“What’s going on?” I asked.
“This was a stupid idea, and we’re getting out of here.” He looked around uneasily as he led me away. “Everyone is looking at you like… I don’t know.”
“What about Milo?” I asked. We were just about out of the room, back to the dance floor where my words would be drowned out, so I stopped.
“I’ll text him when we get outside,” Jack said.
“He won’t hear it. It’s too loud. And even if he does, he wouldn’t answer. He’s having fun.”
“Then we’ll leave him here, and he can call when he’s ready,” Jack said.
“We can’t just leave him here!” I insisted. Milo might be a vampire, but he’s still my little brother, and I wasn’t prepared to leave him alone on his first night out.
Jack tried to reason with me, so I jerked my hand away from him and crossed my arms over my chest. Behind us, the vampire in black leather with the girl on her lap whistled loudly at my display, so both Jack and I turned to look at her.
“She’s a firecracker!” the vampire laughed, but it was that lazy, blissed-out laugh people have when they’re really high. “You’ve got your hands full with that one, don’t you?”
“I make do,” Jack told her, but looked severely at me. “Alice…”
“I’m not leaving Milo here,” I persisted.
“Well, I’m not dragging you out there to look for him.” He pursed his lips when he glanced out at the crowded dance floor. Going across the room wouldn’t be so bad, let alone wading through there for any length of time, with all those people grabbing at me.
“I can keep an eye on her for you, if you need to me to,” the vampire offered. She patted the girl on her lap. “And I know how hard it is to keep the flies away from the food.”
“Just keep an eye on her, nothing else,” Jack warned her.
“Cross my heart and hope to die.” She crossed her heart with her long black fingernail.
“I’ll be right back.” He hesitated before leaving, and then placed his hands on my cheeks and quickly, he kissed me. Keeping his face close to mine, he whispered, “Don’t let anybody touch you.”
“I won’t.”
“Good.” Reluctantly, he turned and disappeared in the writhing bodies on the dance floor.
“What’s your name?” my vampire baby-sitter asked me.
“Alice.” I hugged myself and tried to keep my eyes fixated on her and the girl on her lap, and not on the room full of leering vampires around me.
“Olivia,” she gestured to herself, and then to the girl on her lap. “This is Hannah. She’s mine.”
“Congratulations,” I said lamely, unsure of what else to say.
“Thanks,” Olivia laughed. “It’s tricky what you have with him.” She nodded at the door after Jack. “Why hasn’t he turned you?”
“It’s a complicated situation.” I rubbed my arms. The girl on Olivia’s lap stirred, and she stroked her hair to quiet her. “Why haven’t you turned Hannah?”
“I wouldn’t have any reason to keep her if I did,” Olivia said, but she looked at her with some affection. “You’ve heard the saying ‘why buy the cow if you get the milk for free?’ Well, if I bought the cow, I wouldn’t get any milk at all.”
She wanted Hannah for her blood, and nothing else.
“So why do you think he should turn me?” I asked.
“He loves you,” Olivia sounded surprised when she looked up at me. “You must know that.” I shifted uneasily but didn’t answer her. “And I’m betting that he’s not getting any milk either.” She narrowed her bleary eyes at me, genuinely appraising me for the first time. “I bet you’re a virgin in every sense of the word.”
“Not entirely,” I raised my chin defiantly, as if I had showed her in some way.
“He’s never bitten you?”