The Touch Series: Initiation

by Cecilia Lonski

  We had officially entered Danger Ville – something I thought I was protected from by living in Richmond. But I guessed that it was something no one could ever really escape.

  ***

  After my weird talk with Claire, I laid on my bed for a good hour with my cellphone on my stomach. I wanted to call him not just for Ivy and Janel but to hear his voice. Despite what happened, a part of me did miss him. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I felt sick.

  I took a deep breath in and exhaled before I sat up on my bed. I dialed his number without thinking. I was going for it and there was no turning back.

  “Yes?” He didn't sound angry or irritated instead he sounded curious as to what unknown number was calling him I suppose.

  “Hi.” My voice was breathy.

  “Quinn?” He lowered his surprised voice.

  “I stole your number from Gwen's phone. Please don't be mad. I wanted to speak to you.”

  He let a sigh. “I'm not mad...”

  There was a moment of silence between us. I was supposed to ask him to take the three of us back but I couldn't. “I miss you.”

  “Really? Because you didn't seem that way at my house today.”

  I winced. “I'm sorry but we were all freaked out by what happened. And I was still angry at you.”

  “I'm sorry about what happened in my office, I just needed to be honest with you,” Sometimes honesty hurts, I thought, “and what happened to Cassie looks pretty messed up but believe me I always have the best intentions for the group.”

  “I know.”

  “Come back then.”

  I was relieved that he wasn't going to have me beg for it. “Really? Can Ivy and Janel come back too? We were all ahead of ourselves.”

  “Of course.” He sounded satisfied.

  “I'm sure this makes you happy, Josef.”

  “Oh, very.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But we won't be meeting up anytime soon. We are still investigating what happened.”

  “Okay. I hope your figure it out.”

  “I do, too. Now, go to bed. It's late.”

  “Okay, Mr. Bossy-Pants.”

  “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, Josef.”

  When we ended our conversation, I laid back down on my bed and tried to remember that I was only coming back so he could get a taste of his own medicine. Too bad I had a hard time controlling my smile.

  CHAPTER thirteen

  It didn't take long for us all to go out at all. In fact, we had a dinner at Josef's house four days after I spoke to him on the phone. I hoped that this also meant that they had some new information on Cassie and what happened. And maybe during dinner they would let us know. Artie had been keeping me informed on the investigation for the last few days. There wasn't anything new or major but maybe they finally got something.

  I agreed to come to his house with Janel and Ivy. We wanted to go together instead of individually which made me feel better since I didn't know how I was going to act around Nadine, Samantha or Kimberley, let alone Josef.

  When we arrived at his home, I recalled the moment when all seven of us came down marching to his house and demanding for our contracts to be terminated. I felt embarrassed that we were back here and acting like nothing happened.

  One of Josef's butler's showed us to a large lounge in the house. There was a bar and a big table with food. Nadine, Samantha, Kmberley and Lisa were already there. Nadine and Kimberley snickered as they saw us come in. Ivy went straight to them and they looked scared. “Listen, bitches. You tricked us and I actually applaud you for that but guess what?... You've officially made my list. Congrats.” Ivy clapped her hands in applause before Janel pulled her away. I walked over to Lisa who was putting chocolate covered strawberries onto a plate.

  She was surprised when she saw me. “I heard you three came back.”

  “Yes. He was right. Stuff like that happens.”

  She looked down at her plate. “I'm sorry. I knew they had a plan and I should have said something.”

  “Why didn't you?” I didn't want to be angry with her but what she did was uncool.

  “I need the money, okay.” She looked around us before she leaned in closer to me. “This is officially a supernatural murder investigation which means our authorities are no longer involved and we won't know of any of the information. I need to know what happened. I need to be here. I won't leave until I find out the truth.” She stopped talking when Josef, Artie and Jacob walked in followed by a few other people I had never seen before.

  Artie was friendly and waved to all of us while Jacob went straight to the bar. Josef bowed his head towards us before he joined Jacob and another man.

  Lisa sat in a corner and ate by herself while Nadine, Samantha and Kimberley started talking to some of the other guests. I joined Ivy and Janel who were eating some appetizers. “So, are we going to just stand here the whole night and feel like fools?”

  Janel looked embarrassed while Ivy looked amused. “Oh no, sweetie. Me and Janel are going to get some information out of Jacob on the investigation while you go and start your sweet revenge.” She winked at me before popping a small fruit tart in her mouth. “Keep him busy.”

  I rolled my eyes at her but couldn't help but grin at the same time. I turned around and saw Josef heading out of the lounge. I quickly followed him out. He appeared to be heading towards the main stair case when he suddenly stopped and looked behind to find me following him. He turned and smirked as he held his hands behind him. “Are you lost, again?”

  I stepped closer to him and hoped no one around was seeing how pink I was turning. “Just wondering when I can access my private privilege with you.”

  “You lost that privilege.”

  I was no longer smiling when I looked at him. I thought he was joking but judging by his face he wasn't.

