“I just don’t know very much about you.” I took the book from him, and I lowered my eyes and held it close to me.

“We haven’t been as forthcoming as you’d like?” Ezra raised an eyebrow, and I wasn’t sure if he was being skeptical or sincere.

“No, it’s not that,” I corrected myself quickly. “It’s just…”

What was it exactly? They had been incredibly open with me. When I had questions, Jack answered them to the best of his ability, but somehow, that wasn’t enough. As much as I knew, it seemed liked there was twice as much that I didn’t know.

“It’s because it’s personal now,” Ezra nodded knowingly. “Before, we were merely a curiosity to you, or an opportunity.”

“No, no!” I interrupted him forcefully. “You’re not some sideshow to me.”

“No, I know that. It was a poor choice of words on my part,” Ezra said, calming me. “I know how much you care for us.

“But… you’d always known us as this, and whether you understood us completely was irrelevant,” he continued. “You saw that we were happy and well. But now that it’s struck Milo, it’s not enough to know that we’re content. You need to understand everything about us.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “So?”

“So… you want me to tell you everything,” he smiled sadly.

“Yeah, kinda.”

“I have bad news,” he exhaled. “There’s not much more to tell.”

“How can there not be much to tell?” My voice quavered with incredulity. “You’re telling me that the little bit you’ve confessed to me in the past few months covers the entire history of your species?”

“No, of course not,” he laughed at my fervor. “We have an extensive history, and that book you’re holding right now is a very good source of a lot of it. But it’s much like any other history book you’ve read. You’d be more interested in a biology book.”

“Is there one?” I asked hopefully.

“There are a few,” Ezra shrugged as if none of them were that good. “Peter has some, I’m sure.

“But there are many problems with a biology book about vampires. Autopsies are impossible,” he went on. “Whatever kills a vampire tends to destroy everything inside him, making it impossible to dissect it all and see how it differs from a human. But that’s only half the problem.”

“What’s the other half of the problem?”

“Have you heard about the bumblebee?” Ezra leaned back against the end of the Peter’s four-post bed, crossing his feet over his ankles.

“What are you talking about?” I shook my head, confused by the abrupt subject change.

“According to an aerodynamic study done in the early 20th century, the bumblebee can’t possibly fly,” Ezra explained. “Its wings are much too small and can’t beat fast enough to carry the weight of its body.”

“What?” I furrowed my brow and decided it must be a riddle. “So… What? How do they get around then?”

“They fly, of course,” he smiled at me.

“But you just said…” I sighed and shook my head. “What does this have to do with vampire biology?”

“Nothing.” Ezra shrugged. “The bumblebee existed despite scientific evidence to the contrary, much like myself. Eventually, scientists figured out they were looking at the wings wrong and discovered the magic in the flight of the bumblebee.

“Unfortunately, science has yet to figure out the magic of us,” Ezra finished, looking apologetic.

“So you’re saying that nobody knows the answers to my questions?” I asked.

“Yes and no.” He stood up. “You’ll find some things, but it won’t be enough. You look through Peter’s books and see if you can come across anything that might help you feel better.”

“Thanks,” I said.

With that, Ezra nodded at me and strode out of the room. I sighed and listened for his departing footsteps, but there were none. The only thing I could hear was music wafting from Milo’s room that sounded like Mozart.

I settled back in the chair and opened the book where I had left off. As I read on, I found that the faded italics offered little in what I wanted, just as Ezra predicted.

It was interesting though, telling the story of the unnamed author and his transformation into a vampire. He described it as excruciating, but in the end, very brief and hard to define. There was just pain, and then an unquenchable thirst.

The only new information was that some vampires turned more than others. While most retained a sense of their humanity, some of them lost it entirely. They were crazed bloodthirsty monsters, and they didn’t live very long because humans and vampires couldn’t stomach a creature like that.

I had just finished reading that passage when I heard a disgusted scoff at the door, frightening me so much I yelped. I half-expected to find Milo standing there, with shiny new fangs and that animal look in his eyes the book described.

Instead, it was just Jack, standing in the doorway and frowning darkly at me.

“You scared me!” I pointed out in an attempt to alleviate his glare.

“What are you doing in Peter’s room?” He fought to keep the edge off his voice, but he did a poor job. The last time I’d been in this room, I’d almost died, and he strained to keep his eyes from my dried blood on the rug.