Chapter 2 2

Morning light sliced through the blinds.

Aden flinched. He raised his arm to cover his face.

He waited for the burning. He waited for his skin to blister and peel like bacon in a skillet.

Nothing happened.

The sun felt warm. Gentle.

He lowered his arm. His skin looked normal.

He frowned. Every movie, every lore forum said vampires burned in the sun.

Maybe the vial was a dud. Maybe he was just a freak, not a vampire.

He went to the bathroom to wash his face.

He turned the faucet handle.

ROAR.

The sound of the water rushing through the pipes was deafening. It sounded like a waterfall crashing next to his ear.

Aden recoiled, clutching the sink.

He heard footsteps. Heavy, booming thuds.

They were coming from the apartment below.

He heard a cat meow three blocks away.

He squeezed his eyes shut. "Stop," he whispered. "Too loud."

He focused. He tried to dial it down.

The noise receded, settling into a hum.

Then he heard it.

A wet, sliding sound. Slither. Squelch.

It was coming from the other side of the bathroom wall. The Johnson's apartment. Emily's room.

Aden stared at the drywall.

He didn't just stare at it. He looked through it.

The paint and plaster faded into a gray mist. The wooden studs appeared as dark bars.

Beyond them, he saw a heat signature.

A girl. Emily. She was standing in front of her mirror.

But something was wrong.

There was a cold blue shadow wrapped around her spine.

It pulsed.

Aden watched, frozen, as Emily's head turned.

It didn't stop at her shoulder. It kept rotating.

One hundred and eighty degrees.

She was facing her back to the mirror, but her face was looking directly at her own reflection.

The blue shadow shifted.

Thin, translucent tendrils erupted from her ear canal. They waved in the air like anemones, tasting the room.

Aden stepped back.

His heel hit the bathtub. Thud.

The tendrils in the next room froze.

They snapped toward the wall. Toward him.

Aden stopped breathing.

He willed his heart to slow down. Thump...... Thump.

He stood perfectly still, like a statue.

From the hallway in the Johnson's apartment, a voice called out.

"Emily! Bus is coming!"

The tendrils retracted instantly. They sucked back into her ear.

Emily's head snapped back to the front with a sickening crack.

"Coming, Daddy!" she yelled. Her voice was bright, cheerful.

Aden slid down the wall to the floor.

His shirt was soaked in cold sweat.

That wasn't a vampire. That was something else. Something parasitic.

Tom Bo had said the city was full of eyes. Aden hadn't understood until now.

He couldn't stay here.

He needed to see if this was isolated. He needed to go to school.

He dressed quickly. Jeans, a long-sleeve shirt.

He walked to the door. He reached for his cane, then stopped.

He left it leaning against the wall.

He walked out. His stride was smooth, powerful.

The Johnson family was leaving their apartment at the same time.

Mr. Johnson was adjusting his tie. Emily was in a pink dress, holding a lunchbox.

She looked adorable. Normal.

Then the smell hit him.

Underneath the scent of strawberry shampoo, there was a stench. Rotting fish. Stagnant pond water.

Emily stopped.

She looked up at Aden.

Her eyes were blue. Then, for a fraction of a second, the pupils constricted into vertical slits.

She stared at the jugular vein in his neck.

Aden felt the hair on his arms stand up.

"Good morning, Emily," he said. He forced a smile.

Emily blinked. Her eyes were normal again.

"Morning, Aden," she said. Her voice dropped an octave. It was raspy. "You smell... different today."

Mr. Johnson patted her shoulder. "Come on, sweetie."

They walked toward the elevator.

Emily looked back over her shoulder. She licked her lips.

Aden stood in the hallway.

He reached into his pocket. His fingers brushed against a silver fork he had swiped from the kitchen drawer.

He squeezed it.

The metal bent like putty in his grip.

He wasn't safe. But he wasn't helpless.