I stood there, mouth agape, watching Nolan book it for the forest … just like I always saw the bat did whenever we happened across it.

The whole thing had to be some kind of hallucination.

There was no way I just saw some bat turn into Nolan.

Although if that was true, why did he make a break for it the second I spoke?

Without even looking around to check for any witnesses, he went right for the wall. There was definitely something desperate about his carelessness.

My legs had already taken me halfway down the stairs by the time I realized that I was running.

Hallucination or not, I couldn’t let him leave like this.

If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn’t have fled. Apprehension swirled around in my gut as I sprinted down the stairs.

He chose to run instead of talking to me. I had a sinking feeling that if I didn’t find him now, I might not be able to get ahold of him tomorrow. Maybe he’d avoid me forever. Nolan was an expert in shutting people out—I wouldn’t stand a chance.

I was out of the dorm building before I knew it.

Of course, when I got there, Nolan was already out of sight.

I hesitated once I was standing before the old brick wall.

If I got caught, my parents would probably be called. They’d totally kill me. Still, I couldn’t just stay here and hope for a chance to talk to Nolan tomorrow.

There weren’t any students in the vicinity, but someone could easily spot me from their room window.

I took the risk anyway.

My winter gloves were a bit of a hindrance to my climbing, but I made it over the wall without too much trouble. All that effort I’d put into getting in better shape had paid off.

As I went further in, I turned on my phone’s flashlight for easier navigation.

I’d been here so many times I knew which direction I needed to go in, even without Nolan here to guide me. The only thing I really needed his handholding for was to avoid tripping over stuff on the ground.

I headed straight for the clearing.

Even if he wasn’t there, at least I had somewhere to start from.

“Nolan?” I called out, and then immediately cringed.

My voice was way too loud in the quietness of my surroundings. It was like the entire forest was asleep.

“Nolan!”

I continued calling his name the deeper into the forest I went, banking on the high likelihood that I was too far away from the school building for anyone to hear.

Finally, I reached my destination only to find that there was no one in the clearing.

I cupped my hands around my mouth and hollered, “Nolan! Where are you?”

The answering silence felt overwhelming.

Suddenly, it hit me that I’d been so caught up in finding Nolan that I hadn’t even considered that I would be all alone in the forest. The realization turned my knees to jelly as I forced myself to walk along the edge of the clearing, shining the flashlight into the nearby trees to see if I could spot anything.

My voice cracked as I called out, “Seriously, where are you? Why did you just leave like that? Nolan!”

He had to be here somewhere.

A soft but distinct shuffling noise reached my ears, and I whirled around in search of the source. Coming out from behind one of the trees, Nolan faced me.

It was too dark for me to see the expression on his face.

I almost shined my flashlight on him before I remembered, at the very last moment, how much he hated it whenever I used it.

“Why do you think?” he said, leaning his side against the tree.

“Nolan—”

I had only taken one step forward when he said, “Turn off that light.”

I rolled my eyes. “Is this really the time—”

“You just saw me transform from a bat, and you haven’t wondered why I can’t stand the light?”

So that was real. I hadn’t just imagined that. I kind of already knew that, but deep down I’d been hoping there was some other explanation that could rationalize away what I’d just seen.

Quietly, I tapped off the flashlight function on my phone and tried not to wince at how much darker everything suddenly was.

“Why did you follow me in here?” he said, his tone low and serious.

What even was that question? I was obviously going to follow him if he just bolted like some kind of wanted criminal!

I cried, “You—you ran! Why were you running? And what just happened?”

“And yelling like that throughout the place—are you an idiot? What if you ran into some animal? Anything could’ve happened!”

I spluttered. “Did you just call me an idiot—”

Turning around, Nolan began walking past the trees around him. “Well, you weren’t exactly being smart, were you?”

Where was he going now? I promptly followed him. I wasn’t going to lose him again. If he hadn’t chosen to show himself to me earlier, I doubted that I would’ve been able to find him on my own.

“I was just worried about you,” I began hotly, but before I could continue, he had cut me off again.

“Coming in here alone at night? Genius move,” he said. “I don’t care if you were worried. If something had happened to you no one would’ve known.”

Irritated, I glared at the back of his head. “Maybe I told my friends before I came in!”

“Did you?”

“I don’t have to tell you,” I said, ignoring the way he scoffed at my reply. “Where are you going? Also, aren’t we going to talk about what happened?”

“You can talk about it. I’m not going to.”

“I literally just saw a bat morph into my close friend! Of course I’m going to have questions!”

He just continued walking. It was all I could do to keep up with him.

The shock still rushing through my veins didn’t leave enough room for any hurt at his dismissal to settle in.

“Are you a bat? Or are you a human who turns into a bat? Or do you just turn into any animal?” Which one is it?

It was getting too dark for me to see the ground, so I switched on my phone flashlight again.

The instant I did, however, Nolan snapped, “I said turn it off!”

“I can’t see anything,” I protested. “I wouldn’t have needed it if you hadn’t walked in here!”

He let out an enormous sigh. “Know why I can’t stand the light? I’m a vampire.”

My phone fell out of my grip. “What?”

Nolan looked back over his shoulder. After a second of hesitation, he strode over and picked up my phone for me. Before he handed it back to me, he turned off the flashlight again.

“What,” I said, “do you mean, you’re a vampire?”

“You’ve already seen me as a bat,” he said, beginning to walk ahead again, but at a slower pace this time. “It’s not like I can explain that away.”

I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it.