  “I see.” I pretended to be unaffected by it. I wasn't going to allow him to win this. He was the one who hurt me. “Does this also have to do with what happened in your office? Because I just want to let you know that you were right about everything. And after all of this ends, we will all go our separate ways.” I smiled at him. “But that doesn't mean we can't have fun in the meantime, right?”

  He looked surprised by what I had said. “So you're no longer upset with me?”

  I gave out a quick laugh. “Don't be silly. You were totally right. Why should I be mad?”

  He searched my face as if he didn't believe me but I just continued smiling at him. “Good. It would have made everything awkward.”

  “Yes, I know. Very awkward.” I walked past him and stepped on the first step on the stair case while looking at him. “Can I have a tour?”

  He grinned and started walking up the stairs. “Come.”

  I was happy that it seemed like I was still on his good side. But, at the same time, I was beyond pissed and hurt inside. How could he not care about what happened between us before? How could he go on pretending like nothing happened between us? I started to really consider taking serious revenge on him. Ivy was right!

  He showed me around the majority of the second and third floors. It was stunning room after stunning room with breathtaking art pieces and décor. He wanted to return downstairs to the party when I stopped him at the stop of the staircase. “You didn't show me your room.”

  “I don't allow humans in my room. I don't want the scent to mix inside.”

  “Oh.” Yet again, I got a reminder of how very different we were. And it hurt me even more.

  “But I'll make an exception.”

  I looked up at him and found him smiling at me. He turned and gestured for me to follow him. His room was on the third floor and all the way on the other side of the mansion. He slowly opened the door and allowed me to go in first. It was different from the rest of the house. It was less modern and more gothic looking. Dark gray walls, gray carpeting and black furniture. The only thing that was of light color was the ivory sheets covering the massi
ve bed. I turned to find Josef standing near the door. He hadn't moved from that spot while I walked around his room. “It's not exactly what I was expecting.”

  “What did you expect?” His voice was low and smooth.

  “I'm not sure...it's just very different from the rest of the house.”

  He didn't say anything else. He simply continued to watch me as I walked around. His stare was intimidating and it slowly made me feel as if I were losing control of my body and senses. “What? What is it?”

  He looked confused. “What?”

  “You keep staring at me.”

  “Does it make you feel uncomfortable?”

  “Yes, it does.”

  He smiled slightly. “I told you before, I want to see your face.”

  “Well, it's kind of creepy.”

  “I'm sorry that you feel that way. Vampires have a tendency to seem like natural creepers.”

  We both wanted to laugh but held it in. I sat down on one of his black couches. “Have I also lost the privilege of asking you personal questions?”

  “No.” He sat with me but kept a good distance.

  “Why did you start the Club?”

  He began to undo the top two buttons of his shirt as he began to speak. “When I was a little boy and still human, I grew up in a very poor household. My mother had three jobs and still struggled. My father was a mean drunk who obsessively controlled her. Because of that she never pursued her own dreams.” He got up to take off his suit jacket and hung it over a chair. “Then there was a fire in our town and they both died. I was rescued by a woman who desperately wanted a child. She happened to be wealthy and a vampire.” He slowly came back to sit on the couch. “She and her husband taught me everything about business and lent me a loan to start my own trading company. And when I finally started making a lot, I wanted to help out young girls and women who didn't have a lot of money and because of it they couldn't pursue their lives in the way they truly wanted to.” He looked at me for the first time since he started telling me the story. “I've been doing it for many decades now.”

  “For your mother.”

  His face was warm and he gave me a small smile. “Yes.”

  Any hate that I had for him went away. He was beautiful not only from the outside but inside as well. I had never met a man like him before. He had power and control but there was a beautiful fragility about him. I wanted nothing more but to hold him in my arms for the rest of the evening.

  “Are your adoptive parents still alive?”

  “Yes, but we haven't been in much contact in nearly half a century.”

  “I'm so sorry.”

  “I really don't understand why humans apologize for things they didn't do.”

  “It's just that I'm sure after losing your biological mother, it was difficult to lose the relationship you had with your adoptive family.”

  He cocked his head to one side while he studied my face. “They taught me how to control my emotions well... It certainly came in handy.”

  “What happened that you no longer have a relationship with one another?”

  He let out a sigh and looked as if we were entering into an uncomfortable topic. “I wanted to live my life in my own way and the right way while they had plans for me. They were unhappy with my rebellion and I was unhappy with their behavior. It was for the best to completely part ways.”

  “Do you miss them?”

  “No. Not really. And if you really knew them then you would understand.”

  I nodded my head. I wasn't going to ask any more questions about it. I could tell he was starting to feel more and more uneasy about it. “I believe you.”

  “Good. Now, I'll ask some questions.”

  “About me?”

  “Yes. Tell me about your family. What are they like?”

  He looked genuinely interested but he was going to be disappointed for sure. “There's really not much to say. My parents are over-protective Christians who are completely stuck in a previous century. They will never leave Richmond. They want to live and die here. And my brother, Nicholas, doesn't talk at all because he and his friends got lost in the woods last summer and something... freaked them out... I don't know. But it's messed up.”

  “Have you ever had Artie try to compel him to speak about what happened?”

