The Night House Read Online Free PDF Page B

are both drawn by exhaustion into his bedroom. He returns to his usual place on top of the covers, blending into the sheets, until all I can see are his eyes. I sit on the edge of the bed and let my bag drop to the floor.
    “Finn catch you?” Micah wonders with a strained voice.
    “Everything’s okay.”
    “You can stay here tonight, if you want.”
    “That’d be nice.”
    A beat of city silence passes. Micah meets my gaze with a little more steadiness. “You can stay here as long as you like.”
    This always happens. Micah has been trying to get me to stay here with him for months. Micah saved my life once, a long time ago.
    I let out a sigh. “I can’t live here.”
    “Actually, you could. There’s really no reason not to.”
    I reach out and shove his arm as lightly as I can. “You’re so annoying sometimes.”
    “Really,” he presses on. “You can get a job at a restaurant nearby. I can’t give you any nauth, but I have old friends who might be able to help you get clean.”
    Now I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m fine , Micah. Enough, okay? I’m staying at the Night House, that’s final.”
    He falls silent, realizing his mistake. “Sorry. I just hate not knowing if you’re okay.”
    “Same here. Speaking of, we should get on with this.”
    He nods and does his best to sit up. I go to the crooked shelf on the wall and pull down the kit. Inside are an old black tie and a needle. With Micah’s help, I secure the tie around my upper arm and use the needle to draw my own blood. Then I inject my blood into Micah’s arm. We repeat this process two or three times. This is how Micah has to feed. It hurts, but there is still enough nauth in my system to block out most of the pain.
    Micah used to be an officer. He served the vamp equivalent to the mayor of Philadelphia, which meant free trips to the Night House. Micah hated it there, but official vamps are supposed to go. The worst thing a vamp could possibly be is compassionate to humans. Vampires see it as a weakness to care about us. They’ve survived this long without integrating into human society. So when Micah refused to kill a human, they pulled his fangs out.
    I remember when I found out how vampires feed. I thought they just drank it like water. It has to go directly into their blood stream, which is why their fangs are necessary. They are like hypodermic needles that connect to their veins. They can eat food, technically, but their stomach is more of a decoration than a necessary organ.
    I’m wilting as Micah gets more alert. His eyes focus, and he sits up just in time to catch me when I nearly pass out.
    “That’s enough.” His voice is sharp. Back to normal.
    I’m too weak to do anything as he puts me in his place in the bed. I want to object because it’s his bed, but I’m so tired I forget that vampires don’t sleep at night.
    “Thank you,” he whispers.
    His words are all I can think of as I start to dream.
     
    ***
     
    Sunlight pours onto my face, and a tired Micah nudges me.
    “Can I have my bed back?”
    I push myself up to my elbows, and he helps me the rest of the way as I try to remember my dreams. There are fragments and images teasing me, but I can’t recall a complete scene.
    Unfortunately, Micah gets a glimpse of my wrist when I rub my eyes.
    “What was that?”
    “A client.”
    Micah frowns. “Let me give you something.” He means his blood. He is one of a few vampires, like Finn, whose blood is beneficial to humans. It’s a quality that more and more vampires are starting to have; at least, that’s Finn’s theory.
    I stop Micah. “Don’t. It would kind of ruin what I did last night.”
    “You only need a little,” he starts.
    I wrap my hands around both his wrists. “You don’t get to be the victim and the hero. Not in the same day, anyway.”
    “Way to cheer me up, doc.” He gives me a wry smile. “At least let me wrap it.”
    Before I can say anything, he disappears and reappears with some gauze. We