Never Bite a Boy on the First Date (18 page)

I
thought about going home and getting back into bed, but honestly, there was only one person I wanted to see right then. And I
needed
to see him, too, for a few reasons. Not all of which involved kissing.

Because if Tex’s vampire murderer wasn’t Rowan, then I had a bad feeling it had to be Milo.

Sure, Daniel was acting pretty suspicious with the way he kept nosing around the crime. But there was no evidence linking him to Tex—no sign that they knew each other, no particularly vampire-like behavior I could point to. I got the feeling Daniel really was trying to solve the murder, for whatever reasons of his own.

So that left Milo. The red bead, the fight in the gym, the fact that they could easily have
been in the locker room, near the mirrors, at the same time. I had to find out for sure.

All the way over to his house, I tried coming up with explanations that would make killing Tex okay. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe Tex killed himself, and Milo just happened to wander by and bite him. Maybe Tex attacked him, and Milo had to throw him out a window in self-defense. It was possible…right?

I really didn’t want him to face some kind of vampire punishment. It would be awfully hard to keep dating him if he was locked up in a padded coffin, for instance. And I did want to keep dating him, so long as he could explain Tex’s death. Dating a vampire might be tough, but I didn’t think it could be any tougher than trying to date a human.

I found his house with no trouble: small but friendly-looking, with dark blue shutters against the white wood. It was nearly eleven o’clock at night, and all the lights downstairs were off. Only two of the upstairs windows had lights glowing behind the blinds, including the one Milo had said was his room.

Well, I wasn’t exactly planning on ringing
the doorbell anyway. And Milo’s house had a tall oak tree growing outside his window, unlike the dastardly army of prickly hemlocks at Tex’s.

I checked to make sure the street was empty and then launched myself up the tree, leaping to the first branch and then climbing hand over hand until I was level with Milo’s window. I lowered myself carefully onto the roof below his window and peeked inside.

The first thing I saw was books. Tall bookshelves lined the opposite side of the room, reaching from the wall to the door and the floor to the ceiling. Milo’s bed, covered in a dark blue comforter, was on this side of the room, near the window seat that was right below me. On the wall to my left, under another window, was his desk, which was also covered in books, half of them lying open next to his computer. On the wall to my right were his closet and a chest of drawers. His clothes were neatly put away, and there was none of the mess I’d seen in Tex’s and Rowan’s rooms. The wall-to-wall carpet was a soft dove-gray, and the walls were a warm orangey-peach.

Best news of all? No mirrors.

Milo was nowhere to be seen; the room was empty. There was a screen covering the open window, but it was easy to swing it aside so I could slip through. I replaced it carefully behind me as I climbed onto the window seat and sat down to wait for him.

Music was playing quietly from the computer speakers; I recognized a OneRepublic song before it faded into Regina Spektor. Well, I certainly approved of that. Also of his screensaver, which was a nice, tasteful aquarium full of swimming fish instead of Angelina Jolie. I realized there was also a real aquarium tucked in among the bookshelves. Tiny, glowing purple and blue and yellow fish floated dreamily among the bubbles.

I noticed a trunk at my feet, to the right of the window seat. It looked old and weathered, as if it had been around the world a few times. The lid was slightly ajar, propped up on something that stuck out on one side. I squinted at it, trying to figure out what it was. It looked like the end of a crossbow.

A crossbow?

Curious, I nudged the trunk open a little further with my foot. I caught a glimpse of a pile of pale wood, but before I could nose around any further, the bedroom door opened. I jerked my foot away from the trunk in a hurry, but Milo didn’t notice, because he had a towel over his head.

I draped myself casually (and, I hoped, alluringly) across the window seat as he finished drying his hair. Just like at our first meeting, he was shirtless and barefoot, wearing only a pair of khaki shorts. And he had on his cute-cute glasses. He had clearly just gotten out of the shower.

Milo emerged from under the towel and turned to hang it on the back of his door. When he spotted me out of the corner of his eye, he jumped about a foot, letting out a shout of surprise.

“Shhh,” I said, putting one finger to my lips.

“Milo?” I heard a male voice call from down the hall. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Dad,” Milo called back. “Sorry, just startled myself.” He smiled at me. “Wow, you took
me kind of literally, didn’t you?” he said softly.

I gave him an innocent expression. “I thought I was supposed to come in this way.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Doors are so overrated.” He came closer and peered out the window behind me. “Did you really climb that tree?”

“I’m pretty agile,” I said with a wink. A wink that I hoped would convey,
So since we’re both vampires, let’s just admit it and get on with the sexy vampire dating
.

