You Were What You Eat

38. What Carmine Knows

The girls sat on the floor of Anna's living room, each with a steaming cup of hot chocolate in front of them. Despite all that had happened, and the fact that it was almost 2:30 in the morning, none of the three felt the least bit sleepy. Anna wasn't surprised - how could you kill, not one, but two vampires and then go home and fall asleep?

The walk back to Anna's had been long and slow. All three where physically exhausted from their brush with death, and none felt like putting in the effort it would take for a conversation. Still, Anna could tell that something had been bothering Carmine. Ever since they'd left the park, she'd had a troubled look on her face. Even after they'd reached the warm light of Anna's apartment, Carmine remained preoccupied. It wasn't until they'd been seated comfortably in the living room for several minutes that Carmine finally spoke up.

"Can I ask you guys something?" she said slowly, staring down intently at her mug.

"Sure," Anna said, smiling warmly at her friend. After all, Carmine had just helped Anna get rid of two vampires; answering a question was the least she could do. Carmine still stared down at her marshmallows swirling around, never looking up. Nervously, she pulled a strand of hair out from behind her ear and tucked it back again. Finally, Carmine took a deep breath.

"I was just thinking...about everything that's happened, you know? And there's some things that just don't add up."

"What do you mean?" Anna asked. Now, it was she who was starting to get nervous.

"Well...like how you knew that vampires have reflections. I thought you were wrong, but you're not. When I was looking for that stake, I found one of the mirrors that was still in the backpack. And I saw Freddy's - Fredrick's - reflection in it." Carmine shuddered, remembering the scene.

Anna was starting to feel lightheaded with worry. She looked to Mia for help, but Mia was steadfastly avoiding eye contact. Anna thought Mia must be as worried as she was, until she saw the rather sheepish grin on Mia's face, and the repentant look as her eyes quickly met Anna's. The realization was so sudden, and Anna's nerves were so high, that she almost laughed out loud; Mia, obviously deciding that the mirrors were a stupid idea, had placed hers back in the backpack before they left for the park.

"Anna?" Carmine asked, and Anna realized that she'd stopped paying attention to whatever Carmine was saying.

"I'm sorry." she replied. "What was that?"

"How did you know he would have a reflection?"

"Well...I..." Anna started lamely. The question had caught her off guard, and she had no believable answer. With Anna still stammering, Carmine continued on; evidently Anna's lack of response was all she needed.

"Both of you knew weird things like that, actually. Things you really shouldn't have been able to know. It was odd, but that's not what's been bugging me. I was thinking about what Fredrick said to you tonight. Remember? When we first saw him?"

Anna's mind flashed quickly back to what seemed to have been weeks ago. She remembered him making fun of her friends, but what did he say to her? She'd been more focused on finding something to attack him with than on what he'd been saying. It was just on the tip of her tongue, but Carmine continued on without waiting.

"He said he meant to kill you before. That he meant to. He knew you, didn't he? And not from school, either."

Anna just stared with eyes wide, mouth open. Her mind froze, not believing what she was hearing. Her ears burned, and her thoughts turned automatically to escape plans. Most of her possessions were in storage still; she could leave tonight and be back for them later, and-

Then, as Anna sat there, unmoving, she saw Carmine's hand nervously go up to pull that strand of hair back behind her ear again. That little motion brought Anna back to reality. She stared intently at Carmine. And Anna saw, just for a moment, a slight twitch of Carmine's lip - Carmine was nervous too. But Carmine put on a big I'm-not-afraid smile and continued.

"You're one too, aren't you? A vampire." Then she turned and faced Mia. "You too. Both of you are, aren't you?"

"What?" Mia exclaimed, in what Anna thought was a very impressive display of righteous indignation. "What are you saying?"

It was incredibly convincing, but Anna could see that Carmine wasn't buying it.

"What I'm saying," Carmine said, much more calmly than Anna would have thought possible, "Is that the two people I trust more than anyone else in the world are vampires. It's true, isn't it?"

This last statement was leveled directly at Anna. Mia had proven herself time after time to be a great liar. But Anna, as Carmine was fond of pointing out, was one of the worst liars she'd ever seen. And Anna, true to form, folded under the pressure.

"Well...yes." Anna said quietly, suddenly unable to look at Carmine. What else could she say? "I'm sorry..."

"Anna!" Mia hissed reprehensively. But when Anna looked up, she saw Mia was looking even more guilty than Anna felt. Carmine stared at each of them for a minute or two before finally replying.

"I want you to know...that I'm ok with it."

"What?" Mia said again, but with confusion this time. "You're ok with it? Really?"

"I am." Carmine said with a nod that let them know without any doubts, she was telling the truth.

"But...how can you be ok with it?" Anna asked.

"Well," Carmine told her, "I've been thinking about it. And I guess vampires are just like everybody else - some are good and some aren't."

***

For the first night in as long as she could remember, Anna slept peacefully.

In the morning, she walked carefully out of the bedroom and into the living room. Mia was lying on the couch, her arm dangling off the side, fingertips brushing the carpet below. Carmine had taken the pillows from the back of the couch and laid them in a row on the ground, forming a small mattress of sorts for herself. Anna approached Carmine and her self-made mattress, noticing she was in almost the exact same position she'd fallen asleep in, except for the strands of hair that had draped themselves across her face.

Carefully, Anna threaded her way between Carmine and a wingback chair and made her way to the beautiful bay window on the far side of the room. Light streamed out around the curtains, giving them an almost angelic appearance. Clearly the sun was out, but Anna pulled the curtains back anyway; she wanted to see for herself what kind of day it would be.

Throwing the curtains wide, Anna looked up into the pure blue sky and smiled. A few wisps of cloud floated by here and there, and birds were already chirping cheerily.

Behind her, Anna could hear Mia's groans of protest and Carmine sleepily mumbling "Light - too much light," as she turned over and planted her face in the cushions. Anna just laughed as she looked back at them. After all, she knew for the first time in her life that today was going to be a perfect day.