“I…I haven’t been hungry.” Truth. “Like you, I thought it was nerves. I still do. I mean, I can’t…I wouldn’t…” Shut up, babbler! “What’s so bad about being a D-Drainer, anyway? It’s no worse than being a muter, is it?”
He popped his jaw. “When did you last eat?” he asked, ignoring her question.
She gulped again. “I…maybe the day the witches cursed us. I don’t know.” The words whispered from her, coated in shame and guilt. You have nothing to be ashamed of or guilty for, she told herself. She’d done nothing wrong.
His eyes widened as he straightened to his full height, no longer touching her in any way. “Have you had water?”
“No.”
“Humans can’t survive very long without water, Mary Ann.”
“I plan to have a giant glass of it just as soon as I get home.”
“Have you weakened?”
Shivering now from the cold, from an influx of dread, she shook her head. Several strands of hair slapped at her cheeks. “No. That’s not a big deal, though,” she rushed to add. “I’ve been living on adrenaline.”
“That wouldn’t keep the hunger at bay for so long.”
“Dieters can go without food for a long time.”
“Are you dieting?”
He had a question for everything. “N-no, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
“You’re not hungry, even now?”
“No.”
His pupils did that strange expanding/shrinking thing. “You liked being near the witch, yes? You felt warm and safe?”
“Y-yes.” Stop stuttering. “Is there something wrong with me? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with me. I—”
“Yes, there’s something wrong with you.” He scrubbed a hand down his face, leaving red marks behind. “You were feeding off her magic, which means you really are a Drainer.”
The horror in his voice caused her stomach to churn. “I ask again, what’s so bad about being a D-Drainer?”
“Everything! By vampire law, hell, by every law in this otherworld, I’m required to kill every Drainer I find. We all are.”
Mary Ann backed up a step. Riley, kill her? No, never, she told herself. Not her. They were dating, for God’s sake. “You can’t just go around killing people. Besides, why would you have to kill a D-Drainer?” And why did she have so much trouble saying the word? “Which I’m not. You can’t know that for sure.”
His eyes glinted as if a match had been struck inside them. “There was a Drainer in that room, Mary Ann. Witches are always the first to sense them because their survival depends on eliminating them. Victoria and Lauren are out. They might hunger for witch blood, like all vampires, but there’s a big difference between drinking from a vein and gorging on energy. Plus, I’ve lived with them a long time, and would have known. That means the only other option was Aden. Except, he’d recently had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so I can cross him off the list, too. Who does that leave, Mary Ann? Go ahead. Tell me.”
Distance, suddenly she needed distance from him. All that disgust…all that hate…both radiated from him. She stumbled backward, but didn’t try to run even though he’d all but threatened her. With the distance, she could breathe without smelling his dark and spicy scent, without feeling branded by him. He was wrong about her. He had to be wrong.
“What exactly is a Drainer?” There. She’d said the word without stuttering. They’d reason this out together and realize she was no different than ever.
Back and forth he began to pace. “Haven’t I already said? Someone who lives off the energy of others.”
That didn’t sound so terrible.
“I can see your aura and I know what you’re thinking, but listen up. Drainers are sustained only by the energy they steal. Without it, they weaken and die. But in the taking, they kill. And if that isn’t bad enough, their appetite for magic grows with every feeding.”
She was going to kill people? No. No, no, no. But…she couldn’t stop her next thought. Her mother. Her mother had died at the moment of her birth because Mary Ann had drained her of strength. Oh, God. Even before the witches and Riley had begun tossing accusations at her, Mary Ann had used that very word to describe what she’d done to her own her mother. Drained.
Had she been a Drainer her entire life?
“Soon, magic won’t be enough. Soon, you’ll take from the vampires and they’ll no longer be able to feed.” His steps quickened, feet pounding into the ground. “Soon after that, you’ll take from the wolves, and they’ll lose their ability to shift. After that, you’ll take from humans. After that, nature. You’ll destroy everything and everyone.”
“I would never do that!” she shouted. Then her shoulders sagged. She’d killed her own mother. She was capable of anything. Stop! Don’t think like that. Back then, you ate food. Real food. Riley said Drainers live off energy. “I just, I can’t be a Drainer. There has to be another explanation.”
