Instead, he thought about the light, red hair of his twin sister. Her sparkling brown eyes and the freckles on her face that somehow multiplied whenever she was exposed to the sun. Granted, he gained a few freckles when he chose to live in daylight and his hair turned lighter during those times as well, but by the time they lost Kim, he had started his more nocturnal habits. Fraternal twins were supposed to look different, but he and Kim resembled a yin-yang toward the end; a dark half and a lighter one.

When she died, Danny had decided against ever living in the light again.

He remembered their final conversation only because he had replayed it over and over after she died. Kim had caught him reading a copy of Interview with a Vampire while listening to Joy Division records and laughed at him as she plopped on his bed beside him. “You’re trying to embody the stereotype, aren’t you?” she had asked.

Danny had smirked, knowing the answer before even posing the question, but drawn to anyway. “What stereotype is that?” he asked.

“Whatever the hell this is.” Kim gestured at him. “Whatever has you reading that crap.”

“Hey!” He protested when she reached for the book and as she shut it, he lunged for it. The clumsy effort on her part to keep the book and his awkwardly balanced reach led Kim to topple from the bed, Danny nearly following suit and as she spilled out, she laughed.

“You dick,” she said, her voice playful. “What the hell did you do that for?”

“Well, I wouldn’t have done that if you didn’t take the book from me, stupid.”

“Stupid? Me, stupid? You’re the stupid one.” Kim lifted herself upright, tossing the book at him and forcing him to catch it so that it wouldn’t smack him in the face. As he laughed, he reached to set it on the night stand, shifting so that his feet touched the floor. Kim drew her knees up to her chest. They sat in silence for a moment as Kim sobered again.

“I’m worried about you,” she said. “In all honesty.”

Danny furrowed his brow. “How come?” he asked.

“This stuff. I guess what I’m trying to say by poking fun at you is that you’ve been really quiet and to yourself lately.” Kim nodded at the book on the nightstand while settling her weight onto the palms of her hands. “Talk to me, big brother. Tell me what’s been on your mind besides vampires.”

Breathing a light laugh, he scratched at the back of his neck before shrugging. “Not much. Just haven’t been feeling in the mood to socialize all that much.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that, Mr. Sits-Alone-in-the-Lunch-Room.”

“Stop it.” Danny still chuckled when she smirked, exchanging her smile with one of his own. “Maybe I enjoy being alone, you know. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“No, definitely nothing wrong with that, but I get the sense it’s not just because you’re brooding over vampires.” Her grin turned mischievous. “Or whatever it is that you’re doing reading that damn book.”

“Thinking about eternal life,” he said.

“Yeah, sure,” Kim retorted. “Like you’re not also thinking about that kid you have Chemistry with.”

Danny startled at the accusation. As he stammered, Kim’s eyes widened. “Oh my God, I was right.” She sprung to her feet, walking to the bed and sitting beside Danny so she could lower her voice. “You like a boy. Holy shit, you actually like another guy?”

“Would you…?” Danny glanced up at the shut door to his room, also lowering his voice. “I don’t want Mom and Dad knowing about it. They’re going to think I’m a freak.”

“You’re not a freak. So, you’re gay. Oh my God, Danny, you’re gay.”

“Would you not? Please?” Danny felt himself close off, lifting a foot onto the bed so he could hug his leg. Sighing, he shut his eyes and tried not to hear that word repeating over and over in his head. Gay. Soon it would be queer. Then fag. Then whatever other slurs their father would spit between his teeth. Their mother would go to church to pray for his soul and the other kids at Voorhees High School would call him the same names his Dad did. Danny felt his pulse spike, though as it did, a hand rested on his shoulder.

“Danny,” Kim said. “You’re not a freak. You’re a person, just like everyone else.”

Opening his eyes, he wondered when the tears had begun to well in his eyes, startled as one trickled down his cheek. Instinctively, he swiped it away. “Please don’t tell Mom and Dad,” he said. “That’s all I ask. And no, before you ask, I am not going to tell Jim from Chemistry that I think he’s cute, okay? Don’t even say…”

“I won’t say anything.” Kim lifted both hands in surrender. “Not a word, I swear. Not to Mom and Dad, or about Jim. I swear. At the same time, is this why you’ve been so to yourself lately?”

“I don’t know. I guess.”

“The book any good?”

“It’s not so bad.” He sniffled and wiped away another errant tear. His focus turned to the book on the night stand. “To be honest, I think half my interest in it is the fact that the two main characters are guys. They’re sort of in a relationship. No sex though.”

Kim laughed. As Danny looked at her, he felt some of the heaviness that had settled on him lift, her laughter making a smile crack at the corner of her mouth. “That sucks,” she said. “What’s the point of being immortal if you can’t have sex?”

“Yeah, I had the same thought.” He shrugged, and though his smile faded, the levity remained. “But they live in their own world where nobody’s there to judge them.”

“I guess that’s the point of being immortal, then.”

“Probably.” Danny reached for the book again, flipping rapidly through the pages before cradling the paperback in his hands again. As he stared down at it, he said, “I just like the idea of disappearing somewhere without rules. Stupid for me to say, but I think I’d run right for them if vampires were real.”

“I think you’re nuts. But I don’t blame you for feeling that way.” When Danny looked at her again, Kim smiled. “I tell you what. Maybe we can take a drive somewhere next weekend. I’m going to Gloria’s house tonight, but tomorrow we can brain storm a bit.”

“Why are we going for a drive?” Danny asked as Kim rose to a stand. He remained seated on the bed.

She shrugged. “Maybe we can find some place like that around here. Where you can disappear for a few hours. Flirt with a cute guy. Something like that. Hey, there are clubs in the city and I bet we can fake being old enough to get in. Gloria does it all the time.”

Danny smirked. “We’re going to get busted.”

“And Mom and Dad are going to be furious, but you know what? Fuck them.” Kim had winked and spirited out of the room without any further ceremony. What she had left in her wake was a promise, that they would talk about this again. That Danny would have a friend. A co-conspirator. Someone who wasn’t going to judge him for being what he was. Whether they got arrested sneaking into a nightclub or wound up doing something else stupid and juvenile, he knew his sister’s language. For the first time since his burgeoning hormones had pointed him in the direction of other boys, Danny felt less alone.

Which was why, when the police found Kim dead, in a crashed car with her friend, Gloria, it had torn his entire world apart.

One last conversation, with the danger of hope dangling over his head, and once again, he heard her laughing in his head, telling him, “Well, you found your vampires, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” he heard himself responding, “Though after what happened to you, I don’t know if I can trust it.”