Being Human by Patricia Lynne

fun though, oh man, was it fun. I totally got some.”
    “Some what?”
    He laughed and winced. “Kissed a girl. Well, a little more than that, but there's no way I'm going into detail with you. Where have you been? I got back and was shocked you weren't here.”
    I paused, wondering if I should tell him about Fallen. “I was by the football field.”
    He groped at me, hand waving through the air. His voice was soft and tired, fading into sleep. “Sorry if you feel like I've been ditching you, I'm not. I’m just trying to experience human life. You’re still my brother and I won’t ever abandon you.”
    “I know,” I assured him.
     
    ****
     
     
    Sunday signified the end of the parties, the night silent when I arrived on campus. The students were in their dorms, preparing for class the next day. The window to my brother’s room was open, light spilling out. He didn’t look up from his notes as I slipped through the window.
    I leaned over his shoulder, looking at the numbers and symbols. I knew what this was. “Math.”
    “Yeah, Algebra I is required for graduation. I've been at this all day, popping pain pills and making up for partying all weekend. Maybe next weekend I'll take it easy, not party every night.” He leaned back and rubbed his face. Dark circles ringed his eyes, his skin pale and mouth slack. His eyes blinked rapidly with fatigue. He tossed his pen down, popped a couple pills in his mouth and took a drink of water.
    “You look tired.”
    “I am, but I gotta study a little.”
    “You're not doing a good job.”
    “You're distracting me.”
    “Maybe I should go.”
    “Maybe you should.”
    Hadn’t I put enough amusement in my voice for him to hear? I turned to the window, thinking I'd wander around campus or see if Fallen was at the football field.
    “You're so clueless.” His voice stopped me. “I thought by now you'd know sarcasm. Sit.”
    Relieved, I sank onto the bed and he focused back on his homework. I slid closer to him, leaning on the desk. “What are parties like?”
    “Loud,” he snorted. “You have to yell over the music and noise at the person next to you. Things get broken and people fall down because they’re too drunk to stand. You never, never, never want to be the first one to pass out; not unless you want to wake up with body parts tattooed all over your face with a marker.”
    “And that's fun?”
    “Being drunk helps.”
    “What did you mean the other night about not being twenty-one? Twenty-one what?”
    He yawned. “That's the number of years a person has to be to legally drink.”
    “You're breaking the law?”
    “Yup.”
    “I kill humans who break the law.”
    He turned to me, a puzzled look on his face. “What?”
    “You said some humans don't deserve to live, like ones that break the law,” I replied.
    He rolled his eyes. “I said that once three years ago when you wanted to know why people hit each other. I didn't mean it literally. I meant some people are bastards and you wished they had never been born because the world would be better without them.”
    “Maybe those humans should be killed at birth,” I suggested.
    “You can't tell if a person's gonna turn out bad when they're born. There are a million different factors that influence how a person acts. It'd be like trying to determine who a vampire will pick to turn. Scientists figure out of a certain number of people killed by vampires, one gets turned, but we have no clue as to why a vampire will turn one person, but not the next,” he explained.
    “Well, what humans can I kill?” I asked. “I thought you wouldn't mind that.”
    “Oh jeez.” He shook his head, then fixed me with a stern look. “Does this have anything to do with the fact you that killed Mom and Dad?”
    “No.”
    “Then this has solely to do with me?”
    “I don't want to upset you.”
    “Tommy.” Using my name meant he was serious. “I accept you, you know that. You will always be my twin, my brother, and