“But you wouldn’t tell Jase that, would you?” she said with a sly grin, coming up on her elbow beside me. “I bet you let him think he stole it and you plan to take it back.”
I made a small gap between my thumb and forefinger.
“You’re so mean.” She slapped my arm.
“I know. But he’s my brother. It’s my job to pick on him.”
“Yes,” she said absently, and then she grinned, eyes wide. “And you have a cousin! I almost forgot.”
“Yes.” I made my eyes into vengeful slits, picturing him. “Cal.”
“Are you excited?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
I smiled, making the same small gap between my fingers.
She leaned down and kissed my brow, lingering for a moment longer than the kiss. “Things turned out pretty good. And I really like the way you smell.”
“The way I smell?” I rolled up on my elbow.
Ara leaned in and took a long sniff of my head. “You smell human. And I’m not really into the whole human thing, but it’s actually quite nice on you.”
“Quite nice?” She couldn’t come up with a better adjective than that?
“Mm.” She nodded, taking me in. “You’re sweeter.”
“Sweeter?” Right now, I was horrified. I rolled over and grabbed my phone off the nightstand. “That’s it,” I said, “I’m calling my brother.”
“Why?”
“’Cause he needs to get his ass back to Australia and turn me. Now.”
Ara laughed, rolling onto her back, her long hair spreading out all around her and tickling my arm. “Good. Then we’ll make good use of tonight—enjoy the last day of you being human—because I want my vampire back.”
“Really?” I said, putting the phone to my ear as it rang.
She nodded. “Human you is nice, but you’re a hell of a lot sexier when you can kill me.”
I shook my head. “Now there’s that messed-up girl I’ve been waiting for.”
* * *
This would be the last time we called Cal to feed Ara. I’d be a vampire again by the end of the week, and life would go on. But it would not be the same. So much had changed now. I was changed. Ara was changed. We were no longer the same people that died in those tombs. And yet, despite all the pain, when I looked at her, or when I looked in the mirror, I could see that we’d changed for the better.
For me, it was the physical changes. Looking back at my old pictures now, I couldn’t believe I ever looked so young. The lack of immortal blood in my veins had seen me age slightly faster than I otherwise would, or maybe it was all the stress and trauma. Either way, I looked twenty-five, at least—thirty when unshaven—and I knew that would make life so much easier for me from here. I would be required to wear less makeup when playing human, and I would no longer need ID when buying a beer in my true form.
Ara, however, would always look like a teenager. Even with the wisdom of ages once again behind her eyes, she had a youthful, childlike smile and the big round eyes of a hopeful soul. She’d been through hell and touched the fires, burned in the fires, and yet she could still see so much light in the world. I sometimes wished I had her heart, her soul.
I sat back on the couch and looked at my watch, wondering what was taking Cal so long. Then again, it’d only been fifteen minutes since I called him, and how was he to know I had news for him—that I was, loath to admit it but… excited to see him—to look at Cal and see family there where I once only saw a pain in my ass?
I lifted my foot down off my knee and sat forward, frowning to myself. Excited? Since when did I get excited about anything?
“Knock-knock,” Cal said, waltzing into the room like he owned the place. Once, I might have wanted to punch him in his smug face for the simple crime of being himself, but instead, I saw so much of myself in him that I… smiled.
With a quick and very hoarse clearing of my throat, I wiped that smile clean off my face. “Took you long enough.”
“Had to take a shit,” he said, scooping up a magazine as he sat down, propping his feet on the coffee table. He pored over it for a moment until he felt my eyes on him, then shrugged. “What, man, don’t you ever shit?”
The David I was when I left here last tried to retain the hatred and the disdain, but this version of me could see that Cal no longer bore the curse, and I almost openly admitted that I wanted him in my life.
“We’re cousins,” I said simply.
It took him a moment, but then he laid the magazine aside and sat forward, his pale-blue eyes wide. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.” I tried not to smile like a giant douche, but as the excitement flipped his face around, my lip pulled, and a small smile snuck out.
“Holy shit, man!” He tumbled over the couch cushions and pummeled me an in awkward bro hug.
I patted his back once, then twice, waiting for him to catch my drift and get out of my territorial bubble, but he kept hugging.
“I always wanted a brother.”
“And yet we’re cousins,” I corrected.
“Nah.” He finally sat back, shaking his head. “We’ll be more like bros, I can tell.”
As much as I wanted to deny it, I knew he was right. He was a part of the club—one that had been closed off for centuries. Jason and I were always alone. We had Arthur, but no other siblings, yet I knew we would both openly welcome Cal.
“So I have a… another cousin too?” I said, trying to remember the twin sister’s name.
“Yeah. I told her about you,” he said, sitting back. “Told her we might all be related.”
“You should have saved that until you found out for sure.”
“Nah. I had to tell her. She was majorly crushing on you at school, man. She was so grossed out when I told her you might be our cousin.”
I laughed loudly.
“So does Ara know?” Cal asked.
“She’s the one that figured it out.”
“How?”
“She saw a picture, but… then my uncle told her for certain.”
