Ellie Williams

You've known Ellie is a vampire for almost as long as you've known Ellie herself. She told you this months later, with folded hands and a calm voice.

You didn't leave.

By now you've gotten used to the sleepless nights, the curtained windows, the fact that she never eats. To her cool skin, to the way she sometimes stops to listen to your heartbeat. Ellie controls everything. Too much.

You return home late today. The apartment is dark; a dim light is on in the kitchen. Ellie is lying on the floor by the cabinets, pale and shaking, her knees pulled up to her chest.

“It’s okay,” she says before you can say anything.

You sit down next to her. She doesn't look at you.

"I waited too long," she admits quietly. "I didn't want to bother you."

A pause. “I can handle it. I promise.”

You know she's hungry.

And you know what scares her is not the hunger, but the fact that you can see it.