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The va about eating and not just eating anything, but fresh, warm, human blood My stoer took over, logic went out the

I turned to Jack, knowing that he would be the voice of reason, but he looked at ed He wouldn’t be mad at me, andto rehab in the ?" I looked back at Jane

"Alice, don’t be stupid!" Milo shouted He stood at the corner a ways behind us, and Bobby had to rein him in

"I pro ti that gave her any pleasure was being bitten

"I’hed loudly

Jane nodded again, and with that, I swooped in to bite her I pushed her back against the silver s of the building, slaasped, and I sunk my teeth into her neck It was the first time I had ever consciously bitten anyone, and I was surprised by how natural it cah h ht from her blood and all overwith mine

All her emotions ran over me, and she felt scared and small and helpless She was out of control and terrified of what she would beco, she felt alone and unloved

I snapped back from the bite, which is harder than it sounds I hadn’t drunk froe to latch back on Wiping her blood from my mouth, I took a step back, and Jack’s ar always made me woozy Fresh blood hit hed down ondown onto the snow Blood seeped from her neck, and the air smelled deliciously of her If Jack hadn’t had his arone in for more

Milo and Bobby rushed over to take care of Jane before she passed out in the snoasn’t that far froet hoe of getting her there safely

Jack half-carried me back to the car, and the whole time, I mu worse

Jane called me two days later from rehab She claimed heroin addiction, because she said that sounded the closest to what she was going through

On e of her, like she had been soht stand, and thatways Towards the end, she thanked e as it sounds, that’s the closest I’ve felt to anyone in a really long time," Jane said Her voice was tinny from the bad connection with the landline at the rehab center "I don’tI did, I was just looking to feel like someone cared about me, I think And you were the first person that ever did I could feel it

"So, thank you" She laughed nervously "God, that sounds so stupid to say But whatever I’onna work this shit, and I’ll be out in a feeeks And then we totally need to go shopping"

After that, wethat felt like what our friendship had been, before Jane went crazy partying and I went crazy with vampires She called me a few more times when she was in rehab, and she wroteto be the Jane that I hadto be ht out of Australia, and the twenty hours of flying didn’t help anything I felt like some kind of stiff zombie the whole way

Even Milo had shed a few tears when he found out, but I couldn’t ht had given s of denial Milo tried to talk about it When that failed, he tried to talk about anything at all, but I couldn’t make myself talk I felt blank inside

It just didn’t seem possible that Jane could be dead With all the stuff she had been into lately, I always half-expected her death, but I never really believed it would be real I talked to her last week, and she was doing soher life on track

Jack waited for us at the airport He stood at the botto uncertain

When he saw me, his whole face lit up, but there was still an unusual sadness in his blue eyes I jogged down the escalator, pushing past people that swore at s around hilad you’re ho me to him It wasn’t until that moment that I was able to cry

Milo drove the car back to the house so I could curl up in the backseat with Jack Jack and I had o, but once everyone took off, we didn’t have any reason We decided to stay in the house for as long as we lived in Minneapolis, but it was looking like it wouldn’t be for that er Probably just until Milo finished the school year

It was unbelievable how much I had missed ho Jack helped s up to our room I curled up in his arms on the bed, and he stroked my hair