Eleventh Grade Burns(82)

Tomas brushed his lips against her cheek and nodded, turning back to Vlad and Henry as Melina made her way into the house. “Be careful, boys. And Vlad . . .”

He put a finger to his lips, reminding Vlad to keep his secret. But he didn’t need to remind Vlad about that. Vlad knew it was important not to say anything to anyone about being a vampire. Well, half-vampire, anyway. Not even Henry. Not even though he really, really, really, really, really wanted to. It was important. His dad had said so.

“My cousin Joss has a cool tree fort. We should build one in this tree.”

Vlad shrugged, wishing they could just get out of the tree already. He only ever climbed it because Henry wanted to. “But I don’t know how to build stuff, Henry.”

“So we’ll make it up. It’ll be fun.” Henry hooked his legs on the branch and flipped over gingerly, until he was hanging upside-down, grinning at Vlad. Then Henry’s grin slipped. He fell to the ground several feet below with a thump, crying out as his body made impact.

Vlad shimmied down the tree as fast as he could. “Henry! Are you okay?”

Henry sat up, clutching his wounded knee. He looked very much like he was going to start crying any second. A small, thin line of blood oozed from the scrape on his knee.

Vlad’s tiny fangs shot from his gums.

Henry’s eyes went wide, his injury all but forgotten. “What are those?”

Vlad’s small shoulders sank. He’d let his dad down. “They’re my fangs.”

“Vlad, are you a vampire or something?” Henry’s eyes were big, and Vlad was certain he saw fear in them. Not as much fear as when Henry had been falling from the tree, but close.

He took a deep breath, glancing at the house. Then he sat down in front of Henry and said, “Yeah, Henry. I’m a vampire. But it’s a secret. A very, very, very big secret and you can’t tell anyone ever.”

Henry sat very still for a moment, and then cocked his head, admiring Vlad’s fangs. “Do you drink blood and stuff?”

“Yeah.”

“Does it hurt when they go in the skin?”

“Not really. I bit my finger before, and it didn’t really feel like anything.”

“Bite me.”

“What?”

“Bite me! It’ll be like we’re blood brothers or something.” Vlad thought for a moment. He’d never bit a person before, aside from himself. He was curious, even though his dad said that good vampires only drank donated blood, the kind that Aunt Nelly brought to his house in bags. But it wasn’t like Henry was any old person. He was Henry. “Promise not to tell anyone?”

Henry nodded and held out his hand. Vlad licked his lips, leaned forward, and—

“Ow!” Henry pulled back his finger before Vlad could take a bite. Their eyes met and they both laughed, then Henry held out his hand again, for real this time.

Vlad bit into his finger. The tips of his fangs popped through the skin easily, and warm, yummy blood covered his tongue. It sent a tingly shiver all through his body. He swallowed and sat back, wondering if Henry would be mad.

Henry examined his finger closely, then looked at Vlad. “Cool.”

Vlad beamed, relieved. “I can kinda float a little too. Wanna see?”

Henry laughed. “You suck, Vlad.”

Vlad furrowed his brow. “What’s that mean?”

Henry shrugged and poked at the disappearing hole in his fingertip. “I dunno. My brother, Greg, said it, so it must be cool.”




Vlad shook the memory from his thoughts, trying not to focus on the fact that he was going to say goodbye to Henry today. He walked to school in a haze. Ever since his trial, everything he did was in a crazy fog that refused to lift from his weary shoulders. Nothing mattered anymore, not Henry’s jokes, not Otis’s reassurances, not even Nelly’s baked goods. Vlad was going to die.

Unless he did something really drastic.

That was the plan. Take drastic action. Say goodbye to everyone and everything he’d ever known, without cluing them in that he was doing just that. Run like hell until he could think of a better course of action. Survive.

Joss had been missing from Vlad’s midnight wanderings last night, something that greatly troubled him. Even Eddie seemed to be keeping his distance. Maybe they could tell on some level that he was doomed. Maybe they could smell death on him. Whatever it was, Vlad was alone. Even when he was hanging out with the goths on the steps of Bathory High last night, he was alone. And saying goodbye.