I looked to Connor. He’d had a clear shot, several clear shots to take Bane out for good. Instead, he’d shot him in the leg, even though he’d been attacked by these people and nearly killed himself. I looked to Wendy and thought of what she’d said when I was looking in on Connor still recovering from surgery.
Then I looked to Alec. “We’re vampires. That doesn’t make us monsters. Only choice can do that. We don’t have to be killers.”
Alec smiled, and it wasn’t his manic grin. It carried all the age and experience his sadder and darker expressions did, like he was proud of me. “Then we won’t be,” he said. His expression dropped to neutral as he passed his gaze to Eli. “May I release him into your custody, Eli, and trust that you and your fellows will keep him out of trouble. Rehabilitate him, perhaps. Or enact your own form of judgment for how he and his lapdog in the hospital deceived you. Speaking of…”
“Someone needs to pay—legally—for what happened to the Leonards,” Eli said, looking around at his companions. “Unless anyone has any objections, Gamble stays where he is. I’m sure enough evidence can be brought out to close this case. With attempted murder on top of it,” he gestured to Connor.
None of the other hunters dissented.
Alec looked Eli over with an appraising nod, and a bit of his hysterical smile slipped in. “You have some promise. I’ll be in touch,” he said with a wink. “And if anyone gives you any trouble, or decides to change their mind about your uncle…”
I blinked, and Alec was gone from his spot, suddenly behind Eli with a phone that definitely wasn’t his own in his hand as he punched in a number. He handed it to Eli, who, while startled, accepted back what was obviously his phone without comment.
“Call me,” Alec said. “The pact only abides if the next generation passes on the rules.”
Eli nodded. He and the others gathered up Bane from where he’d been pinned to the ground, bound his hands, though he couldn’t get far on his own if he escaped given his current limp, and led him away, disappearing into the trees.
Nick handed Alec the device Bane had been using, which he crushed with an “Oops,” and a shrug, then patted Nick on the shoulder.
I looked at him, at Michael, Aurora, and Jules, amazed that my friends had come to my rescue, some of them not even having known I was a vampire until tonight. Yet here they were, having risked their lives. Knowing Alec was more powerful than he’d let on, that he’d lied—or at least kept some of the truth from me—should have upset me more, but it didn’t. He’d wanted to teach me something. Teach the hunters something. And keep the pact strong when everything was over.
“I can’t thank all of you enough,” I said to each of them, finally resting my eyes on Connor, who held his rifle exhaustedly now that the adrenaline was wearing off, and his body started to remind him that he’d been impaled only hours earlier.
He sauntered closer to me, sluggish but alive. My best friend. My boyfriend. My savior, as it turned out, even when I’d told him not to come.
“I can think of one way you can thank me,” he said, the crooked smirk on his face only making me want to kiss him more.
So I did.
Episode 37
Getting everyone home that night was the easy part. Aurora, Jules, Michael, and Nick were expected to be out late. Getting Connor back to the hospital, however, almost undid everything. Georgia had already discovered he was missing, and had instigated a search throughout the hospital. Luckily, no one had called out of the hospital yet, not even to alert Paul.
Alec worked his way through everyone, glamouring each one to believe that Connor was safe and sound in bed, while I made sure that was true. I kissed him again before leaving the room, but promised to visit until they sent him home.
“Might even be tomorrow,” he said, “unless I pulled some staples or something.” He cringed a little as he settled into the bed.
I folded his clothes up the way they’d been—the ruined shirt he’d put back on while coming to save the day with guns that Alec, Wendy, and I still needed to get back to the Daniels’ cabinet. Then I set his prosthetic carefully on top.
“You finally got your gun arm,” I said.
“Worked like a charm.”
“Way cooler than just a Rocket-Punch.”
“Totally. It sucks we missed Prom though…Flash.” He clung to my fingers before I walked away.
“Next time, Cold,” I said. “We’ll make up for it.”
~
Connor
Connor’s first day fully back at school was tough, even though he spent most of the week immediately after their harrowing adventures in the hospital and then laid up at home. He hadn’t torn any staples, but he hadn’t helped the healing process by sneaking out to play vigilante the first night of his recovery either. Wendy offered to feed Emery until Connor was well enough, which he tried not to be jealous over.
They only had a couple weeks left of school before graduation—God willing, and assuming no more bomb threats were called in. Although the actual shootout at the school seemed to have put a stop to whatever freshman had been writing them in the girls’ bathroom. There were rumors that the culprit had confessed after seeing what all her troublemaking had amounted to, with real students almost getting hurt by a crazed gunman using the evacuation for cover, but of course, no one knew her identity for the girl’s own safety. There were a lot of very angry seniors since it turned out to have been a prank, having threatened to lengthen their final school year.
Connor didn’t hold a grudge though, since nothing had come of it in the end, but he still had a good idea for their senior prank as an homage to the year’s shenanigans. He’d have to tell Michael about it.
