A week later, I could almost convince myself that I had never loathed my chemistry partner. He was sitting across from me at my kitchen table. So far all we had between us was a piece of paper with our names at the top: Charlotte for me and Scott for him.
‘We could try burning oil in a test tube?’ suggested Scott in a flat voice. I didn’t even bother to look over my textbook at him; he had been throwing out ideas that we both knew were useless while I had been poring over the book I’d taken from the college library for almost an hour now.
I noticed the twitch of movement in the corner of my eye that pre-empted Scott’s voice, and sighed loudly to prevent it. My textbook made a satisfying thud as I flung it onto the table. ‘We could try just giving up for tonight?’ I suggested in return, utterly serious.
‘Sounds like the best plan I’ve heard all night,’ replied Scott enthusiastically, scraping his hands through his already unruly hair. I sat up, taking my feet off the table as I did so, and rested my head on the back of my chair, thinking hard. Every time I suggested Scott and I met up to study, he had agreed that it was a good idea. Every time he had come over to my place. Every time we didn’t get any further with our coursework, and gave up. And yet he’d shown no personal interest in me. But why did I want him to? I was frustrated beyond words.
‘I wouldn’t say I’ve shown no personal interest,’ murmured Scott, right in my ear. I shrieked loudly and only just stopped myself from smacking him in the face. ‘You just haven’t been looking hard enough,’ he continued, unperturbed by my shock. ‘Humans never do.’
I raised one eyebrow at him. ‘Oh, is that so? What does notice these little hints then?’ I teased lightly.
‘The fae, demons, angels,’ he listed, ticking them off on his long, slender fingers. His eyes rolled around to rest on me. ‘Anything without a drop of human blood.’
The serious note in Scott’s voice was enough to make my casual smile vanish. ‘What are you saying you are, then?’ I asked. I was proud that my voice didn’t shake even the tiniest bit.
Scott was staring at me like he’d never seen me before. ‘I am a vampire. Do you pretend not to have known?’
‘Now hold on just a minute! I never knew – if you’re even being serious.’
That was clearly the wrong thing to say, because a low snarl erupted from Scott’s finely toned midriff and he launched himself at me in a movement too fast to track. I did, however, get to see a pair of sharp fangs extend out from his upper gum.
