Sleepless by Cyn Balog Read Free Book Online

explain, “you could have warned Vicki in her dreams that danger was near, so that she would awaken and put out the cigarette herself. Do you understand?”
    He doesn’t speak, just lets out a grand puff of air that blows the mop of hair out of his eyes.
    “All right,” I say. “Julia’s next. But I often come back to Vicki’s home two or three times during the night, just to make sure she hasn’t walked off.”
    He eyes the woman in disgust. “Wow. You should just let the old bag walk out into traffic.”
    I glare at him, hoping he’s joking. He doesn’t flinch under the weight of my stare, so I say, “That is not funny. Only an Original, like Chimere, is allowed to seduce a human to her death. You are, in essence, to care for your charges as you care for yourself. Protect them. You must never even talk—”
    “Jeez. I was kidding,” he groans. “You people need to lighten up.”
    “If Chimere hears you talking like that, she’ll never let you assume this role.”
    He snorts. “There’s a fate worse than death.”
    “There’s worse. They can put you in the Last Place.”
    He laughs. “Are you telling me they rank us? If I come in last place, do I still get some lovely parting gifts?”
    “The Last Place,” I repeat. “It’s like purgatory for the most depraved Sleepbringers, the ones who fail miserably at their duties. A prison.”
    He snorts. “I practically owned the detention room at school. I bet they already erected a memorial to me there.”
    “It’s not something to laugh about. Every day there will seem like an eternity.”
    He smiles slyly, as if to say, What would you know about it, old man? Hopeless. I don’t bother to continue my warning.
    We step outside. “You’ll come to realize that you crave theseduction the way humans crave sleep. You won’t be able to avoid it.” In the moonlight, I study him. He does look rather haggard, his eyes sunken. “You’ll need to seduce soon.”
    Somewhere in the garden, a cat meows. “I thought you said I had to wait. That I was too much of a newbie or something.”
    “You are, but you’ll have no ability to concentrate on your studies unless your mind is sharp and clear. And for that, you’ll need to perform a seduction.”
    His eyes brighten and he rocks back and forth on his branch. “Bam-chicka-bam-bam. Yeah, baby. Lead the way. You said Julia’s next?”
    “No, I never said you’d be seducing Julia,” I say. At that moment, that cat appears, rounding the corner of Vicki’s house. It’s yellow and fat, and unlike a human, it can sense us. It purrs, warming to us immediately. Animals love us. I take it as serendipity that this feline is here at this exact time. “I said you’d have to perform a seduction, but you are too new to perform it on a human.”
    He studies me, then the cat, and his jaw locks. “No friggin’ way.”
    “We cannot continue if you don’t.” I stroke the cat’s soft fur. “And cats are easier. It’s a nice starting point.”
    “I am not. Freaking. Getting with. A cat,” he says, curling his lips in disgust.
    “As I said, you are thinking about it like a human. Remember, you are no longer human.”
    He eyes the animal and frowns. I have to say, it’s quite satisfying.

CHAPTER 7
Julia
    G riffin was the only customer I ever had who ordered item number 1.26 on Sweetie Pi’s menu. Number 1.26 is an egg cream, a drink made with chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer. It is gross. I’m just thinking about how my egg cream—making skills will seriously suffer without him when a gaggle of senior girls line up outside the stand, studying the menu. They’re all holding shopping bags from Forever 21 and Hollister and smacking their lips. Since I’ve worked at this stand in the food court since freshman year, pre-Griffin, I have a knack for predicting what certain customers will order. Judging by their waistlines, I can tell that these girls are fat-free vanilla yogurt in a kiddie-size cake cone all the