“No, it’s me, Alice,” I said. She moved her head, and I turned it towards me, trying to get her to focus on me. “Jane, wake up. We need to get you out of here.”
“She’s talking about me, you silly twat! I’m Jonathan!” The vampire pushed against Jack, and he lessoned his grip on him. Jack exchanged a look with me, debating whether or not he should just let this Jonathan vampire go. I shrugged, leaving up to his judgment. “Will you let me go? I’m not gonna fight you! I don’t have to. She’s not gonna go with you.” Jack took a step back, and Milo did the same, but more hesitantly. Jonathan smoothed out his shirt and glared at them but made no move towards them.
“Jane, honey, wake up!” I yelled and started to gently shake her.
“No, Jonathan, let me sleep,” Jane swatted absently at me.
“She’s not going with you,” Jonathan repeated. He stepped closer to me, and Milo growled and stepped in between him and the bed. “I’m not gonna stop you! She just won’t go! What do I care if you take the whore?”
“I think it might be better if you just shut the hell up,” Jack suggested.
“Jane, come on.” I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her so she was sitting up. Her head lolled back for a second, revealing the still open wounds on her neck. Then she opened her eyes and lifted her head.
“Jane, come on. Let’s go.”
“Alice?” Jane squinted, and I realized she probably couldn’t see anything in the dark. “What are you doing here?”
“Taking you with me.” I put my arm around her to pick her up, but she pushed back at me.
She was much weaker than me, but I stopped trying to lift her anyway. “Jane, you’ve gotta come with me.”
“No! No! Why would I wanna I go with you?” Jane sounded disgusted and pushed away from me so she could lie down on the filthy mattress. “Get away from me. I’m staying with Jonathan.”
“I told you,” Jonathan crossed his arms over his chest. His hair was cropped short, almost shaved, and he had that perpetual unshaven look. He was undeniably foxy, the way all vampires seemed to be, and I was fairly certain that I had seen him on a billboard modeling men’s underwear before. Jane was probably thrilled that he wanted her, even if she wasn’t hooked on what it felt like when he drank her blood.
“What are you even doing here?” Jane sounded incredibly irritated, but that was probably because I was ruining her buzz. She was awake now but not entirely alert, and she ran her fingers through her in an offhandedly sexy way. Her reflexes were even seductive.
“We came to get you. We’re worried about you,” I told her as sincerely as possible. I tried to gently put my hand on her arm to convey that I cared, but she pulled it back from me.
“We?” Jane squinted harder in the darkness, trying to make out who I had brought with me, and tiredly pushed herself back into sitting a position. Her skeletal arms were stretched out behind her, holding her up precariously so she didn’t fall back on the bed. “That was your little brother I saw grinding up on some boy on the dance floor! I thought that was him, but I didn’t believe you were letting him date yet.” She gave some kind of laugh, and Milo scowled at her. “That’s just like him to narc on me anyway. I bet you just ran home to tell her right away, didn’t you?”
“This isn’t the kind of life you want to have,” Milo said, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment.
Jonathan noticed, and grinned cockily at him.
“Tell that to your boyfriend,” Jane laughed again, but it was tired, hollow sound.
“Jane, come on. This is enough. Let’s you get home.” I got up off the bed and reached out for, planning to pull her off the bed and throw her over my shoulder if I had to.
“No! I’m not going with you!” Jane repeated forcefully. “You’ve barely even talked to me since you got these new friends of yours, and now that I’ve got my own friends, you suddenly wanna hang out with me again? And on top of that, you have the balls to condemn me for doing the exact same thing as you?”
“I never did this!” I shouted. “And I was avoiding you to protect you, and then you started to avoid me. I called you like a million times but you wouldn’t answer!”
“Doesn’t that tell you something?” Jane smiled darkly at me. “I don’t want to be your friend anymore, Alice! You don’t need to save me from myself! I am just fine without you!”
“You are not fine! And I’m not saving you from you! I’m saving you from vampires!” I knew that sounded really dumb since I planned on bringing her back to a house full of vampires, but it sounded more convincing in my head. Jane laughed at the stupidity of argument, but I had had enough anyway.
I bent down and scooped her up. She yelped in protest, but I tossed her easily over my shoulder.
Admittedly, I was much stronger than before, but it was almost too easy. I doubted she even weighed a hundred pounds anymore, and she was still taller than me. As soon as I had her, she started hitting at my back and screaming at me.
