by Am Hudson
“Good. I’ll bring her into the bathroom. Meet me in there with some clothes in a sec.”
Em went out to the car, where she’d left her suitcase last night, and Jason disappeared upstairs, coming back down again with a scared and frail-looking girl in his arms. She buried her face in his neck, her hands wrapped so tightly around him you’d think she knew him well, and he winked at us as he closed the bathroom door with his foot.
When Em came back and went in there too, we all went back to our coffee and light conversation about how Vicki might react. I told Lord Eden what I’d seen in Vicki at the funeral and the days before it, but he said he already knew how broken she was. He’d stayed close in those days that followed.
“What time should we leave then?” I asked.
“After we’ve had a chance to meet our newest immortal.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” I asked, handing my empty plate to Mike. “She might not want an audience on her first day.”
Lord Eden nodded in consideration. “You’re right.” He closed his paper and stood up, tucking his white shirt into his beige slacks. “Shall we be off now then?”
I looked down at my bloody wrists. “Let me get changed and cleaned up first.”
“We’ll wait outside,” David offered, jerking his thumb to the door. “Give the new girl some space”.
He leaned in and kissed my cheek, then gathered his wallet and put his watch on, and headed out the door.
Mike quietly finished the dishes and then went outside with David, while I sat reading upside-down headlines on the newspaper, and when the bathroom door opened I was so bored waiting that I sprung up out of my chair.
Emily shut the door behind her and smiled at me. “She’s okay.”
“Is she upset?”
She shook her head.
“Did Jason get into her thoughts yet?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Does he know why?”
“No. But he’s taking her home now, so he can spend all day figuring it out if he likes.” There was an odd amount of spite in her tone.
I smirked at her. “Everything okay?”
Emily’s nose went into the air. “He was there for her when she first woke up as a vampire, so she’s building some kind of sick connection to him—like he’s her saviour or something.”
“So?”
“He’s not interested,” she explained in a haughty tone, leaning forward a little. “She’s kidding herself.”
“Pity,” I teased, laughing internally, “Chastity seemed like a nice girl.”
“Jason can do better.”
“Can he?” I said, stirring the proverbial pot. “Didn’t know it mattered to you so much.”
“I’ll always care about him, Ara.” She softened a little, her armour shedding. “Always.”
“I know.” I tried not to make eye contact as I probed deeper into her personal life. “And Mike—what about him?”
“It was just sex,” she answered too quickly. “For old times’ sake.”
Hm, yes, except it was never just for old times’ sake. But I nodded anyway, as if I agreed. Then thought better of it and said, “Didn’t look that way to me this morning—when you two were cuddling up on the bed.”
She tried to hold back her smile.
“So there is still something there?” I grinned.
“I don’t know.” She moved toward the kitchen. “He told me I should come visit with him and the boys in Australia.”
“As a friend?”
“Yep,” she said, walking past me.
She said that so casually, though, that not one ounce of me believed her.
“Are you gonna go?” I turned to watch her in the kitchen.
She shrugged, keeping her back to me. I took that as a yes.
“Are you afraid it won’t last—that he’ll become distant, like last time?”
“I’m afraid of a lot of things.” She turned to face me then, leaning her butt against the counter. “I stopped loving him, Ara—after he hurt me like that—rejecting me because I’d been with David; telling me it was my fault. I let myself hate him, and now he’s back…” Her eyes drifted slowly to the ground.
“Those feelings have come back too,” I said with a knowing nod, then added, “He has a big heart. And when he loves someone, it’s never by halves. It broke his heart, Em, to lose you.”
She nodded to herself, not looking at me.
“If he’s willing to give things another go, you had better be damn sure what you feel is love, because if there is even the slightest hint of doubt, he will be so destroyed he’ll never trust anyone ever again.”
“I wish there was doubt,” she said simply. “I’m still mad at him for siding with David. He should have risen to my defence, but he didn’t. And the fact that I can still love him even after he hurt me so deeply, it drives me batshit crazy!”
“That’s love, Em.” I shrugged, holding both hands out. “Look at what David and I have been through. If you leave every time someone you love hurts your feelings, you’ll never find peace.”
“That just seems stupid,” she said, folding her arms.
“It is. And it’s not,” I offered. “But love is working through the hurt—together.”
When she squinted at the ground and scrunched her nose up, I thought for sure she was going to argue with me, but she looked up and smiled. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For talking some sense into me.” Her smile moved onto my belly. “You’re right. I know you are. And sticking with him, even when he annoys me, is the only way I’ll ever find what you have—the love, the deep connection, the family.”
We both looked up then, ending the conversation when Jason came out of the bathroom, leading a pretty blonde girl by the hand. She walked with such light footsteps that I found myself looking at her feet, and I could tell from the way they angled out slightly, and by the set of her shoulders, that she was a dancer.
“Hello,” I said.
She went bright pink in the cheeks.
“I gather you remember me—from last night.”
Chastity nodded, looking down guiltily.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, offering her a seat at the table.