Although
, I reminded myself,
I should probably deal with the whole murder thing first
.

“I missed you in school today,” he said.

“I missed you, too,” I said, taking his hands. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

He pulled me to my feet and kissed me. All thoughts of dead football players flew out of my head. He must have killed Tex by accident. Someone who kissed like Milo couldn’t possibly be a coldhearted killer. The computer was playing Jack Johnson’s “Better Together,” and I just wanted to stay inside Milo’s arms for the rest of eternity.

I trailed my fingers up his chest to his neck
and buried them in his hair. He pulled me closer, kissing me deeper. The symbol on his necklace swung forward and bumped my bare skin, just below my wrist.

A sharp pain shot up my arm to my shoulder. I jerked back, startled, and at the same time he moved to pull me away from the window, so we sort of stumbled sideways. He accidentally jostled the mouse on his desk, and the fish screensaver disappeared.

The image that flashed up in its place was a split screen of two photos. One of them was, unmistakably, a close-up of the bite marks on Tex’s neck. The other was similar, but this neck was thicker and the hair near it was long and dark instead of short and blond like Tex’s. I noticed right away that the bite marks were smaller and cleaner, as well—a tinier set of teeth were involved, although still definitely a vampire’s.

Little electronic Post-It notes dotted the screen. I saw that one was labeled
RC
and another
DM
, but I didn’t catch what any of them said before Milo jumped in the way of the screen and quickly clicked it closed.

I was staring at him, openmouthed, when he finally turned back to face me. His expression was nervous and sheepish.

“Um,” he said. “I have something to tell you, too.”

M
ilo gently led me over to the bed and we both sat down, facing each other.

“This is going to be hard for you to believe,” he said, taking a deep breath.

“Try me,” I said.
You’re a vampire? It’s okay, so am I! Problem solved, let’s hook up!

Except I was starting to get nervous. The images on the screen…the crossbow in the trunk…the vial of clear liquid sitting on his bedside table, which suddenly caught my attention, due to the shiny cross on its side.

Had those been
stakes
inside the trunk? What kind of vampire would keep stakes lying around? Certainly not me. I would definitely trip over something and accidentally impale myself if I had a stake anywhere near my bedroom.

“The first thing you have to know,” he said,
“is that vampires are real.”

You don’t say
. Some instinct stopped me from saying, “Yeah, duh. I am one.” Instead I just looked at him. He read my expression as disbelief.

“I know, it sounds crazy,” he said. “But it’s true. There are vampires, and they live out in regular society, just like you and me.”

Yes. Well, just like me, anyway
.

I nodded at the computer. “So those photos…?”

“Those were vampire attacks,” Milo said. “One of them was Tex Harrison. The other was the corpse I told you about—the guy in the alley a few years ago. I’m afraid I didn’t tell you everything, Kira. That guy was actually the reason my dad and I moved here.”

A shiver ran down my spine. I didn’t think I liked where this was going. “The reason?” I said faintly.

“Kira,” Milo said, touching my face. His brown eyes were serious behind his glasses. “My dad and I—we’re vampire hunters.”

There was perfect silence for a moment. Even the music had stopped. It was like the universe
froze, the way I wanted to freeze, here in this moment before everything unraveled.

Then I heard something
pitter-patter
against the windowpane. It was starting to rain.

“Say something.” Milo pressed my hand. “You look so pale.”

I shook my head. “There’s no such thing,” I said, hardly knowing what I was saying.

“Vampires are real, Kira,” Milo said earnestly, misunderstanding me. “There’s one in our school. He killed Tex, and he’ll probably kill again. I’ve been trying to catch him, but it’s complicated.”

TELL ME ABOUT IT
.

He rubbed his free hand across his forehead. “We don’t know if it’s the same person who killed the guy in the alley. We’ve been trying to catch that vampire since we moved here. But the bite marks are different, so I think it’s someone new. Which means there’s more than one vampire in this town.”

Um, yes. At least six that I know of, plus whoever killed Tex
.

“What, um—” My voice wavered; I had to clear my throat and start again. “What would
you do if you caught them?” I hoped I sounded more curious than, you know, absolutely terrified.

“What vampire hunters do,” Milo said. He had both my hands in his now and was rubbing his thumbs reassuringly across my knuckles. His hands were really warm. That probably should have tipped me off sooner, I realized, but I hadn’t wanted to believe that he was human.

And I certainly hadn’t wanted to know that his mission in life was to kill folks like me.

“You’d stake them?” I squeaked.

Milo looked down at my hands. “There are a few other ways, too,” he said.

“So you’ve…done that before?”

