Izzy hissed at the sting of the knife slicing a thin line across her palm, instead of her grabbing him. She pulled back instinctively, and took a step away as Holden realized what had happened.
	Mission accomplished, she held out her uninjured hand toward Holden to interrupt him, the injured one held with the wound toward him for him to see as the sting of the wound faded as quickly as it had come. “Shut up and watch!”
	She observed his expression intently as the small wound healed in the fashion she had grown used to seeing. Her gaze shifted only when he dropped his knife, her eyes following it before quickly looking back to Holden.
	She offered a small, almost smug smile. “Told you I know what it's like.”
	Izzy’s eyes widened for a second in surprise and she staggered back a step when he unexpectedly fell to the floor.
	Once he managed to get most of his unfinished question out, she shrugged her backpack from her shoulders and sat on the floor in front of him, placing the bag beside her.
	“Did you hear the rumor that circulated just before summer break about a vampire lurking about?” She crossed her legs beneath her, and did not wait for him to answer before continuing. “Well, it wasn’t a rumor.” She paused, thinking for a short moment on how much she wanted to tell him, and how she should say it. “And I ended up smack-dab in the middle of a mess it created. Someone helped me out of it,” [i]Multiple someones, really,[/i] she added silently, “but it still left a couple side effects behind.” She flexed her hand, rubbing her fingers over the healed flesh of her palm. “It’s that someone I think could help [i]you.[/i] If you’ll just trust me for a couple hours or so.”

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	Though with no small amount of persuasion, Izzy was glad when she managed to talk Holden into coming with her to see Riley. Even though it meant he would have to ride on the back of her bike. At least he did not weigh much, so it took little extra effort to get them both to the abandoned school. At first, she worried he might not be capable of staying on, but his unrelenting complaining soon made her have to use every ounce of her willpower to keep from pushing him [i]off[/i] the bike.
	When they finally neared the abandoned school, she did not think she had ever been more relieved to see it. Its presence even put a pause in Holden’s complaints.
	She sniggered at the idea of ‘cute’ describing Riley. “[i]I[/i] wouldn’t say cute, but [i]he[/i] seems to think so," she began lightheartedly. “Kitschy sounds about right, though.”
	She brought the bike to a halt near the chained front doors of the school and waited for Holden to hop off before dismounting. She kicked out the kickstand of the bike and leaned it against it before turning to Holden, blocking his direct path to the school. She looked him over contemplatively.
	“Do me a favor and turn out your pockets.” She crossed her arms. “The last thing I need is you threatening Riley with another pocket knife or something. I doubt that’d end well for any of us.”