When I woke up in the morning, however, it didn't feel okay. I grasped at the dream as it started to dissolve, trying to figure out what it meant. I did a check—I imagined Gary holding me, kissing me, feeling me up. Sure thing, I was not over him. Other guys might've been cute, but "cute" couldn't overturn a five-year-long infatuation.

The late nights were starting to catch up with me, and Dawn was there to helpfully poke me awake through History and Bio. It was nice to be on speaking terms with her again. It was comfortable. Isobel was overjoyed to see her return to her spot at our table for lunch. Finally, we were back to the way things used to be, the way things were supposed to be.

Now, Gary was the one avoiding me. I couldn't imagine it was because he somehow knew I'd overheard him. I replayed that scene constantly in my head. Although it admittedly hadn't been an explicit confession of feelings, the implication had been obvious enough. I'd been biking home from school alone since then, although the first day I waited around by the racks for him for about ten minutes until I gave up. Today was no different, and it left me with a hollowness that had slowly replaced the initial frustration.

Unlike Dawn, Red didn't stray close behind me tonight. I could still feel him there, though, oddly enough, and I would have noticed if he'd left—which, thankfully, he never did. For the sake of variety, I spent my time wandering around Rainier Heights, the bougie, hilly neighborhood. The hours went by more quickly. I was getting used to this.

The blindfold didn't even bother me that much tonight. Red led me with a finger on my elbow, as if he wasn't sure if he was allowed to touch me—or maybe he didn't want to. We were back at the house in record time.

Tonight, instead of leaving me in the foyer, Red looked back at me and beckoned me toward the meeting room. It took a second before I even understood what he meant by the gesture. Slowly, I approached. I didn't know what to expect.

All seven of the others were silently sitting around what would have probably been called the drawing room back when the house had had human occupants. Dawn and Paul occupied one corner by a bookshelf; Gary leaned against the stone mantel; Yellow was curled up in a balding, orange armchair that positively dwarfed her. No one looked surprised that I was here. Gary didn't interrogate Red as soon as we walked in like he had the other two, but he gave me a quick once-over he tried to disguise.

"We figured it was time we stopped leaving you in the hallway like a kid in time-out," Drew explained from his seat at the large mahogany table that was the centerpiece of the room. Herriot, at the head of the table, nodded.

"You have taken a great risk for us," he said. "You have earned the right to enter our sanctuary."

A massive hearth, unknown family portraits hanging on the walls, ancient bookshelves stuffed with weathered tomes and odd knickknacks—although a certain degree of cosy, it wasn't exactly what I pictured when I heard the word "sanctuary".

Herriot cleared his throat, and the others took their seats at the table. I followed their lead a full second later, sitting at the only open spot, all the way across from Herriot. To my right was Dawn, and to my left was…Silver. I scootched toward my friend under the pretence of pulling my chair closer to the table.

"Drew had submitted a valid concern," Herriot said.

Drew nodded. "Wouldn't the vampire in question be able to detect our presence?" he suggested. "Herriot's the only one able to conceal himself."

When Silver spoke up, I nearly jumped out of my skin. "It's probably a relatively young one. The bloodthirst would be enough to distract him."

"Or her," Dawn added. Silver gave her an indecipherable look.

"How 'young' can an Old World be?" Gary asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Someone clearly changed you and Yellow. No new vampire could do that. Are you suggesting he skipped town since then and we've been dealing with another victim he left behind?"

"Maybe," Silver said stiffly. "We haven't been at it very long, anyway. Give it time."

I hadn't understood much of the conversation up until now, but I found myself silently agreeing with Silver. It'd only been a few days so far. They'd been patrolling for a year. Even with my job as professional vampire bait, I imagined it would take a while to catch anyone.

"Red suggests we keep at least a block away from Leaf," Gary said. "Just in case someone can sense us. As soon as he knows one of us is there, the night's a bust." He looked at me for a reaction, but I wasn't surprised or worried. I'd honestly figured that was already the case. Dawn was the only one I'd actually seen during the walkabouts.