“Your uncle? I thought he was… Oh!” His eyes widened. “Is that the dude she saw at the end of her bed?”
I nodded, wondering when she’d ever told him about that.
“So cool!” He put both hands up, pushing them forward a little to reinforce his statement. “This family is awesome.”
“Yeah.” I sat back, bringing my ankle onto my knee. “We are.”
“So where’s Jason?” he said.
“He’s arriving tomorrow—staying for Christmas.”
Cal nodded, a sadness sweeping over him. I took a moment to study it, unsure what triggered it, and then it occurred to me.
“So you’re coming, right?” I said, flicking his arm. “To Christmas dinner?”
The gloom slipped backward. “Yeah. Sure. I mean”—he shrugged and sat back again, finding his cool—“if I’m not busy.”
I laughed. “And you can bring Bree too,” I offered, finally remembering her name.
He nodded. “What about my parents? Should we tell them?”
“I’m not sure I see any point,” I said, meaning that. His dad seemed like a dick, and I certainly didn’t want a guy like that—who could turn away from his own son for not being what he wanted him to be—in the immortal world. Clearly his father had inherited more of the Thomas Knight gene—my father’s—than he did the Arthur Knight gene. And if he knew immortality was possible, he would most likely demand it, leaving me stuck with him forever. “We can decide later,” I added.
“I say we leave that prick out of it—let nature take its course.”
I studied Cal for a moment, eyes shrinking. “What happened?”
“Huh?” He looked up in surprise. “Whaddaya mean?”
“I wasn’t born yesterday, Cal. What happened with your father while we were gone?”
He shrunk, sighing. “He saw my grades.”
“And?”
“And… I’ve been faking this
entire year—made him think I was stupid. So when he saw my grades pick up suddenly, he wasn’t just annoyed that I’d been faking, he was furious. Tried to beat my ass.”
My blood mixed with adrenaline in my limbs, flicking the protective switch inside me. “That guy’s an asshole.”
“Tell me about it.” He flipped through the magazine absently, too quick to be reading anything. Then threw it down hard. “You know what? Forget him.”
“You have us now.” I reached out and reluctantly placed my hand on his shoulder.
Cal smiled at the ground between his knees. “You still gonna feel the same once you’re a bloodsucker?”
I nodded. Even though he was making light of it, it was a good question. Vampirism changed people, and without having a human to fall in love with, I was at risk of being the evil vampire again. Forever. “No matter what, Cal—immortal or human—family comes first. You’re in it for life now.”
“Life?” He looked at me, smirking. “I think you mean eternity.”
“That is your life now,” I stated, and Cal nodded.
“Touché, my friend. Touché.”
* * *
With Jason here in Australia to turn me back, and with Christmas so close, we decided to turn the annual event of gift-giving into a family reunion of sorts—with our beloved Ara finally whole again. Which, of course, meant we needed somewhere to host it. So, since Harry was enjoying his new life in Australia and with no monarchy to run now, I could finally, for the first time in our lives, give Ara what she had truly always wanted.
“No peeking,” I demanded, tightening the blindfold.
“I feel uneasy,” she said. “Call me crazy, but ever since I was tortured, I kinda have something against being blindfolded.”
I laughed, though I probably shouldn’t have. “Two more steps.” I guided her to the edge of the curb. “What do you smell?”
She drew a long breath. “I smell eucalyptus—from the lake and the park over there.” Her finger aimed in the exact direction of Lake Richmond and the grassy area just before it. “I can smell Mike and Em standing on the porch across the road. And I can smell how excited Harry is.” She reached out blindly and ruffled his hair.
I laughed, standing behind her to take off the blindfold, but at the last second, decided to stand in front of her so I could see her face. When I took it off though, expecting to see her sheer delight, she just looked at me blankly.
“What am I meant to be seeing?” she asked. “You’re still human, so I know it’s not that.”
“Better,” I said, showing her the double-story house behind me and making a point of the For Sale sign. “I put an offer in on it last week, and I just got the call saying they’ll accept it.”
“What?” Her smile dropped, eyes going wide. “Are you serious?”
I nodded. “I made arrangements with the current owners to rent the place until the settlement date—which is in four weeks.”
“Ah!” She squealed, her arms swinging out wide before cutting off the air to my lungs as she hugged me. “It couldn’t be more perfect.”
She was right. Not only was it directly across from our family and only a block away from Falcon in one direction and Elora in the other, it was also white—her favorite kind of house—and it had enough bedrooms for all the children we’d be having in the near future, a kitchen Mike was jealous of, and a pool. It was everything she ever wanted but, more importantly, it was here, in the place she always wanted to return to live.
“I don’t even know what to say,” she cried, touching her necklace.
“Say thank you, Mom,” Harry said simply.
Ara laughed. “Yes.” She grabbed my face in two hands and kissed me. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” I said, turning to face the house. “When I bought this, I also signed us up to host Christmas this year.”
“It has a really big room for it, Mom,” Harry said. “We can fit everyone in, and even a giant tree!”
“That’s great!” she said, bending to pick Harry up, even though he was more than half her size. “Then I hope you’re going to help put the angel on top.”
