Page 117 of So Thirsty

She winces in pain.

“Are you okay?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?” She lets her head back, looking up at the night as her face twists in pain. “We need…to get out of here.”

She stumbles as she attempts to stand. She hobbles toward me, crying out. I want to help her but I’m too afraid to touch her. She looks down at what’s left of the man, then up at me.

“Sheesh,” she says, reaching out for my arm. I give it to her.

“I thought I was the judgmental one.”

“I thought…I was…the violent…one.”

The pile of man pulp is ever present in the corner of my eye. I made such a mess. The guilt creeps in, but I kill it quickly. He shot Naomi.

I help her into the passenger seat of the beat-up convertible. Tears stream down her face. Red tears.

“Okay,” I say, hurrying to the driver’s seat and starting the car. Foot on gas. I go. “Okay. We’ll find Henry. We’ll find the others. They’ll know what to do.”

I drive around the side of the blood bank, cut through the parking lot, pull onto the main road. There are potholes, and the road is slick, and my palms are slick, and with every swerve, every jolt, Naomi wails in agony.

“I think it went through…my fucking heart,” she says. “I think…I think I’m bleeding….”

“No. No, you’re not. You’re…” Henry’s voice echoes in my head. We don’t have much to spare. It’s painful to lose. “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.”

If I say it enough, maybe it will become true.

34

I don’t know where I’m going. All I know is I’m not going the speed limit.

“Maybe…Wilmington? The summer house still? Yeah?” I ask Naomi, who fades in and out of consciousness.

I get on the highway but then change my mind and get off, drive back roads. But it’s too quiet, and the snow is bad, and I regret my decision.

“Maybe we should ditch the car?” I ask. “Naomi?”

She groans.

“Should I pull over?”

“I’d say…avenge me…but you…already did.”

“You’re going to be fine. We can’t die,” I say. “We’re not supposed to die.”

“Of…natural causes,” she says.

Can a vampire survive a bullet to the chest? Can anything?

Distracted, I speed through a stop sign. “Shit.”

I make a quick turn onto a narrow, nowhere road.

“Ah!” Naomi screams. I’ve never seen her in so much pain.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m…”

My eyes flick up to the rearview mirror. Red and blue lights flash behind us. A single whoop of a siren rings out, and I’m suddenly boiling alive in my skin. The terror is so intense, I might combust.