She nodded again.
“Well, I’m taking over the bathroom now,” I said, “then I’ll be out for the day. So it’ll just be Emily, Jason and my husband David here.” I winked at Jase. “That should give you some time to get used to being a vampire.”
“Come on.” Jason cupped her elbow and led her away from the bathroom door. “I’ll make you some eggs and then you can have some more blood.”
I left Em and Jase on Project Chastity, and grabbed some clothes from under the bed, then went into the bathroom to wash off last night. I could see now why David killed the victims he slept with—it was just easier than that awkward moment in the morning after a night of twisted passion. That kind of magic always looked silly in the morning. And I felt silly. So did Chastity, I think. But under it all, seeing her made me think about everything I loved about last night. Seeing Chastity kind of made me want to do it again.
***
We’d spent most of the drive in silence. It wasn’t until we drove past the house where Emily grew up that Mike finally had something to say.
“How did you feel about bringing another girl into the bedroom?” he asked bluntly.
I rolled my eyes. “I really hate it that vampires can hear everything. Last night should have been private.”
Mike laughed, turning down the street toward Vicki’s house. “Come on, Ar. I’m curious.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re… you can be jealous and possessive sometimes—”
I huffed.
“—and I’m just wondering if you really were okay with it,” he finished.
I shrugged casually. “I just see it like I do the blood drinking.”
“So it’s the same thing, according to you? David
sucking on a girl’s thigh is the same as the neck—as long as he’s got his dick in you at the time?”
“Mike!” I shook my head at him, then sat back and looked out the window. “And yes. In ways.”
“What if he’d dipped his dick in her?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that good old Aussie crassness. I’d missed that. “He wouldn’t have.”
“But that would be crossing the line?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“But having another girl orgasm under you isn’t?”
“Mike!”
“I’m sorry,” he added defensively, “I’m just trying to get this straight in my head.”
“You don’t need to. It’s how I feel—” I pointed to my chest, “—it doesn’t have to make sense to you.”
“Hm.”
“What’s ‘hm’?”
“Talk about it with him, Ara,” he said, glancing sideways at me. “I’m warning you. The lines are too easy to cross. He’s a darker soul than you, and he needs to know where you stand.”
“We will talk about it—we talk about everything. We just haven’t had a chance today.”
“See that you do.”
A gust of incredulity left my mouth. “It’s my relationship, Mike. Don’t be so damn condescending!”
He reached across and patted my knee. “I just care about you, baby, and I don’t want to see you hurting over something that can be avoided.”
“It’ll be fine. It’s new territory for us, but we’ll work it out—in our own way.”
“Fine.” He lifted his hand off my knee. “I’ll back off.”
“You better, if you know what’s good for you.” I sat with my arms folded for a moment, trying not to be angry at him for simply watching out for me, but it was too late; he’d already pissed me off and now all my ‘raging hormones’ were running the show. I reached over and put my hand on his knee, patting twice. “So what about you and Em then?”
He pulled the car up the driveway and checked his rearview; Lord Eden pulled in behind us. “What about us?”
“I heard you went nuts on Quaid for trying to have sex with her.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“But you did get defensive?”
“A little.” He turned the key in the ignition and the car stopped purring. “What can I say, Ara? I asked her to marry me once. There will always be feelings there and, blood or none, I don’t wanna see another guy on top of her.”
“So you still want her—you know, with those ‘feelings’ being there and all?”
He didn’t even give it a moment of consideration before saying, “Maybe.”
A glint of mischief swept up from my lips to my eyes. “Even though David’s ‘dipped his dick’, like, a hundred times in the past?”
Mike opened the car door and hopped out, closing it firmly without giving me an answer.
I laughed to myself, following him. So he could give me crap, but he couldn’t take it.
When Lord Eden climbed out of the car behind us, I found myself checking the windows down the street to see if anyone was watching. He might be years younger than Greg Thompson, but surely people would ask questions if they saw him. He was just too much like the now-dead man for people not to wonder.
“You worried?” Mike asked.
“Huh?” It took me a second to realise he was asking if I was worried about Walt’s men. “Oh. Um, no. I was just making sure no one was watching.”
Mike looked deliberately at the front door, as if waiting for something. “Well, I’m just hoping Sam and Vicki wait inside—like we agreed this morning.”
“Me too.” I looked up at the house as well, hugging myself. “Last thing we need is a street performance.”
“I’ve had a vision!” Lord Eden announced, striding toward us quickly.
I felt a flutter in my chest, taking in the worried look on his face. “What was it?”
“All you need to know is that we mustn’t attack Loslilian until after Christmas.”
“Why?”
“I’d rather not say.”
“I’d rather you did,” I said sternly.
The worried look lifted and he smiled affectionately at me. “You’re starting to sound more like a queen every day.”
I folded my arms, clearing my throat purposefully.
“There’s a funeral,” he said. “We win back the manor, but at the cost of a life.”
“Whose life?” Mike demanded.
Lord Eden’s eyes went to my belly.
