Miss Me When the Sun Goes Down Read Free Page B

expected me to punish her for not w anting to be fed from.  Her golden brown hair offered dubious protection, but she drew it around herself like a cloak, trying her best to blend into the wall.  “I… wasn’t… I didn’t know if…” she stammered miserably, and I crossed the room in an instant, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulder.  At least she didn’t flinch away from my touch. 
    “It’s fine, I don’t expect you to have to feed anyone,” I whispered softly.  Not after what she’d endured as Jasper’s feeder.  “Ellie, Maggie is a friend, not food,” I added sternly.  At least she hadn’t resorted to compulsion to override Maggie’s objections, and that was a step in the right direction. 
    “But you’ve fed from her before,” Ellie protested, eyes on the girl’s swan-like neck. 
    Uh oh… I’d have to nip that in the bud before there was a problem between the two of them.  “That was different.  Maggie’s not here as my feeder.  She’s here as a friend, like I said.  In fact, I want us all to get to know each other better.” 
    “Sounds grand, but can we do it after we eat?” she begged, shifting her weight back and forth from one foot to the other, like a toddler who has to pee but wouldn’t admit it. 
    “How about this?  We’ll send out for pizza so Maggie can have something to eat and then you can have a little something too, as long as you’re careful, okay?”  It was either that or go knock on Mr. Ramirez’s door across the hall, and someone anonymous sounded safer.  “What about you guys, do you need to feed?”  I asked the men, who stood flanking the front door.  They both shook their heads, and I assumed they’d take care of it on their own time.  The less I knew about it, the better.
    “But I want to go out!”  Ellie flounced into the easy chair, spinning around and around.  “Alls I’ve seen of this city is from the flicks.  Can’t we see the sights?”
    “Yes, we can, but not tonight.  Tonight I have something special planned.”
    “Yeah?”  Ellie perked up at that, and Maggie left her perch by the doorframe to venture deeper into the living room.
    “Tonight, I thought we should all try to get to know each other better since we’ll be spending so much time together.”
    Ellie snorted.  “You want us to sit around in our dainties and braid each other’s hair?”
    “No, but I do want us to talk.”  I pulled open my laptop, searching for the right document and printing five copies.  “So… I found these questionnaires for us to fill out.  You guys too.  Time for us to get to know each other.”  I’d found them online from an old RPG website, designed to introduce new members to the group.  The list of questions included some of the staples – If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive, who would it be?  Thunderstorms: scary or cool?   All in all it was about forty questions long, and while some of them were silly, it was designed to identify common interests and spark lively discussion. 
    “I think it’s a lovely idea.”  Maggie caught onto my enthusiasm at once, accepting hers and perching on the edge of the couch with dainty grace. 
    The boys accepted the papers with twin looks of dismay, holding the pencils with their fingertips as though they might contract some flesh eating disease from them.  They both resisted when I invited them to take a seat, but did accept a book to make it easier to fill out.
    “Come on now, get your butts in gear,” I clapped my hands at the rest of them.  “The sooner you guys fill these out, the sooner we can get to the games.”
    “Alright, I’ll give it a bash,” Ellie sighed, flopping down onto her belly to write against the scarred, wood floor. 
    Once they got started, I was gratified to see how much they all put into the effort, smiling up to see Isak’s face scrunched in deep thought over one of the questions.  I ordered the pizza online, and set to