His gaze is so intense I want to hide under a table. “That’s all you have to say?”

The expression on his face reminds me of what Tristan looked like when he asked me to be his forever. “That’s all I can say.” My voice is barely heard over the cries of the vampire’s right outside.

He nods and turns away, walking to the kitchen. I hesitate, and then follow him, taking his arm as he reaches for the back door.

“Stop,” I say. “You can’t go out. Listen to the cries—darkness has already fallen.”

His muscles tense under my touch and his heart skips. “You want to know why you shouldn’t take the medicine. Why I think it’s so horrible?”

I eye the back door, scratched with the remains of a vampire passing through. “Yeah, but I—”

“Then I’ll show you.” He unlocks the door and cautiously cracks it open. He takes a deep breath and sticks his head out.  Then he opens the door and steps out into the night.

“Are you insane?” I grab the bottom of his shirt and pull him back inside. “You can’t go out there.”

“You sound afraid, Juniper,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “I thought you said you were never afraid.”

I let go of his shirt. “I’m not afraid for me. I’m afraid for you.”

“I’ll be fine,” he insists. “We’re not going that far.”

I shake my head as he tiptoes down the alley, blending in with night. Keeping my footsteps light, I tail after him. I hold out my knife as we near the end of the building. Aiden closes his eyes, his back to the wall, as he counts under his breath.

“Go head,” he whispers, nodding his head. “See what you have to sacrifice to keep your amazing fighting skills.”

Something inside my chest squeezes as I lean forward and peek into the street. The fires lighting up the night burn fiercely. Vampires roam the sidewalks, scrounging through dumpsters, cars, buildings, hunting for blood.

I turn back. “All I see are vampires.”

“Then look closer,” he whispers nervously glancing down the alley.

I take a deep breath and look back out. Vampires. Everywhere. Shrieking and biting at each other. Their eyes bleed, lifeless corpses of flesh, so desperate for hunger, they’ll even sometimes feed off themselves. I think I’m starting to get his point.

“We can go back,” I say and he nods, darting for the back door.

“So I’d be like the vampires?” I ask. “That’s the price I have to pay.”

“You wouldn’t look like one.” He locks the back door, checking it twice. “But you’d be like them, always looking for the next kill.  And you don’t have to pay the price,” he says. “You can choose to just be you.”