“I did climb in your window,” Peter says as Tex kisses me desperately.
Ava and Peter are still talking behind us, but their voices are just white noise now. I break the kiss with Tex, even though I don’t want to, because I have to tell her something.
“I love you,” I say and she dives for my lips again, before putting her mouth to my ear. “I’m so sorry I didn’t say it until now.”
“I love you, Viktor Belikov. You sexy, sexy werewolf.”
Thirty
Ava
After the disaster (or at least the current disaster) with Tex is mended, we sit and talk about what our next move is in the Coby Situation. I think I’m up to Thing Seven at this point in my life. I should probably stop counting the Things.
“Speaking of that,” I say, bringing up the fact that Tex’s mom called my dad and I’m busted about my fake job.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I should have texted you, but I was a little indisposed being an emotional wreck after breaking up with this guy,” Tex says and Viktor tightens his arms around her as she sits in his lap. I thought they were going to find a private place for a quickie, but they agree to go back to the cemetery with us instead.
“It’s not a big deal, it was bound to happen. Speaking of Coby, have you talked to him today?” Tex had to relax her rule about two immortals being with him at all times, since no one but Rob can stay with him at all times. It means I can spend more time with Dad, which is a good thing. I also have a Skype date with Aj tonight.
“He’s good. I guess they’ve been sunning, so that’s good. I just wish it didn’t take so long to drive there. See, if this were a movie, we’d find an old house that just happened to have a basement with vampire-proof doors.”
No one bothers to point out that we’re not vampires in the traditional sense.
“I should probably get going. I have to go make an appearance at home and see if there are any developments. Last time I checked, Mom and Dad were trying to get together reward money. There goes my college fund,” she says, rolling her eyes. “V, could you somehow pretend and then claim the money? It wouldn’t technically be stealing . . .”
“Your moral compass is a little screwy, I think Tex,” I say and she sticks her tongue out at me. Real mature.
“You mind if I go home early and ‘have dinner’ with Dad?” I say to Peter. He seems content to follow me around, but he says he’ll go flying for a while and I smile and give him a quick kiss.
The house is quiet when I get home, so I do some cleaning and start making an elaborate dinner. I’ve been a sucky daughter lately.
By the time Dad gets home, the house is spotless and there’s a three-course meal ready to be set out on the fully set dining room table.
“You’re home,” he says, and the surprise in his voice makes me sad. He shouldn’t be surprised when I’m home.
“Of course. I wanted to spend some time with you. I made dinner.” Of course, I’ve purposefully made a meal of things I wouldn’t eat even if I still ate.
“Spaghetti with meatballs? So I guess this means you’re not eating with me again.”
“Yeah, my, uh diet. I already ate.” I don’t even know why I say it because I should just record it, make a record and then break it because I’ve said it so many times. He just nods and sets his briefcase down before going to wash his hands.
We have a quiet dinner and I pretend to sip a glass of water and chat about this and that before I have my Skype date with Aj. She’s over the moon about some new torture device she found at a yard sale, so she goes on and on and even shows it to me. It’s a nearly perfect human evening, and if Mom were here, it would be like going back two years in time.
But she’s not, and all I have are her letters. Still, some people don’t even have that.
Tex
“Remind me to never, ever, like ever, break up with you again,” I say as Viktor and I cuddle in my bed.
“I will remind you. Often.” He doesn’t seem to want to let me go, and I kind of like him being clingy like this. I don’t want to let him go, but I’ve been holding onto a present for him, and this feels like the perfect time for it. Seeing as how I don’t think my body can handle any more makeup sex.
“Let me go for a minute?” He reluctantly unfolds his arms, and I walk to my closet and reach in the back for the book I’d found weeks ago and had secretly purchased and had sent to the bookstore. It’s not easy to pull one over on a noctalis.
“What is that?” I smile because he really doesn’t know what it is. Of course, I had to wrap the thing in paper covered in glitter and throw a fabulous bow on it.