  “He offered but I don't feel it's right to force someone like that. I want Nicholas to come to us and talk when he is ready.”

  Josef nodded his head as if he understood exactly what I meant. “And you would like to leave this town.”

  “Yes. Very much.”

  There was a long moment of silence between us and though it made me feel uncomfortable, I wanted to stay there in that very moment instead of heading back to the party or go home.

  “Did you ever have a boyfriend?”

  My breathe caught up in my throat and I felt a blaze of heat run through my cheeks. “Did you ever have an actual girlfriend?”

  He tilted his head back and laughed. “I don't do girlfriends. Why have a girlfriend when you can have a few?”

  Jackass. I rolled my eyes and looked away from him and instead set my gaze on the fire that was burning in the massive fireplace in the room. All of a sudden, I got into revenge-mode again. I got up and walked towards a glass table with different bottles of liquor and began to help myself. “Drink?”

  He shook his head as I poured some vodka into a glass cup. “You didn't answer my question.”

  “I've had just one boyfriend, Sir. Not a few.” I took a sip of my drink and immediately regretted my choice. But I finished it so that I didn't look weak in front of him. When I finished I started looking through the different bottles.

  “Good. That's good.”

  I snorted. “Yes. I'm such a good girl. I really kept my legs shut, huh?”

  His jaw dropped in surprise as his eyebrows rose up. “Um...what was he like?”

  Was he serious? He wanted to know what my ex was like? I turned to him and he was leaning towards me. He looked amused as if he knew my sucky love-life was going to be an entertaining story for the night. I guessed it was easy to make fun of someone who seemed to be a virgin (though not true in my case) or a straight up prude. “He was the town Mayor's son. Wealthy. Hot. Fucker. Cheater. All the above, really.”

  He leaned back into couch and put both his arms up on the sides. He looked as if he accomplished something. “Sounds like he sucked.”

  “He did and does suck!” I raised my glass for a moment of celebration. Josef's grin widened and he looked happy as I began to laugh. I ran over to Josef and grabbed his arm to pull him off the couch. “Now, please tell me what tastes good and won't make me want to puke a lot.” I dragged him to the glass table with the bottles.

  He smiled and playfully rolled his eyes as he began mixing different alcohol. He didn't say anything about me touching him, so it seemed like that privilege was not taken away. I watched him as he made me a cocktail which he noticed as he looked at me and whispered, “Did you have another question?”

  “No more questions... No more talking.” We stared at each other for a moment that made me hold in my breathe and forget about all my frustrating feelings towards this man. He put a bottle down, slowly swept a piece of my hair behind my ear and then we were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the room door opening.

  “Josef, your guests are waiting for you.” I turned to find a tall platinum blonde with icy-blue eyes smiling at me and Josef. When Josef didn't move or say anything, she walked over to him and touched one of his arms. “Artie told me you befriended a human. Josef, she's so cute.”

  She must have been the girl. The girl who wanted to be his “girlfriend”. I turned to Josef who went completely tense and looked annoyed at the girl. “Quinn, this is Sarah. Sarah, this is Quinn.”

  “Yes, one of the group members.” She continued to smile at me as if her face was incapable of having any other type of expression.

  Josef could barely look me in the eye which made
the moment even more awkward and completely uncomfortable for me. I pretended not to look uneasy and simply beamed at both of them. “Sarah, were you once in the Club too?”

  Sarah's smile slightly faltered at last but only for a second before her grin widened again. “No. I'm his girlfriend.”

  My heart dropped. “Really? Because he just told me he didn't do girlfriends. That's so funny.” Instead of looking angry, Josef looked surprised at what I had said. He took one look at Sarah and looked as if he were holding in a laugh. I didn't care to wait and hear what Sarah was going to say or Josef for the matter. I smiled sweetly at both of the them and quickly walked out.

  He lied! How could he tell me he doesn't have girlfriends when one just announced herself as one and he didn't deny it! With the pace I used and with my shaky legs, I feared that I was going to fall and have an accident which would have left me much more ashamed and embarrassed than I already was.

  Josef grabbed my arm as I got near the stair case and whirled me around to face him. “I'm sorry about that. She can be difficult.”

  “I don't care.” I shrugged and clutched tightly to my purse to help contain my inner anger. “But you should have been honest with me, Josef. Instead of giving me all that crap in your office about not being able to be with me because I'm human and young, you should have just told me that you had an actual girlfriend. And then just a few minutes ago, you told me that you didn't really do girlfriends. And that is the problem.” I gave out a loud laugh which I'm sure some of the guests at the bottom of the stairs heard. “Gosh, and I was thinking 'wow, Josef Constane actually likes me'.”

  He was glaring at me. “Everything I said was true. And she's not my girlfriend, just a clingy friend I've known for centuries.”

  “You know, I want to believe you but everyone around me tells me that I shouldn't trust you. So, maybe I'm the crazy one by not listening to them.” I wiped a tear that fell down my cheek. “So, I think I'll start now. Goodnight, Mr. Constane.”

  I walked down the stairs but before I headed out the door I turned to see him one last time and he stood in the same spot above the staircase clutching the metal railing and looked furious.