He caught sight of the living Ken doll just outside the school as he was about to pull out of the parking lot that day, with Aurora in his passenger seat and Emery in the back—Aurora had insisted she ride shotgun, as she often did.
“I’m just going to swing by the front to tell Michael something,” he said, pulling around to do a full loop of the parking lot before leaving. As he approached Michael at the curb, who was distracted, texting someone on his phone, Connor rolled Aurora’s window down so he could call out, only for her to beat him to it.
“Michael!”
Michael looked up. Grinned. “Hey, Frank. What’s—”
“I love you,” Aurora blurted, causing Connor to gape at the back of her head. “I’ve been in love with you since middle school. Your green eyes are gorgeous. When you lost your leg, I cried for a week. When Connor started making you new ones, I cried for another week. You’re perfect, and wonderful, and it would make my entire remaining high school days worth every insanity, including the one we lived through last weekend, if I could have one date with you before we graduate.”
Through the entire tirade, Michael never lost his smile. He held up his cell phone. “You got my number, right? Call me later?”
Aurora nodded, more like bobbed her head several times, then shot out her left hand to smack Connor’s thigh as she hastily rolled up her window. “Oh my God, drive away now,” she hissed at him.
Connor obeyed. “Um, I’m the one who had something to tell him first.”
“You can tell him later! Unless you were about to pour your idiotic heart out in similar fashion. Oh my God…”
“That was glorious,” Emery chimed in.
Aurora groaned, slouching down in her seat as Connor drove away, Michael waving at them as they went, his charming smile beaming after them pleasantly. “I need to figure out some way to disappear into this seat cushion.”
“You need to figure out some way to call him later, is what.”
“Oh God, I don’t have his number!” She sat up straight again.
“I have it, relax,” Connor said.
“Seriously, t
hat was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Shut up, Mavus.”
She did manage to call him, which Connor heard all about the next morning. They apparently had a date for that coming Saturday, though she wouldn’t go into details no matter how much Connor bugged her. It was also that night when Wendy finally showed up at Emery’s house to say goodbye.
“What about Alec?” Emery asked, letting her into the living room, since his parents were still both at work. Connor had gone home with him after school.
“I’ve informed him I’m moving on,” she said, dressed in all leather like they had seen her when they first met, ready to head out on her bike. “He’s still sorting through things at the house, since he didn’t actually have much time to take care of that before now, being otherwise occupied. I stayed this past week to be certain the other hunters moved on, and that Gamble was safely in custody. He woke up, you know.”
“Yeah…” Emery’s eyes drifted to the floor.
Connor scooted a step closer to him and bumped his hand gently before lacing their fingers together. Emery squeezed back gratefully.
“Once he’s released, he’ll go through the system, tried and convicted for the Leonards’ murders. It’s not full justice, I realize, but sometimes that area gets a bit grey in our line of work. You did the right thing with Bane, in the end, and Eli.”
“I hope so,” Emery said. “Thank you so much for everything. We really couldn’t have survived this without you and Alec here to help.”
“Mostly you,” Connor put in. “Alec’s a bit of a chump.”
Emery elbowed him, but Wendy laughed.
“It has been my great honor to meet you both. And don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll pass through this town again. Or to the Twin Cities perhaps. You’re off to university next year, aren’t you? Do good things. You’ll have a long time to make a difference in the world, love,” she said to Emery, mostly, but then included Connor as well when her eyes passed to him. “Don’t squander it.”
“Later, Buffy,” Connor said, pulling her in for a hug. Emery did the same.
Then she was gone.
Before they knew it, it was their last free weekend before graduation, the rest of the week having gone by in a normal, almost monotonous blur. Connor had expected to spend Saturday night watching movies over at Emery’s with Jules and a few others, since Aurora and Michael had their date, when there was a sudden knock at Emery’s door before they could start the second flick.
Aurora and Michael stood there—dressed in their Prom outfits. Connor gaped at them over Emery’s shoulder. Each of them carried a zipped garment bag.
“Special delivery!” Aurora called merrily.
“Time to get dressed, gimp,” Michael said. “You too, Mavus.”
“What—” Emery tried, but cut off when Aurora pushed her garment bag into his arms.
“Yours just required some cleaning. Con-Man took some tender loving care, and a few replacements.” She took Michael’s bag from him and pushed it into Connor’s chest when he stepped around Emery.
They both stared at the offered bags in their arms, then at the pair at the door, hearing giggling from Jules, and suddenly realized why everyone in the living room behind them had brought along larger bags than one would expect to just crash at Emery’s place after a movie marathon.
“Well?” Aurora planted her hands on her ships, long brunette hair curled as perfectly as it had been the night of actual Prom. “Go get changed and get back down here so we can show you your surprise!”
Connor expected the neatly pressed Flash themed suit to be in Emery’s garment bag, but he never expected to find his, perfect, clean, the tie, vest, and shirt, having to have been bought anew to look that whole and unstained. He was already wearing the snowflake-covered prosthetic. It had quickly become his new favorite.
“Where are you taking us?” Connor asked when they arrived back downstairs to discover the rest of their guests had unsurprisingly changed into their Prom outfits as well.
