February 23rd, 11:14am.

  The crowd of dumb costumes and characters called out and cheered as the next line of girls lined up at the edge. The sun shined rather brightly, casting a golden glow on the shimmering water. The rows of flags above danced gently in the breeze. The audience had been split onto two teams on either side of the pool, four total. Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. Each quadrant consisted of a hundred teenagers on the fake grass, barely in the shade, celebrating in their own ways.

  As per tradition, the annual Teletubbies group costume idea had been stolen by several friend groups, along with the Wiggles, even though there is no green Wiggle. Fairy outfits, video game characters, meme references, inflatable costumes, and dinosaurs too. Face–paint, props, signs. Everyone had gone all out this year. Even the principals had matching outfits.

  Sitting between a group of Smurfs on one side and a group of year seven girls applying blue glitter on each other's cheeks, I wrapped my arms around my legs tighter and took a long gulp of my cold water.

  Tori was competing soon.

  "Next round, I think." Hunter sat down beside me.

  "You're not allowed over here." I chuckled, shoving him lightly. "Get back on Red side."

  "No one's gonna tell me off." Hunter shrugged.

  "You stand out." I shook my head. "The lifeguard outfit makes you a beacon."

  Hunter rolled his eyes and looked around. Always on alert.

  "Is this shady enough for you?" He glanced up at the thick overhead leaves. "You're weaker on animal blood–"

  "Shh!" I shoved a hand over his mouth. "Dude!"

  He offered an apologetic smile and looked around again.

  "I'm fine. I'm staying hydrated." I turned my attention back to the racers. "Just a bit irritated."

  "Mm, yeah, but you really can't handle the light on the animal stuff." Hunter spoke quietly. "How did you get over here without getting hurt?"

  I pointed to the blue umbrella I'd incorporated as part of my costume, which I'd made sure covered as much skin as possible.

  He shot me a look.

  "You should drink. Have mine if you need it."

  "I can't. Victoria's on next." I shook my head. "I have to power through for a bit. I'll go home right after her race."

  "Zach, that's stupid!" He hissed. "We have a few minutes. We can run to the bathroom and come back in time."

  "I'm not risking it."

  "You're turning pink."

  "What?"

  Hunter reached over and ripped a piece of sunburn off of my cheeks. I grunted at the sting and growled at him.

  "So what?"

  The announcer began to speak through the microphone as the current race finished. Hunter and I shut up to watch. The competing girls shook the water off as they waved to the crowd. The cheering rang through my ears and made my head spin. I really needed blood. Right as I was about to take Hunter up on his offer, the next group walked out to the pool, and there she was.

  Tori, with her aquamarine hair in a high ponytail, waterproof blue face-paint drawn on her cheeks in star shapes, blue swimwear, and blue ribbon on her wrist. She'd originally wanted to dress up more than that, but it was hard to as a competitor.

  The crowd cheered louder than before. Tori was known as one of the only people in her age district who actually liked swimming, and more than that, she's been a swimmer since childhood. At the swimming carnivals, seeing her walk out as your competitor was like seeing Kate Moss walk out at your modelling competition. Everyone knew that.

  I sat straighter and waved to her, a dumb smile on my face. She waved back, a worried smile on her own.

  With all four teams in position, the whistle was blown, and the girls dived in. Hunter cheered out to Tori beside me, despite him being on a different team.

  While the first few laps went as usual, with Tori zooming through the competition, at a certain point, she started to slow down. By a lot. I sat forward to get a better view of her. She paused, holding onto the edge to catch her breath. She seemed exhausted.

  I was confused, Hunter was confused, everyone was. Whispers spread. She was still far enough ahead to be in first place, but something was off. She couldn't keep her eyes open.

  I stood up.

  "Victoria!" I yelled.

  She looked up to me pleadingly.

  "Just finish!" I called back. "You don't have to win!"

  She swallowed her pride and nodded.

  Taking a deep breath, she ducked back under the water and kicked off the wall. I sat back down, my brow creasing in worry. Hunter placed a hand on my shoulder.

  "What's she doing?" He whispered. "What's going on?"

  "I've drained her." I murmured. "She's been so weak lately. Her body's giving out on her. It's my fault."

  Hunter hesitated to reply. He took a moment to take in what I'd said at face value. He nodded.

  "Do you think she'll be alright?"

  I sighed, unsure.

