Sink Into Me

43: Blame

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"Well," Ana leaned her back against the kitchen counter. "I certainly was not expecting that."

"And neither was I." I replied after taking a sip of water.

"Michael, my darling." Ana's eyes darted to him. "Obviously, there is something you are missing. Is there nothing, absolutely nothing you can think of?"

I turned to Michael. He didn't reply because he was in deep thought. John leaned his head against my shoulder. "When will this end? These damn rogues are pissing me off now."

I patted John's forehead. "Soon, I hope." I turned my gaze to Ana. "Will Katherine be... finished soon?"

Anastasia inhaled deeply. "Well, Katherine is very unhappy about what happened. And from when I checked on her this morning, I could hear her going through her stages. It's like a prolonged dream. She should be waking up this evening."

"Hear?"

"Yes, it's like a hall of whispers in my ears. Very annoying." She sighed.

John lifted his head and I started to shrug my coat off. "Did you not see what happened with my brother?"

"I'm sorry, darling I didn't."

"It's not your fault. It's none of your fault but my own."

"Evie, you can't blame yourself. You weren't there. None of us were expecting it. It was the only night John wasn't watching him."

I looked to John.

His eyes widened. "I- I needed to feed."

I unwrapped Michael's scarf from my neck. "I'm not blaming you John. I just want this over as much you all do."

I leaned forward and rested my head on my hand. "Where's Sam?" I didn't get an answer. Instead I got a poke to the neck. I jumped a little and whipped my gaze to John. "What was-?"

His blank eyes flittered to Michael. "You tell me."

"It's none of your business is it?" Michael surprised me by saying in a deadly voice.

I blinked. "What-?"

"You're right it isn't my business... Evie," John smiled at me. "Did Michael-"

"Jonathan." Anastasia warned.

"-bite you?" He finished.

Oh. My cheeks started to warm. "I- is it that prominent?"

Ana shook her head. "It's invisible to the naked eye. Michael's blood did that. But to John, it's like a red light in the dark. I barely noticed so don't worry about human's seeing it, poppet."

I nodded my head and suddenly became aware of the awkward silence. Why it was awkward was beyond me.

There was a distant door opening and closing and I practically fell from my chair to go see who it was. "Sam!"

He gave me a sceptical look. "Hello,"

"Let's go for a walk." I begged him with my eyes to say yes.

"Um... Oka-" Before he could finish, I grabbed his arm and led him to the door. "What are you doing? Stop pulling!"

As soon as we were out of the house I took his gloved hand and started tugging him along. "Come on, Samuel."

"What's wrong with you? What's going on in there? Why are you still pulling me?!" 

As soon as we were a fair distance from the house I let out a sigh and let go of his hand. And then I shivered because I forgot my coat. "Nothing. I just need a walk."