Jules stepped forward with a bright grin. “Why do you think we suggested watching the movie at your place, Mavus? Come on.”
Still confused, Connor and Emery followed the trail of others from the house, Emery’s parents looking on from the kitchen, seemingly having been a part of this ruse. They didn’t get into any vehicles though. They merely went next door to Connor’s, led to the back fence where Aurora swung the gate door open wide, and Michael gestured them in.
Connor and Emery hadn’t seen what Prom looked like in the high school gym. They’d never made it. But they’d seen pictures. Streamers and lights in colors of every element in the spectrum. Art projects adorning certain corners that had some sort of elemental theme. Even a poster of the periodic table, because someone had to make that joke.
The poster was taped to Connor’s backyard fence. The lights and streamers hung from the overhang of his roof, and all along the fence. Nick, who’d mysteriously opted out of movie night, was in the far corner of the yard with a full-on DJ setup, playing music that burst forth at the moment of Connor and Emery’s arrival, a little louder than the neighborhood would usually allow. But Tim was there, in uniform, arms crossed, looking pleased and as if he had all of this under control. Connor’s parents were there too, standing in the sliding glass doorway.
And possibly over half of their graduating class. All dressed for Prom. In Connor’s backyard.
Everyone erupted into applause and cheers to join the swell of music. Connor gripped Emery’s hand so tight, he was thankful his friend was impervious to most pain or injury. This many people from school could not possibly be this awesome all at once. But he and Emery knew everyone, and everyone honestly looked so happy to have them there, to have done this just for them.
A slight squeal of a microphone alerted them to Michael having moved to join Nick at the DJ table. He smiled at them grandly in his comet suit and addressed the crowd as everyone quieted and Nick turned the music down.
“Prom was great this year, right, guys?” he said, and a smattering of fresh cheers rose up. “But! But…” he waved at them to silence again, “…something was missing. A few someones, to be exact, and for senior year, our Senior Prom, well, we just couldn’t let that fly. So, here’s to you, Connor Daniels and Emery Mavus, who we are all so happy finally got their acts together and hooked up before graduation!”
Another chorus of cheers—and seriously, Connor was going to kill Michael after he hugged the jerk.
“We just wanted to say!” Michael roared above the crowd, pointing at Connor and Emery. “We just wanted to say…that we’re glad you’re both okay, that everyone is going to be present next week when we finally leave high school behind for good, and in honor of that, we felt you deserved your own Prom to make up for the one you missed. So this first song especially, but the whole night, is all for you guys. Hit it!” he cried, handing the mic back to Nick, who nodded to the music with a passive smile as he turned up the volume and the song switched to a slow ballad.
Everyone cheered one last time before starting to form up into partners, those closest to Connor and Emery gesturing them out toward the center of the yard. Connor’s parents slipped back inside with Tim and closed the sliding glass door, though left the impression that they’d be keeping an eye on everything. Aurora grabbed Emery’s free hand, which was still attached to Connor, and started pulling the two of them forward to prevent them from simply standing there stunned like a couple of idiots.
Connor still couldn’t believe their friends had done this, even as he and Emery were led into the center of it all, experiencing their own personal Prom.
“If I start crying, punch me,” Connor said.
Emery laughed a delirious sound like he was halfway to crying too. He pulled Connor close, and slipped his hands around his waist. Connor lifted
his hands up around Emery’s neck, flesh and plastic alike. They’d never danced before, Connor realized, as they started to sway. Maybe jokingly, at a cast party or some long night playing video games, music turned up loud suddenly to swing dance and spin each other into furniture. But never like this, closely met and feeling the music, with a full crowd of their peers surrounding them.
Connor caught the sight of Aurora’s brilliantly colored skirts in his periphery and turned to look as Michael twirled her and then pulled her back in close. They hadn’t completely lied about having a date tonight, the traitors. Connor chuckled and snuggled closer into Emery’s body.
“Can you believe this will all be over next week?” Emery said.
“All? Just what exactly are you expecting to end next weekend?”
“You know what I mean. High school. Life as we know it. I’m not complaining about the things I expect to stay the same,” he said, leaning forward so that their foreheads touched.
Connor sighed into the connection. “So we’re going to move forward like we planned, me with engineering, you with business, both at the U, and start a non-profit together?”
“We accepted early enrollment last November, remember? I love that idea. Doing it together together doesn’t make me love it any less.”
“But we can’t pretend like some things aren’t different.”
Emery pulled back, his green eyes almost glowing amidst the multi-colored lights decorating the backyard. “We don’t have to make any big decisions now, but I don’t expect you to just be there for me to feed on forever. I’d rather be with you forever. I don’t exactly know how we’d do that…”
“Alec offered.”
“He what?” Emery’s feet stuttered, nearly tripping them.
“He offered to turn me, if that’s what we wanted, someday. If that’s what you want.”
“What matters is what you want.”
“Em…”
Life as a Teenage Vampire Page 31
