“Henry…” Vlad’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I just fed on a human.”

And he broke. The sobs came quickly, his body shook. And his stomach, so full of irresistible blood, ached as it had never ached before.

Henry’s tone softened, once more the friend that Vlad had always had, once more his loyal drudge… but more, he was Henry. He was Vlad’s number one. “ Tell me where you are. I’ll be right there.”

HENRY’S ROOM WAS DARK, LIT ONLY BY THE GLOW of the moon through the open curtains. Vlad was sitting on Henry’s bed, trying desperately not to look at Henry, who watched him from his desk chair across the room. They hadn’t spoken since Henry had pulled up in Greg’s car. It had been a long, quiet drive.

Henry would probably catch hell from his brother for taking the car, but Vlad was pretty sure Greg wouldn’t clue their parents in to Henry’s theft-or his driving without a license. Some secrets were important to keep. Luckily, Greg recognized that. Even if he had no clue what Henry’s secret was. Vlad gripped the edge of the mattress, trying to get ahold of his insatiable thirst.

Henry ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Vlad’s eyes moved to his friend’s neck. Otis was right. There was nothing like feeding from the source. And now that Vlad had had a taste, he knew he would always yearn for another. He gripped the mattress tighter and forced his eyes away. “Not yet.”

Henry nodded thoughtfully. “Hungry? I can run to your house and grab something.”

“It’s not that. My stomach is full. It’s just…”

“You want more.”

They exchanged understanding glances, and Vlad eased up on the mattress. He looked at Henry. “It’s like I just realized that paradise is all around me, lurking in the veins of people. It’s wrong. I know it’s wrong. But it’s all I can think about right now. As if the moment I swallowed that girl’s blood, it woke up this thing inside me. This hunger. This… beast.”

Henry stood and Vlad winced, blurting out, “Don’t come any closer.”

Henry hesitated, then crossed the room anyway and sat on the bed beside Vlad. “You won’t hurt me, Vlad. I know that.”

Vlad wanted to believe that, but he just wasn’t sure. “I don’t. Not anymore.”

Henry went quiet for a while. After a long time, he whispered, “Did you kill her?”

Vlad licked his lips, the taste of her blood still, incredibly, on his tongue. “No. But I wanted to.”

The image of Snow’s sweet face floated at the front of Vlad’s imagination, followed shortly by the feeling of his fangs as they’d sunk into her pale flesh. Vlad broke, and hot tears streamed down his face. “Oh God, Henry! I’m sick. I’m a monster. Joss was right!”

Henry shook his head adamantly. “You are not a monster, and my idiot cousin couldn’t have been more wrong. You’re just…”

He looked at Vlad, as if trying to determine just what exactly Vlad had become. Finally, he shrugged. “Well, I guess your needs are just changing.”

Vlad dried his eyes on his sleeve and took a deep, shuddering breath. “Otis mentioned that. Before he left. He told me that if I didn’t start feeding on humans, I could become a danger to the people I care about.”

He ran a trembling hand through his hair. The smell of warm, delicious human blood was calling to him from within Henry’s veins. He had to get a grip. “What am I supposed to do?”

The room grew silent as they both mulled over the possibilities in their minds. It didn’t take long, as there weren’t many to be considered.

Henry cleared his throat, and in a raspy voice said, “You could feed off me. I mean, if you needed to. Just until you release me, y’know?”

“No. I won’t feed off a person ever again. I just… can’t.” But glimpsing the vein on Henry’s neck told him that he could. And if Henry didn’t keep his distance, Vlad would.

Henry gauged his reaction for a moment, then said, “ Then we need to find another solution. What about teachers? They’re not really people.”

Vlad cracked a smile. “ Think that would help my geometry grade?”

Henry chuckled. “Nothing can help that, Vlad.”

Vlad took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His hunger diminished some, enough to make him feel like maybe he wasn’t going to rip into Henry’s veins. “Hey, Henry?”

“Yeah?”

“Does this mean we can hang out again?”

Henry looked taken aback. “I never said we couldn’t hang out.”

“You said it. Maybe not with words, but your actions said everything.” Vlad swallowed the large lump that had formed in his throat. “You’re sick of me, remember?”

Henry winced. “Vlad, I-”

“Just tell me one thing.” Vlad swallowed again, but his throat was still very dry. He glanced at Henry. “If I hadn’t bitten you when we were eight, if I hadn’t made you into my drudge, would we still be friends?”

There was a long pause. After several minutes, Vlad began to wonder if Henry was ever going to speak-or worse, if Henry’s silence was doing the talking for him.

Henry ran his hand through his hair again. He sighed, stood, and crossed the room. He wasn’t pacing, but it sure seemed like he was having a difficult time sitting still. And with every sigh, every step, Vlad became more and more worried that his fears hadn’t been irrational, that maybe Henry really was only friends with him because of the drudge thing.

Finally Henry stopped moving and shoved his hands into his front pockets. He dropped his eyes to the floor-his tone followed. “How can you even ask me that question, Vlad? How can you doubt that I’d be your friend no matter what, despite some stupid vampire virus that you knew nothing about at the time?”

He met Vlad’s eyes, hurt shimmering in his. “Of course we’d be friends.”

A strange mixture of guilt and relief flooded over Vlad, and when he sighed, it seemed to make it easier to breathe, like an enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He nodded quietly at Henry, showing his relief that their friendship was real. Henry didn’t just hang out with him because of some vampire master’s spell. He actually liked Vlad. And that was pretty cool.

Vlad cleared his throat. “So, what’s with the distance lately?”

Henry sank into his desk chair again. “ To be honest, I’ve been really stupid. Questioning why you never gave me a choice about being your drudge. Stuff like that. It’s not like you knew what biting me would do. And I was the one who suggested it.”

He grew quiet for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was but a whisper in the quiet dark of the room. “I guess I’ve just been wondering if you’d wander off someday with your vampire friends and leave me behind. I mean, why wouldn’t you pick vampires over me?”

Vlad’s jaw nearly hit the floor. He never imagined that Henry, Mr. Cool, king of make-out and popularity galore, would be worried about Vlad leaving him behind. He shook his head vehemently. “Because you’re Henry. Because you’re my best friend, and I can’t picture any part of my life without you in it.”

Their eyes met. After another long silence, Henry smirked. “So should we hug now, or…?”

Vlad chuckled, putting a hand up. “Hey man, I missed you. But I didn’t miss you that much.”

Henry grinned, then grew more serious and said, “It would be easier to be your drudge if you didn’t order me around.”

“Sometimes it’s just easier to tell you to do something instead of ask.” Vlad shrugged as a wave of guilt crashed over him. “I know that’s wrong… but it’s true.”

After a moment, Henry cleared his throat and said, “So, have you heard anything from Otis lately?”

Vlad shook his head, pulling the letter he’d just received from Vikas from his back pocket. “Nothing yet. But I’d written to Vikas to see if he knew what was going on with Otis and he wrote back a couple of weeks ago, said he had no idea but would check into it. I wrote him again, and just got a letter back this morning.”