The woman I saw sitting on the couch took my breath away. She was dressed far more casually than me in yoga pants and a sweatshirt, but she still looked amazing. Part of me felt bad because I had already gone out with Kyle, but if Ellen asked for anything, I wouldn’t have said no. Her long blonde hair framed her face perfectly, and her bright blue eyes lit up when I walked into the room.
“You must be Hannah,” she smiled, holding a hand out for me to shake.
“You must be Ellen,” I smiled in response. “It’s great to meet you.”
“You too. Kyle has already told me so much about you.”
“Has he?” I smirked, turning to Kyle as I took a seat beside Ellen. His face flushed a light shade of pink but he just shook his head and laughed.
“Mostly stories of when you were in school, but I could tell he was excited to see you again.”
“Well, the feeling is mutual.” I threw Kyle another smile and watched the tension in his body fade a little bit. My own body did the exact opposite and started to tense up at the sight of him licking his lips, his tongue darting out just before he drew his bottom lip in between his teeth. Fuck.
“So, Ellen,” I said to distract myself. “Kyle said you’re a teacher?”
“I am. I teach high school economics.”
“I could never understand economics,” I laughed. “I think I nearly gave Kyle a stroke with how many times I asked him for help in class.”
“Well I’d be willing you teach you a little something, free of charge.” The smirk on her lips let me know Kyle wasn’t the only one feeling flirty. Usually, I would have been able to handle two people flirting with me, except I found myself attracted to both of them and I really didn’t want to choose.
*****
Two weeks later, I found myself back at Kyle’s with Ellen on one side, Kyle on the other, and my third glass of wine in my hand. We had all been talking quite a bit and become good friends, but both of them flirted with me when the other wasn’t around. I couldn’t pick between the two, but part of me was curious about each one. Kyle seemed intriguing because he was my old professor. Something about being with him, even after college, seemed taboo. I loved it.
Then there was Ellen. I’ve been with a couple women before, but none of them got my heart racing like she did. She knew the effect she had on me too. I could tell by her confidence every time she sent blood rushing through my body.
Kyle had some show about Vikings playing quietly on his television, even though there was never a dull moment in conversation for any of us to actually pay attention. Once I had that third glass of wine gone and started working on my fourth, I couldn’t keep a smile off my face. The other two kept me laughing all night and I knew I wouldn’t be able to drive myself home, which meant either getting Kyle to drop me off or staying overnight.
“We’re a little low on wine,” Kyle said, holding up the nearly empty bottle and raising his eyebrows at me.
I held my hands up in mock surrender. “Hey, you never told me I couldn’t keep drinking.”
“Drink however much you want,” Ellen laughed. “I’m right behind you.” With those words, she grabbed the bottle from Kyle and drained what was left, making the man grumble in fake annoyance.
“I’ll go get us all another bottle,” he said, heading to the kitchen.
When he was out of the room and out of sight, Ellen turned my attention back to her. “Hannah, I have a blunt question and I need you to answer honestly.” I wasn’t surprised. Ellen wasn’t one to mince words anyway, so I was more surprised that she admitted she would be blunt instead of outright asking.
“Okay?” I replied, more as a question.
“Are you straight?”
I nearly choked on my wine and coughed a bit to catch my breath. “That was blunt,” I laughed. “But no, I’m not. Not technically. I’m bi.”
Ellen hummed in understanding. “Good.”
Before I could fully comprehend what was going on, Ellen leaned forward and pressed her lips against mine. I was a bit taken aback at first, but let myself lean into her kiss. Her lips were soft – that’s something I’d noticed as a difference between men and women. Men have typically been more aggressive. Women, on the other hand, not so much.
“Starting all the fun without me?” We pulled apart at the sound of Kyle back in the room and I felt a blush immediately cover my face. I let my hair fall in front of me to hide the color from him, but Ellen reached forward and tucked the hair behind my ear anyway.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “It’s probably just the alcohol.”
“Nothing to be sorry about,” Kyle shrugged.
I looked at him, confused. “What? Wait, I thought you liked me.”
He nodded and uncorked the new bottle of wine to pour himself another glass. “I do. But that doesn’t mean I’m against you making out with Ellen.”
I was lost. What was going on? If he liked me, why would he want me to hook up with other people? “Have you ever heard of polyamory, love?” Ellen asked, turning my attention to my right. I nodded. Instead of giving me a verbal answer, Ellen just shrugged.
“So you two…” I trailed off, looking between them. “But you’re straight,” I said to Kyle, “and you’re a lesbian,” I said to Ellen. “How does that…?”
“You’re bi,” Kyle smirked. How did he know that? “It works perfectly. I’m into you, Ellen’s into you, you’re into both of us. If you don’t want to try it, you can just say no.”
I sat in shock for a second, taking a little bit of time to mull it over. I’d never been in a polyamorous relationship, but the thought piqued my interest. “Okay,” I finally said with a shrug. Kyle and Ellen looked at each other with smiles.
“Are you sure?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah. I think so,” I backtracked. “I can back out if it’s weird, right?”
