“Jason Winters won’t bother you anymore.” He says it with such conviction that I almost believe him. But Jason’s been bullying me since I was in fourth grade. He’s not going to stop just because a couple of cowboys told him to.
“He’ll just wait until you’re gone,” I say quietly, feeling like I’m disappointing him by saying it.
He looks at me, eyes crinkling. “You really are something, Lukas.” His voice is wistful, maybe amused, but I don’t think he means it as an insult.
We stand there in silence until I say, “I’m alone now.”
“You don’t have to be.”
It’s what I wanted him to say, but I didn’t dare hope. I want to shout at him to take me away, get me out of this town, away from the diner and the bullies and my empty house. But instead I ask, “What do I have to do?”
“Share a meal.”
“What does that mean?”
He looks down, beats his hat against his thigh. “What do you think it means, Lukas?”
I close my eyes. “How? How do I…?”
He touches my shoulder briefly. “We’ll take care of that. Just be at the diner tonight at closing. You come if you want to join us. If you don’t, no harm and we’ll be on our way.”
“You’ll leave?” I ask, startled, my mouth suddenly dry. “Just like that?”
“Only if you want. You called us, remember? And we only stay where we’re wanted.”
Relief floods through me, traitorous and unasked for. I can’t imagine Silas gone now. What I’d do. Where I’d go. Something about him makes me feel safe, feel wanted. Feel not so alone.
The wind moves through the gravestones, tossing the leaves around. He slips his hat back on.
“The diner,” he repeats. “Closing.”
And then he’s gone.
* * *
I pull into Landry’s parking lot at a quarter to midnight. The lights are low, and the place looks locked up, only there are people moving around inside, so I know somebody’s in there. I spot a figure lurking by the door and I think it must be Silas, but as I get closer, I can see it’s Dru. He’s got a baseball bat and is swinging it idly as he waits. I remember Brandon saying something about the Finley guy being a big baseball player, and things click together.
Dru looks at me, long and hard, pale skin cold in the lamplight and dark red hair slicked back. Last time I saw him he was wearing a baseball cap, but tonight he’s bareheaded. I shift uncomfortably under his scrutiny.
“Why?” he asks suddenly, and it’s the first time I’ve heard him speak.
I shrug, pretty sure what he’s asking. “Same as everyone, I guess.”
“We’ve all got different reasons. Jasper did it for revenge, me because we didn’t make state and I thought I wanted to die.” He chuckles under his breath, like he can’t believe he was ever so foolish. “Willis lost his mind after they killed his wife, and Silas…”
“Why did you have to murder your family, though?” I ask quickly, cutting him off. I’m not sure I want to know why Silas did it. What if it’s for terrible reasons? Reasons worse that wanting a family, not wanting to be alone.
He blinks. “You think I killed my family? For this?” he asks, incredulous. He laughs a shallow, wheezy laugh. “Five blood bags, one for each of you and two for me, Silas told me.”
A shiver runs across my neck. “Silas wouldn’t say that.”
“What do you know about Silas?” he scoffs. “He’s taking it easy on you, don’t know why, what makes you so special.” He swallows noisily, eyes lost in memory. “He didn’t go so easy on me.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
Before he can answer, Silas comes to the door.
“You made it,” he said, his smile expansive, like I’m on time to his party. “Come on in.” He ushers me through the entrance, leaving Dru to follow. I hear him turn the lock behind me. I look back, alarmed.
“So we aren’t disturbed,” Silas says, arm sliding around my shoulders as he leads me in. “I think you know everyone,” he says, gesturing around the diner. Dru with his bat and Willis and Jasper on stools, leaning against the counter.
“Listen,” I tell him, voice steady with the words I practiced in the car on the drive over. “I know what this is about. What you are.” Thinking of what Dru said moments ago, I add, “You don’t have to be easy on me.”
Silas pauses, leans his head to the side like he’s listening.
I go on in a rush. “I figured it out. What you said about Jason not bothering me anymore, and before, saying you’d kill him if he laid a finger on me again. And I know the stories, about the massacre. And Dru’s family.” My eyes cut briefly to his. His face is stony, giving nothing away, and for a minute I think maybe I’ve misunderstood, that what I’m saying likely sounds certifiable, but I barrel on anyway. “And I want you to know I’m okay with that. I’m okay with … sharing a meal.”
Silas waits until he’s sure I’m done talking, and then he smiles. “I knew you’d come around, Lukas. Nothing wrong with going easy on a man who’s had his fair share of troubles. Some people just need to ease into feeding.”
Feeding. I shiver despite myself. The way he says it makes it somehow more real. But I tell myself that Jason deserves it. He’s been cruel to me my whole life, would probably kill me if he had a chance, so maybe I’m just beating him to the punch. And if that means I get to stay with Silas, with the Boys …
Willis and Jasper stand up to reveal a body laid out on the counter.
I expect to see broad football shoulders. Annoying chestnut hair. Terrified blue eyes.
But instead I see dark roots, the glint of rhinestones, hazel eyes too wide.
“Neveah?”
I gasp, fall back a step as she whimpers, eyes pleading with me. Willis runs a hand through her hair like he’s petting a dog.
“Shhhh,” Silas says, holding me in place, his grip like a vice. “I thought you said you were ready.”
“Don’t hurt her,” I say, turning to him. I grasp at his shirt, begging. “I-I thought you meant Jason. Or the Toad Twins. Not—”
My breath catches in my throat.
Not the only person in town who actually tries to be nice to me, not Neveah with her community college and her trailer and her blue nails. Who let me drive her home. Who tried to help.
“We’re not going to hurt her, Lukas.” His voice is quiet. Firm. And for a minute, I have hope.
“You are.”
My stomach plummets. I shake my head no, horrified.
“If you want to join us, you have to share a meal.”
“I know! I’m here, aren’t I? At the diner.”
“That’s not the kind of meal we eat, brother,” Jasper says. I look over and he’s picking at his teeth, his fangs, with a long fingernail.
“Don’t you get it?” Dru cuts in harshly. “You either drink her blood and become one of us, or you get to be a blood donor, too. She’s a goner for sure, and you’re one bad decision away from becoming one. There’s no walking out of this.”