Steps never slowing, he flicked her a menacing glance. “You won’t mean to, but you will. Drainers can’t help themselves, and they certainly can’t stop. Otherwise, like I said, they weaken and die.”
He was saying she was—allegedly—a parasite. A murderer. Tapping into living beings as if they were a beer keg, and drinking them dry. The moisture in her mouth vanished, and her heart skipped several beats. “You’re wrong. My mother… I ate…”
His expression softened. “You didn’t kill your mother. I don’t know why she weakened after your birth, but you had nothing to do with it.” He didn’t sound convinced. “The draining thing, it probably switched on during your first encounter with the otherworld.”
“Not true.” She shook her head violently, more of those strands slapping at her. “I dated Tucker, and you’re the one who told me he was part demon. I made him feel better, not worse.” Proof that she couldn’t possibly be a Drainer, right?
Riley paused to massage the back of his neck. “And then you met Aden. And then the two of you summoned all of us here. And then you were cursed and received your first taste of magic.”
All excellent and irrefutable points. “What happens if I am?” Don’t say that. You can’t be, no matter the evidence. “What happens if I’m a Drainer, I mean?”
“I don’t know.” He bent and picked up a small, round stone, then tossed it into the trees. A branch cracked; there was a thump.
She could only watch him, sick at heart. “Both you and Lauren mentioned that you guys…kill Drainers.”
“We do,” he said, his tone dead.
As dead as she would soon be?
Light-headed at the thought, she fell backward, her hand flying to her neck. “You would kill me?”
“No!” He whirled on her, hands fisted, nostrils flaring with the force of his breathing. “And I wouldn’t let anyone else harm you, either. God, Mary Ann. I can’t believe you’d even think that of me.”
Okay, okay. He was right. She released the oxygen that had snagged in her lungs. “This is new to me, Riley, and besides that, we haven’t been on the best of terms lately, have we?”
His anger diluted, and his expression softened. “No. We haven’t.”
Hearing him agree was like being slapped—even though she’d been the one to say it first. “So do you want to…break up? If we were even dating, I mean.” Maybe he’d just been fooling around. Oh, God. She wanted to vomit.
“We were dating,” he said, hard and unbending now.
Were, he’d said. Her blood chilled as if little ice crystals had formed in her veins. “And now we’re not?” Did that needy voice really belong to her? “We are dating, Mary Ann.” His head fell back and he stared up at the star-filled sky. “We’re just going through a little rough spot.”
We are dating. Okay, yes, that was good. Very good. The relief that spread through her was palpable.
Then he added, “I mean, I think we are, at least,” and that relief drained.
Drained. Not a good word choice, she thought, laughing without humor. Because if what he’d said before, about Drainers destroying…if that was true, that would mean…. no. No. No! She would not venture down that mental path. Like a hypochondriac, she’d only convince herself that her “symptoms” were real.
Riley pounded to the porch steps and plopped down, resting his elbows on his knees. “If you really are a Drainer, you’re going to kill everyone I love.” He must have been reading her aura, must have realized the direction of her thoughts. “Hell, one day you’ll kill me.”
Absolute panic filled her at the thought of his death—at the thought of causing it. “I would never hurt you. Ever!”
“You wouldn’t mean to, but…” His head fell into his upraised hands. “Damn it! I can’t believe this is happening.”
“This just can’t be right, Riley. I mean, it’s happening so fast. I was fine, me, myself, only a few days ago.” Now everything was crumbling, leaving only ruins around her.
His laugh was as humorless as hers had been. “That’s the way of the world, Mary Ann. Everything changes in a blink.”
Not like this. Not for her.
No, not true, she thought next. She’d met Aden and in seconds, her entire world had changed. She’d discovered Tucker had cheated on her with Penny and in seconds, her entire world had changed. She’d learned the truth about her mother and in seconds, her entire world had changed.
She’d met Riley and in seconds, her entire freaking world had changed.
“Is there a way I can stop this? Reverse it?” she croaked out. “If it’s true, I mean.”
“No.” His unyielding tone left no room for doubt or argument.