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after dark ever again.”
    He stared at the teeth. Long. Getting longer. And sharp like jagged ends of broken glass. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from them as the vampire leaned close, his mouth opening wider. The vampire released his throat suddenly, and he wheezed in a desperate breath.
    Then he felt it.
    A sharp pinch on his neck and hot searing pain radiated out. Fire coursed through his veins, engulfing his entire body. Razorblades of agony shredded his insides.
    That one breath left him in a piercing scream and was gone. His body convulsed, he couldn’t draw in air. He couldn’t fight. He couldn’t struggle. He couldn’t move.
    His eyes rolled back into his head, hands clenched into fists at his sides as his mind formed one thought, and one thought only.
    That he wished he were dead.

FOUR

    S era’s head jerked up as a scream echoed up the hill from downtown. Her hands gripped the wooden sash of her bedroom window that she was poised to push open, but she froze, her heart jackhammering. It was the most horrible sound she’d ever heard. Despair. Torture. Misery.
    For a brief moment she wondered what could possibly make someone sound like that. But then she changed her mind. She didn’t want to know. She shuddered, shaking off the grisly images that couldn’t happen, she knew, in downtown Burlington, and turned back to her window.
    Her home, an old tan two-story with maroon trim, was set back from the road and surrounded by a nearly solid wall of trees. There was shade somewhere in the yard any time of day, and an unusual sense of privacy in the large suburban neighborhood. Which she thoroughly appreciated now as she was sneaking back into it. Luckily her and Luke’s bedrooms were on the first floor, their mom’s was on the second, so sneaking in and out without being detected wasn’t a true test of her covert skills.
    Which was probably just as well since she wasn’t sure she actually had any covert skills.
    Pausing, she listened for sounds signaling that her mom or Luke had been woken by the scream. No lights had come on and she heard nothing but the leaves whispering in the wind. It was safe to sneak back inside. As quietly as possible, she lifted the window to her room one slow centimeter at a time. A quiet squeak made her cringe, but she kept pushing it up until it was wide enough to fit through.
    With a little jump, she hoisted herself up head first, and fell inside, catching herself with outstretched hands. She tucked her head into a forward roll to pull the rest of her body all the way in and ended up in the middle of her room, the soft navy blue shag carpet cushioning her fall. Not exactly an elegant entrance—and she was glad no one was around to see it.
    “Hey.”
    Sera turned with a start. Luke was sitting in the cushy blue chair by the open window. Waiting for her. She stared at him for a moment, her heart beating crazy fast, then found her voice.
    “Hey yourself.”
    Luke nodded at where she sat on the floor. “Graceful. I give it a seven-point-five.”
    “That’s all? I thought it was at least an eight. Maybe a nine.” She started to stand up.
    “You lost points for the huff and the puff.”
    “I don’t huff. Or puff, for that matter.”
    “Do. Did.”
    “Didn’t.”
    “Big, Bad Wolf.”
    “Little Pig.” She smirked at him as she plopped down on her bed, the blue quilt wrinkling where she sat. “Shouldn’t you be busy building your house with hay?”
    “Bricks. I’m the smart one.”
    Sera snorted, untied her sneakers and left them on the floor, slipped off her hooded sweater and laid it across the wooden trunk at the end of her bed. Oh, boy, did it feel good to be home. She threw herself backwards onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. The ceiling was the same rich blue color as three of the walls, but she wasn’t seeing it, she was seeing Jonas on the street outside the hospital. Jonas watching them turn the corner out of sight. Jonas appearing out of