Page 12 of Little Fangs

He shrugged. “I heard your heart racing, so I wanted to check on you.”

“That’s very nice of you,” I said, running my thumb down his wrist, trying to feel his pulse—and failing. “You have a kind soul.”

Micah yanked his hand out of mine. “You don’t have to say that to me,” he said. “I know who—and what I am. It’s not a kind thing.”

“But you are,” I said. “I feel it, and so does Misty.”

“Well, it—it doesn’t feel like it,” he whimpered.

Reaching for his hand again, I tugged and he came toppling onto me. His entire body weighed nothing. Misty might’ve been heavier. “You are kind.”

His head went against my chest, and he lay on me, staying there for a moment before switching from left to right. “Thank you for letting me stay inside your home. You’re the kind one.”

I stroked my hand through his hair. It was so soft. I wondered if that was something vampires had, or if was just the cheap shampoo I stocked for my almost completely shaved head. He lay there and let me do it, combing my fingers through his hair until I went back to sleep, and he did too.

* * *

Micah had been with me for three days. Nobody else had come to the cabin searching for him, and he’d slowly been opening up to me about his life. Each time he said something, he pulled away, like he didn’t mean to tell me, or he wished he’d told me something else.

I was protective over him. He’d never been given the opportunity to live his life, and I wanted that for him. Micah didn’t know what he wanted to do, though. Either that, or he didn’t want to tell me. Maybe he just wanted to stay here and help me chop wood, and with his strength, he’d even started to take chunks out of the stump I used.

There was also a lot he hadn’t been able to enjoy before, like junk food, the stuff I usually kept out of the cabin, but he’d lived a long life, and at this point, he was ravenous for it. I’d made two trips to the larger market just on the outskirts of town while he stayed at the cabin. Even in daylight, we couldn’t know if someone was out there looking for him.

After the second trip, Micah came out to meet me at the car. He’d made a list this time, and I’d checked off everything he’d asked for. Sweet cereals, Pop Tarts, Kraft Mac & Cheese, highly processed nuggets of varying shapes—dinosaurs were requested, alongside tinned spaghetti and other things I imagined a mom in town would have been forced to buy for their kid.

“You get everything?” he asked, looking at me with his big puppy eyes. He wore one of my checkered shirts with the sleeves folded up like large masses on his arms, and a T-shirt and shorts I’d bought him on the first supermarket trip.

“Of course. It took a while, but I got everything on your list,” I told him, getting out of the car. “And like you promised, you—”

“I’ll unload the car,” he said with a big obedient smile. “I also chopped more wood for the fire. And I made your bed. And I found more pillows in your wardrobe. Now we can have two pillows each.”

My eye twitched. “Oh. You—” A ripple of tingles traveled up the side of my face. “Sorry, those were—” I couldn’t get it out. I almost stomped a foot. “I kinda—”

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“No, I—I should’ve told you,” I said. “Those were—”

“I did something wrong. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.” He threw his arms around my waist and hugged me. “Please forgive me.”

“You’re all good,” I said, stroking a hand across his back. “They belonged to an ex. But it’s fine. You’re in bed as well now, so two pillows are good. Yeah. It’s all good.”

He nodded, looking up at me. “I didn’t go through any of the boxes, like you said. I promise. They were in the closet with the bedding, so I just used them.”

“It’s okay,” I reassured him. “I also made a trip to the nearby clinic and grabbed you a blood bag. You were right about them having an agreement.”

“Shut up,” he mustered, his face turning sad. “You went and got me one?”

“Well, they’re in the cooler. And there’s three of them. You said you take one a day. Right?”

He nodded, letting go of me. “I was sure they’d tell you no.”

“They didn’t ask any questions. I just said Ludmila’s name, and they handed it all over.”

Micah’s face went through many emotions quickly. I placed both hands on his shoulders. “What if they were for Caleb?”

I shrugged. “His loss. These ones are all for you. And I know it might be suspicious, but I’ve already thought of reasons why I’ve got them.”

“What reasons?”