03:01

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Parker left us standing there.

"Are you bleeding?" I asked.

"No," Nate answered.

"Yeah!" Courtney wiped her hand over his bicep and held up her blood-covered fingers, "I'll get the kit."

I tossed her my keys.

I assessed the situation while we waited for her.

Luckily it was just a scratch this time.

I still wrapped it in gauze hoping that would at least dilute the smell for Parker.

Nate glanced down at his bandaged arm, he gave me a weird look when he saw the band-aid holding together the gauze.

"Thomas the tank engine?"

"They were fifty cents cheaper, and two thousand dollars cheaper than the ER."

"Fair." Nate readjusted his sleeve.

"Question," Aaron said as he tried to brush the ash out of his hair with his fingers, "Can we get waffles now?"

I chuckled to myself. How this became our ritual was beyond me, but it was the only reasonable place to eat at 3 in the morning.

***

A tired waitress led us to a table in the empty diner.

"Okay," I pulled out my notebook when we sat down.

Parker groaned, "No, not the hunt review!"

"Yes, the hunt debrief! Things have to be organized, thoughts, plans, areas, everything."

Parker threw his head back and rolled his eyes.

I checked my watch, "It's 3:22 September second," I clicked my pen, "How do we feel?"

"Horny," Parker blurted out, being as helpful as always.

"Hungry," Nate added on.

Aaron nodded, "I second that."

"Triple," Courtney gestured with the straw she was chewing on, "And a little bit of what Park said."

"Fine, we'll do this later." I closed my notebook and nodded toward Parker, "How are you feeling?"

He shifted when he realized we were all looking at him, he tugged the sleeves on his hoodie over his hands, "Fine?"

"Fine?"

"Yeah, fine. What do you want me to say?"

I sighed, I already knew how this was going to go and he wasn't going to be happy.

"You're hungry," I stated carefully.

He scoffed, "I'm not, I'm fine."

"Nate wasn't bleeding that much."

Parker shrugged, "I have a better sense of smell," he gestured to my notebook, "Your science."

"Parker, your eyes changed."

He went to say something, but he stayed quiet for a minute, "I know what you're going to say."

"And I know you're not going to like it, but it's been four months and you're getting sick."

"I'm not getting sick,"

"You passed out yesterday," I said, exasperation in my voice.

"I was drunk!"

I took a deep breath, "I know you don't like the idea of drinking blood," the waitress approached our table, but quickly turned around.

"Nice one." Courtney nudged me.

I sighed, "I understand, but you still need to eat. You're slowing down, you're not healing as fast, your fangs keep popping in and out, and now your eyes are changing. I'm not saying you have to bite someone. We have options."

"You could order a steak." Courtney offered.

"It's not that easy," Parker leaned against the table, his hand supporting his head, "I've been vegan since I was twelve! Any "option" is going to make me hurl. And besides! Who's to say I'll even stop with steak? How long is it until that's not enough and I'm outta control?"

"How long until you're so hungry you go completely out of control?"

He sat back on his side of the booth. He didn't say anything.

"We're not going to let you do anything, you've never had a problem before."

"Because Courtney duct-taped me to a chair!"

Court shrugged while playing with the wrapper to her straw, "I'll do it again."

"I'm not going to let you starve yourself, so just think about how you want to go about this."

Parker half smirked, "Is that a threat, Conner Stephens?"

"Wouldn't be the first, won't be the last."

He crossed his arms, "You're so bossy. It's hot."

I rolled my eyes.

The waitress hovered a few tables away, making sure a normal conversation was happening before she approached, "Hi, what can I get you guys?"

"Uh, question about the double cheeseburger," Nate answered first, "How much meat is that?"

"About half a pound."

"It juicy?"

"I'd say."

"Perfect, lemme get that with bacon. And can it be rare? Like still bleeding when I bite into it rare?"

Parker shot him a look and tried his hardest not to gag.

"Um sure."

"And like whatever blood comes outta it on the grill, can you put it in a cup so I can dip my fries in it?"

That was it, Parker had to climb over Aaron and run to the bathroom.

Nate laughed, handing the menu back to the girl, "I'm just kidding, gimme a tall stack."

"You're an ass." I reminded him.

He just shrugged.