BloodRed

They drove me home. Justin, Quin, and Gwin were following us in Justin’s car. I got out after we pulled in and went in.

“This is a nice place,” Mika commented.

I turned and saw she had followed me and I hadn’t picked that comment up with my vampire hearing. I had thought she had stayed outside. Robin and Jem had stayed outside. That’s fine by me. I kind of wanted to talk to Mika. “Weren’t you planning to go hunting tonight?”

She shrugged. “I have more important things to do.”

“Like?”

“Keeping my eyes on you. The boys will stay outside with the wolves to watch the perimeter. So I’m to keep you in my sight.”

“You say I can protect myself but I don’t think you believe that.”

Mika sighed. “I do. It’s just…”

“Just?” I prompted.

“Jem cares about you a lot, Kelsey. He doesn’t want to take any chances.” She paused. “We all don’t want to lose you.”

Jem cared about me? “I still think Justin and his siblings shouldn’t be here,” I grumbled. I know they can heal as fast as us but I still don’t want them hurt.

She shrugged. “We need this alliance. To keep that up we need to work with them.”

“Why did Hex have to choose them though?” He could have chosen someone else.

“Because they’re the best ones in the pack.”

I frowned. “How do you know that?”

“It’s obvious from the way he had watched them.”

Had it been? I hadn’t been paying attention. Ugh. I’m going to keep missing stuff if I don’t pay attention. I’m a vampire now. I need to watch for little details. But back to the conversation. “Fine. Why would he send his best ones though? Wouldn’t he want to keep them close to the pack?”

“Kelsey, you don’t understand wolves.”

I never said I did. I’m just started being a part of the supernatural world. “Just answer the question.”

She shook her head. “Two reasons. One, because it shows he trusts us. Two, because it’s the best ones who are the strongest. Which is what we need.” She smiled a little. “Besides, did you really think Hex was just going to let us kill his brother alone? Hex hates Tono and wants the pack to have some credit for taking him out. If Tono wasn’t targeting you, we wouldn’t be involved.”

“So the alliance wouldn’t be back if it wasn’t for me,” I said grimly.

“Kelsey! Are you not listening? We need the alliance. We can’t just keep killing each other over small shit like we used to. Jem would have found a way to bring the alliance back even if you weren’t involved.”

I frowned again. Would he have? “But Jem said Hex and him don’t get along.”

“They don’t but Jem still would have found a way for- the alliance. We’re all stronger together.”

I sighed. It still leaves one thing though. “They were my friends, Mika. Is it so wrong that I don’t want to protect them?”

“No. But it’s kind of odd that you do when they heal as fast as we do.” She smiled a little. “Did it even cross your mind that they want to keep you safe as much as you want to keep them safe?”

I blinked. “No.” It should have but it hadn’t. I didn’t even think of it as a possibility. Damn, this girl’s smart. Would they do this though? I wasn’t so sure. “Do you think they care enough to do that? I mean, they did leave.”

“You were human then. You wouldn’t have believed them because you thought anything supernatural didn’t exist.”

Ouch. It’s true but…”I would have believed them if they changed in front of me,” I said stubbornly.

Mika snorted. “Then have you running away from them? They didn’t want that to happen.”

Maybe I wouldn’t have though, I thought and was glad Jem wasn’t here to listen in on my thoughts. Though I bet he wouldn’t have said anything. I’m glad Mika can’t read minds. I bit my lip and decided to change the subject. “Your eyes are dark, Mika. You need to feed.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I can go two weeks before I need to feen again. It’s only been four days.”

I frowned. “But your eyes…”

“Oh, they’ll be completely black by the time it’s been two weeks.” She chuckled, “Actually, they’ll be black in a couple of days.”

“Blue is a better color,” I muttered.

“It is,” she agreed.

“How long do you think it will be before I need to feed again?”

She smirked. “Two days.”

“How can you go…”

“Two weeks without feeding?” She snickered. “Three hundred years of practice. You’re still new at things so your feeding time will be sooner. Until you get the hang of it.”

“Great.” I wasn’t looking forward to hunting.

“You won’t be alone when you hunt for the first time, Kelsey. We’ll show you how,” Mika said gently.

I scowled. I hadn’t said that out loud. “I thought you couldn’t read minds.”

“I don’t. But I could tell that’s what you were thinking because I had felt the same way when I was waiting for myself to be hungry again.”

“Oh.” That didn’t make me feel better at all.

“Anyway, what do you want to do?” Mika asked.

I raised an eyebrow. “It’s dark out. We should get some sleep. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring.”

Mika rolled her eyes. “You do know vampires don’t need to sleep, right?”

“No, I didn’t. But we can sleep.”

“True. But your parents aren’t home so we could stay up all night.”

That’s what the boys and the wolves are going to do but I wasn’t planning to. I laughed. “I don’t have a bedtime, Mika. I don’t even have a curfew when they are home. My parents practically let me do what I want.” Which, oddly enough, made me start missing them.

“Wow! My parents hadn’t been like that.”

I started heading to my room but said over my shoulder. “Life was different three hundred years ago.” I yawned. “I’m going to bed. Night, Mika.”

I was in my room when I heard her reply from the living room. “Goodnight, Kelsey.”

I shook my head. Vampire hearing was amazing. Which also means Jem and Robin probably heard our conversation. Ugh.