Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
The basement door above opens, footsteps down the stairs, silence. “Spoke to my mom,” says Elias quietly to Cade. “Think you’re really on your own with that grimoire.”
Kyle opens his eyes at the sound of Elias’s voice. Elias looks alert, but his eyes are tired and strained. He’s wearing a tight, ribbed black tank top and jeans, which pull on Kyle’s eyes. He looks so damned good in those jeans.
Kyle peels his eyes off of them, looks up. “Elias?”
Elias looks at him. “Got any shuteye yet?”
Kyle shrugs, then is reminded of the extra weight on his shoulder that is Drake’s head, rolls his eyes. “Not really.”
Cade sighs, wipes her forehead irritably. “I’m about up to here with this stupid book. Half of it doesn’t make any sense, even perfectly legible to me as it is … Anything Layna or I try doesn’t work. I’m so afraid if something does work, it could go Freaky-Friday wrong. Do you realize there are spells in here that require the heart of a newborn baby? A newborn fucking baby. Some really messed-up stuff. One spell says it makes your sworn enemy go mad every time they look into a mirror.”
“Are all the spells so evil like that?” asks Kyle.
“There’s no order to them, either,” Cade goes on, “and not everything in here’s a spell. Mirror madness magic one page, a skincare regimen ritual the next, then a recipe for apple pie.” She spreads her hands, exasperated. “What the fuck?”
“You need to rest,” says Elias.
“How am I supposed to rest??” she asks, turning on Elias. “I’ve got all this responsibility on my shoulders to figure out how to use this ridiculous book to somehow protect this town or ward away vampires, whatever, and with every passing hour, we’re closer to not knowing a damned thing. Not to mention Jeremy still can’t speak and has a boner I can’t do fuck-all about because how am I—look, look here, over a thousand pages—how am I supposed to find an anti-Viagra spell?? And even if I do, how can I trust it won’t make Jeremy impotent for life or turn his penis into an earthworm??” Elias starts rubbing Cade’s back and shoulders. She lets out another long sigh, closes her eyes. “Sorry,” she mumbles, shaking her head, “sorry, sorry, I just have to get it out, I’m so tired, I’m losing my mind.”
“It’s okay,” says Elias, then glances over at Kyle again.
More specifically, Kyle and Drake, who look like they were caught cuddling in the corner of the room. Kyle smiles at Elias with sympathy, or empathy, or something that conveys a joint relation of suffering they’re all going through. Elias’s emotional makeup is surprisingly calm, his waters gently rippling in the breeze. He doesn’t quite smile back, but his eyes seem to try.
Then Drake says, “Really, I wish you all could know Laz.”
Kyle fidgets, glances to the side where Drake’s head rests. Elias stops rubbing Cade’s shoulders, staring their way. Even Cade looks up from the book, squints at Drake questioningly.
Drake, head still on Kyle’s shoulder, glances back at them. “I think it would help you understand.”
“What’s there to understand?” asks Elias bitterly. “He’s a vampire. His sole purpose is drinking blood.”
“But that’s too simple an understanding,” Drake complains, his voice nearly a pout. “You rob him of his human complexity. Never forget that,” he then adds, lifting a finger. “All of us, no matter what degree of vampire we are, all of us were once tiny, fragile, squishy human beings. All of us had lives. All of us have memories and wishes and dreams we never achieved. We aren’t ethereal beings dropped out of Heaven, or risen out of Hell, or conjured by demon magic. No offense,” he then says to Cade, who makes a face and spreads her hands, at a loss as to how that was in any way offensive to her. “Remembering that we were all human, that’s your biggest shield against us. We’re all the same deep down. The only thing vampires have against you is time.”
“Are you arriving at a point soon?” asks Elias. “Is this about to lead to a solution for how we keep them the fuck away?”
Drake picks at his fingernails as he stares ahead at nothing in particular, his mind wandering. “Before we first transformed, Laz and I, we looked a lot more alike. Most would say he was the more handsome brother. He got all the girls. Was popular. Never short a date to the dances. I was the quiet, weird, loner younger brother, overlooked in every way. But not to him. He always included me. He was a good big bro, looking out for his little bro.” His eyes drop to the floor. “When we became what we are and had to go into hiding … well, can you imagine what that might do to someone who was just a moment ago on top of the world? The only way he could cope was drinking as much blood as he could get his hands on. Or rather: as many necks as he could get his teeth on. And the more he drank, the stronger he became … and more formidable in the vampire world … and isn’t that just another popularity game in his eyes? I was the one who practiced restraint. I stayed more human. He … didn’t. It’s been difficult, watching the handsome brother I once knew slip more and more away … replaced with this freaky, tall man with long teeth and long unbreakable hair and … and long arms …” Drake closes his eyes. “I miss my old brother sometimes.”