Page 3 of Love Bleeds

At least until Puck opened the fridge to get a bottle of blood out of it, reminding me once again that nothing about my current situation was normal.

The witch set the bottle on the counter while I hoped to hell that he wouldn't expect me to feed that stuff to Nix.

But Puck had been honest when he'd said that Collin and Talon were on their way back. Before Nix had finished his bottle even halfway, I heard the front door open. Thank God.

"How was he?" my brother asked when he found me in the kitchen. He didn't seem surprised to see Puck there either, but paid the witch no mind for the time being. "Everything okay?"

"He was good," I said as if there hadn't been any problem at all.

Collin's boyfriend followed only a few steps behind him. He eyed Puck a little more suspiciously than Collin had. I thought he was glad to see that I had the baby, rather than Puck. I didn't blame him. Honestly, I wouldn't have trusted the witch with my own kid either, if I had one. Without prompting, I handed Talon both the baby and the bottle.

What a relief.

"Should we move to the living room?" Collin asked. His question was directed at Puck, who nodded. No doubt they had things to discuss. Probably things concerning the meeting they'd had with the witch council or something like that.

Collin looked to me. "Wanna join us?"

I shook my head. "I have a term paper. I should probably head to the library." That was only half a lie. I really did have a term paper to write. I didn't have to complete it today, but Collin didn't have to know that.

Nix was my family, and I loved him, and Talon was my brother's boyfriend and I could accept that too. But sometimes, I just needed to get away from everything that reminded me that vampires existed, family included. I didn't want to know what Collin had discussed with the witches.

Yes, the future of dhampir-kind concerned me too. I wore a mark similar to my brother's, hidden under a sweatband that covered my left wrist.

But hadn't I sacrificed enough to the cause already?

I'd never suffered panic attacks the way Collin did, but thinking of getting any more involved in my brother's quest for dhampir-equality only reminded me of what I'd lost--who I'd lost--and it was as if ice-cold hands closed around my heart and squeezed.

Avoiding the issue wasn't going to bring my best friend back to me.

But sometimes, sometimes I just needed to breathe, and I found myself wishing I would never have to see another damn vampire ever again.