When I got back to my room, Zoe was still awake, waiting for me.
"You're back!" she exclaimed before I even shut the door. "Oh, thank God! I was so worried!"
I turned to her and smiled, and an idea occurred to me. "There was no reason to be worried," I told her. "I don't think Jill was as…thirsty as she said she was."
"What do you mean?" Zoe asked, puzzled.
I walked over and sat down on my bed, facing her, and sighed. "I'm not sure enough to take a risk, by any means, but I think Jill was exaggerating," I said.
"Why would she do that?" Zoe asked.
"I think…to mess with you," I answered, trying to sound embarrassed.
Zoe blinked. "Mess with me?"
I gave her a wry smile. "She used to wake me up craving blood all the time when we first got here," I lied. "At first I'd leave with her in a panic, afraid she'd bite me - the first two nights, I couldn't even sleep for fear she'd get me. Adrian used to make comments about wanting blood at Clarence's when Keith and I were there, too. But after a while…well, Keith left, and I kind of…got used to it, I guess. I stopped freaking out so much. And at the same time, she started waking me up less and less. She actually hasn't done it in a few weeks. Maybe she's just getting used to living around humans and not feeding from them, but I think…I think the Moroi think our fear of them is funny."
It was far from the truth, but better than letting Zoe believe Jill was actually dangerous. Besides, Adrian had made a couple of blood jokes at Keith's expense, and I had had a hard time sleeping in the same room as Jill at first, so it wasn't quite a total lie.
"Funny?!" Zoe exclaimed, outraged. "How could they-?"
"I know, I know," I said quickly, cutting her off, "it's ridiculous. All I know is, I stopped reacting to Jill's wake-up calls, and she stopped making them; then you came, not so used to being around Moroi, and she came in the middle of the night within a couple of days. The Moroi can't possibly understand how we feel, and I think it's like a joke to them."
Zoe was still upset, but at least she didn't shout again. "So what are you saying?" she asked instead. "Like, what does this mean?"
I shrugged. "Like I said, I'm not sure enough about this to take a risk, so if Jill says she's craving blood, I'll get her to Clarence's no matter the time," I replied; "but I don't think we have to be too worried about her biting someone here on campus - not other students, and not us. If she does it again, or if Adrian says something, just try not to react, okay?"
I made a mental note to tell Adrian about this story, so he and Jill might do something to reinforce it. Better for Zoe to think they were laughing at her than for her to think they might try to eat her.
