Book of Life by Abra Ebner

didn’t want to know. I turned to help Emily instead.
    Emily shut the door behind her and reluctantly removed her coat to hang it on the hooks in the entry. I could hear mumbling from upstairs. It was all Jake’s voice, as though he were talking to himself, but my animal instincts sensed more than one person— a female. Perhaps he’d found a girlfriend, but I doubt I was that lucky, it was likely some freaky vampire cousin, and I couldn’t handle another one of him around. I removed my own coat and hung it next to Emily’s, noticing the perplexed look on her face as she, too, seemed to be distracted by what was going on upstairs and who Jake was talking to.
    “Can you hear who’s up there?”
    Her brow creased. “Not quite. The pill still seems to be fogging my long distance abilities. I just hear what you do, I’m guessing?”
    I shrugged. “Mumbling?”
    She nodded, “Whatever. I’m sure it’s not my business anyway.” She seemed to let the whole thing fall off her shoulders as she looked too exhausted to care. She shuffled into the living room and plopped down on the red velvet couch. I followed and sat on an identical couch facing her.
    “ Where did you put the pills?” I made idle chit chat while we waited.
    Emily sighed and pointed back at her bag in the hall. I reluctantly stood once more and went to retrieve them, just as Jake descended the stairs. “Sorry. I just have a friend in town and wanted to get them situated.”
    “A friend?” What I really wanted to ask was if it was another vampire. The whole vampire thing still put me on edge. Who’s to say I couldn’t easily catch the fever, too?
    I wasn’t being super careful about the thoughts I was hiding today. Jake gave me an annoyed look and brushed past me into the kitchen, next to the living room. He opened the fridge and grabbed what looked like a soda, though I knew it was something far more sinister than that.
    He held it in the air. “I’d offer you one, but . . .”
    “Yeah. But . . . ” I teased.
    “It’s not really your flavor. Though I do have some you may like given your somewhat animal taste. There’s bovine, antelope . . . want to try?” He snapped the top of the can and took a few sips. I saw blood on his lip when the can dropped away.
    Just seeing him like that gave me a sudden aversion to anything animal, though that seemed an unlikely thing. “No thanks.”
    Jake shrugged and walked from the kitchen to the living room, plopping on the couch opposite Emily where I had sat just moments ago. “So, what are these pills we’re talking about? Where are they?”
    Emily looked over her shoulder at me. I reached down and rummaged through Emily’s bag until I heard the pills rattle inside the bottle. A moment later I had them in my hand and was headed back to the couch. This time, I took my spot beside Emily.
    “Here,” I tossed the bottle to Jake, seeing Emily’s eyes follow it as it flew through the air, much in the way a trained dog followed a tennis ball—that scared me, but I hid that thought from her.
    Jake looked at the label before deducing it useless and opening the lid instead. He brought the bottle to his nose and took a gentle sniff before wrinkling it and jerking away. “That’s Angel Blood alright. And you just had this lying around?” He was addressing Emily.
    Emily nodded timidly.
    “I can’t believe you had this lying around and didn’t take it sooner. I’m actually surprised Max didn’t find it on his sweep. Dreadfully addictive thing this is.”
    Again, I felt another twinge of fear rake through me, but I hid it from Emily. A relapse had always been a concern of mine, but I’d hoped it wouldn’t happen—perhaps stupidly hoped. I wasn’t sure I was really prepared to worry about her every minute of the day as I felt I’d have to now, knowing that she had the capacity to relapse—I thought she was stronger than that. How would I sleep wondering if she wasn’t hiding a renewed addiction