James dodged as Poppy lobbed a paper back book athim. "Poppy"
"You jerk! You snake! How can you dothis to me? You spoiled, selfish, immature-"
"Shhh! They're going to hear you "Let them! Here I am, and I've just found out that I'mgoing to die,and all you can think of is playing a joke on me. A stupid, sickjoke. I can't believethis. Do youthink that'sfunny?"She ran out of breath to rave with.,James, who had been making quieting motions withhis hands, now gave up and looked toward the door.
"Here comes the nurse," he said.
"Good, and I'm going to ask her to throw you out, "Poppy said. Her anger had collapsed, leaving her neartears. She had never felt so utterly betrayed andabandoned. "I hate you, you know," she said.
The door opened. It was the nurse with the flowered blouse and green scrub pants. "Is anything the matter here?" she said, turning on the light. Thenshe saw James. "Now, let'ssee; you don't look like family," she said. She was smiling, but her voice hadthe ring of authority about to be enforced.
"He's not, and I want him out of here," Poppy said.
The nurse fluffed up Poppy's pillows, put a gentle hand on her forehead. "Only family members are allowed to stay overnight," she said to James.
Poppy stared at the TV and waited for James to go.He didn't. He walked around the bed to stand by the nurse, who looked up at him while she continuedstraightening Poppy's blankets. Then her hands slowed and stopped moving.
Poppy glanced at her sideways in surprise.
The nurse was just staring at James. Hands limpon the blankets, she gazed at him as if she were mesmerized.
And James was just staring back. With the lighton, Poppy couldseeJames's face-and again she had that odd feeling of not recognizing him. He was verypale and almost stern looking, as if he were doing something that required an effort. His jaw was tight and his eyes-his eyes were the color of silver. Real silver, shining in the light.
For some reason, Poppy thought of a starvingpanther.
"So you see there's nothing wrong here," Jamessaid to the nurse, as if continuing a conversation they'd been having.
The nurse blinked once, then looked around theroom as if she'd just awakened from a doze. "No,no; everything's fine," she said." Call me if ..." She looked briefly distracted again, then murmured, "If, um, you need anything."
She walked out. Poppy watched her, forgetting to breathe. Then, slowly, moving only her eyes, she looked at James.
"I know it's a cliche," James said. "An overuseddemonstration of power. But it gets the job done."
"You set this up with her," Poppy said in a bare whisper.
"No."
"Or else it's some kind of psychic trick. The Amazing Whatshisname."
"No,"James said, and sat down on an orange plastic chair.
"Then I'm going crazy. " For the first time that evening Poppy wasn't thinking about her illness. She couldn't think properly about anything; her mindwas a whirling, crashing jumble of confusion. She felt like Dorothy's house after it had been picked up by the tornado.
"You're not crazy. I probably did this the wrongway; I said I didn't know how to explain it. Look, I know how hard it is for you to believe. My people arrange it that way; they do everything they can to keep humans not believing. Their lives depend on it."
"James, I'm sorry; I just---" Poppy found that herhands were trembling. She shut her eyes. "Maybe you'd better just-"
"Poppy, look at me.I'm telling you the truth. I swear it." He stared at her face a moment, then let out a breath. "Okay. I didn't want to have to do this, but ..."
He stood, leaning close to Poppy. She refused toflinch, but she could feel her eyes widening.
"Now, look," he said, and his lips skinned backfrom his teeth.
A simple action-but the effect was astonishing.Transforming. In that instant he changed from the pale but fairly ordinary James of a moment ago-intosomething Poppy had never seen before. A different species of human being.
His eyes flared silver and his entire face took on a predatory look. But Poppy scarcely noticed that; she was staring at his teeth.
Not teeth. Fangs. He had canines like a cat's. Elongated and curving, ending in delicate, piercing points.
They were nothing like the fake vampire fangs soldat novelty stores. They looked very strong and very sharp and very real.
Poppy screamed.
James clapped a hand over her mouth. "We don'twant that nurse back in here."
When he lifted the hand, Poppy said, "Oh, myGod; oh, my God...." ,
"All those times whenyousaid I could read yourmind," James said. "Remember? And the times when I heard things you didn't hear, or moved faster than you could move?"
"Oh. my God."
"It's true, Poppy." He picked up the orange chairand twisted one of the metal legs out of shape. He did it easily, gracefully. "We're stronger than humans," he said. He twisted the leg back and put thechair down.
