11.
"You're still here."
His voice is soft. I jump at the sound of it, and I nearly cry out from surprise.
He is different from last time. No — he is not the same.
"You —" My voice comes out strangled, and I take a step back.
Something like hurt flashes in his eyes — his eyes.
They are red.
They are red now.
They are red.
He's a vampire.
I've always known that he is not the same as me, but maybe, because his eyes had been blue, I'd been able to forget it. He told me that he'd managed to never drink human blood since being turned into a vampire, and that's why his eyes remained blue. So does that mean . . . ?
"Hisae," he says.
He has never once said my name.
I've almost forgotten the sound of it, because Iso never says it anymore. She is too tired, too weak, a fever raging through her day and night. And he? He has a name, too, and if I were to try and remember . . .
Mika. That's the other vampire called him, at least.
"I'm sorry," he says, and I do hear the regret straining through his voice. A trembling hand reaches up and it covers one of his eyes. "I . . . should've warned you. I know you hate them . . . us."
"Why are you here?" I whisper.
He releases a sigh. "I shouldn't have come. I thought . . . I was worried that if I came back, you and your sister wouldn't be here anymore. But it's almost worse, to see you here and to know —"
To know that we won't make it much longer. Soon, soon . . .
He looks stricken, an emotion I've never seen on a vampire before. "I'm sorry — I —"
"You speak the truth," I interrupt. "That's all you've ever done, right? So, don't lie to me. I'm not fragile. I know what's going to happen. I know."
He stares at me for a few moments, then he nods.
I say, "You need a place to stay tonight." It's not a question. "There's always that comfy wall."
A twitch of a smile appears on his face. "How is your sister?" he asks.
I glance back to the corner where Iso is sleeping, like always. "She could be doing better," I say. I begin moving back to her to check her temperature, even though I'm sure nothing's changed when his voice rings out behind me.
"Aren't you afraid?"
"Of what?" I angle my body to face him.
"I'm a full vampire now. There's no telling what I'd do."
I keep my gaze steady on him and he doesn't waver. I say, "We'd be dead a long time ago if I had anything to be worried about."