I'd hoped that being privy to their discussion would have cleared some things up, but it'd only given me a dozen new questions to mull over. In a way, though, I was grateful. I thought about how awful it would be to be transformed into a vampire and simply left to your own devices, alone in figuring out this new world and your place in it. That's what might have happened to Yellow, or to Silver, had the Rossignols not found them. At least in my position, there was somebody to—eventually—answer my questions.

—

We continued with our strategy for another several days, but no check-ins now, only debriefings after the fact. We couldn't risk being seen together. With this risk came a new privilege—I wasn't going to be blindly led to the meetinghouse anymore. I found that my idea of where it was hadn't been too far off, to my pride. It was an unassuming blue townhouse, one of dozens in the old town neighborhood. That I'd probably passed it a hundred times over the course of my life didn't escape me. Knowing that sort of thing made a girl wonder what its neighbors were hiding, too.

On Wednesday, I stepped out a bit earlier than usual. Maybe we could even finish up a little earlier. My performance in school was suffering despite Herriot propping me up in Bio and Dawn literally propping me up in other classes, and afternoon naps, a new tradition, weren't cutting it. I shuffled from foot to foot to keep myself awake and slightly warmer.

Who was tailing me tonight? My heart thudded to a stop in my chest as I remembered.

Silver.

He didn't like me, that was for certain. But he didn't hate me enough to leave me at the mercy of a wild vampire, did he?

I was tempted to go back inside, where I could sleep in my nice, warm bed. Skipping one night couldn't be such a big deal.

Despite my better judgement, I started on my way as agreed. I trod familiar ground, the more popular spots at this time of night. Popular, of course, was a relative term—if you wanted nightlife, Pallet was the place to avoid. I retraced my steps from my first few walkabouts along the main shopping and restaurant streets downtown.

Something rustled in an alleyway as I passed, and the adrenaline jolted through me. I'd gotten into the habit of carrying around a flashlight by now, so I lit up the shadowy passage. Sure enough, two bright spots reflected the light back at me. The raccoon didn't move. I seriously needed to write a strongly-worded letter to the mayor at this point. I shook the light around and made as if to run after him, and he scampered off. Vampires, rodents… What else was infesting this town?

Unlike with the others, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't tell if Silver was nearby. Anxiety swirled in my stomach, making me nauseous. The house was only a couple of streets away. I could easily turn in already. It was a quarter to midnight, a far cry from my usual, and they'd probably kick me right back out, but I sure as hell could try.

Without thinking, I made it to their street. I passed the house, then passed it again, neither conjuring up the courage to enter nor to put any more distance between it and me. I paced the length of the darkened block over and over, trying to keep myself distracted.

Giving myself trig problems and running through Kalosian vocab shortly became more of a bore than a distraction. My thoughts wandered, as they always did. I thought about Gary, and a familiar frustration bubbled up, quickening my steps. Where did he get off ignoring me and avoiding me? Considering the circumstances, I'd taken this whole vampire thing in stride. I'd taken it the best anyone could have. If either of us, I should have been the one who needed some space and time to process. He wasn't even going on dates, as far as I'd heard—which gave me some relief, in a few ways. The fewer girls he snacked on, the better for everyone, in my opinion.

"Good God, just go in already."

I nearly screamed and hit the ground when Silver's voice came from behind me. I gathered my nerves and turned around where he was raising a stern eyebrow.

"You're wasting all of our time by retracing the same steps," he said. "Just go in."

He had a point. I checked my watch again. Just about one now. I'd been pacing the same street for an hour now. I hoped no one had been watching from a window and was now convinced I was some escaped lunatic—I had a reputation to uphold, after all. We entered the house, Silver a step ahead of me.

—

They'd forecasted freezing rain for Friday evening, and by the afternoon, grey clouds were already gathering ominously. It was a miracle I hadn't gotten sick from my cold, late nights so far, but my luck was probably about to run out.

