He stared at me, clearly irritated. I held his stare until the buzzing became too intense, and I had to turn my head away or else I’d probably explode. “Stare all you want, but I still don’t know where they are.”

He heaved a frustrated sigh and looked back at Aislin. “Why would all of them not answer their phones? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t know.” Aislin twirled a strand of her golden blonde hair around her finger. “You don’t think that something happened to them, do you? Like maybe the Death Walkers showed up at the house or something.”

“I highly doubt it. The Death Walkers have no reason to go after them. They want Gemma.”

I rolled my eyes. Lucky me.

“And even if they did go to the house,” Alex said, starting to pace back and forth across the floor. “Stephan can take care of himself.”

“Of course he can.” A voice came up from behind me. It belonged to a guy, that was a given. And he sounded about as resentful as I felt. “Because we all know Stephan can do anything.”

Aislin’s gaze shot over my head. “Laylen, please don’t start. That’s the last thing we need right now.”

I froze.  Laylen, the vampire, standing right behind me.  Slowly, I turned around, my stomach rolling with nervousness.

He was about five or six inches taller than me, which meant he was really tall—six foot four at least. His blond hair swept across his forehead, the tips dyed a bright blue that matched the shade of his eyes. A silver ring hooped the bottom of his dark red lips. He wore a grey t-shirt, black jeans, and biker boots. Black symbols tattooed his forearm. They looked like a foreign language of some kind. Greek maybe?

His gaze dragged up me and came to a stop at my eyes. “You know the last time I saw you, you were maybe about four years old. You’ve grown up a lot since then.”

I scrunched my forehead. “Do I know you?”

He laughed, a very gentle, non-vampire sort of laugh. “Yeah, kind of.”

I forced a small smile. Okay?

“So,” he said, directing his attention to Alex, “Aislin said you got yourself into some trouble?”

“I didn’t get us into any trouble,” Alex corrected him. “So don’t get too excited.”

“That’s not what I was told.” The smug look Laylen was giving Alex made me wonder if there was some kind of bad history between them. “From what Aislin said you—”

“Laylen,” Aislin hissed. “Shut up.”

Alex folded his arms, and his glare sliced into Aislin. “Alright, so what have you been saying?”

She bit her lip, looking guilty as charged. “Well, it’s just that I think…maybe the little thing that happened between you and Gemma on the bus was what helped the Death Walkers discover that the energy is hidden in her.”

Alex shook his head. “There’s no way that could have been the reason.”

Ailsin raised her eyebrows. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I can,” Alex said easily. “There’s no reason that would have given her away.”

By “that” did he mean our barely kiss. I had to wonder since he’d said it with such regret.

Well, guess what? I regretted it to. I swear I did. Well okay, whatever. It was kind of a lie. But I wished I was capable of regretting it, and that had to count for something, right?

“Alex, you didn’t see it from my point of view,” Aislin said. “From what I saw, it was far from ordinary. The lights were flashing on and off while you two—”

“Alright, I get it,” Alex snapped.

“Wait a minute.” Laylen held his hands up in front of him. “What exactly was it that you two did?”

Was he joking? I didn’t know him at all, so I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. But it almost seemed like he was purposefully trying to cause trouble. Like he was trying to embarrass us. And, let me tell you, if that’s what he was doing, then it was totally working. I’d never been one to get embarrassed easily, but I could feel my cheeks getting warm. I squirmed around uncomfortably and fixed my gaze on the spot on the floor right in front of my feet.

“It was nothing important.” Alex’s tone was flat. “So you don’t need to worry about it.”

A lumped swelled in my throat. It felt like my heart had been ripped out and stomped on. I wished it didn’t feel that way, though. It really shouldn’t have felt that way. After everything that had happened—after everything he’d done.  But despite how much I wanted to hate Alex—because, let’s face it, nine times out of ten he was a Class A jerk—I couldn’t. My feelings for him seemed to be out of my control.

“I need a break,” I announced. “I’m going outside.”

“Like hell you are,” Alex said.

“I’m not a little kid.” I stood up straight and raised my chin, hoping I appeared more confident than I actually felt. “If I want to go outside then I will. I need some fresh air”

Alex started toward me. “Gemma—”

Laylen stepped between us, creating a barrier. “How about I go out with her? That way she won’t be alone.” His bright blue eyes locked on me. “That is, if you don’t mind?”

Did I mind? He was a vampire, at least according to Alex. It seemed like I should have felt untrusting toward him. But honestly, at the moment, I couldn’t have cared less what he was or wasn’t. I couldn’t see any blood thirst burning in his eyes or anything. And I really, really wanted a break from Alex.

I shrugged. “Nope. I don’t mind.”

“Fine. Do whatever you want.” Alex waved his hand, dismissing us, and turned back to Aislin. “Let’s keep trying to get a hold of someone. We really need to know what’s going on.”

I heard Aislin muttered something in reply, but didn’t hear exactly what because I was already out the door.

Outside, the deliciously warm desert air dusted my cheeks and swept through my hair. The sky had shifted grey and the stars sparkled across it. The sandy desert land drifted aimlessly in front of me, shadowed by the nightfall. It was a relief not to have goose bumps speckling my skin. It was nice to be able to breathe without seeing it cloud out in front of me. It was so nice to be warm. So, deciding I might as well enjoy the warmth, I shoved the reason I was here as far back into my mind as I could and tried to let myself relax.

I sat down on the cement steps and stretched my legs out in front of me. The warm cement pressed through my jeans. The porch light shined from behind me and casted Laylen’s and mines shadows across the stairs below. Laylen seated himself beside me and leaned back on his elbows.

For awhile, we just sat there, gazing out at the desert, listening to the crickets chirping in the distance. The stars were really dancing tonight, and I could clearly make out the constellation of Cassiopeia. I wondered if that’s where my fascination with stars came from. Perhaps, deep down inside me, I knew what I really was and that some bits and pieces of me belonged up there with them, not down here where I never truly felt like I’d belonged.

“So,” Laylen’s deep voice rang through the silence, “how’s life been with Marco and Sophia?”

“Oh, just great,” I replied, my tone bitterly sarcastic. “It’s been a real blast.”

He laughed. “They never have been the most pleasant people to be around.”

I swatted at a bug that landed on my elbow. Gross. “So you know them then?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen them in really long time.” He stared off in the distance, looking like he was lost in a painful memory. “I haven’t seen any of the Keepers since….” He trailed off and looked at me. “Alex told you what I was, didn’t he?”

I nodded.  “But it’s kind of hard to believe. All of this is kind of hard to believe.”

“I imagine it would be.” His voice was sympathetic. His blue eyes held such loneliness in them.

I propped my elbow on my knee and rested my chin in my hand. “So….what exactly is it that makes you a vampire?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…” What was the correct way to ask someone how they were considered a creature of night? The living undead. A blood thirsty monster. “I’ve read a lot of books and everything. Nothing that was actually factual, though. They all say different things about vampires, and I was just wondering which—or if any had some truth to them.”