrets, I had to remember people were entitled to theirs.
“So what’s your favorite food? Because I know the best places to go out for some. I mean, I’m almost never hungry anymore. But when I am, I love Thai. How about you?”
Looks like she decided we’re friends already.
Twelve
The restof my school day was quiet. I enjoyed visiting with Charlotte, even if I knew she’d chosen to become the feeding tool for a vampire in exchange for doing chores and running errands. It didn’t seem at all equitable to me.
Ace’s car was right where I’d left it, and I figured out how to turn on the radio. It was fun to drive—the steering wheel was sensitive, and the car responded fast. I was grinning by the time I got to my trailer. A man near the entrance waved when I drove by. He’d lived there for years and was just about as out of it as my mother. If he thought it was weird to see me in a car that cost more than I’d probably ever make in a year, he didn’t indicate it. I wondered if he even noticed.
For that matter, did he know we lived surrounded by vampires? Did my mother know? Were they at all concerned about it? Did the vampires just avoid this part of town? Were they only willing to feed off the rich? Did their blood taste better?
I had so many questions, my brain was like a train headed for the station at too fast a speed. I might crash at any moment.
I parked the car before Ace’s vehicle took the brunt of my issues. I didn’t want to explain how I dinged it up. What was going to happen to their cars when they were changed?Fuck.There I went again.
The door to our trailer hung open.Really?Had my mother not even locked the door before she left? I’d be lucky if I had anything left. I sighed. Once again, I had to see what kind of mess she made. Did I even live there anymore?
I stepped inside and came up short.
No.It really couldn’t be him. The man my mother had tried to give me to sat on the couch. He drank a beer which he set down with a loud clunk when he saw me.