Dawn pulled me aside as I looked up dismally at the sky once we'd been released for the day. "Herriot said you're off the hook for tonight," she said, and I had half a mind to throw my arms around her.

"For real?" I asked.

She nodded. "He figured you could use a break. He and Red are patrolling instead." Something over my shoulder caught her attention. "Hey, you know what," she said, "I'll see you around." And she was off.

When I turned around, there he was.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey there, stranger," I replied, echoing his words from what now felt like years ago. Under each hand, he was balancing a bike—his and mine. A peace offering.

"You ready?" he asked.

I took my bike from him silently, and we rode toward home. The leaves crunched under our wheels in an awkward silence. I cleared my throat.

"So what've you been up to lately?" I asked.

"Just some stuff," he said unhelpfully. "Sorry I've been busy."

He didn't elaborate. He maneuvered his bike around the street grate in a quirk that panged in my heart with its familiarity.

He stonewalled for the rest of the ride to my house, always the first stop. Once he spoke, however, I wished he'd just kept his mouth shut instead. He flicked out the kickstand and leaned against the seat as I wheeled my bike to its usual spot.

"Look," he said, "maybe we shouldn't be hanging out so much anymore."

My chest suddenly felt tight. I gripped my bike as if I might fall over without it. "What do you mean?"

"I just…" He looked across the street, looked up at the shedding autumn trees, looked anywhere besides at me. "Things are changing. I want to keep you as disconnected from all this as possible."

I shook my head in disbelief and took a step toward him. "I'm sorry, did you forget I've been literal vampire bait for the past two weeks? What part of that is 'disconnected'?"

"Damn it, Leaf, yes, I know," he said. He caught a dry, brown leaf on the pavement and crushed it with his heel. "That's not what… Whatever."

"No, what? What were you going to say?"

He opened his mouth to respond but took a measured breath instead. He stuck his hands in his pockets. "I just think it would be a good idea if I…if I kept you at arm's length."

"So now you're dangerous?" I demanded.

He made that little face he did when he was making a joke at somebody's expense in his head. I'd never been on the receiving end, and it pissed me off incredibly. I turned and stormed toward the front door.

"Wait, Leaf, please," he said, but I didn't stop until he grabbed me by the arm. This was going to be his last chance for me to hear him out. "What I'm trying to say is…you mean a lot to me. I don't want you getting hurt because of me."

"You think someone would want to hurt me because I'm cl—because I'm your friend?" My voice had softened with his.

"I really don't know," he admitted. "We don't know much about this guy, and we definitely don't know how much he knows about us. It's entirely reasonable to think he'd target our vulnerability."

Vulnerability. That wasn't a fun word to think of myself as. He released my arm, and his hands returned to their pockets.

"Look, Gary, I trust you guys," I said. Well, some of them more than others. "And I can't imagine anyone getting the jump on you. From my understanding, if there's some evil vampire going around, you'll be close enough to stop him before anything…happens."

He frowned. "Your understanding is pretty limited. But I'm glad you trust us. That's important."

"So that's all?" I asked. "I still don't get why you've been avoiding me."

He gave that one a little thought. "You're right," he said. "I guess it's just something I'll have to deal with." He cleared his throat. "The potential for you to get hurt, I mean."

"Right," I said with a nod.

He shifted from one foot to the other. "Yeah," he said. "I'll see you around, Leaf."

A few hours later, I was watching and judging some forgettable Lifetime movie when my ringtone sounded. For a split second I was anticipating a call that would bring me back out on those dark, cold streets again—now, the rain was pelting our roof hard, and that was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do. Instead, it was Gary, to my surprise.

"What's up?" I said.

"Nothing," he said. "Just wanted to talk."

And for a couple of hours, we talked. About, well, pretty much everything. I couldn't remember the last time we'd done that. We didn't have many lulls in the conversation, but every time, I worried it would end. The moment was too good to end. At one of these lulls, I gave the question that had been itching at me all evening a shot. My heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest, and I tried to conceal the shakiness in my breath.

