“When the day breaks after nightfall, I will be there, you know I will.” -Sirens -Angels and Airwaves

The drive in Damien’s car is painfully awkward.

“Where are we going?” I finally ask. I’m too depressed to hit the amusement park.

“I’m taking you home.”

“You sound disappointed,” I whisper.

Damien pulls over and this time I have a vague understanding of where we are, a handful of yards away from the highway. Cars and motorcycles blur past Damien’s side, life moving on, but I feel as if the world will collapse any second now.

“I kind of am,” Damien admits softly.

I hit my head against the head of my heat and fight my burning eyes.

“Is it true?” I stare at him. “Does Uncle really know you?”

Damien shrugs and I fluster.

“No, seriously, Damien. Tell me.”

“I’ve never met the man, but I’m well-known in the underground world,” Damien admits, not too happily. “So I’m not surprised he’s heard of me.”

I think this over. So Damien is a vampire celebrity of some kind. Uncle wouldn’t care about popularity, though.

“Is he right?”

“Is he right about what?” Damien’s eyes hold mine.

“Are you using me?”

“If I am,” he answers slowly, “it’s only to save you and everyone else.”

“But you’re still using me!” I flop my weightless hands in my lap. “Lying to me, again.”

“What do you mean?” He’s extraordinarily patient.

“Lying about loving me. I mean, who would believe you would love me? That’s so ridiculous.” I gag on my hoarse voice.

Don’t cry, Page. Don’t cry.

“So now I’m just totally pathetic and-”

“Hey,” the vampire interrupts. “You are way off.”

“Reeeeally?” my voice wobbles, betraying me.

“Yeah.” Damien reaches forward to stroke my cheek. I let him, then draw back. “You’re hurt and sad and scared. I understand that. But don’t just assume the whole world is against you. That’s just selfish. I want to care about you. Protect you. Let me do that.”

“I don’t really have an option on that.”

“No, you don’t,” he confirms with a wry smile. “So stop fighting and just let me.”

“Let you?”

“Yeah.” Damien wraps one of his hands around the back of my neck, pulling me forward.

Even if I wanted to, I’m not strong enough to pull back.

Damien presses his lips against mine and this time it’s different. There’s no bitter blood taste to distract me, and I’m hesitate to respond because Uncle’s warning still hasn’t erased from my mind. I don’t know Damien. Not as well as I’d like to.

“Wait, wait, wait.” I lower my head. Damien’s black hair flops over his right green eye and I have the urge to tuck it back. To be the one that rakes his hair, feel the silky tresses slide through my hands.

But I don’t.

“I understand.” Damien pulls away and prepares to start driving again.

“Wait.” I place my hand over his. “Don’t.”

Damien smirks and leans back into me.

I turn so he ends up kissing my ear. He nips it with his teeth and my heart trembles.

“I want to kiss you,” I confess, struggling to find the right words. “But I want to kiss someone I trust.”

Damien pulls back so he can meet my eyes. “What can I do to make you trust me?”

I search the yellow-like lightning bolts-in his irises. “Do you care about me?”

He hesitates before answering softly, “I love you, Page.”

“You hesitated,” I accuse.

“That’s because the first time I said it without hesitating you were halfway out the car,” he snapped.

Oh. Right.

I sigh. “I just…I don’t understand how. Why you love me. I mean, you can’t.”

“You can’t tell me how to feel,” Damien says gently.

“Can you at least tell me when you knew? When you knew that you loved me?” I plead. “Because it just doesn’t make sense.”

It’s too soon, too sudden. We’re not Romeo and Juliet, this isn’t a fairy tale.

Damien reaches up and touches the side of my hood, so gentle and loving that it makes my heart ache.

“Page, for you we’ve known each other over a month. For me it feels like less than a week.” Damien cleared his throat. “It’s been a long painful ride for me. And I know it’s not the answer you are looking for, probably not one you’re even going to like, but I fell for you without even knowing it. There was no special moment, no moment of clarity. I just did. I just do.”

I stare at him, my heart screaming for release. So this is what a confession is.

Do all people suddenly lose the ability to speak? How do I respond? What can I do? What do I want to do?

“Page Fare,” Damien pulls me down toward him, “I love you.”

He plants a chaste, innocent kiss on my lips, and I’m aching for more. All coherency flies out the window.

I want him. So much.

I slide my hands through his hair, feeling his body shiver in reaction. The innocent kiss turns not so innocent as his lips press against mine, seeking for more.

I fall into his body, my frantic heart wedged between us, and I can’t breathe. It hurts, but it’s bliss, and I would rather suffocate to death than stop.

Suddenly, Damien pulls away. I blink at him, confused.

“It’s a bad idea,” he explains, smiling at me wryly. “We’re outdoors.”

Our location dawns on me. His car, the sun. We may be behind tinted windows, but that can only protect me to a degree.

I fall back onto my plush seat, my eyes still locked onto him. He’s a gorgeous mess, his hair ruffled, his eyes glowing red. He doesn’t terrify me, because I know Damien wants me.

He loves me.

“You’re dangerous, Page,” Damien commented with a smirk.

I smiled ruefully. “You’re not calling me Fare.”

“Yeah, honestly? Whenever I called you that I felt like I was Coach.”

