Acquainted ⇒ Brett Talbot

V. Fire and Blood

"What do you think Noah wanted?" I ask, leaning over the table.

The diner's initial rush of Devenford Prep students is clearing out and the diner is almost empty. I suppose it's that time of the day right between lunch and dinner where people are too busy doing other things to eat. Either way, Brett and I are one of the few here and are seated in a booth tucked away in the far corner.

He sets his coffee down. "Look, I don't know. Maybe it was just a sort of pack mentality thing. You're a vampire, he's a vampire. Maybe he just got a little excited."

I shake my head. "I'm still not used to this whole vampire thing. I mean, me, a vampire. Crazy, right?"

He sighs. "I'm going to have to be your babysitter for the next few weeks, I'm guessing. You sound like a crazy vampire dude didn't just attack you."

I smile. "Maybe you need to lighten up a little, Brett. This whole brooding werewolf thing. Not working. Let it go. I'm a vampire, for god's sake, I can't be killed that easily."

He raises his eyebrows. "I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you," he says. "Staking, decapitating. They're both incredibly easy ways to kill. And the some of the only ways to kill a vampire."

I cock my head slightly. "So that whole 'vampires live forever' legend is true?" He nods stiffly. "So I can live forever?" I ask. He nods again. I bury my face in my hands. "Oh, my god."

Brett awkwardly rests a hand on my shoulder. "It can't be that bad," he says.

I raise my eyebrows at him. "Yeah? And what about werewolves? Can they live forever?"

He straightens up. "Well, no, but our ageing process slows down by a lot. Satomi is around a hundred years old."

"A hundred years old? But she barely looks over fifty."

He nods. "Exactly."

"But does that mean that I'm going to be sixteen forever?" I question with a frown. "So that when you're, say, fifty, you'll look about thirty but I'll still look sixteen?"

"I guess so," he says with a shrug.

I widen my eyes. "So every guy I date will technically be a pedophile?"

He furrows his eyebrows. "Um, no," he says. "Or at least I don't think so." He looks like he's thinking hard. "Well, look, you'll be older than them on the threshold of chronology, just not in your physical state."

"So I'm going to turn out as a cougar?"

He groans. "What? No. I don't know, alright?"

"Oh, god," I grumble. "As if my love life wasn't already bad enough."

"Okay, so now I don't have to just be your babysitter, I have to be your therapist. Great."

"I already have a therapist. Asshole." I fold my arms over my chest.

He furrows his eyebrows. "What for? If it's not too sensitive to talk about that is," he adds quickly.

I sigh and rest my chin on my hand. "Dead parents. The usual."

His expression softens. "I heard about that. Sorry."

I let out a breath that whistles through my gritted teeth. "How?" It was customary that someone somehow would find out about my parents' death and from there the whole freaking school would find out. I wasn't too excited about donning the whole orphan label.

He looks down, his eyelashes fanning over his green eyes. "I'm sorry. People started talking about it and I heard it from a friend."

"Please. Don't say sorry. I don't want to be that helpless little orphan girl to you." I stare at him pointedly. "So you knew before I told you yesterday in the bathroom?"