Page 40 of This Blood That Binds Us

“Well, the thing is, I’m a tiny bit drunk, so...” the friend responded.

A crowd had gathered, gasps of horror and awe amalgamating in an awkward shuffle.

“I’ll take him!” Another housemate swooped in and dragged him away from Luke.

Bodies shuffled toward the front door, leaving Luke and me alone. Specks of blood littered the floor, stains of swirling red glued to the stainless steel sink. I was thankful being a vampire wasn’t like the movies. No burning throat or uncontrollable thirst. If that were the case, I was almost one hundred percent sure Presley would have accidentally killed our diabetic housemate.

I grabbed a towel to clean up but stopped when I saw Luke’s face. His calm, collected smile was gone. His eyes bore a hole into his hand, where blood still lingered on his fingers.

“Luke? A-Are you okay?” I said.

He couldn’t have been having a reaction to the blood. Luke was overly meticulous about feeding. He even had a calendar reminder on his phone.

I stepped in front of him and waved my hand in front of his face. “Luke, come on.”

His body stood stiff, his eyes vacant.

My stomach turned. Something wasn’t right. I’d never seen Luke react that way to anything.

“Zach,” I said, barely audible. I knew he would hear me from inside the house. “I think something is wrong with Luke.”

Within seconds, Zach was right next to me. One mention of Luke being anything less than fine always sent Zach into panic mode.

“What happened?” His eyes scanned the blood on the floor, like the wheels were turning in his head.

“This guy cut his hand, and Luke helped him...everything was fine. But he just shut down or something. He won’t answer me.”

“Hey, look at me,” Zach said slowly, grabbing Luke’s shoulders.

I thought we might have been causing a scene, but everyone’s attention had shifted to the bleeding guy outside.

“Come on.” He dragged Luke to the counter and washed Luke’s bloody hands. “It’s just a little blood. You’re okay. See? It’s all gone. Everything is okay. We’re safe. You’re safe.”

Without looking to see if anyone else was watching him, Zach snatched a towel from the other side of the room and wrapped Luke’s hands up.

Luke responded to Zach’s touch by blinking as Zach toweled off his hands for him. It reminded me of the shocked, unresponsive state in which I had found Kimberly in the courtyard, with the same vacant stare.

Luke’s voice was unusually quiet. “S-Sorry.. .I just—I’m fine. Just need a second.”

“You don’t have to explain,” Zach said, his voice sharp. “I’ll take you back up to your room, and we can chill, watch one of those dumb comedy movies you like.”

Luke shrugged him off. “No way. You have to go tonight. I’m okay. Really.”

He straightened himself, using the towel to wipe himself off. He ignored me completely.

“No, I’m not going. I’ll go tomorrow.”

Zach was still giving Luke a head-to-toe protective scan, raising a brow.

It had been just two weeks. Zach hunted more than the rest of us. When I asked why, he’d say, “Because I have to.” And that was that. Zach hated repeating himself. It wasn’t worth the argument to ask him about it any further.

“No. You’re going.” Luke slapped Zach on the shoulder reassuringly.

Luke had spoken. And when he spoke, we listened. Even Zach. Something about the way he talked made us fall in line. Luke had been our natural-born leader since he came into the world two minutes before Zach. It was a role only he could do because he was great at it, and the rest of us sucked at it.

Presley, Zach, and I proved to ourselves repeatedly that our decisions either got us in trouble, or they were just plain stupid. Luke, on the other hand, had great ideas, and he had a good way of speaking to each of us in a way we understood. We didn’t follow his lead because he was the oldest. It was because he was a great leader.

“I’ll keep him company,” I said quietly.