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I wasn’t hungry any lately, I wondered if I was getting an ulcer

"Gemma are you okay? You look a little pale"

"I’m fine" I sed the lump in my throat "My stomach just feels a little queasy"

"Food looks that bad, huh?" He joked, trying to lighten the mood

I suood" I took a bite It did taste good

Laylen scrapped the leftover bits and pieces of egg out of the pan and into the garbage, and then rinsed the pan off in the sink

"You’re not eating," I asked, scooping up another forkful of eggs

He shut off the faucet "No…I don’t eat"

"Oh" I felt so stupid Of course he didn’t eat He was a vas and watched him with curiosity as he wiped down the countertops and stove If you’d have asked ht that I’d be sitting in the kitchen with a va to unravel the secrets that belonged to a group of people whose mission it was to save the world, I’d have told you no Then I would’ve run for ht you were a total psychopath

"Laylen," I dragged s "Can I ask you a question?"

He tossed aside the towel he’d been wiping the counters off with and turned to facea line here "How exactly did you get turned in to a vampire?"

He crossed his arainst the counter, looking confused "I don’t…I can’t remember"

"Is that how it nors into my mouth

He shook his head "Me else had to of happened toout of a club alone and thinking I heard a noise fro went black I’m not sure if I blacked out or what, but when I did come to, I was sprawled out in alley with a bite mark on my neck" He pointed at the immortalitywas on ured out I’d been bitten by a vas But luckily, because I was a Keeper to begin with, the cravings were fairly easy to control" He made his way around the island and took a seat on a barstool next to e is that I’ve been told by other va,about it"

I had a flashback to when Alex had opened up one of shoji doors back at the Black Dungeon, and I’d witnessed the vaut instinct told ot the best of me "Do humans let vampires bite them?"

His eyes widened "Wha--ould you ask that?"

They say curiosity killed the cat "Because ere in the Black Dungeon, and Alex and I were running from the Death Walkers, he opened a door and there was a wo ready to bite a man And the man seemed…well, he seeet bit"

By the look on his face, I could tell I washim uncomfortable "Yeah…sogs off of my plate "Wouldn’t that mean they’d turn into a vampire themselves"

He shook his head "That’s not hoorks They’d have to bite you, and then you’d have to drink their blood Really, it’s this whole big ordeal See, and there’s another proble into a vampire I knoouldn’t voluntarily drink vae" About as strange asable to re a connection here? "So when you turned into a va?" The reason I’d asked was because in a few of the vampire-themed books I’ve read, the huht after in order to turn into one

"No, I had to die," he said charily

I choked onfrohed

"Yeah, but I don’t remember that part either I just know that I had to die in order to be what I am now," he said with anote of his pale skin, his extreht blue eyes As bad as this was going to sound, I had to adood

I wiped et it Why would soave a quiet laugh "You really ask a lot of questions, don’t you?"

"Sorry," I said, feeling stupid

"No, it’s okay" He took a deep breath, which puzzled ? But since he’d just pointed out that I ask a lot of questions, I decided to stick a tack in that one for now "Human’s let vampires bite them for a few different reasons There’s the whole thrill of the danger that being bit brings Sometimes it’s out of sheer curiosity But most of the time, people do it to stimulate their…desires"

Okay, so I’ve felt embarrassed before, but never absolutely mortified Wow It had been awhile since I’d felt the prickle I could feelup, so I let pieces of my hair drift down across my face

"Yeah…so anyways," Laylen said, in an attee the subject and re back to that prickle thing you were talking about Do you feel it every time you experience an emotion? Or does it just happen every once and awhile?"

"It only happens when I experience a new e cold