Uncurling from the couch, she started to the bedroom of her father's small Miami apartment. Jonny stayed after their father's death, while she moved closer to her mom on the west coast. He hadn't changed a thing, as if expecting Papa to come home at any minute. Saddened, she considered calling him to check in when a sudden pounding at the door made her jump.
Aaron! Her heart soared. She clawed her way into a sweatshirt as she hurried to the door. The pounding didn't stop until she wrenched it open.
"Kyle?" she asked, looking up at the freaky-looking youth in Goth clothing and multiple facial piercings. He pushed his way into the small apartment and flung the unusual Miami rain from his clothes. "Jonny's not here."
The pale, dark-haired youth was drenched, but it was the wild look on his face that made her stop in the middle of the foyer and watch him pace with agitated energy.
"You okay?"
"I don't know," he said at last and flung himself into a chair, planting his hands against his forehead. "I feel funny, like really cold."
She was used to the teenage fits of temperament after spending the summer with her newly turned twenty-year-old brother. She tied her hair back and straightened the sweatshirt, somewhat relieved and disappointed it hadn't been Aaron at the door after all.
"You want some cocoa?"
"B, I did something wicked wrong!" Kyle said, following her into the kitchen. "I have to tell you about Jonny."
"He's visiting our grandparents. He'll be back next weekend," she said. "You wanna call him or something?"
"No, B, he's …" Kyle met her gaze, flushing.
"Are you hurt?" she asked, leaning against the counter. There was blood on his trench coat. It mixed with the rain to drip pink puddles on the ceramic floor.
"Jonny didn't go to your grandparents'!" Kyle blurted out. "He was seeing this girl, and he told you he was going to go so you didn't think he'd spent the night with her and … you know …"
"Jonny's not in Indiana?"
"He's in trouble, B, and it's all my fault!"
"In trouble how?" she demanded.
"His girlfriend is so hot but she's like a vampire," Kyle said. He ran his hands through his wet hair again.
"Vampire?"
"He went to see her yesterday, and he asked me to stop by and meet all her friends tonight. I went. Fuck … I mean, shoot, B, it was terrible. They really are vampires! They were killing people in front of me, and his girlfriend bit him, and now he's going to be a vampire. They said-- "
"Kyle, are you on drugs?" she asked, baffled.