And maybe that’s why I did what I did. But honestly, I wasn’t sure what the exact reason was. But it really didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I gave Laylen a soft shake to see if I could get him to open his eyes.

“Laylen,” I whispered, keeping my hand pressed to his chest as I leaned over him. “Laylen, can you hear me.”

His eyes stayed closed.

“Laylen, if you can hear me, I need to know something.”

still nothing.

“I need to know if there’s another way to save you, without having to get a vampire involved.” I took a shaky breath, tears stinging at my eyes. “Alex said there wasn’t, but I don’t believe him. Please wake up…please.”

My heart was splitting in two. I watched to see if Laylen’s chest was rising and falling, but it was too dark to tell.

“Laylen,” I said, a little too loud, and Laylen’s eyes shot open. I gasped as he sucked in a breath of air.

“Oh my God.” Tears streamed down my cheeks.

“You’re awake.”

He nodded slowly, letting out a few coughs.

“Are you okay?” I asked, wiping my tears away.

He shook his head weakly. “I can’t feel it anymore.”

“Can’t feel what?” I asked softly.

“The pain.”

“From the wound?”

He shook his head. “From being alone.” I almost burst into sobs, but I held it back. I needed to be the strong one. “It’ll be okay. Alex is going to get help.”

“I don’t think….” His eyes fell shut again.

“Laylen,” I panicked. “Don’t close your eyes.” He shook his head and said nothing.

“Laylen,” I said. “Is there another way to cure you?” I knew I might have been searching for something that didn’t exist, but when I asked Alex the same question I swear he had been lying when he told me no. And in many of the vampire-themed books I read, human blood worked as a cure.

“Laylen.” I kept my voice calm, but demanding.

“Open your eyes. You have to open your eyes.” Slowly, his eyelids lifted open. His bright blue eyes were glazed over, and I wondered if he was even there.

“Can you hear me?” I asked.

He nodded lethargically.

His blood soaked my fingers—time was running out. “Can you tell me if there’s another way to save you?” I asked. “Besides vampires’ blood?” He blinked a few times, his eyes coming into focus.

“No, there’s not.”

“Are you sure.”

He hesitated.

“Laylen,” I said in a gentle voice. “Does human blood work too?”

He didn’t answer right away, but when he did, his voice was frail. “I can’t…I can’t do it.”

“If it will save you...” I took a deep breath. “Please just do it, okay. Don’t leave me here alone.” Whoa.

Where did that come from?

We stared at each other, and this moment passed between us—this moment of understanding. We both knew that our time was running out—that his time was running out. Alex still hadn’t returned, and he still had to track down a vampire who wouldn’t know what Laylen had done to Vladislav.

He let out a cough, before nodding. “Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Okay,” I repeated nervously. “Where do you want to…um...”

“On your wrist,” he answered for me. “It’s easier that way, at least from what I’ve been told.” Keeping my hand on his wound, I gave him my other hand. He took hold of it, his skin ice-cold, and through the looseness in his grip I could tell he was weak. Then, with a look of horror, he opened his mouth, letting out a whimper as his fangs descended.

I held his gaze so he wouldn’t think I was afraid of him.

But I was afraid. Not so much afraid of getting bit—

well, maybe just a little. But I was more afraid of losing him.

As his sharp vampire fangs sunk into my wrist, a rush of adrenaline and a million other things whipped through me, just like when Vladislav had bit me. But there were also different feelings there—things I’d never felt before.

I tried not to blink.

I tried not to look away.

I stayed with him.

Chapter 24

Minutes later, after the buzzing, humming, and so much other stuff had worn out of my body and my mind, Laylen and I both lay, yes, on the smelly ground of the all eyway, and stared up at the stars.

He drunk just enough of my blood for the wound in his chest to seal itself shut. Then he pulled away, putting his fangs back where they belonged. The only evidence that anything had happened was the two little bite marks spotting my wrist. Well, that and Laylen’s guilt for biting me. I could tell that he felt guilty, which made me feel guilty for telling him to bite me. But that was okay. I would deal with my guilt as long as it meant he was alive.

The sky was a midnight black now, the glow of the Vegas lights shimmering across it in various colors.

Car horns and roaring engines flooded the air.

“Why do you think Nicholas is helping Stephan?” I asked Laylen, staring at the crescent moon.

“I’m not sure,” Laylen replied, his eyes glued to the sky. “I do know one thing, though. The next time I see him, he better run.”

I casted a glance at him. The pale glimmer of the moon lit up the pain in his eyes. “Hopefully, we don’t ever see him again.”

“I highly doubt it’ll be the last time we see the faerie,” Laylen muttered, his jaw set tight.

He was probably right. Nicholas had an act for randomly popping up.

“But I just don’t get it,” I said. “It seems like he’s been helping Stephan for awhile, yet he was there at Adessa’s for all those days and never gave away our location? Why would he do that?”

“I think we’ll never be able to understand why Nicholas does what he does.” Laylen said. “What I think we need to do is focus on getting your mom back, just like we were planning. I just have this feeling she knows things that we don’t.”

I was abruptly reminded of something Nicholas had said back in the woods; that Stephan had created Laylen. Stephan had been the cause behind Laylen’s vampirism. But why would Stephan need to create a vampire? Why not just go get one of the many premade ones that were wandering around. Did it have to do with the star?

I decided not to tell Laylen that Stephan was the cause behind him being a vampire. Don’t freak out on me, though. I am going to tell him. I owed him the truth, no matter what—he always did the same for me. But I was going to let him get over biting me first, because he wasn’t handling it very well. In fact, he hadn’t made eye contact with me since he had done it.

“Are you…okay?” I asked him. “I mean with…biting me?”

He winced, and then sat up, staring in front of him at the side of the brick building that had been decorated with florescent green spray paint. “I think I should be the one asking if you’re okay.”

I sat up way too quickly, giving myself a head rush. I pressed my hand to my head. “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me. I told you to do it.” Finally, he looked at me. “Yeah, but you’re the one who’s going to be tied to me now. You can’t erase the connection I just made with you. It’ll be there forever.”

“And that’s okay.” I pulled a few bits and piece of rock and dirt out of my hair. “It wasn’t okay with Vladislav, but with you it is.” I didn’t mean for it to come out how it sounded, considering the feeling we both knew I felt when he bit me.

There was this awkward moment, where we were both really uncomfortable. And because of that, I didn’t notice Alex walking up, nor did I notice the sparks until he was right in front of us.

“You’re alright.” Alex now had on a shirt and a pair of shoes that looked a little tattered, like he’d bought them from a second hand store. “How—what happened?

Laylen and I jumped to our feet, like we were guilty of committing some heinous crime. Which we so weren’t. With as long as it took for Alex to get a shirt to cover up his Keeper mark, Laylen probably would have never made it.

“We weren’t doing anything,” I said quickly, making me seem guilty.