“Just a little something that I thought was appropriate. Open it.”
“I’m not sure I want to. You clearly went all out on the wrapping.” He gives me one of his charming smiles and I make a note to buy him presents more often. He slowly unwraps the book and turns it over. The title is in Russian.
“It’s a bunch of stories, and I did the math and most of them are from when you would have been a kid.” I watch him open the front cover and stroke the pages. It’s in remarkable condition for a book that’s so old.
“My mother used to tell me these stories,” he says, so quiet that I wouldn’t have heard it if I didn’t have such good hearing.
“She did?” I hadn’t known about that.
“She did.” He looks up from the book, and I let myself fall into his eyes for a moment. Then he reaches out and gathers me into his arms again and says a bunch of things in Russian that I don’t understand, but I’m pretty sure they mean that he loves the book.
“I love you, too,” I say when he’s done. “Will you read to me?”
Ava
When we get to what I’m now calling the Noctalis Inn (at least in my head, and thus in Peter’s head), Coby, Rob and Brooke are in the yard sunbathing, but they’ve rigged the television to work outside with a series of cords and are watching the news.
“Have you heard? I’m famous,” Coby says as the lead story of the news pops up with a picture of his face. It’s a school picture and he looks every bit the surly emo kid that would run away. The story is brief, with little information, but they do mention the reward money, even though they didn’t have a specific amount yet.
“How much do you think they’ll get?” Coby says, grinning up at us as if he’s going to be the one getting the money.
“You’re such an idiot,” Brooke says, smacking his arm as we sit down on the ground next to them and strip down to our bathing suits.
“What? I think it’s kind of cool that people care. And maybe we could find some way to get the money and then we’d be all set and we could go anywhere.” Like brother, like sister.
“No one cared when I went missing,” Rob says, adding nothing to the conversation. Um, why is he still here?
“Do you guys mind giving me a little break? I really miss Jamie,” Brooke says, getting up and putting her shorts back on and letting her wings out. Not going to lie, I love mine but hers are so damn pretty.
“Sure, tell him we said hi.” She says she will and then floats into the sky like a fairy.
Poor Jamie is the odd man out, because he has to be home to take care of Cassie, who’s getting more pregnant by the day and has been having a few complications.
He’s going to come up during the day on the weekends, though, which he’s happy about, and we can Skype or call him a lot and put him on speakerphone.
“Is the whole town looking for me?” Coby says, interrupting my thoughts.
“I don’t know, we sort of avoided that whole thing. I didn’t want to not look sad enough if someone said something to me, seeing as how I can’t cry and all.”
“It looked like a lot of people,” he says. “I’m just saying. People care.”
“Yeah, they do.” He hadn’t seen the hell his sister had gone through this morning, and I’m about to call him on it, but Peter mentally tells me not to. I give him a look, but he pushes harder. And then Coby beats me to it.
/>
“I heard Tex and Viktor fighting last night. It’s kind if hard not to when I can pretty much hear everything now.”
“They’re back together,” I say, but don’t give him details. He nods and changes the television channel.
“Do you think we could go eat? I promise I’ll be good.” Yeah, he probably said that the last time. I’m about to say “Hell no,” but Peter beats me to it.
“We will take you, but you will follow the rules. Understand?” Coby nods eagerly. He’d never had an older brother, and his relationship with his father was strained, so it was probably pretty cool for him to have all these big bad immortal guys looking after him now. This was more of a family than he’d ever had. Maybe that was why he was so happy.
~^*^~
I’m not into this little ‘grocery run’, but I don’t exactly have a choice. Tex would find some way to murder me, or at least cause me intense pain if I let just Peter and Coby go. And Rob, but he doesn’t count.
So I have to tag along for Bloodfest. Or hopefully it won’t be Bloodfest. Tex would kill me for that, too.