"Hey," I said, "earlier, when you said I mean a lot to you, what did—"

"Hey, sorry," he interrupted, "I gotta go."

My breath caught in my throat. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, I'm just really not feeling good."

If he needed to ralph, by all means, I'd let him go, but what timing, to understate it. Did vampires vomit? He hung up so quickly I wasn't sure he'd even heard my goodbye. It took a few minutes distracted by shitty acting for the adrenaline to ebb away.

The next day, I was back at it. Silver, to my disappointment, was tailing me again. Things went smoothly—although at one point I was absolutely convinced he'd abandoned me—and I was at the house in what felt like record time. In fact, it was a little earlier than usual, because the cold was just unbearable tonight. The fireplace in the meeting room was still dead. I guess vampires didn't need heat, after all.

"Where's Red?" I asked, stopped in the doorway. Despite his silent nature, he was usually one of the first to greet me. Their reactions to my question, however, were entirely unlike what I had expected.

Drew's brow furrowed, his mouth drawn into a tight frown. Dawn averted her big, blue eyes, blinking rapidly. Paul, who wasn't normally given to expression of emotion, wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a way that was surprisingly comforting of him. Yellow simply stood up and walked past me out of the room. Herriot was the only one who didn't seem to be affected, but his face had a way of always being serious.

"Red is...indisposed at the moment," he said, and something in his tone sent a chill up my spine. I got the impression he didn't mean "preoccupied". Silver passed me to enter the room, stoic.

How did a vampire die, anyway?

—

"This can't have been a young one," said Drew. We'd taken our seats around the table. Three chairs stood conspicuously empty. "There's no way Red would have been overwhelmed."

"Unless there were multiple working together?" Dawn suggested.

Paul shook his head. "He still would have sensed them coming. He would have sought Grégoire."

Herriot looked as if he wanted to say something, but he kept his silence. I remembered now—he and Red had been patrolling that night. Vampires were clearly capable of a number of human emotions, guilt among them. Did he feel responsible for Red's death?

The night's discussion was brief and dissatisfying. The whole time, I itched to leave. Herriot dismissed me into the cold, and Dawn silently volunteered to tag along, walking right beside me this time. Neither of us spoke, and she didn't object when I passed my street and continued east toward the Oak residence. She may not have been able to read my mind, but she understood what I needed to do, even if it meant putting myself—and her, frankly—at risk. I couldn't wait until tomorrow, though. Tomorrow seemed a million miles away.

The key to 44 Woodstone Street felt heavy in my hand. We'd traded keys—just in case—back in freshman year. I'd never told him how much that gesture had meant to me, although I didn't often have use for the key. The back door unlocked with a soft click, and I stepped inside.

Dawn hesitated behind me. The old stereotype, that vampires couldn't come in without being invited, flitted through my head, so wildly out of place given the seriousness of the moment. She crossed the threshold and closed the door behind herself.

Alone, in that big, dark house, I made my way up the stairs, avoiding the creaky spots. I wasn't sure if I should knock on his door. I slowly twisted the handle and pushed it open.

My eyes had adjusted to the darkness. He sat on the edge of his bed, near the faint moonlight streaming through his window, and I took two steps closer.

"Gary?" I asked softly. I sat beside him and looked at him, but it wasn't the Gary I knew. His eyes were empty, his expression gaunt.

"He was my brother," he said, and I almost thought I'd only imagined his voice, raw and broken. "It feels like...like a part of me just disappeared."

I didn't know what having someone else's voice in my head was like. But I did know what it felt like to lose someone close to you, so I wrapped my arms around him and gently rested my head on his shoulder without a word. We sat in a mournful silence for several minutes until Gary swiped a hand at his cheek.

"Leaf," he said, "I'm going to kill him."

A/N: So this chapter kept getting longer and longer and now it's actually three chapters so that's cool

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