Blood Draw: Book Two of the Blood Type Series (complete)

The Truth Comes Out

Monday morning arrived and I quickly realized it was shaping up to be a very bad day. Olivia texted to say she didn't need a ride to school. When I tried talking to her in the hallway, she pretended not to see me and practically ran away in the opposite direction. I'd had these grand delusions she would somehow be impressed that I was a vampire and beg me to make her one, too. I guess I was mistaken.

Being a vampire was not glamorous or sexy. It was disturbing and unnatural, and yet I'd willingly become a vampire because of my feelings for John and my fear of dying. I had thought Olivia would understand, that she would want to become a vampire out of loyalty and dedication to our friendship.

Out of loyalty and dedication to me.

I wanted to confide in John, tell him that I'd messed up and spilled our secret to Olivia. She would probably have nightmares for the rest of her life because of me. He could easily compel her to forget everything I had told her, but she had deliberately chosen to remember me as the monster she thought I was. I guess I didn't blame her for keeping her distance.

"Why so glum?"

Zach slumped into the chair opposite mine, but I continued to mindlessly chew on the end of a straw. A sympathetic ex-boyfriend was the last thing I needed this morning.

"C'mon," he said. "You know you can talk to me."

"I'm surprised you're still talking to me after what happened at the dance. I was acting like a psycho."

"Guess I'm a glutton for punishment," he said, giving me a smile that nearly broke my heart. "Seriously, Blake. We used to tell each other everything. What's wrong?"

"The truth?" I said with a loaded sigh. "Everything."

His grin turned mischievous and slightly hopeful. "Trouble with the new boyfriend?"

I gave him a firm look and said with a tone to match, "That part's still good." I searched the cafeteria for inspiration, desperate to change the subject. "Where's your sidekick?"

Zach shrugged and rocked back in his chair, balancing precariously on the rear legs. "Gabe's a dick."

I smiled. "After all these years, you're finally figuring that out?"

His shoulders rose and fell but he didn't laugh or smile in return. "I keep thinking things might have turned out differently between us if Gabe hadn't interfered."

I fixed my eyes on a crack in the table, wondering why he couldn't just leave this—and us—alone. "Gabe had nothing to do with why we broke up, Zach. You need to accept that sometimes two people, who were really good for each other for a while, can't be together anymore."

He let the chair legs fall to the floor and folded his arms on the table, sticking his chin in his fist. "Yeah. You keep telling me that."

"And I'll stop once you start listening."

I felt guilty that I couldn't give Zach any more of an explanation than that, especially since he deserved to know the full truth of what I had become. I wished I could take him aside and show him who I was now. Maybe he'd finally get it . . . and get over me. But seeing as how that had gone over so spectacularly well with Olivia, I knew better than to risk it.

Thomas joined us with a grating scrape of metal chair legs against the floor. "Hi, Blake." He gave Zach a sympathetic nod of acknowledgment. "Hey, man."

Zach returned the nod and stood. "I'm outta here."

"Still trailing after you like a lost puppy?" Thomas asked, once Zach was out of earshot.