“So where are we going?” Coby is like a little kid who’s being taken to the candy store. He’s almost bouncing up and down.
“Simmer down,” I say, putting my hand on his shoulder. We’re going to have to run with Coby so he doesn’t go crazy and kill a mall full of people or something.
“I thought we could go to Canada. Somewhere rural. Even more rural than this. Hopefully, that will help you stay focused.”
Coby looks at Peter and his expression almost makes me want to laugh. Awe. Complete awe.
I roll my eyes at Peter behind Coby’s back and he gives me a blink in return.
~^*^~
“My God, I think we’re going to have to start giving out stars,” I say a few hours later when we’re back at the house. Coby was actually able to feed without killing. The only kink in the whole thing is Rob. He doesn’t see the point in not killing people.
Yeah, I really don’t like this guy.
“It makes more sense to kill them. Because if they’re alive, they remember. So what’s the point of keeping them alive?” He asks me this with a completely straight face.
“Because killing people is wrong. And those people belong to other people. They have families. And their purpose isn’t to serve us. So shut your face and go away if you don’t like it.” I give him my best immortal glare and he raises his hands again in surrender. Coby’s too busy with Peter not killing the dude he’s feeding on, so I don’t think he hears it, but still.
Coby’s almost giddy, and that’s an expression I’ve never seen on Cobalt Hamilton before. He lets out a whoop and vaults into a tree and then back down. Rob follows him, laughing like the kid he sometimes looks like. Their enthusiasm is catching and I smack Peter in the back.
“Tag, you’re it!” I know he’s faster than I am, but I sprint ahead and hear him right behind me.
“Nice try, my Ava,” I hear before I’m knocked to the ground so hard it would have crushed my spine. He’s straddling me, a goofy grin on his face. Wow, that wasn’t one we practiced.
“Hey, sexy smile man. Where have you been?” The smile drops.
“I’ve been working on that one in secret. Do you like it?”
“Let’s just say if Coby and Rob weren’t here, we’d be making another one of those holes, but I’d be the one pounding you into it.” That makes the smile reappear and it’s a good thing he gets off me, because he is nearly impossible to resist like that.
“Gross,” Coby says from the top of another tree. Rob laughs and knocks him out of the tree and then they’re off again.
“Hey, cover your ears if you don’t like it,” I say as Peter takes my hand to help me up, even though I don’t need it. Chivalry dies hard, to mangle a few quotes together.
“You shouldn’t be talking about that stuff in front of me anyway. It’s not exactly appropriate.” He smirks, and I race up the tree and push him so he falls out of it, laughing.
The amount of times I’ve roughhoused with Coby can be counted on no hands because it’s never happened.
“You’re the one who keeps saying fuck,” I say, dropping down beside him and giving him another shove.
“You can’t get mad at me for saying fuck when you just said fuck.”
Oh that is it.
I tackle him to the ground and we end up rolling around and shoving dirt in each other’s faces. Peter watches with an amused face, as if he’s waiting for us to grow up. What, like he didn’t have any fun when he was young? Rob just laughs and lets us go at it.
I end up shoving a fistful of dirt in Coby’s mouth and asking if he gives up until he nods and spits out the dirt.
“I’m going to get you for that.”
“Looking forward to it, Cobes.” I also hadn’t called him that since he was young enough to wear dinosaur pajamas.
He is happier now, lighter. Like this is how he should have been, but something kept him down. Now he’s like a balloon, floating free into the sky, a trail of bodies in his wake.
Not exactly free.
Peter
Coby spends the rest of the day teaching Ava and me the finer points of World of Warcraft on one of the several computers that Viktor had installed. Rob stands and watches, giving tips here and there.
“I used to sneak into houses and play it. Then I’d sit back and watch them log in and get completely confused. It was the best.”