  She continued in the race, but the fatigue was clear. Longer breaths, slower strides. I'd lost track of who was in the lead. My main priority was whether she could finish before she could faint.

  Eventually, Victoria pulled herself out of the water, and the crowd went loud again. She was the first. Thank god. While the other competitors slowly caught up, Tori spoke with the students sitting at a table off to the side, who had been taking the times. They seemed to go back and forth for a while. The girl was shivering in 30o weather. The bruises and scars on her legs and arms were more visible from here to me than to anyone else, but I did worry about her having them exposed.

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  Finally, Tori came running over in my direction with a smile. I grunted in relief and stood up to meet her halfway, Hunter following me.

  "I did it!" She laughed. "Somehow!"

  "I'm so proud of you." I smiled, placing my blue bunny-ear headband on her head. "You did great."

  "Here, hang on," Hunter pulled out his phone to take a photo, "To remember this by."

  Tori happily grabbed me, pulling me against her dripping wet clothes and hair. I groaned at the cold right as the photo snapped.

  "Wait, let me retake that." I frowned.

  "It's great!" Hunter beamed, showing me the photo.

  My jaw dropped.

  "It's horrible!"

  "It's perfect." Tori hummed, hugging me tighter.

  I hung my head in defeat. I had a feeling that photo was gonna haunt me for the rest of my life.

  "Are you alright to leave?" Hunter asked Tori. "Zach really needs to leave."

  "I should be fine." She nodded. "I'll feed him in the car."

  "You can barely stand." I muttered.

  "So can you." She retorted.

  Without a choice in the matter, I was dragged back to my spot on the grass to collect my things, and then walked over to the car. I felt horrible taking from Victoria when I'd already made her so damn weak.

  The least I could do was make it up to her tonight, when we'd go camping again.

  GET OUT OF MY HEAD.

  I snarled at myself and smacked my palm against my forehead. The silverleaf effects were still present. I didn't want to remember any of that. I didn't want to be back there on that day. I was supposed to be right here, in the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge for some pork. That's all.

  "What's wrong?" Carly approached me.

  "Nothing." I wiped my eyes. "Just that fucking plant."

  She nodded. Her arms crossed over one another as she leaned against the bench beside me. I could feel her watching me. Analysing me.

  "I'll bite." I said despite myself.

  "Nothing!" She raised her hands. "Just thinking."

  "Think a little quieter, then." I grumbled.

  I grabbed a packet of diced bacon from the fridge and poured the whole thing into a bowl. I stabbed a cube with the tip of a nail before shoving it in my mouth. Carly failed to hide her shifting expression. I fought the urge to rip my hair out.

  "What?"

  "You haven't cut your nails in a while." Carly took hold of my hand, examining my fingers. "I haven't seen them this long in ages. Can I ask why?"

  I ripped my hand free and shoved it back in the bacon bowl, leaving her unanswered as I headed back to the couch.

  Tori flinched as I sat down beside her, but then had her attention stolen by the bacon. I passed her the bowl and she decided to mirror me, stabbing the cubes with her claws instead of picking them up.

  Carly followed me around and stood with a pout in the way between em and the screen. Her hands fell on her hips. I blinked slowly with dwindling patience.

  "You're not gonna ask anything?" Carly raised a brow. "No 'why is there silverleaf in my garden'? Nothing?"

  I shrugged and ate more bacon.

  "Not surprised." I stated simply. "You told me there's been some growing on the property when you moved in and drugged me with it the first time. I just forgot what it looks like when it's in the ground, I'm used to just seeing the crushed up leaves."

  "You're not upset we asked Hunter to keep it growing?"

  "I'm not the only person it affects." I replied. "I benefit from it being there, too."

  "What, you'd use it against Autumn or something?"

  I pointed to the husk beside me and gave Carly an exasperated expression.

  "Oh." She mumbled. "Right."

  "Can you move?" I tilted my head, trying to see the tv better. "You're perfectly in the way."

  "Zach!" London called. "Bathroom's ready!"

  I ignored the childish look Carly gave me and gave Tori the bacon bowl so I could head to the bathroom.

  "Ow! Not so hard!" London hissed. "What the hell?"

  My fangs retracted and my eyes rolled at her curse. I quickly licked her wound to heal it before marching right out of the bathroom. London looked around sharply, eyes wide.

  "Wait, what? You're gonna leave just like that?"

  "Phone call." I gestured with my hand up by my ear as I headed down the hallway.

