I spent the rest of the evening with Veronika, playing cards and board games in my room. I was really starting to enjoy her company, even though she didn't utter a word. We had just started a game of Monopoly when my brother burst into the room.

"What the heck…? Monopoly? Really?" he laughed.

"What's it to you? What do you want?" I said. I looked at him. His eyes were like they were on fire, his nostrils flaring. He was constantly running around with those cousins of ours, and I had no idea what they were up to half the time, but I had a feeling it was no good.

Adrian looked at Veronika, a hungry look in his eyes.

"What do you want?" I repeated.

He grinned and approached the girl. I felt my heart rate go up. Veronika meant nothing to Adrian. She was just another human. He sniffed really close to her.

"She's still not speaking, is she?" he asked.

"No. Leave her alone, Adrian. She's still in shock. She lost her parents, remember?"

I tried to appeal to his emotions to see if there was still any human left in him, but I didn't sense any.

"I see," he said. "They smell good, you know? Kids. They smell so…pure."

Duncan had told me that children's blood was a delicacy among vampires and when Adrian spoke about her like this, it made me shiver.

Veronika whimpered when he grabbed her arm.

"Adrian," I said. "Let go of her."

He did. With another grin. I could see his fangs as they were poking out. His eyes had that hunger to them that I couldn't stand.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" I asked, my voice shivering slightly. I was terrified that he might lose control of himself. There was no way I would be able to stop him if he decided to take a drink from the poor girl. I could tell our mother, but I wasn't sure she would care. She thought Veronika was annoying to have hanging around the house, and I feared she would think that they might as well all have a taste of the girl. It wasn't like she was going to tell anyone, was it? Still, I played the mom-card.

"I'll tell mom if you touch her."

He laughed. "You think she'll care about some hum…some child?"

"She promised to protect her. I heard her tell the others that she would guard her."

"And you think she'll live up to that promise?"

"I do," I lied.

Adrian snarled at me. He was turning more and more vampire-like now. The mom-talk hadn't made him snap out of it. I knew I had to make him think about something else. Something he cared about.

"Jazmine," I said.

He turned to look at me. "What?"

"Why aren't you at her house?"

He hissed, then approached me. "She doesn't want to see me. I can't figure her out. One minute she's all over me, the next she tells me to leave."

As he spoke, he turned more and more humanlike again. He had forgotten about Veronika and was focusing on something else, something that connected him to the human world, to his humanity. Love.

"Well, she's going through a lot," I said, thinking about our talk today at the diner. I felt bad for her and for what she had to face right now. I was surprised that she hadn't told Adrian about it but had shut him out instead. Maybe she just didn't figure he would understand. Maybe she was afraid he wasn't going to be there for her when she needed him. Mostly because he was going to be gone soon anyway.

"Is she seeing someone else?" he growled, getting worked up again.

I shook my head. "Not that I know of."

"Logan is lucky that he’s dead. I would have killed him had he survived that thing at the circus," he said. "Jazmine is my girl. No one else dates her. You hear me?"

"Loud and clear," I said.

He snorted. He seemed to have forgotten about Veronika, and soon he rushed out of my room as fast as only a vampire could move. I looked at Veronika. She was still sitting on the bed, her hand shaking lightly.

"I will make sure he never hurts you," I said and sat down next to her. "You don't have to be afraid of him.”

We returned to our game, and she seemed to remain calm. It wasn't until Duncan suddenly showed up unannounced that she reacted. He knocked on the door and peeked inside, and that was when I heard her gasp.

"That's just Duncan," I said. "He's my special friend."

"Hi there. Just wanted to pop by and see how my favorite girl is doing?" he said and walked inside.

I walked to him, and he pulled me into a kiss. I closed my eyes and enjoyed my taste of his soft cold lips.

"So, how is she?" he asked, looking deep into my eyes. I could get lost in his. "My favorite girl?"

I smiled shyly. "I'm good, thanks. Just hanging out with my new best friend."

He let go of me and approached the girl. "You must be Veronika," he said. "Robyn told me about you."

He stepped closer, but Veronika pulled back with a shriek.

"It's okay, Veronika," I said, puzzled at her reaction. "He's my friend."

Duncan smiled and reached out his hand for her to shake. She stared at it, then backed up further.

"You'll have to excuse her," I said. "She's in shock. She just lost her parents."

He nodded, then backed up. "I'm sorry if I scared her. I'll leave you two to your game." He winked at Veronika, but she gave him nothing but an angry look.

"Still on for Friday?" he asked and kissed me again.

"Of course," I said.

When he left, I turned to look at Veronika. She was still whimpering. The clock on the wall behind her was spinning out of control.

"What's wrong, Veronika?" I asked and came closer. "Why did he scare you so much?"

And that was when she said her first words since I had gotten to know her. Hearing her voice completely threw me off.

"Bad man," she said with this deep voice and a heavy Russian accent.

I stared at her, not knowing what to say to her. "Him? Bad man? Duncan?"

I shook my head and grabbed the dice. "No, you have that all wrong. Duncan is very sweet, and he loves me very much."

"He will hurt you," she said, determinedly. "At a party for Halloween. Bad man will kill you at Halloween party. Blood everywhere."

I stared at her again, then shook my head. "Nonsense," I said and rolled the dice, but not without feeling my stomach clench into a huge knot.