“Smoking’s bad for you,” Brennan said weakly. He made a mental note for the future—Vampires and smoking? Vampires and cancer?God, each question had grounds for a dozen books, hundreds of academic research papers, and Brennan would never scratch the surface.
Cole gave him an amused smile, lifted his cigarette in acheersmotion and said, “Yeah, but I look so mysterious and cool doing it.” And his eyes crinkled all bright and carefree and Brennan didn’t understand him, not at all. But he wanted to.
Heshouldn’t,he knew, because itwouldbe easier not to be friends. He had a lot to figure out, and his life was growing increasingly complicated by the day. And Brennan still didn’t get what Cole wanted out of this.
But it could be nice,Brennan’s traitorous brain said,to have someone who knows. Someone to talk to.
“What about this is cool, then?” Brennan asked, and his mouth kept going without his go-ahead. “I mean, you did recommendTwilight, so if it’s like, athingfor you I’m gonna have to let you down easy.…”
Cole gasped, then let out a sharp, delighted laugh and shoved Brennan’s shoulder with his fist in a way that sent a warm spike up Brennan’s stomach.
“Oh my god,” he sputtered, still laughing, “Itoldyou, it was for the cultural experience!”
Brennan couldn’t help smiling under that warmth ofyou made him laughandhe doesn’t hate you.
“But, I guess you’re not totally far off,” Cole said, and this time it was Brennan’s turn to sputter and gape.
“Please enlighten me,” Brennan said.
“Well, I mean—I read.”
“Yes.”
“I reada lot.”
“So, you have a kink for vampires…?”
“Shut up, oh my god, you’re so—” Cole said, but he was laughingeven as he looked like he wanted to punch Brennan. Then he shrugged, dropped the cigarette, and kicked out a foot to stomp it out. “How do I explain this?” It was a true rhetorical question, thoughtful, to himself, and it was endlessly endearing.
Cole sat up, scooted so he was fully facing Brennan in a precarious balance on the stairs, tucking his feet under him. He reminded Brennan of a kid settling in for a bedtime story.
“When I was a kid and realized I wasn’t going to discover any hidden powers, I cried,” Cole said, all earnest eyes and conspiratorial smile. “I didn’t get dragged away to Camp Half-Blood, or find a portal to another world in the back of a wardrobe.” He started to move his hands while he talked, and Brennan tried to keep his eyes from tracking them. “And then each year went by and I didn’t discover any developing magic powers, or some hidden underground world, or a dark history or—anything,any of the stuff that I thought would make me… I don’t know, like,special,or whatever.”
He rolled his eyes at the word, like it was embarrassing. Cole paused, and Brennan was watching him, breath caught in his throat. Brennan acutely understood that gut-wrenching feeling of realizing you weren’t special, and Cole had summed it up so succinctly.
“I mean, obviously, it’s not about me,” Cole said. “But aside from the scary stuff, it’s kind of like… proof that there is magic in the world. Andthenit’s like—you know, if vampires are real, then maybe ghosts are, or werewolves, or witches, anything.” Cole smiled at Brennan as he concluded, “Like, I just met one person, but the world got a whole lot bigger. Andthatis cool.”
As Brennan processed, Cole poked at a particular divot in the steps with too much interest. And Brennan realized, with a resounding internalDuh,that Cole was putting himself out there, too, wasn’t he? He was, at least, trying to.
Brennan grinned and extended friendship in the best way he knew how.
“I’m happy to aid in fulfilling your middle school vampire fantasies.”
Cole had fire in his eyes but a smile on his lips, his shoulders relaxing from where they’d been set in a tense hunch. “Oh my god, as if you don’t get off on the whole broody, tortured soul aesthetic!”
Brennan jolted out a laugh that was equal parts offended and delighted, because Cole wasfast,wasn’t he?
There were probably real reasons, somewhere, for Brennan to shut down on the interest that was building. But for the life of him, he couldn’t find a good excuse.
By the time Brennan and Cole went back inside, Tony was dozing with his head on Mari’s shoulder, snoring softly while Mari sat perfectly still, focusing on the TV despite it being on the Netflix home screen. Mari seemed somewhere between annoyed and charmed.
She looked up when they arrived and glowered. “Not a word.”
After Tony crawled off to bed, the last of the pie was wrapped up in their fridge on Cole’s insistence, and Mari and Cole left to walk home. Brennan wasn’t thirsty again yet but he still wanted to check that the freezer in his closet was undisturbed. It was small but not cheap, but thanks to his mom’s credit card and overnight shipping, he had a place to keep the blood. He’d even added a heavy lock to keep the freezer shut.
When he went to close his bedroom door, something blocked it from closing. There was something tucked against the doorframe that he hadn’t put there.
Cold seeped into his skin. Someone had been in his room. Or at least at the door. The person sending the text? Could this be another threat?
