Page 49 of Those That Don't Exist

Delete.

Dammit. I lock my phone, throwing it down. No wonder Ty didn’t leave anything about yesterday in his message to me. I can’t form words either.

I take a shower, dress for the day, and tidy my room as I replay every word from yesterday.

I go to put my glamour back in place but pause. I don’t need to hide myself anymore. My skin looks healthy, my eyes far less tired. I do hide my hair colour once more though, it still feels too raw to have it on show. Like my brunette version isn’t the one dealing with a tragedy.

I can’t believe I just needed to drink blood.

I can’t believe I’ve thought that without freaking out, like drinking blood is such a normal thing.

Speaking of blood. I open the drawer again. It’s instant, the burning at the back of my throat.

The hunger.

Now I’ve decided to acknowledge the voice in my head, it seems more controllable, like it was yelling for attention before, making me lash out. I pick up the pack, embracing this new me.

How am I meant to drink this without my handy vampire with fangs around? I suppose scissors will have to do.

I head down to the kitchen to find some, and maybe a glass. Thankfully, I leave the blood pack upstairs as both Bree and Claire are sitting at the breakfast bar. I freeze as they both look up.

“Hey,” I say hesitantly.

“Morning,” Bree muffles around a mouthful of porridge.

“Hi,” Claire surprisingly adds. I give her a small smile as I cross the space, and start opening drawers looking for the scissors.

“Rory, can we talk?” Claire’s voice cuts through the noise of my digging through our utensils, making me pause. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone off on you.” She’s still sitting but has turnedon her seat so she’s facing me. I turn too, giving her my full attention.

“You know I didn’t want to hurt your brother right?”At least emotionally,I mentally add.

“I know, I just got super protective. He might be my older brother but he’s still my brother and I didn’t think you liked him.”

“I don’t,” I rush out. I may have had a small flicker of interest but it’s a distant memory now that a certain other guy has decided to stop keeping his distance. “And I’m truly sorry he got hurt. And I shouldn’t have ran out of there. I panicked but it’s not an excuse.”

“Thanks. I spoke to David again yesterday, he said you’d talked it out. He called me a bitch by hanging this over you,” she says sheepishly.

“You can be so stubborn,” Bree chimes in. Her wide grin makes me chuckle.

“I know!” Claire retorts, playfully punching Bree’s arm, “I’ll work on it.” She turns back to me, standing from her chair. “Hug it out?” She opens her arms and I step into them.

“Forget it and move on?” I ask as our arms wrap around each other.

“Forgotten,” Claire agrees. It feels good to put this behind us.

I inhale, realising my mistake too late. A sudden pain hits my upper jaw, causing me to flinch.

“Hey, you ok?” Claire pulls back but keeps her hands on my arms.

I zero in on a patch of soft skin, where her neck meets her shoulder. I swear I can see her pulse fluttering beneath. A pulse means blood. Sweet flowing blood. I swallow the excess saliva suddenly swimming round my mouth. I nod with a tight lipped smile, not risking opening my mouth to speak.

I shouldn’t be this close to anyone. Ty’s warning fires through my head.

Claire doesn’t seem to notice how I’m warring with the predator in my head as she pulls me in closer again. My face ends up right beside her fluttering pulse point.

Oh, fuck.

I stop breathing. It eases the desires a little.