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the worst.
He s fine, Ezra reassured me and descended the stairs gracefully. But I don t you should see
him right now.
Why not? I felt myself straightening up for a fight. Nobody could keep me from my brother, not
even an all-powerful vampire, but then he placed his hand gently on my arm, and some of my
anger relented.
Let s talk. Moving his hand to the small of my back, he ushered me towards the living room, and
I let him, although I still felt nervous.
25
Are you sure nothing happened? I repeated.
He woke up, Ezra allowed carefully, and my heart sped hopefully.
He did? Is he okay? What did he say? My excitement was overwhelming, but Ezra gestured to
couch.
Please, sit. We need to talk.
What? I collapsed back on the couch, feeling nauseous. I was on a constant roller coaster
between terrified and hopeful, and my heart could hardly take it anymore.
He is turning, and rather rapidly, at that, Ezra told me warmly and sat down next to me. He s
young and strong, and the change should be completely over within a few days. He s going to be
alright.
Oh, that s wonderful, I breathed deeply. A weight lifted off my shoulders, and a surge of relief
went through me. Then I noticed the grim expression on Ezra s face. So why do you still look like
you have bad news?
I don t. Not really, Ezra qualified, forcing a smile. You just can t see him for awhile.
What do you mean? I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to understand why I possibly couldn t see
my brother.
At least until the change is complete and we can get a grip on his hunger, he elaborated, and
then I remembered what Jack had said in the car. You can t go near him until things are under
control.
He s going to try and bite me? I shook my head, disbelieving. He hasn t fully turned yet. He just
woke up.
He s already eating, Alice.
For some reason, that stung painfully. My chest tightened and my head started to swim. I thought
I still had time. I don t know what I possibly planned on doing with that time, but I thought he d be
human for just a little bit longer. But he was drinking blood less than twenty-four hours after biting
Jack. He was Milo, the vampire, and he would kill me if I got too close to him.
It will get better. I promise. Ezra placed his hand on mine, trying to comfort me. You can be
around all of us without any problems, and it will be much the same for Milo. It just takes a little bit
of time to get a handle on things. At the rate he s going, it shouldn t be that long.
So& My mouth felt dry and I swallowed hard. Do I need to go home?
No, of course not. We wouldn t expect you to go home while all this is going on, and for the most
part, Milo is still fairly incapacitated. He shouldn t even leave the room for a day or two. By the
time he does, he should be in control enough to be in the same room as you. He smiled at that,
as if that was reassuring in some way.
Awesome, I replied wryly.
I know the situation isn t ideal, but he s going to live, Alice, Ezra looked at me earnestly. And
he s going to be better than he was before. You re not going to have to worry about him
anymore.
26
I know, I know. I closed my eyes, trying to get it all to sink in.
I knew that in a way, I should be grateful to them. They saved Milo s life and gave him an
amazing gift, but somehow, it didn t really feel like it then. When it came to my little brother
drinking blood and turning into something that would rip my head off, it felt a lot more like a curse
than a gift.
But did he say anything? I asked, once I started to get my bearings on the situation.
Nothing that s very coherent, Ezra shook his head. He s not exactly conscious.
But you just said that he woke up and he s eating, I persisted, bewildered.
Yes, but he s more& He paused, trying to think of how he wanted to phrase it. Delirious? He s
not completely there yet. It s more instinct and confusion than anything else.
Has he asked for me?
He hasn t asked for anything. He only mumbles complaints of pain and hunger. He s not
completely awake yet, Ezra reiterated. And Mae is doing her best to see to it that he feels as
little pain and hunger as possible.
So& what happens next? I asked. He turns, and then what?
Let s just get through the turning, and take things from there, Ezra hedged the question.
Why? What does that mean? The panic that had started abating threatened to return with a
vengeance.
There s no blanket answer for this. We ll have to see exactly how Milo reacts to everything
before we can say with any certainty what s going to happen. So far, he s turning differently than
anybody else I ve encountered, but again, I ve never seen a vampire so young turn before, Ezra
explained carefully.
You re supposed to know everything! I snapped, growing frustrated. What s the point of all this
knowledge and immortality if you can t just answer a damn question about your own kind?
I understand your impatience, but there s really nothing more I can tell you. Ezra smiled sadly at
me, but I knew he was lying. There had to be more he could tell me, but he didn t want to worry
me unnecessarily, which probably was a wise decision on his part. He was telling me that
everything was going well, and still, I was a worried wreck. But he was keeping something from
me, and that just made me all the more nervous.
I heard Jack lumbering down the stairs, and I wondered if he was responding to the quickened
beat of my heart. He was so sensitive to that, and he usual stayed way for my safety, but it also
alerted him whenever I was upset about anything. He could read my emotions almost better than
me since he had a direct link to my heart.
How is everything going down here? Jack was full of forced cheer, and his overly broad smile
masked the anxiety underneath it.
How do you think they re going? I grumbled, casting a look at him.
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