“The baby?” I touched her defensively. “What happens?”
“Walter.”
“What does he do?”
“I don’t know. I see only a very tiny coffin and I hear the words “Walter will pay, Ara. I promise you—”
“Right,” I cut in. “So… we attack after Christmas, you reckon?”
He nodded once. “There will be snow late this year—a day or two after Christmas—but we make our move on a day where the rain floods the grass in the field around the manor.”
I looked at Mike, he shrugged and nodded in a passive combination.
“Okay.” I shrugged too, just wanting to move on from the horrible truth of that alternative path. “So I guess we better get a tree for the lake house.”
“And I better fly the boys over.”
“No.” Dad put his hand out quickly and clutched Mike’s forearm. “Don’t.”
I felt the dread flatten Mike’s aura. “Okay,” he said without argument. “I’ll fly home for Christmas then.”
“That would be best,” Lord Eden said. “And Amara.” He grasped my upper arm firmly. “You need to refer to me as Dad for today. I can’t have Vicki asking about my true name. In fact, she can’t know it—in case it puts her in more danger.”
“Okay.” I nodded.
He let go of my arm and walked past me toward the house.
“You okay?” Mike asked.
I rubbed my arm. “Are you?”
He jammed both hands in his jeans pockets and exhaled, looking up at his old bedroom window. “I’ll try to make it back for the battle after Christmas, Ara, but I’m worried about the boys now. I—”
I touched his arm softly, nodding. “I know.”
“I know you know.” Mike offered me his warmest, most loving smile, and placed his hand on my back, giving me a little push. “Come on. We better go play mediator—make sure Vicki doesn’t kill your dad.”
I opened my mouth to say “He’s not my dad,” and only just managed to suck the breath back in before the words rolled off my tongue. Mike couldn’t know the truth yet, because there’s no way he could keep that from his thoughts around Lord Eden.
At the bottom of the porch steps, the ex-Greg Thompson stood looking up at his house, like maybe he wasn’t so sure about going in. He took the first step, though, rearranging his posture in an obviously deliberate effort to look unaffected.
On the second step, when he took a quick breath, I knew he was struggling to hold it together.
By the third step, Lord Eden looked weak with grief and more human than he’d been since he was Greg, so by the time he touched the door handle and turned it, he was no longer the Original Vampire: he was just a man.
He pushed it open and stood for a moment, taking in the space. He’d been here plenty of times lately as Petey, but his first steps home as Greg were obviously a lot harder than he ever imagined.
Mike ran up the steps behind him and whispered something in his ear, taking him by the arms as if leading an elderly man that got lost on his way back from the corner store. I followed them inside and closed the door, checking the street one more time.
“Mike!” Sam cried, and as I turned around, Sam leaped up from the sofa in the den and wrapped his arms around Mike. I wasn’t sure if he’d seen Lord Eden standing there behind Mike, or if he’d even recognise him, but it only took a small whimper from Vicki to know that she spotted him.
She didn’t get up, didn’t move f
rom the sofa, but just sat there covering her mouth and holding her stomach like she was struggling to keep something inside.
Lord Eden looked away from her to his son, and as Mike stepped back and cleared a path from Sam to Lord Eden, all the anger and the hatred my little brother had for his father a few days ago vanished. He threw himself into Lord Eden, who stumbled back a few inches, both of them sobbing audibly.
“I never left you, son,” he said, his arms wrapped almost twice around Sam. “I never left.”
“I know,” Sam cried into his neck. He moved back then, keeping his hands on his dad’s shoulders, and took a really long look at him, layering this new image over the memories he had—just like I did when I first saw him. “You don’t look like you,” he said. “And I still can’t believe it—any of it.”
“I’m sorry.” The vampire shook his head, his eyes moving across the somewhat dark room to his wife. He held his hand out to her. “All I can ever say, Vicki, is ‘I’m sorry’.”
Vicki very slowly stood up, straightening her legs before holding her head high. Her hand remained against her stomach and she wiped away a tear with the scrunched-up tissue in her fist.
“I do not expect you to forgive me, and if you say the word, I will leave and you never have to see me again—”
“But what about me?” Sam cut in. “I’m angry. It’s no lie, Dad. But I don’t want you gone. Neither does Mom.” He looked back at Vicki. “Do you, Mom?”
It was clearly hard for her to do, but she gently rocked her head in a ‘no’.
Dad took that as his cue to hold her, and she fought him as he first wrapped his arms around her body, but he overpowered her and she leaned against him in a sobbing mess, slapping his chest over and over. He just held on tight, though, and let her hate him—let her love him. Let her show him how much he truly meant to her—enough that she might, eventually, forgive him.
She stopped sobbing for a moment and looked up at him, her chin trembling. “Do you still love me, or did that die with Greg Thompson?”
Lord Eden hesitated, shifting his feet and straightening his shoulders before he answered. And I thought for sure I knew what he was going to say, so when he spoke, it shocked me.
“I still love you, as I always have.”