“Vampires don’t exist,” I said. “There’s no such thing.”

“And normal humans don’t just become bats.”

Okay, he had a point. But …

“A vampire? Like the kind that sucks blood?” I demanded. “Like blood is your food? What do you mean?”

My heart was slamming so hard against my ribcage it almost hurt. My stomach churned.

I didn’t even care that I couldn’t see where I was walking. I could’ve tripped and fallen right at that moment, and none of it would have mattered.

I couldn’t think properly.

I didn’t care what he said. Nolan was not a vampire.

He was my friend, wasn’t he? He came to classes every day and frequently ate lunch with us in the dining hall and studied with us after school and even had dinner with us sometimes, just like a normal student … didn’t he?

Was that why he seemed so alert at night, but sleepy in the day?

Was that why I’d never seen him in the dining hall before I started inviting him to sit with us?

The memory of Nolan sniffing at the apple pie slice I’d bought him but insisting on taking it up to his room flashed across my mind. Was that why he didn’t want to eat it right then?

I merely thought he had a tiny appetite, since there was always so much food left over on his lunch tray.

A low ache throbbed through my head, but I couldn’t stop the thoughts from multiplying in my mind. My stomach churned again, harder this time. It was all I could do to keep walking.

I was so deep in thought that I didn’t even realize he was talking to me until there was a hand being waved furiously in front of my face.

“… anyone in there?” he said. “Hello?”

“Oh,” I said, snapping back into reality. Heat crept up my neck, and I looked away. “Sorry. What did you say?”

“I said, go back to your room.”

We were back at the school’s brick wall.

I blinked. Glancing back, I saw the familiar dense growth of trees behind us that led into the forest.

When did we get here?

There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but one tumbled out of my mouth before I could think about it. “Why?”

“Why what?”

The moonlight was able to reach this area—I could see the expression on his face at last. He was frowning.

“Why are you pushing me away? Aren’t we good friends?”

Haven’t we shared so many good moments in the past several months? Haven’t we grown close enough?

Sighing, he dragged a hand down his face. “What do you want me to say? ‘I lied—I’m not actually a monster. Your eyes were playing a trick on you.’ Is that what you want to hear?”

A monster.

He called himself a monster. That couldn’t be true. Was it true?

“I missed your answer earlier,” I blurted out. “Do you—do you drink blood?”

He paused. “Yes.”

“I can’t believe you,” I said, unable to hide the tremble in my voice. “Vampires aren’t real.”

“Oh, they are real,” he said with a faint smile. “Did the bat look fake to you?”

“I—” I didn’t know what to say. I just knew that this wasn’t true.

“How about now?”

He stepped a little closer, out of the shadow he was standing in, and bared his teeth at me.

In horror, I watched as his two upper canines lengthened and narrowed to sharp points.

No way. This wasn’t really happening.

Heart in throat, I tried to regain my balance as I stumbled backwards. Seeing that, he retracted his fangs—they shortened so quickly, so easily—and moved back a little.

Nolan was a vampire.

Didn’t they feed on human blood?

No, those were fictitious ones. What did the ones in real life feed on?

Vampires weren’t supposed to be real.

My friend, the guy I liked, was a vampire, and this whole time I hadn’t known.

“Why … why didn’t you ever say anything?” I whispered.

“What was I supposed to say? You didn’t even believe me until I showed you my fangs.”

Fangs. He called them his fangs. My stomach lurched, hard, but I refused to give in to the nausea. If I didn’t talk to him tonight, I didn’t know when I’d ever have a chance again.

“Would there even be a point in me telling you?” he continued. “What would that add to the conversation?”

“I don’t know. You could’ve just … said something. Anything,” I said. “At least then I’d know.”

He was right, though. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose by telling me.

“At least then you wouldn’t freak out when you saw me transform from a bat?” he snapped.

“I didn’t freak out,” I protested. “I was just surprised.”

It was perfectly normal to be stunned when something so bizarre happened right in front of you!

“I’m not sure you would’ve taken it well either way,” he muttered.

I hesitated. “What about food? I’ve seen you eat in the dining hall. You eat regular food too, right?”

Barking out a short laugh, he crossed his arms. “Did you really think I came to the forest for midnight strolls and stargazing? I can’t eat normal food, okay? Why do you think I come here every night?”

“Every night?” I repeated the two words that felt like a punch to the gut.

“That’s right, I lied,” he said. “I don’t just come here once a week. It’s not like I can feed while you’re around.”

No wonder he wasn’t afraid of being alone in the forest. No wonder he brushed off my concerns so quickly when I confronted him that day.

I stared at him, finding each breath difficult to inhale.

“Look, I can’t—I can’t do this right now.” He took a step back. “Just go, Chelsea. I need to rest, and you look like you’re about to throw up.”

I needed some time to myself to think about everything I’d learned tonight. All my brain could focus on was the shock that was overwhelming it.

At the same time, I didn’t want to leave Nolan here all by himself, especially after he’d just revealed to me who—or what—he was. Something about the way he was suddenly acting so distant really bothered me.

I swallowed. “I’ll be seeing you in class tomorrow, right?”

A soft huffing noise came from him. “I can’t exactly transfer schools in less than one night, right?”

“Right.” My voice was barely a whisper. “See you tomorrow, Nolan.”

He said nothing in reply as I turned around to climb over the wall.

LotteStarburst

happy new year, all! sorry for the late update. i've just been really busy. it's been a really busy week for me. hope you all have a great year ahead (｡’▽’｡)♡