“That’s not fair.”
“Nothing is fair.” He sniffles. “I miss him. But now my parents expect me to go to law school, and church, and...and to date nice girls. My mom already gave me her grandma’s ring, because she wants me to use it when I propose to my future wife.”
“They can’t put all that on you! You have to be able to—”
“But they have put it on me.” Lucas states it flatly. “And I don’t know how to escape from it. I don’t know how to tell them...the truth. I don’t think they can take it.”
I feel bad for Lucas Coronado, something I never thought would happen, but lots of things are changing tonight—even us. With difficulty, I admit, “I was pretty sure my parents would be cool with it, but telling them I was gay was terrifying anyway. So I get it. Or, I get being scared.” My face heats up. I’m so bad at this, at knowing what to say. “But you can’t live a lie forever to please someone else, or it’ll destroy you. And you’re a good kisser, Lucas.” Now my face is really hot. “I mean, after tonight, do you honestly think you can go the rest of your life without kissing any more boys?”
“I think I’ll have to.” He gives a defeated shrug that breaks my heart. But before I can argue, the closet door explodes open again—wrenched with so much force it’s torn clean off its hinges, flying sideways down the dead-end hallway. Kenton the Vampire Bro steps into the small, stifling room.
“Hope I’m not interrupting, dudes. Nah, don’t get up.” Moving faster than I can take in, he lifts Lucas up, sending him crashing into a set of shelves. In the next heartbeat, Kenton has me pinned to the wall, my toes barely touching the floor. His chin and neck are sticky with blood, his shirt ripped and untucked, and his eyes shine like a forest fire. He’s been busy since the last time we saw each other. “Are you cheating on me, bruh? That hurts my feelings.”
“The rest of you is gonna hurt worse,” I choke out, fumbling my crucifix free from my pocket and shoving it under his shirt. Pressing the metal to his bare stomach, I hear the bright hiss, and the closet fills with the gamy odor of burnt skin. This time, Kenton is expecting the move, or he’s consumed so much adrenaline-filled blood that he doesn’t feel the pain, because he barely flinches.
“Mmm, whatever that smell is, it’s making me hungry!” Kenton laughs wildly, baring his fangs, his eyes getting brighter as he prepares to feed. My heart rising into my throat, I squeeze my lids shut and wait to be eaten.
There’s a whistling sound, then, and a loud crack as something wooden breaks apart against Kenton’s head. He turns, irritated, and I open my eyes to see Lucas standing nearby, clutching one end of a snapped broom handle in his shaky grip. “Get away from him, Dracu-loser!”
“I spent, like, twenty minutes doing my hair for this dance!” Kenton snaps, holding me up with one hand while he uses the other to smooth his coiffure. “You’re gonna pay for that, you dick!”
And that’s what gives me a brilliant idea. Yanking open Kenton’s shorts, I drop my crucifix into his boxer briefs, and let the elastic waistband snap back into place. With an abrupt shriek, he jolts away, releasing me so he can grab for his crotch—which is now giving off smoke and the telltale crackle of cooking flesh.
Kenton yelps and dances, jamming both hands into his shorts, his back arching as his most delicate parts are seared like ahi tuna—and Lucas doesn’t need a written invitation.
Lurching forward, he plunges the sharp end of the fractured broomstick into the vampire’s chest with everything he’s got. It’s a perfect blow, piercing beneath the sternum and angling upward to find the undead creature’s heart.
When it sinks home, Kenton looks up in horror, his face going slack. “Oh, fu—”
He never finishes. His tongue and lips shrivel, his jaw dislocating. His eyes bulge as his lids peel away; his nose collapses and craters. Kenton the human has been dead since the day he was Turned, the normal processes of decay held in check by supernatural forces, and now they’re catching back up with a hyper-accelerated vengeance. He rots at warp speed, muscles and tendons disintegrating until he collapses at our feet—nothing but a pile of dry bones and clothes from Old Navy.
Lucas and I stare—at the remains, and at each other—our bodies keyed up and trembling with leftover nerves. For the second, or third, or maybe even fourth time tonight, I can’t believe we’re still alive.
And then we’re kissing again, and it’s like I’m trying to inhale him, our mouths mashed together until I don’t know where his ends and mine begins. His hands grab my butt, and I jump up to wrap both legs around his waist, and we almost knock over a stack of cleaning supplies.
“Austin? Austin?” A familiar voice sounds in the corridor, and we break apart a half second before Taisha, Miyu, and Gabi appear in the doorway.
“Oh, thank God, Austin!” Taisha hurls her arms around me, weeping. Between halting breaths, she tells me it’s over—the vamps have all been killed or chased off. “When I lost track of you, I thought... I was so worried!”
“I’m all right,” I assure her. “Oh man, I’m glad you’re all right, too.”
“It was ugly out there.” Taisha shakes her head, wiping a tear from her eye. “Miyu saved my ass twice.”
As if on cue, Miyu interjects, “We should go. The city’s sending an emergency response team to sweep the building, and they want all the humans outside.”
“We’re right behind you.” I give Taisha a look that she reads loud and clear. With a nod, she leads the other girls back up the hallway. I turn to Lucas.
“Thanks for saving my ass—”
“You were right,” he blurts at the exact same moment. Flushing to the tips of his ears, he adds, “If there’s anything I’ve learned from my brother, it’s that I could die before my life even starts, and I like... I like kissing you. I don’t want to stop. I’m tired of being lonely.”
Smiling, my face as warm as his looks, I nod. “Me too.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready to tell everyone, though.” He swallows nervously. “And I’m definitely not ready to tell my parents. Is...is that okay? Are you...is it okay if we keep it just between us, at least...for a little while?”
“It’s okay.” I could have died kissing a bro tonight, and I’ve got a whole new perspective on life. Fishing my crucifix out of Kenton’s bone pile, I blow the dust off and slip it back into my pocket. “What happens in the closet stays in the closet.”
The joke is terrible and he flips me off, but he’s grinning when he does it.
* * *