The more time I spend with Rob, the more I see that he craves contact with others. After being mostly alone for forty or so years, he somehow found us. It is unusual, but not unheard of. After all, we seem to be able to stay in a group without too much tension, but perhaps it is because we are more in touch with our human sides. Most of us tend to let go of our humanity because it’s too hard to keep it. Too much work.
Brooke arrives just as it gets dark, with Jamie’s smell all over her and a contented smile on her face.
“Did you have a good time with the boy?” Ava says, a knowing smile on her face.
“Yeah,” Brooke says and she and Ava giggle and I am reminded, once again, how young they both are. I wonder what Ava will be like in twenty years, forty, one hundred. If she will still be the same glowing girl that is standing in front of me, laughing with her friend about a boy.
I will do anything to make it happen, to keep her this laughing girl.
~^*^~
Ava decides that she should stop by Texas’ house to offer help or comfort so it will not look suspicious that she hasn’t done so.
“Should we bring food? I mean, like, should I have made a pie?” Her body may not be fidgeting, but her mind is.
“You’re supposed to bring food in a crisis, right? That’s what everyone did with Mom.” I just hold her hand and give her a kiss on the side of her head.
“It will be fine. We will offer our condolences and offer to help and then we will leave. Remember our signal.”
Ava and I decided that we need some sort of signal for her to let me know, or me to let her know of danger, or that we need to leave a situation for whatever reason.
“Right. Cheesecake,” she says before ringing the doorbell.
The woman who answers the door looks remarkably like Texas, but her face is pale and sunken and she has obviously not slept in a long time.
“Hi, Mrs. Hamilton. I just wanted to stop by and see how you all were doing, and if you needed any help with anything. I’m so sorry for what you’re going through.” Ava’s voice is genuine and I know she isn’t lying. I knew she wouldn’t have to.
“Oh, thank you, Ava. That’s so sweet of you, but I think we’re all set right now. We’re having a candlelight vigil on Saturday if you want to come.” Clearly, she doesn’t want us inside the house, and stands with the door only partially open, her body blocking the rest of the space.
“Oh, that sounds great,” Ava says, a little too enthusiastically. “Well, I have to get going, but I’ll see you on Satur
day.”
Mrs. Hamilton closes the door on us, without even acknowledging me, and Ava and I walk back to her car.
“Okay, that wasn’t too bad. I feel like an ass, but other than that, I think it went okay. Right?” She’s looking to me for approval.
“It went fine.” I hold out my hand for her keys. I think she likes it when I drive.
“I’m really glad I didn’t have to yell, ‘CHEESECAKE!’ in front of her because that would have been really embarrassing. I’m also kinda glad she didn’t let us in the house. I think that would have been too much. So, back to Noctalis Inn?”
“Yes.”
We leave her car at the cemetery this time and run through the woods. I enjoy running with Ava almost as much as flying, because she always turns it into a game and we usually end up making several “sex pits” as she calls them along the way before turning up on the doorstep with torn clothes and dirt-covered bodies.
“Ugh, can’t you guys keep it in your pants?” Coby says with a face of disgust.
“You’ll understand when you’re older,” Ava says, taking my hand and dragging me upstairs for another shower.
“I’m not going to get older!” Coby yells, but his voice is lighthearted.
Thirty-One
Tex
The next few days are a mess of my parents moping and crying and Mom having weird bouts of cleaning and then not wanting to throw things away, and me trying to be as supportive as possible, while trying to be out of the house as much as possible. Viktor is the only thing that helps me get through it.
I’d been a complete and total douche canoe, thinking I could just throw him out of my life when I wanted to. I apologized over and over and paid him in sexual favors, over and over, but it didn’t wash away the guilt.
“I love you, Texas Anne. You need to stop apologizing or else I’m going to bite you,” he’d say, his mouth poised over my shoulder, or my foot, or some other part of my body. Then he pretends to bite me, but doesn’t actually sink his teeth in, and then it just turns into a ticklefest and I have to beg for mercy and that is the end of it.