  London sat still on the tiles, wrist bloody, holding a stained towel in disbelief. She blinked as slowly as her mind was processing.

  "Okay..."

  I locked myself in my bedroom and yanked my phone from my pocket. Barely wiped my mouth in time before answering the video call. On the other line, Autumn stared at me for a long few moments before deadpanning.

  "Did you just feed?"

  "What? That's ridiculous." I scoffed, barely opening my mouth in case my teeth were bloody. "That would be stupid."

  "Uh huh." She smiled slightly, finding it amusing. "Incredibly irresponsible."

  "So dangerous." I agreed, nodding. "I mean, what if it wasn't you? What if it was some... other of the six contacts I have on this phone..."

  A giggle fell from her lips and she looked away from her screen for a second. She peaked through the blinds of her bedroom window to check something. I sat at my desk chair and set my phone up so I didn't have to hold it while I waited for her attention again.

  "You good?"

  "Mm, it's my roommate. She's pulled in the driveway but she's not leaving the car. She's eating lunch. I think I've got a few minutes to talk with you, still."

  I sat back.

  "I'm guessing she doesn't know about vampire stuff?"

  "She has no clue."

  "How'd you manage to hide it so well? Living with humans, and all that."

  "Made them think I don't eat because I have an eating disorder, blamed said disorder for making me anaemic, said I'm on medications that can make me lash out." Autumn chuckled. "That covered most of the obvious signs."

  As always, I found myself impressed by how well she had adapted to vampire life on her own. Sure, some of the work had been done by the original Autumn Laurence, but considering Victoria was thrown into a whole other life without warning, it was genuinely impressive. Though thinking about the difficulties of living with human roommates made my mind wander to all the ways I now knew she could fix those issues through compulsion, if only she knew she could. She could compel everyone in that house to be perfectly unfazed by anything supernatural or suspicious. She could make them donors in emergencies. She could make it a total safe haven.

  I shouldn't be thinking that. Compulsion was insanely dangerous to navigate, and I wasn't allowed to tell her that she could have it indefinitely as long as she keeps switching bodies.

  That would not go over well.

  "So, um," I started instead, "How's home?"

  What a lame question.

  "Home's good," she answered just as lamely, "It's nice being back. What about you? Everything okay?"

  I tensed and forced myself not to react.

  "Yup. All good. Just perfect." I blurted. "Tori's eating bacon."

  Autumn paused for a moment and slowly smiled in concern.

  "I know that, sweetie. I'm half her." She said patiently. "I have her life like a livestream in the corner of my eye, remember?"

  "Right." I nodded. "Sorry."

  "And I heard you threaten to use silverleaf on me, too." She smirked. "Don't even think about it, mister."

  "Oh. I meant Tori specifically." I relaxed a little. "After the way you two react when you're close, I figured it's worth considering drugging her the next time you're here."

  Autumn hummed in consideration.

  "You look wrecked. Do you know that?" She pouted sarcastically. "You should know that."

  "I'm... freshly fed?" I chuckled. "I'm a little out of it right now. Kinda intoxicated."

  "I can see it's more than that." Autumn frowned sincerely. "You should do something fun. Get out of the house. Not think about heavy shit."

  Kinda hard to do that when you have six days left to figure out how to fix or kill your body-hopping girlfriend's soul.

  "Like what?" I asked.

  "Mm, maybe a bar?"

  "Bars are boring. I can't drink, anyway."

  "Actually, wait. There's this one bar I think you should go to." Autumn suddenly lit up. "I'm super suspicious of the place. Kinda like how you are with Jean."

  "I'm suspicious of Jean because she told me you were 'the same species' as me to my face." I laughed. "What have you got on that?"

  "Well this one bar me and my roommates go to all the time is like totally weird." She explained. "We get all these stares from the usuals. Not so much me, I think they like me, but my friends always get glared at. But in a hungry way? It's hard to explain."

  "Where are you going with this?"

  "I get weird vibes from the usuals there. A lot of them don't order alcohol, just water or wine." She leaned in closer. "I reckon it's a secret vampire hangout or something."

  I couldn't help but laugh at that.

  "I'm serious!" Autumn defended. "Go there yourself, you'll feel it the second you step inside. The place is off."

  "Fine. Fine." I relented. "I'll go there later tonight, just to make you happy. Is that better?"

  "Yes. Thank you."