I could see into the office of the student health center from where I stood by the vending machine outside my dorm. It was lit up, even this late--two, maybe three in the morning? I’d lost track.

I hadn’t been scheduled for a night shift yet. I wasn’t looking forward to one.

The night was quiet. Finally. I leaned my forehead against the glass of the vending machine and closed my eyes, enjoying the quiet.

I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get any quiet for a while.

Nico would be gone by tomorrow, I told myself. Vampires heal quickly. He would rest up and tell Toby how to survive as a vampire, and he would leave.

And then it would just be Toby and I, alone again.

This was just a temporary situation.

“Paige?”

I gasped, and righted myself too quickly--my head spun, from exhaustion or blood loss, and I staggered. A firm hand caught me by the arm, and when my vision cleared, I saw Asha looking down at me.

Amused, but disapproving. As usual.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Great,” I said. “Just studying. Bio. Trying to catch up,” I added quickly. “I felt so bad for spacing out in class.”

I was getting better at lying. I wasn’t sure if that was something you were supposed to learn in college.

“I’ll be sure to quiz you tomorrow,” Asha said. “Can’t wait to see what you’ve learned.”

Apparently I hadn’t gotten better at hiding the panic in my face. Asha’s eyebrow lifted. Maybe lying was a bad idea, after all.

“Your body needs sleep,” Asha said, after a hard look at my face. “If you pay attention in my class, you’ll learn that.”

In my defense, I didn’t know a single freshman who was getting enough sleep. Even the ones who didn’t have two illegal vampires hiding in their rooms.

“Of course,” I said. The exhaustion was starting to hit. I could feel my eyelids starting to droop even as I stood there.

“I know partying is fun in the moment,” Asha said, “but you have to balance it with your coursework. Grades are cumulative. Something you have to build.”

I almost laughed. Asha thought I was drunk! I’d been in college for weeks, and I hadn’t gone to a single party.

“I promise I’ll do better,” I said. It was better for Asha to think that I was wasting my time partying than tell her the truth.

But between the blood loss, lack of sleep, and lack of food, I might as well have been drunk. A wave of sadness washed over me so suddenly I didn’t see it coming.

I found myself looking at Asha, wishing I could tell her the truth. Wishing I could admit everything. What I had done. What I had discovered.

Tell her, a voice whispered in my ear. Just tell her. Asha had been alive--or undead--for centuries. She would know what to do. She would know who to tell--how to help Toby--how to protect Nico--how to make sure Draven and his followers never gained power.

Her brown eyes met mine, still stern, but with some curiosity starting to peek through. I realized I’d been staring at her for too long, and quickly dropped my gaze.

Maybe she could help.

Or maybe she would kill them both, as the centuries-old law dictated.

I couldn’t risk it.

“What did you want?” Asha asked, and I almost gasped. Had she read my mind?

But then Asha gestured to the vending machine, pulling out a couple of bills.

“Oh!” I giggled. “Um, it’s okay--”

“Let me.” Asha started feeding bills into the machine. She could be stern, but her heart was kind. I appreciated it.

Asha handed me a candy bar, then swiped her ID and punched in the code for a blood pack. Blood was regulated for vampires--they were issued enough to feed daily, and could get snacks here and there from vending machines.

But since blood supply was dependent on human donations--which were mandated for all who could donate, but still limited--vampires had to provide ID for every blood-based item they got. Just like getting a controlled prescription at the pharmacy--but at grocery stores, restaurants, and vending machines.

I would have started buying blood packs for Toby the minute he was transformed if I’d been able to. But with a human ID, buying blood was impossible.

Asha waved, and I watched her walk back towards the student health center. I wondered what it must be like, to register every snack and blood pack.

Most blood packs were kept in secure blood banks, but we kept them in the health center for vampire emergencies. Normally we logged every pack used per shift, but those logs were done on paper. Frequently rushed. Sometimes approximate.

I wondered if two starving vampires in my dorm room would qualify as an emergency.

I drifted towards the office, catching up with Asha just as she reached the door.

“Forgot my calculator,” I said, and she shrugged and let me in.

I slipped into the locker room in the back, but left the door ajar so I could watch Asha sit behind her desk. Once she was settled in, I slid back out and headed down the hall to the storage room.

My pockets were too small. I had to slide the cold blood packs up under my shirt and zip my sweatshirt up to hide them.

I crossed my arms over my chest, holding the blood packs in place, and shivered.

I had gotten all the way to the front door when I heard Asha’s voice.

“You find your calculator?” she asked.

I couldn’t turn all the way around, so I shifted awkwardly.

“No, must’ve left it in the van,” I said. “I’ll get it tomorrow.”

And then I dashed out the door.