I imagined this was how the dad felt when that creepy little boy came back from the Pet Semetary. That thought was followed by the thick Maine drawl saying, “Sometimes, dead is better.” I stifled the chill running over me.

“I’m sorry, Milo. You’re right. And it was so hard keeping this from you. I just…” I sighed and shook my head. “It was a hard decision. Just like this one.”

“What one?” His eyes flashed with confusion, and I wondered how much Mae had told him.

“The one… to turn you” I swallowed hard and studied his face for his reaction. His eyes dropped from mine, and he softened. “Did they tell you what happened?”

“Jack did,” Milo nodded. “He said it was his fault, and I was dying. So you asked him to turn me. To save me.”

“I didn’t know what else to do.”

“I’m not angry with you,” Milo absolved me. “I’m sure I would’ve done the same thing in your situation.”

He shifted against the wall, and I noticed for the first time the way his clothes fit against his body. In that simple movement, I saw the way the muscles moved subtly underneath his shirt. Soft would be a good way to describe him before, but now he looked like a jungle cat recoiled before an attack.

To know something is entirely different from seeing it so blatantly in front of me. Everything about him had changed, and only time would tell how much of him was still my brother.

“You’re a vampire,” I said breathlessly.

“I am,” Milo agreed with a wry smile.

“How do you feel?”

“Pretty amazing actually.” His smile widened and his stance broadened. “At first, it hurt like hell and I was sure I was going to die. Or at least I hoped I would. But now I feel better than I’ve ever felt.”

“Really?” I asked hopefully.

“Yeah.” Milo nodded, but his smile faltered. “Well, except for the hunger. It’s hard to get used to, but eating… Wow. There aren’t even words for it.”

“So you’re eating?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.

“If I wasn’t, I couldn’t be here with you,” Milo said with a strange threatening sound to his voice, and I involuntarily shrunk back in the bed. “I’m not even supposed to be out of my room now. But I woke up hungry, so I had some blood bags in the room. Mae was completely passed out in the chair, and I was sick of being locked up.”

“They think you’re going to eat me?” I tucked a tangle of my hair behind my ear and hoped my voice stayed even. He looked pained but said nothing. “Do… do you want to?”

“I’m not going to!” Milo insisted, but he dropped his eyes to the floor. “I want to. It’s impossible not to.

“Don’t kid yourself, Alice. They’re all thinking about it.” He looked back up at me, his russet eyes full of warning. “It’s really not safe for you here.”

“I think I’m pretty safe here,” I reassured him.

“You have no idea,” he said ominously, and then narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you let them bite you?”

“No.” I floundered under his judgmental gaze. “Well, it’s complicated.”

“Not Jack.” Milo’s voice had gotten small and plaintive and… jealous.

Definitely jealous. Everything he felt got more intense when he turned, including his crush on Jack. But more than his emotions were powerful. Physically, Milo was stronger, but just standing there talking to me, there was something menacing about him.

“Not Jack,” I answered quickly. “Once with Peter, but it was a very difficult situation.”

“What’s going on?” He stood up straighter and sniffed the air. “Something just happened.”

“What are you talking about?” I looked around the room.

“You. Something happened to you. You’re…” His eyes changed, and I recognized that burning hunger behind them. “Everything about you… It’s like… You want me to bite you?”

“No!” I shouted, alarmed.

“I don’t understand.” His face betrayed the struggle going on within him, and when he took a step closer to me, it finally dawned on me that I could actually be in danger. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do-” I started to argue, but then I realized exactly what I’d done.

I’d thought of Peter, and my body turned itself into the most delectable thing a vampire could imagine when I thought of him. It affected Jack the hardest, but since Milo was so new, he had no defense for it.

“Milo!” Jack shouted, appearing in the doorway.

With a great effort, Milo pulled his eyes away from me, and he exchanged a look with Jack that I couldn’t read. Milo swallowed hard and his breathing had grown more labored, but he managed to keep his focus on Jack.

“Go back to your room,” Jack told him.

Milo shivered and walked past him. Jack stayed frozen in the doorway until I heard the bedroom door shut as Milo went back into his room.

“What the hell were you doing?” Jack turned back me, his voice full of venom.

“I didn’t do anything,” I said. “He came into my room while I was sleeping!”

“You should’ve yelled for me or Mae!” Jack crossed his arms over his chest. “And you’ve got to stop thinking about Peter! Do you want to get yourself killed?”

“It’s so impossible!” I groaned and flopped back onto the bed. “You know, in the real world, its okay to just think about people! There’s not little mind police checking to make sure that your pulse hasn’t quickened!”

“I know,” Jack sighed apologetically. “We’re just a little more sensitive than everyone else.”

“What was that, by the way?” I looked back over at him.

“What?”

“That look you had with Milo. You were like… I don’t know. Connected.” A weird pang of envy stabbed at me that I tried to ignore. “You guys aren’t like… lovers or something?”

“No, no, of course not!” Jack laughed, and the clear sound of it made everything about me lighten and relax. “But we are more ‘connected,’ I guess. Because I turned him, it makes us closer.”