I laugh at the thought. “But you aren’t. You’re a good vampire gone bad.”

Damien beamed. “So, you like bad boys then?”

“I love them.” I lean forward and give him a long kiss, keeping my hands pressed into my seat.

When I pull back, the splash of blood in his eyes has begun to fade and be replaced by that green I adore so much.

Maybe it’s time I be honest with myself.

…

I’ve made mistakes. None of them I’d consider important. Burning popcorn and making the house reek for a whole week, ruining a school textbook when I spilt a can of Coke over it, mixing up my homework, lying, running red lights and stop signs.

The worst mistake I’ve ever done was fall in love with a vampire.

I wonder if Dad felt the same as myself when he fell for Mom. Confused, conflicted, worried?

“Now that I think of it,” I say as I press my hand against the only window in my bedroom, “I never did see a picture of our parents when they were young.”

“Me neither.” Lee shows up in a pretty yellow sundress. “What do you think of this outfit? Too much?”

She’s a vision.

“Too little,” I joke. “Where are your shoes?”

Lee rolls her eyes. “Please don’t be sarcastic. I’m so stressed right now.”

“Don’t be. You are perfect.”

She sighs, unwilling to accept the compliment. “But will George’s family think I’m perfect?”

“You’re a straight A graduate of the Senior Student Council and other dumb clubs. If they don’t accept your beauty they should at least accept your brains.”

Lee smiled meekly. “I need to find some shoes.”

I follow my sister into her bedroom, violet and floral. She hustles to the windows and curtains them to block the sun.

I smile and plop onto her white plush bed.

“Lee,” I begin, “do you know how Mom and Dad met?”

I was too busy focusing on being a wicked vampire than my parent’s love life. Lee, however, might have been interested. She was a wannabe Disney princess almost half of her childhood.

“Mmmm,” Lee digs through her closet, “yeah, actually. Dad was visiting family here. And, well, he and his cousins went out clubbing one night and he saw a pretty blonde sitting at the bar drinking a ton. Mom was upset because her boyfriend had dumped her only a few hours earlier for her best friend. Mom wanted nothing to do with Dad, even though he was really cute. Of course, Dad enjoyed the chase. But it never led anywhere.”

My mind wandered back to when I first met Damien. I acknowledged his looks but found myself only interested in his eyes. If his personality wasn’t so shoddy maybe I would’ve liked him sooner.

“Years later, they met again at NYCU. They dated, married, had us, and the rest is history.”

I sat there, bewildered at how little I knew. I was only a year younger than Lee and she knew our parent’s romance timeline. What else about our parents did she know?

Certainly not that Dad was a vampire.

I frowned at that. It didn’t-couldn’t-make sense. I mean, I guess vampires could die if they were murdered but Dad collapsed of a heart attack.

Correct me if I’m wrong but vampires don’t have functioning hearts. They’re dead. Which also, I guess, makes it logically impossible for them to procreate.

So how can Lee and I exist? Was Dad like me? A special case?

“How are these? Good?” My sister held up two black strap wedges.

“Those may kill your feet depending on what you’re doing and how long,” I criticize. “Go for the tan flats.”

“These?” Lee looks at me doubtfully.

“Yeah.”

She tries them on and stares at her full-length mirror. “You’re right. They look good.”

“You look good.”

“Thanks.”

I turn to the mirror. Lee and I are total opposites. Her soaking up the sun, me drowning in darkness. I’m no longer wearing my hoodie, baring my arms and collarbone and I’m pale. So much paler than my sister who gets more sunlight.

I smile fondly at my reflection, liking what I see.

…

In celebration of graduation, and my “Awesome date” with Damien, my two friends and I agreed to go out that night for some ice cream instead of maintain our usual routine.

I’ll admit it’s nice to go out for a change. Refreshing. Though next time I’ll make sure we see a movie instead.

“I’m not sure how you do it, Page,” Izze shook her head as we settle in the corner of the ice cream parlor. “Being able to eat sour ice cream must be a talent. Or a superpower.”

“It’s not a power. And what’s that?” I gape at Izze’s mountain of various ice cream flavors and additional toppings like gummy bears, sprinkles, fruit slices.

“It’s Izze’s Everything ice cream. Taste?”

“Not unless I want to die.” I laugh and then wince. The tartness of my strawberry sherbet has finally taken its toll on me.

“What’s wrong?” Payton asks as she dips into her first bite of plain chocolate.

“I’m really thirsty.”

“Then get some water.” Izze points to the fountain.

My nose scrunches at the thought of dirty water.

“I have a water bottle in the truck,” I say.

Payton frowns, standing. “I’ll go with you. It’s dangerous out in the dark.”

I laugh. The truck is parked only a few cars down and there are street lights everywhere.

“Stay here. I’ll be fine,” I assure.

“But-”

“Payton sit down and eat your melting ice cream,” Izze orders.

Reluctantly, my old friend sits. “You can’t wait, Page?”

Actually, no. My mouth is dying for water, my throat shriveling the longer I stand around. But I understand her worry; good friends like her are a rarity in this world and deserve to be treated with kindness.

However, her worry is unfounded. My intuition, and common sense, assures me that I’ll be fine. And that I also have to drink some water.

Now.