“I don’t want an angel this year, Mom.” He shook his head. “I wanna put Uncle Arthur up there.”
“Why?” She laughed, looking at me.
“Because he’s the one watching over us,” he said simply.
Ara nodded. “Well, okay then. We’ll make an Uncle Arthur and put it on the tree.”
I stood in beside her and held them both close, imagining our new life here in this house, and as I turned around at Mike’s request, all of us posing for a photo, my skin went cold. My mind flashed back to the picture Harry drew the other day and I realized I was standing in it. Right now. The only thing missing was the child in our arms. But this was the house he’d drawn.
“You okay?” Ara asked through her ‘camera’ smile.
I nodded, kissing her head as the flash went off. “I just realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“We’re finally going to be okay.”
“You’re only just realizing that now?” She put Harry down.
I nodded. “There are things in our future that we don’t know about,” I said, thinking back to the warning on the flip-side of Harry’s picture. “Things that scare me. But I just realized that, no matter what odds are against us, nothing has ever kept us apart. And I have the strong sense that no matter what comes our way, we’re gonna handle it.”
“Cheesy,” she said playfully. “But you’re right. And it kinda makes you feel brave, doesn’t it?”
I reached down and squeezed her hand, seeing an opening here for a great one-liner but keeping it to myself instead. The ending to our story wasn’t in words, after all. It was in the hearts of those that held on through the fight—all the people, blood or not, that we called family.
63
Ara
Under the watchful eye of a store-bought angel, stripped down and redressed in a suit, her hair cut short and painted dark brown to resemble Arthur, my new house had come together like pages of a pop-up book, closing around me until it looked like a home. This room, when bare, was large and open, with hardwood floors and a ceiling that touched the second floor, running right through the center of the giant house. It was a place worthy of the former king and queen, and with my own personal touch—the white lounge chairs and matching coffee tables, the ornaments and trinkets and photos—it looked like a grand place of family gathering. It was elegant and lavish enough to entertain guests formally but also relaxed enough to sit and watch TV with my family.
Guests arrived for Christmas Eve drinks as Harry and I laid out the giant table for tomorrow’s feast, and the second Mike and Emily arrived with baby Mia, the house was filled with the soulful sound of Mike’s spin on Christmas carols. I lost my little table helper then as he went to learn ‘Silent Night’, and Em went upstairs to put Mia to sleep.
“Mom?” Elora said, popping in from the kitchen. “That kitchen is ridiculous. Where the hell is the cinnamon?”
I laughed, laying the last fork in place and wiping my hand down my holly-print apron. “There’s a spice rack near the stove. It’s a pull-out one.”
“Got it,” she said, turning away. “Wish me luck.”
“Hey, Lors,” Eric called from his cozy place on the couch. “Bring me back a beer, would ya?”
“Sure,” she called. “When you go back in time and stop women from burning their bras.”
He laughed, winking at me.
“You knew she’d say that, didn’t you?” I said.
“I like stirring her.”
“Be careful with that.” I grabbed the candles from the pile. “She has my temper.”
“That she does.” He got up. “So I should probably go see if there’s anything she needs me to do, right?”
“You’re a fast learner, De la Rose.”
We both chuckled as he walked away. I stood back after setting the red-and-gr
een candles into the pillars and took a good look. With the giant tree sitting center to the room and a fire in one corner—an electric fire with a fake flame for summer time—the finished table, with its Christmas garnishes, really took me home to the wintry kind of day I hadn’t had in years. It had been at least six years since we had Christmas on our own in America, and this would be the first one in our own house. To say I was excited and a little bit scared would be an understatement.
I took off my apron and laid it over the chair, heading for the front door when the bell rang. A big smile greeted me, and I put my arms out right away.
“Aw, come to Aunty, my little Bethy Baby.” If you asked Jason, he would maintain that she was too young to put her arms up to me, but when she looked at me, I saw the clear and definite recognition in her eyes, and I could swear she put her arms out.
“So now Beth is here, you forget we exist?” he said with a smile, forcing a hug on me.
“Sorry.” I laughed. “But how can anyone possibly think of anything else when this little angel is around?”
“I have to tell him the same thing every day,” Lily said, hugging me next. “Now tell me, what can I do to help?”
“Well, Lora’s in the kitchen finishing the pudding, so…” I looked around the room. “Maybe you can go set up Beth’s travel cot. It’s in the spare room.”
“I got it,” Jase said, touching Lily’s shoulder. He walked away and headed up the stairs under our appreciative gazes.
“I did well, didn’t I?” Lily said.
“He’s a keeper, that’s for sure.” I smiled back at her, kissing Beth’s pretty dark hair. “And I know it’s obvious but… is he happy? Like, truly happy?”
Lily’s eyes moved to the second floor where he disappeared. “I cannot speak for his heart, but I think, by his actions, that he is happy, yes.”
“His actions?”
“I found him staring out a window this morning. He looked sad.” She looked thoughtful. “And when I asked him what was the matter, he said he was afraid.”
“Of what?”
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