Wisdom

“Are you gonna just stare at Jack or are we gonna go?” Milo asked, poking his head into the bedroom.

“Hold on. I gotta change real quick.” I hurried into the closet to throw some clothes on, and Milo stood impatiently by the door, texting on his phone. “Who are you talking to that’s so important?”

“Bobby. I’m telling him not to come over after class.”

“Why not?” I started walking towards the stairs, and Milo followed, still typing away on his phone.

“Because it’s not safe here anymore,” Milo said. “You saw what happened in Australia. He can’t be around Daisy anymore. I won’t risk it.”

“Yeah, but she’s not here now.” I glanced back at him as went down the stairs.

“That’s exactly what he said. I think you two spend too much time together.”

“He’s the only human friend I’ve got,” I shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure he’s the only friend you’ve got,” Milo sighed.

Just as we reached the kitchen, Bobby walked in from the garage. Apparently, he planned on ignoring Milo’s texts of warnings.

“Turn around,” Milo said.

“Look, she’s not here now. I’m not going anywhere,” Bobby insisted.

“Well, we are.” I brushed past him towards the garage. “We’re going to Olivia’s if you wanna come with.”

I quickly regretted inviting Milo and Bobby to tag along. The car ride downtown consisted of the two of them arguing about whether or not it would be safe to visit the house. Bobby pointed out that he hadn’t signed up for a dorm this semester, so he didn’t have anywhere else to stay.

Milo relented and said Bobby could stay for tonight, and they’d figure something else out in the morning. But that only happened after ten minutes of constant bickering.

While I understood the beauty of the glass walls of the penthouse suite at night, during the afternoon, it made no sense to me. The sun had started to set, so it was level with the windows. Even though they were tinted, the bright pink rays stung my eyes and skin.

Her place looked clean, but Milo brushed off her sofa before sitting down, as if he thought he might catch something from it. Bobby had been here with me a lot more often than Milo had, so he was more comfortable with the surroundings and flopped down on the overstuffed sofa.

I’d tried convincing Milo to come here and train with me, but he wasn’t into it. He didn’t really care for Olivia, mostly because he thought she was a drunk, and he didn’t like fighting either. He wanted to live a normal life, the same kind of life he would’ve had if he hadn’t turned, and in his normal life, he wouldn’t have done combat training. That was his stance.

Before I could knock on her bedroom door, she opened it. It scared me so much I gasped. She smiled tiredly at me, wrapping her silken robe more around herself. She wore her long black hair braided down her back, swinging like a rope as she walked out.

“What are you doing awake?” I asked.

“Trouble sleeping.” She waved her hand vaguely and went over to the couch.

This wasn’t the first time she mentioned trouble sleeping. I’d said something about it to Ezra once, and he’d explained that insomnia could be a side effect of her cutting down on blood. Drinking that much blood that often had become a sleep aid for her, and without her excessive daily dose, she was having difficulty learning to sleep without it.

“Hello, Olivia.” Milo forced a smile at her, doing his best to be polite.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Olivia asked. She sat on the couch across from Milo, sprawling out and the robe slipped up over her slender legs.

“What do you know about child vampires?” I asked. I didn’t sit down and kept my back to the window. The sun beat warm on my skin, and I tried to ignore it.

“I try not to know anything about them,” she answered diffidently.

“Is there a way to… like train them?” I asked.

“Why are you interested in child vampires?” Olivia glanced over at Bobby. “He’s young but he’s not a child.”

I exchanged a look with Milo. Olivia didn’t know about Daisy. We weren’t sure how other vampires would react to a child, and we didn’t really think she needed to know. But maybe she did now.

“Mae turned a child,” I said carefully, gauging Olivia’s reaction. “That’s why she’s been gone. She’s hiding out with the child vampire.”

“I’m sure that’s turning out marvelously,” Olivia laughed dryly but didn’t seem surprised.

“Do you know anything about child vampires or not?” Milo snapped. He’d grown very defensive of Mae, even if he didn’t agree with her choices.

“Honestly, I’ve tried to steer clear of the whole thing,” she sighed. “Vampires are just as likely as humans to dabble in that particular… fetish, and I know, for awhile, vampires were attempting some kind of child vampire sex trade.”

“Are you talking about pedophiles?” Bobby asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

“If that’s what you want to call it.” She smoothed out the silk of her robe and slid deeper in the couch. “There was a time, not that long ago, where it was common for men to marry girls as young as twelve.”

“You can’t possibly condone that.” Milo glared at her and put an arm around Bobby, in case Olivia decided to sell him into the sex trade.