“Put me down, you stupid bitch!” Jane protested, pounding her tiny fists as hard as she could against my back. Of course, it didn’t hurt at all, but they didn’t stop her from trying.
“She doesn’t want to go with you!” Jonathan made a step towards me, and Jack and Milo moved closer to him. He held his hands up in a gesture of peace, but his face was contorted to some kind of contained rage. If I tried taking away food from a starving wolf, I imagine that he would make a similar facial expression.
“I am not going with you!” Jane insisted.
“What’s going on?” Bobby shrieked, looking terrified.
“Everything’s fine!” Milo told him unconvincingly.
“You can’t very well kidnap her!” Jonathan pointed out. I hadn’t made a move towards the door yet because I was hoping Jane would calm down soon, but he was right. I couldn’t take her kicking and screaming out through a crowded dance floor and onto the city streets.
“Just put me down!” Jane shouted. Sighing heavily, I complied and set her on her feet next to me. She slapped me once more for good measure, and I had to remind myself that she was my best friend and she was just confused. “You are such a god damn controlling bitch, Alice! You always think you know everything better than I do! Just because you’re a prude doesn’t mean I’m wrong!”
“I don’t want any trouble but she is mine,” Jonathan exchanged a look with Jack, and Jane puffed visibly.
Jane completely misinterpreted his use of the word “mine.” She saw it as something resembling love, like he cared about her so she belonged to him. All he really meant was that he had bitten her first, so he had a claim laid on her until he gave her up. It was a way to keep vampires from fighting over food. Not only that, her blood would be tainted and taste horrible for about a week or so after, thanks to his saliva. Theoretically, I think that he could fight us and even kill us for trying to her from him without any repercussions in the vampire world, but I wasn’t really an expert on vampire etiquette yet.
“We can’t kidnap her, Alice,” Jack looked apologetically at me.
“See?” Jane started reaching out in the darkness, feeling around for Jonathan to come protect her.
Milo moved back, allowing Jonathan to walk over to her. He put his arm around in something that she perceived as affection but I’m sure it was nothing more than ownership. His arrogant smile said nothing more than that he’d won.
“We’ll talk later,” I relented finally.
“Fat chance,” Jane retorted. Why was I trying to save her again?
Milo went over to comfort Bobby, who was frantically clinging onto the door. Jack put his arm around me, escorting me from the room. I glanced back over my shoulder at them. Jane, thin and frail, was hanging onto Jonathan just to keep from falling over, and he looked at with her pure hunger.
Before we had even left the room, he tilted her head back and sunk his teeth into her neck. She moaned and her blood filled the room. Jack tightened his arm around me to prevent me from rushing at Jonathan and getting myself killed.
I protested, but he pulled the door shut behind us and practically drug me down the hallway, past all the rooms where vampires were feeding on other people’s best friends.
I was not happy. I spent the entire car ride home sulking and glaring out the window. Jack tried to talk to me and cheer me up, but I wanted nothing to do with it. It wasn’t his fault that Jane wouldn’t come home with us, or that vampires were such horrible creatures, but he was the only one I had to take it out on. When we pulled in the garage, I slammed the car door behind me and stormed into the house, noticing that Milo and Bobby hadn’t returned yet.
“Alice!” Jack called tiredly after me, but I didn’t slow down. I had the habit of acting like a petulant child every time things didn’t work out the way I wanted. Matilda was at the door waiting for us, but when she tried to greet me, I just pushed past her. Jack indulged her more than I did, but he was trying to keep up with me so he brushed her off. “Alice, come on! I know you’re upset, but you didn’t really think you could swoop in there like Batman and save the day, did you?”
“I don’t know what I thought!” I grumbled.
I had reached the kitchen, and even though there was nothing in there for me anymore, I didn’t feel like going any further. I wanted to eat something. Not that I was actually hungry, not the way I ever had been as a human, but whenever I had come home frustrated about something, Milo had always fed me. In that regard, it was probably for the best that I had turned into a vampire, otherwise I would’ve most likely ended up as a very fat stress eater. Out of habit, I opened up the refrigerator, which, thanks to Bobby, actually had food in it again.
“What are you doing?” Jack eyed me up quizzically.
“Making Bobby a snack,” I lied.