Page 31 (1/2)

"I don’t know--" I started, and he edged an arure it out!"

I tugged at the rope lashing us together, but it refused to slip any farther With a sigh of frustration, I felt around the inside of Casper’s coat He twitched away at first, but he understood as soon as ers wrapped around the hilt of the knife on his belt I pulled it out, yelled, "Hold her!" and slit the slender cord with one upward thrust

Keen squealed as her body jerked doard, but Casper caught her up I quickly handedhis body until my arms rapped around his knees andupward The trees werebranch and braced myself for ihout my body I tried to buffer Casper and Keen with my arms and save them the worst of the hit They knocked me sideways, and ain, Keen’s scream heavy in my ears I fell into a trunk sideways, smashed in by Casper, and then we all tu juround first Soratefully into the deet pine scree It was an old forest with a thick floor of needles, and I sank in, breathing the sharp sap and rich black dirt It wasn’t , Casper and Keen rolled off , battered body Keen bolted off into the forest, her parachute unopened on her back, calling "Bathrooether, round He gently unwound otten, in a white-knuckle grip Thank Aztarte I hadn’t cut anyone on the way down

But wait I s a sh of his pants I leaned toward hi the hot press of it on ry afterward

"Ahna" The words were loaded with exhaustion and warning

"I only need a little" I sed, feeling desperate "You’re already losing the blood You ood use"

He flopped onto his back, slicing the parachute off his chest "Fine I don’t care anyh roo my mouth over the slice in his breeches It wasn’t bad or deep, just a graze But blood was blood, and I gently pressed the wound open and ranit He twitched and e taste of his blood At first, the smell had repelled me, but now it called to me, an acquired taste

"Jesus Christ on the cross!" Keen shouted

She stood, half behind a tree, her face frozen in disgust and hatred and her shirt speckled with voh of the act, Keen," Casper said tiredly without sitting up "You know very well how things are headed for nore it This isn’t the et a lot worse She needs to eat if we’re going to get her ho worse! I don’t even knoe’re doing this It’s a suicide ive in now"

"You’re out of line" He rubbed his eyes in that way he had, when he was tired of thinking "Nobody ave you a choice, and you made it"

She stomped, but her foot just sank into the needles "I didn’t think you were serious I didn’t think you’d actually see it through I didn’t think you’d let herlet her drink fro Renfield!"

"This ain’t a movie, kid This is life or death She’s not Dracula; she’s just a lost girl We’ve still got to get through the forest, into Minks, and onto a train If letting Ahna drink fro up, I’ll take it"

She looked at h, and we all suddenly noticed the effect it was having on his body I jerked back He sat up and flipped his coat over his lap, but she was already sto to herself, her breath hitching

"You like it, you asshole You’re just like the rest of the like it!"

I sat back on my heels and wiped my lips on the back ofit and sment I was mortified, not that I had drunk from him but that I had done so from such a tender, personal place on his body

"I didn’t ood way to end that sentence