"We see better in the dark. We're builtfor hunting."
Poppy finally managed tocapture an entirethought. "I don't care what youcan do," she saidshrilly. "You can't be a vampire. I've known yousince you were five years old. And you've gottenolder every year, just like me. Explain that."
"Everything you know is wrong." When she juststared at him, he sighed again and said, "Everything you think you know about vampires, you've picked up from books or TV. And it's all written by humans, I'll guarantee that. Nobody in the Night World wouldbreak the code of secrecy."
"The Night World. Where's the Night World?"
"It's not a place. It's like a secret society-for vampires and witches and werewolves. All the best people. And I'll explain about it later," Jamessaidgrimly. "For now-look, it's simple. I'm a vampire because my parents are vampires. I was bornthatway. We're the lamia."
All Poppy could think of was Mr. and Mrs. Rasmussen with their luxury ranch-style house and their gold Mercedes. "Your parents?"
"Lamia isjust an old word for vampires, but for usit means the ones who're born that way," James said, ignoring her. "We're born and we age like humans-except that we can stop aging whenever we want. We breathe. We walk around in the daylight. We can even eat regular food."
"Your parents," Poppy said again faintly.
He looked at her. "Yeah. My parents. Look, why doyou think my mom does interior decorating? Not because they need the money. She meets a lot of peoplethat way, and so does my dad, the society shrink. It only takes a few minutes alone with somebody, andthe human never remembers it afterward."
Poppy shifted uncomfortably. "So you, um, drinkpeople's blood, huh?" Even after everything she'd seen, she couldn't say it without half-laughing.
James looked at the laces of his Adidas. "Yes. Yes,I sure do," he said softly. Then he looked up andmet her gaze directly.
His eyes were pure silver.
Poppy leaned back against the pile of pillows onher bed. Maybe it was easier to believe him because the unbelievable had already happened to her earliertoday. Reality had already been turned upsidedown-so, honestly, what did one more impossibility matter?
I'm going to die and my best friend is a bloodsucking monster, she thought.
The argument was over, and she was out of energy. She and James looked at each other in silence.
"Okay," she said finally, and it meant everythingshe'd just realized.
"I didn't tell you this just to get it off my chest,"James said, his voice still muted. "I said I could save you, remember?"
"Vaguely." Poppy blinked slowly, then said moresharply, "Save me how?"
His gaze shifted to empty air. "The way you'rethinking."
"Jamie, Ican'tthink anymore."
Gently, without looking at her, he put a hand on her shin under the blanket. He shook her leg slightly, a gesture of affection. "I'm gonna turn you into a vampire, kid."
Poppy put both fists to her face and began to cry.
"Hey." He let go of her shin and put an awkwardarm around her, pulling her to sit up. "Don't do that. It's okay. It's better than the alternative."
"You're . . .freaking . . .crazy," Poppy sobbed.Once the tears had started, they flowed too easily she couldn't stop them. There was comfort in crying, and -in being held by James. He felt strong and reliable and he smelled good.
"You said you had to be born one," she addedblurrily, between sobs.
"No, I didn't. I said I was born one. There areplenty of the other kind around. Made vampires. There would be more, but there's a law against justmaking any jerk off the street into one."
"But I can't.I'm just what I am; I'm me. Ican'tbe-like that."
He put her gently away so he could look into herface. "Then you're going to die. You don't have any other choice. I checked around-even asked a witch.There's nothing elseinthe Night World to help you.
What it comes down to is: Do you want to live ornot?"
Poppy's mind, which had been swamped in confusion again, suddenly fixed on this question. It was like a flash light beam in a pitch-black room.
Did she want to live?
Oh, God, of courseshe did.
Until today she'd assumed it was her unconditional right to live. She hadn't even been grateful for the privilege. But now she knew it wasn't something totake for granted-and she also knew it was some thing she'd fight for.
Wake up, Poppy! This is the voice of reason calling.He says he can save your life.
"Wait a minute. I've got to think," Poppy saidtightly to James. Her tears had stopped. She pushed him away completely and stared fiercely at the white hospital blanket.
Okay. Okay. Now get your head straight, girl.
You knew James had a secret. So you never imagined it was anything like this, so what? He's still James.
He may be some godawful undead fiend, buthe still cares about you. And there's nobody else to help you.
She found herself clutching at James's hand without looking at him. "What's it like?" she said through clenched teeth.