Amanda Hocking - Wisdom

Bobby had locked the door behind him to keep out Daisy out, but that didnt help us rescue him. Milo got to the door first and tore into it.

Bobby kept screaming, and Milo dove through the hole before it was big enough.

He sliced open his side pretty bad, but he wouldnt have noticed at al if it wasnt for Daisy. The scent of blood made her even crazier.

I reached through the hole and unlocked the door, deciding that seemed faster.

Bobby stood on the bed with his back pressed against the wal . A nasty bite on his arm dripped blood al over the sheets, but he just stared wide eyed at Milo wrestling with Daisy.

When she wasnt crazy with thirst, she was an adorable little girl with chubby cheeks and downy blond curls. But when she gnashed her teeth, trying to get at the blood running out of Milos side, she looked evil.

Her face contorted with a deep snarl. Her lips pul ed back, revealing her sharp teeth, unnatural y large for a child. Her eyes blazed, and she moved like lightening.

Milo couldnt move fast enough, and she kept biting him as he tried to pin her down.

When she bit him, she wasnt even trying to drink his blood. She just snarled and snapped at anything like a crazed animal.

I pushed Milo out of the way, and Daisy was instantly on her feet. I wrapped my arms around her before she could dive at Bobby, who stil seemed to be her main target.

The way she wriggled made it impossible to hold her in my arms. She turned her head and nearly bit my shoulder, but I grabbed a clump of her hair on the back of her head.

She twisted around, pul ing out chunks of her hair, and I had to take more drastic measures. I slammed her head down onto the floor, pressing her face to the hard wood, and I knelt on her back.

I felt guilty about it because this was a five-year-old kid I was fighting, but it felt a lot more like pinning down a piranha.

Are you okay? Milo jumped onto the bed with Bobby, but other than being freaked out, Bobby looked alright.

Daisy kept trying to bite me and clawed at the floor. Her pudgy little fingers bled, but she didnt notice.

Abruptly, she stopped. She lay perfectly stil and silent, just long enough for me to think that I had kil ed her, and then she started crying. Not like a whiny brat that didnt get their way, but like a scared little kid that had gotten hurt.

I looked to Milo for help, unsure if I should get off her and risk her attacking again.

Within seconds of Daisy crying, Mae appeared in the bedroom.

What the hel are you doing? Mae shouted and pushed me off Daisy. It was much harder than she needed to, and I went flying into the wal , cracking my skul on the plaster.

Mae scooped Daisy up off the floor, and she had gone back to looking like an ordinary little girl. She hung limp in Maes arms, big wet tears running down her face as she sobbed. Her curls were sticking to damp cheeks, and her fingers hadnt healed yet.

That little monster tried to eat me! Bobby said. He held his arm up to slow the bleeding, and Milo stood in front of him on the bed.

I dont care what she was doing! Mae held Daisy fiercely to her. Tears stood in Maes eyes, and she glared at us. She is just a child!

She is not just a child, I said. She nearly kil ed us al !

Oh, shes just hungry. Mae brushed it off. And Bobby is a human. Shes not used to being around them.

I dont care what shes used to being around! I shouted. What would you have done if she kil ed Bobby? Or if she kil s somebody else? Mae shook her head, unwil ing to look at me.

Im going to go feed her. Thats al Mae said on the subject, then turned and carried Daisy out of the room.

That was so ridiculous, I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

Milo inspected the wound on Bobbys arm, but despite the blood, it was fairly shal ow. The intoxicating, sweet scent of him fil ed room, and my stomach rumbled.

It had been months since Id bitten Bobby, but often times when I was hungry, I found myself craving him. I hungered for Bobbys blood more than any other human. Standing this close to him, smel ing him, reminded me that it had been over a week since I had eaten.

Milo had not taken it wel when I bit Bobby before. Sharing a human with another vampire is unsettling. For weeks afterward, hed fol owed me around like a puppy, causing many a fight between the three of us. Biting intensifies the feelings you already for each other. Eventual y it faded, but even now, I felt protective of Bobby.

As Milo looked over Bobbys wounds, he wrinkled his nose in disgust, smel ing Daisy on the bite.

You need to get it washed up and put a Band-Aid on, Milo said, dropping Bobbys arm.

Alright. Bobby climbed down off the bed. He looked down at his pants, splattered with droplets of blood, and sighed. Im gonna have to throw these pants out! Dammit! I loved these pants.

Bobby took the whole getting attacked by a vampire thing pretty wel , but he actual y had more experience with them than either Milo or me. He got involved with them when he was eighteen, so he had two more years dealing with this than we did.

He went into the bathroom to get cleaned up, and I looked back at Milo. Mae has completely lost her mind, I said in a hushed voice, but Milo didnt say anything. You cant tel me youre on her side.

He hopped off the bed and wiped off the blood on his side. Using the mirror hanging on the wal , he studied his wounds, and some wouldve been serious if he wasnt a vampire. The bite marks on his shoulders and arms were nearly healed already.

Im not on anybodys side, Milo said at length.

Daisy almost kil ed your boyfriend, I said. Milo turned back to look at me, meeting my eyes evenly.

So did you.

Thats different. I shook my head. I was dying. Shes an out of control child.

Maybe, Milo admitted. But what are we gonna do about it? You want me to go kil her?

I didnt know what I wanted him to do, but Daisy clearly wasnt safe. This was the first time anything like this had happened since wed been here, but she was crazier than any vampire Id seen.

I didnt have a good answer, and Milo didnt want to talk about it. I went back to my room to sulk, since there wasnt anything better to do. Peter came up a little while later to fix the bedroom door, and he warned us that Bobby shouldnt be left alone anymore.

I was mad at Mae, so I wanted to spend a long time hiding out in my room. Then I realized that she was mad at me, so hiding would probably please her. To spite her, I decided to get up.

When I got down stairs, Daisy sat in the dining room. Coloring books and crayons were spread out al over the round table. Her hair had been tied up with a ribbon, and she had changed into a fril y pink and white sundress.

Her fingers healed up completely, making it possible for her to hold the crayons as she colored. She sang Across the Universe in an angelical y perfect voice, and Im sure that her Beatles repertoire was al Maes influence.

It wasnt that I didnt understand where Mae was coming from. Daisy had been terminal y il , and if Mae hadnt turned her, she wouldve died. Daisy was her great-grandchild, and she was an adorable, sweet girl when she wasnt a terrifying demon from hel . She was just much too young to have any impulse control, and she was going to be stuck looking like a perfect five-year-old for the rest of her life.

Hi, Alice, Daisy chirped. She kept coloring and didnt look up at me, but shed stopped singing. Under the table, I could see her legs swinging back and forth.

Hey, I said stiffly. I wasnt the best at interacting with children, especial y sometimes monstrous ones. Where is Mae?

Hanging up laundry on the clothes line. She said I could stay inside if I promised not to go anywhere, Daisy informed me.

Mae had left her completely unsupervised a few hours after shed nearly kil ed us.