Chapter 4

A girl sat on one of our counters, her legs parted, while Silas stood between them, kissing her passionately. My heart clenched painfully in my chest. Was it because they were making out in our kitchen, or was there something else entirely?

"Silas?" I called. They both broke from their kiss and glanced at me. The girl, looking momentarily surprised by my sudden appearance, quickly flushed with embarrassment. Silas, on the other hand, didn't seem to react much. For the first time, I noticed his eyes didn’t carry the warmth they always did when they met mine. I figured he was still upset about what had happened last night.

"You can go upstairs first, Tammy. I'll be right there," Silas said. Tammy, the girl, nodded quickly and climbed off the counter, passing me without a word—just a curious glance. She didn’t even bother saying hello, or maybe Silas had asked her not to.

"Silas, who was that?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything.

"A girl I'm seeing," he replied, his tone nonchalant.

"Really? How come you never brought her over before? Does your dad know?"

"I didn’t want to."

"Silas…"

"I don’t understand why you're suddenly so curious, Kerina." I frowned slightly at the use of my full name. Silas knew how much I hated it. It felt like he was trying to provoke me. I rolled my eyes and walked over to him. He was still leaning against the counter, and I reminded myself to clean it up before anyone else used it.

"You were making out in our kitchen, Silas. At least that deserves some kind of explanation, right?"

"It’s my kitchen." He narrowed his eyes at me. "I don’t owe you an explanation for what I choose to do with it." He brushed past me, and though he didn’t use much force, his delicate physique was enough to send me stumbling back. I was momentarily stunned, but I quickly recovered and ran after him.

"Silas!" I grabbed his hand and held it tightly. It wouldn’t have been nearly enough to stop him, given how much stronger he was than me, but he stopped anyway. "You're mad at me, right? About what I said? I didn’t mean it. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was too emotional and—"

"I can sense a lie, Kerry. I’m not stupid." He turned to face me, and I noticed his eyes had taken on an almost red hue. The only time I’d seen him like this was when he hadn’t fed. I couldn’t even remember the exact event clearly, but the shift in him was unmistakable. Instinctively, I took a step back, but Silas growled and followed me.

"We've been living together for how long now? Our parents are married, Kerry. Do you think I’m capable of hurting you?"

"No, no, of course not…"

"That’s one more lie. Why can't you be truthful for once in your life? Are you afraid I’ll kill you?"

"Silas…"

"Answer me, damn it!"

"Then yes! I’m not just afraid of you—I’m afraid of all supernaturals. But you can’t blame me, can you? I didn’t even know any of you existed five years ago, and suddenly my mom decides to marry a freaking vampire!"

Silas’ face went blank, and I tried to steady my breath as I glared down at my bare feet. Silas lifted my chin gently, but his gaze was fixed somewhere beside me. His eyes had returned to their warm, honey-brown color.

"You know, Kerry, I knew you even before our parents got married. Before vampires or any other supernatural beings were anything more than made-up fantasy."

"You did?" My voice held disbelief. I had a good memory, and I didn’t recall ever meeting Silas before. His face wasn’t particularly forgettable, either.

"The girl who feared monsters under her bed, afraid of shadows and ghosts from her mother’s bedtime stories, even though she could see them. You were never one to accept things easily, were you, Kerry?" He smiled down at me. "I shouldn’t have put my hopes too high." With that, Silas turned and walked out of the kitchen.

I was left in confusion. Everything he had just mentioned were things only my mom knew about. And that had been years ago—how did Silas know any of this? Had my mom told him? She wouldn’t do something like that... Unless vampires were psychic? I groaned in frustration. I needed to understand more about these creatures.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and hurried to my room, bolting the door behind me. I hoped the walls were soundproof, as I didn’t want to overhear any funny business between Silas and his girlfriend.

Climbing onto my bed, I reached for my bedside drawer, pulling out a large book with thick pages and a brown cover. It was a book on vampire origins, and basically everything one needed to know about them. Bill had gifted it to my mom as a moving-in present, thinking she might need it living with two vampires under the same roof. If only he knew Mom didn’t read books. Even when I was a kid, she’d make up my bedtime stories on the spot. She found it funny to tell me horror stories before bed.

I remembered once returning the favor. I told her about Terry the ghost, a boy who’d died in an accident on the street across from our house. Terry’s ghost wandered our neighbor’s house where his family had once lived. Mom hadn’t slept alone for weeks after that, and she never told me another horror story. My mom was like me in some ways—she was terrified of the paranormal, or anything religious. That’s why her engagement to Bill had been such a shock. But even Mom had gotten braver, so why couldn’t I?

I sighed and turned my gaze out the window. The neighbor’s mansion was similar to ours. Even though it was far away, I had always had excellent eyesight. I could make out a shadowy figure behind their curtains. The figure raised a hand in a small wave. I smiled and waved back.

Terry was nice so I wasn't afraid of him, he was harmless, was Silas also harmless?. Was it that vampires could see ghosts? Was that how he knew she could see ghosts?

I shake my head and turn my gaze back to the book in my hand. I turned to the first page and began reading through