Keagan was sitting on the steps in front of his house when I pulled up. He was leaning against the railing eyes closed and breathing slowly.

Was he asleep?

Riley poked her head out the window, sniffing the air.

“Daddy, Keagan’s sad,” she stated, settling back down in her seat.

I’ll never understand how werewolves can just sense other’s emotions through their scent. Damien said it’s something he can feel deep down depending on the sour or sweet notes in someone’s scent but that just made me more confused. Was it even possible for sour to be smelt? 

I have to believe it though with all the times I’ve had a bad day and Damien just knew. Even Riley knew and tried to comfort me in her own little way.

Even if her way included arts and crafts and too much glitter. 

“Sad?” I questioned.

“Yeah. He’s sad. And asleep.”

I stepped out of the car and moved closer to Keagan, kneeling down in front of him. He made no move that he heard me. I took the time to study him.

He looked tired.

I gently shook his shoulder startling him awake. He didn’t say anything, just stared at me with wide bloodshot eyes.

I quirked an eyebrow, “are you… high?”

He blinked and shook his head, “what?”

“Keagan, what on earth-“

“I’m not. Vampires can’t get high. I just didn’t sleep well last night. Stayed up until four in the morning doing this research paper-“

“Honey, why don’t you stay home?”

“Because I need to turn in the paper,” Keagan yawned and stood up. I followed him to my car and watched as he sluggishly buckled himself in and leaned his head against the window.

Although Riley could sense the very obvious lack of energy and ‘leave me be’ vibes Keagan was radiating, she ignored it and pressed on with questions, “why are you sad, Keagan?”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Stop using your little snooter on me.”

“I can’t help it. You’re stinking up the whole car with sadness.”

I decided to join in the conversation, “Yeah, are you sure you’re doing okay, Kea?”

“It’s complicating.”

“You can talk to me about anything, buddy. No judgment here.”

Keagan sighed, “You have to promise not to tell Lincoln and Eugene.”

I furrowed my eyebrows, “why not? You know you can talk to them about anything too.”

“I know… but just promise. Please.”

“Okay, I promise.”

Keagan took a deep breath, “So I did something really dumb that I should have never even thought about doing in the first place but I… whatever I was having a bad night and so I went out with this girl I’ve been talking to. Not like that though. I was never really into her. But I… I led her to an alleyway and drank her blood because I wanted to try doing something like that.”

I gripped the wheel in front of me, “isn’t that illegal, Keagan?”

“Yeah… it um, it gets worse. So, this guy must have passed by the alley and saw us and thought I was harassing her or something so he punched me and shoved me away. And then he recognized me because he goes to my school so I panicked and bit him too until he passed out.”

“Keagan…”

“The girl’s fine. I dropped her off at her house and she doesn’t remember anything. I’m no longer in contact with her but the guy… when he punched me he busted my lip and so when I bit him I was bleeding on my mouth and so our blood mixed…”

“What does that mean?” I dreaded the answer.

“That I’ve accidentally turned him into a vampire and now he hates me and only tolerates my company when I have to feed him. But now we’re partnered up on a project together and he isn’t doing any of the work so I’m stuck doing everything by myself. This project is worth half my grade and if I fail, Coach will kick me off the team.” Keagan finished, slumping more into his seat and looking absolutely miserable.

“Holy shit,” I said.

“Daddy! That’s a bad word! You have to put a dollar in the jar when you get home!” Riley snapped, oblivious to the seriousness of the situation.

“I will hon. Keagan you have to tell Linc and Gene.”

“I know.”

“Why haven’t you told them yet?”

“Because they worry about everything I do and if I tell them this they’ll have a meltdown.”

“They only want you to be safe, Kea.”

“I know. But still.”

I sighed, “Work on telling them. They’ll know how to help you deal with it. As for that boy hating you…”

“He probably secretly likes you,” Riley pipped up.

“Huh?” Keagan said.

“It’s like Papa and Daddy. Papa used to be really mean to Daddy but it was because he secretly liked him and now they like each other.”

Keagan chuckled, “I highly doubt that’s the case.”

Riley shrugged her shoulders and focused her attention on the bag of crackers she had, “you should keep being nice to him. Like Daddy did with Papa!”

“Sure.”

We pulled up to Riley’s school and she got off, joining her group of friends. And a minute later I pulled up to Keagan’s school, “keep me updated, Kea.”

“Yeah okay.”

“Have a good day!”

He didn’t answer as he left the car. It wasn’t long before a blonde boy ran up to him looking equally as tired as Keagan.

That’s when I recognized him as Tommy. He and his brother have been visiting the library in Riverstone ever since they were children. Now they frequent my bookstore looking for music-related books.

I drove away when the car behind me started honking.