“I haven’t,” Milo said, avoiding my eyes. “I’m still in training. But my dad has. He’s been doing this a long time, and so did his mom and dad before him.” He finally looked up and saw the expression on my face. He ran his hands up my arms to my shoulders. “Kira, it’s okay, don’t look so scared. Vampires are like sharks—they kill people much less frequently than you would think. You’re perfectly safe, especially as long as you’re with me. I’ll protect you.” He gave me a
lopsided grin. “You should see me with a crossbow. I wish I got to use it more often; I think it’d be a real hit with the ladies.”

Yeah, maybe not so much with the fanged ladies, though
.

“Anyway,” he said. “I wanted to tell you. Even before you saw my investigation notes.” He tilted his head toward the computer. “I wanted to be honest with you.”

“I just—had no idea,” I said, trying to stop my voice from shaking. “You seem so, um…normal.”

“I am normal,” Milo said, “most of the time. Although I have to admit that’s one of the things I like most about being with you—that it makes me feel like a regular guy, living a normal life and dating a really hot girl.”

I let out a snort of laughter, which he misinterpreted. “Yeah, okay,” he said. “I guess maybe it isn’t so normal to date a girl as beautiful as you. I got lucky.” He cupped his hands around my face.

Oh, why did he have to be so perfect in every other way?

I leaned forward and touched his lips gently
with mine. He kissed me, softly at first, and then more passionately, wrapping my hair around his hands as we clutched each other closer.

“Wait,” I said, breaking free for a moment. “Is—is that a vampire hunter thing?” I pointed to the necklace and the strange symbol on it.

“Yeah,” Milo said. He touched it with two fingers. “It belonged to my mom. The symbol is supposed to be a protection against vampires.”

What if you don’t want to be protected? Hypothetically speaking?

“Oh,” I said aloud, remembering the sharp pain it had given me. “I thought maybe it was…it kind of freaks me out.”

“No worries,” Milo said with a smile. He unclasped it and dropped it on his bedside table. I wondered what his dad would think about that. Poor Milo—he wanted to be a badass vampire hunter, but really he was sweet and trusting and just had no idea how much trouble he could get into. “Better?” Milo asked.

“Much,” I said, and pulled him to me again.

Somehow we found ourselves lying down on the bed, kissing and running our hands over each other.
His arms are perfect
, I thought, feeling
his muscles under my fingers.
His shoulders are perfect. His neck is perfect
.

This was nothing like Zach. This was a million times more exciting and wonderful than being with Zach.

Which was a bad thing. I thought I had myself under control after Zach, but with him I was only hungry. Now I was falling head over heels for Milo, and I wanted him so badly, and his heartbeat was pulsing so fast and so close and so alive…. His smooth brown skin was right in front of me as he kissed his way down my face to my neck. I could feel his heart beating faster and my own control weakening. I wanted to bite him. I wanted to sink my teeth in and take us both over the edge.

I could feel my teeth starting to move. Milo’s hands were at my waist.

What was I doing?

If Milo knew what I was…if he knew the real me…he would stake me right away. Or set me on fire, or do something else too horrible to contemplate. And then he’d remember who I lived with, and all of them—Olympia, Wilhelm,
Zach, Bert, and Crystal—would be dust before sunrise. Unless they defended themselves, in which case it was Milo who would be dead.

Daniel had said I was playing a dangerous game.

No,
this
was a dangerous game. A deadly game.

I shoved Milo off of me with more force than I intended. He went right over the side of the bed and hit the floor with a thump.

“I’m sorry,” I said, scrambling to my feet. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Milo said. He pushed himself up and held his hand out to me, the smile already coming back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—you’re just so—”

I stepped away from him, back toward the window. I felt hollow and frightened of what had nearly happened. “I mean, I really can’t,” I said. I climbed onto the window seat. “I’m sorry, Milo.”

His face fell. “Wait, Kira, don’t go. Is it what I told you? It’s not so bad, I promise.” He caught my hand and looked up at me pleadingly. “It’s
raining. Please stay. What can I do to make you stay?”

I shook my head, feeling like I was about to cry. “We can’t. Goodbye, Milo.” I couldn’t say anything else. I pushed aside the screen and ducked out the window.

Raindrops splattered against my T-shirt as I swung out on the branch and crawled down the tree. The bark was slick and wet under my hands, and I had to climb carefully. By the time I got down to the ground, I was soaked through.

I looked up and saw Milo watching me out the window, one hand pressed to the screen like he was trying to reach through it and bring me back.

I turned and walked away, letting the rain wash away the tears running down my face.