Sorry

seven

abia kamin

The fight with Hadlee created unnecessary tension within the group. Tension I was not willing to entertain. I was surprised when Mateo still showed me attention at school, even after whatever happened at his house. This time I didn't allow him to just observe from a distance. I approached him in the halls and sat with him at lunch.

We avoided all topics relating to him being a vampire which made it easy to just get to know him. Mateo had a dry sense of humour and even with it, I had some good laughs with him. He was reserved, evidentially from his heavy past. But aside from the hardness everyone was accustomed to seeing, he had a soft and sensitive side I hadn't ever expected to see.

It made me have even more questions about his vampire side. I assumed vampires were heartless, but one look at Rowan defeated that myth. I wanted to know more if he was willing to open up.

"I did some research," I bit my lip, innocently watching his muscles flex. Dumbbells in hand, he grunted as he lifted them up while he finished his reps.

If there's one thing I've learned about Mateo, it's that he's smart. Every time we studied together, it was him helping me more than I was helping him. He was a multitasker, so I laid on a blanket by the infinity pool while he focused on lifting barbells and dumbbells by the pool. Not only was their home on a hill overlooking a a valley, but their backyard had an infinity pool with a waterfall. My view was amazing all around .

"Vampires burn in the sun. It's mighty sunny right now," I adjusted my sunglasses. He set the dumbbells down, smiling at me in the process. The smile I was starting to grow obsessed with seeing. The smile that somehow made all my bad feelings go away. I didn't see it in photos or at school—his smile was only here with me.

The air itself was cold, but the sun was bright in the sky. Mateo soaked up every bit of sunlight while I remained bundled. "You're still thinking about this?" He asked as if it was something I could ever just forget about. "I have a daylight ring. Crafted by a special witch. It allows me to be in the sun."

The word left his lips so blissfully as if they were apart of his everyday life—witch. While I could entertain the idea of vampires being real, I didn't even want to think about witches walking amongst us.

"I saw the blood bag in your bedroom. You don't drink from actual humans? You don't kill people?" I had a hard time saying it, but I knew he was going to have a harder time explaining things to me.

"When I first turned, I drank from the vein." From the vein. In other words, he sucked blood straight from someone's body. He slowly paced, making sure to keep himself close. "When you drink from the vein you are at your full capacity. All your senses are completely heightened. Everything was a temptation and it's takes time to learn control. After the situation with Ju...with my friend, I switched to blood bags," his head went down in shame, like he failed her. I didn't know details about what happened, but clearly it still impacted him.

I valued his honesty. He was transparent with me and refrained from sugar coating. "So it's easier now? You don't get tempted as often?"

He laughed, his hand going into his damp hair. "I thought things were easier. But like I said, everything about vampires are heightened. That includes my emotions. When I'm with you is when I feel the most powerless. I've learned to muffle out the sounds of hearts but your heartbeat drives me absolutely insane. Your smell is...hypnotic to say the least. Every time I kiss you all I want to do is drive my teeth into your neck. I want to have your warm blood wash through my mouth and the fact that I'm not allowed to makes me go crazy," his arms crossed, looking down at me like his newest meal. Mouth watering and tear jerking.