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CHAPTER ONE
I’d lost fifteen pounds in six months
Being a nurse, I’d run through the worst-case scenarios first: cancer, diabetes, TB When I’d checked hs and suspicious lunosis of depression Which hy I was here, even though here was an aard place to be
“I can tell you anything, right?” I asked as I sat down across froist
“Of course you can, Edie ” She gaveskirt over her knees “What do you feel like talking about today?”
I inhaled and exhaled a few tiood way to launch into my story Hi, I used to ith vampire-exposed humans Once upon a time, I dated a zombie and a olf So, you know, the usual I snorted to in ”
“Anything that feels comfortable for you is fine Sometimes it takes a few sessions to rev up ”
“Heh ” Six s already Things like being fired … well, shunned, which felt a lot like firing Maybe I should have let theured I would h time lately ”
“How so?”
“I had this job that I really enjoyed And I had to leave it To go elsewhere Ever since then, my life just feels … plain ” I’d spent the end of winter up to now, July, working the full-ti patients while they slept It was dull My skin was paler than ever, and one
There was a pause while she atteap “Let’s talk about what you used to enjoy Maybe we can figure out what you enjoyed about it, and think how you can bring those qualities over into your current situation ”
“Well My co-workers were good people Andon the inside of my cheek
“What was exciting about it?” she encouraged me
I looked at her, at her nice office, nice couch, nice shelves with nice things It ist I looked back at her She smiled, and opportunity blossomed inside e As a registered nurse, I knew the boundaries As long as I wasn’t a danger to myself, or to anyone else, she’d have to keep what I told her quiet It wasn’t like she was going to believe me, besides
I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees “What do you think about vampires?”
The shtened for just a fraction of a second “It’s more important that I knohat you think, not the other way around So, tell me, Edie What do you think about vampires?”
“What if I told you they actually existed?” I said Her sly strained “Here, I won’t make it into a question I’ll tell you what I think They do exist There’s quite a few of them out there, actually They have human servants, soet blood from, like human cattle ”
The words poured out I kneasn’t supposed to say anything, and I knew fro at her that she didn’t want to hear it—but it felt so good to finally talk about it The dam had broken I couldn’t stop now
“And there’s olves too There were two big packs, but now there’s just one, and they race around on full hts in the parks outside of town, and then there’s also zombies, and I dated this zos, and I still dated hiht At the hospital where I used to work ”
I sank back into the world’s most comfortable couch and pressed a hand to my chest “I cannot believe I just told you all that That felt so good ” Looking up, it was clear my confessions hadn’t had the same effect on both of us
She gave h smile “Do the vampires tell you to hurt yourself?”
Not lately! was the wiseass answer that I wanted to give—but everything I told her was going into a file If I was going to abuse her listening skills, the least I could do would be to take things seriously, and stay polite “No They don’t They’re not in my head either ”
She tried a different tack “Do the vampires tell you to hurt other people?”
Not anymore! “No They’re not allowed to talk to me anymore ”
I could see her h, like everything I’d said had been part of a prank or crazy joke, and wasn’t I hilarious? Or sink like a stone—which was the direction I was heading in It could be said I lacked the gene for self-preservation that most people came installed with
“There was this one vampire that I was really close to She kicked me out to protect me, after I destroyed all the extra vampire blood in the county I saved everyone … but I ruined everything too ”
The therapist inhaled and exhaled deeply “Edie, at twenty-five you’re a little old to be having a schizophrenic break But we need to do so here ”