“That, babe, is called a break up,” Ellen said.
“Then let’s hope everything goes well because I’m not one for grief,” I laughed. Kyle and Ellen looked at each other again, this time with a different look in their eyes. Concern, almost. I shrugged it off, not wanting to doom the relationship before it started. Instead, I lifted my newly filled glass of wine, courtesy of Kyle, in a silent toast to what may come.
Kyle insisted I stop after my fifth glass of wine, mostly because even he could tell I was getting past the point of tipsy, almost drunk.
“I’m fine,” I said, a wide smile covering my face.
“You’re drunk,” Kyle laughed, scooping me up in his arms.
“No, I’m not,” I whined. I nestled my head into the crook of his neck and kissed him gently, letting my tongue flick out against his pulse to suck a light hickey. I could’ve sworn I heard him moan at the sensation, but before I could get very far, he set me down on a soft bed and tucked me under the covers.
“You’re not really making me sleep here alone, are you?” I pouted. I could feel the alcohol starting to affect me, but I didn’t care.
Kyle rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yes, I am. I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret when you’re sober,” he explained.
“So tomorrow night?” I asked with a small smile.
“Tomorrow night,” Kyle chuckled quietly. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead before flicking off the light and leaving me in bed.
*****
I woke up the next morning with a slight headache in last night’s clothes. Even with the alcohol I had, I remembered everything. It just had a more adverse effect than I would’ve liked. Once I pushed myself out of bed and washed my face in the guest bathroom, I met Kyle and Ellen downstairs.
“Good morning,” I said with a little more pep than I liked.
“You seem chipper,” Kyle smirked.
I shrugged and sat at his kitchen counter. “I’m not as painless as I’d like but, like I told you last night, I’m fine.”
He laughed at my casualness and slid a glass of water and bottle of aspirin t
o me.
“Thanks,” I replied with just a little bit of annoyance. I was grateful he knew what I needed, but I hated admitting I was wrong.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Kyle said, looking past me. I turned and saw a yawning Ellen, very evident bedhead messing up her hair. She still looked gorgeous though, with a pair of shorts and an oversized sweatshirt on.
“Hey, you two,” she smiled. She sat on a barstool beside me at Kyle’s kitchen counter, waiting for him to give us some sort of food. “Breakfast?”
His eyes flicked over to me for a second before he stood and took a pan of bacon out of the oven. As for anything else, the box of cereal and jug of milk he set in front of us was all we were getting.
“Good enough for me,” I laughed, pouring myself some breakfast. Ellen and Kyle were both acting a little weird about everything, and I was quite sure neither one had more than one strip of bacon.
I went home for most of the day, mainly to check the shop phone messages and see if we had any arrangement requests. Taylor had the shop covered since we were just open Saturday mornings, so I didn’t have much work to do. I fixed myself up a bit so I wasn’t a sloppy mess and remembered to pack myself an overnight bag to keep that from happening again. Kyle insisted Ellen and I both stay over again. At this point – after last night – I wasn’t going to say no.
I showed up at Kyle’s just after seven, early enough for dinner. He ordered a pizza barely big enough for two people, let alone three, but I didn’t question it. All of us were in proper lounge clothes: sweatpants, t-shirts, and, for Ellen and me, no bras. Spending time with Kyle and Ellen started to feel like I was hanging out with friends in college again. We drank, talked and didn’t have a care in the world. It felt good.
Until that night rolled around.
At around ten, Kyle brought out that bottle of wine and poured each of us a glass. I could have sworn that he had more wine than food.
“Don’t let me have more than three, okay? I don’t want a repeat of last night,” I laughed, taking my first sip.
“I didn’t plan on it,” he laughed.
Our conversations went on as normal for a while, until I was about halfway done with my third glass. Ellen and Kyle both sort of shifted in their seats. The clock had just hit 11:30 and I knew we’d probably be heading to bed soon, mainly because Kyle and Ellen both had school sleep schedules.
“Hannah, there’s something Kyle and I should probably tell you,” Ellen said, piquing my interest. “I know you’re not used to a relationship like this, but…there’s something else.”
Oh no. “Don’t tell me you’re part of some weird cult or something. Or you’re pregnant. Or that there are more people involved,” I started rambling. Damn, this alcohol is hitting me hard, I thought to myself.
“No, none of that,” Kyle laughed. He coughed a bit to clear his throat and looked to Ellen, who was looking at me. My eyes flicked between the two of them, waiting for whatever bombshell they were going to drop on me.
“Have you ever read Dracula?” Ellen asked.
I nodded.
“We’re vampires,” Kyle said plainly.
I couldn’t help the small giggle flying past my lips. “Yeah, okay. And I’m a werewolf,” I laughed, expecting them to join in. When they both stayed quiet, my smile faltered a bit. “Oh, come on. You don’t expect me to believe something like that. It’s ridiculous!”
“No, it’s actually not,” Kyle said slowly. He moved from the chair to my left to sit beside me on the couch. “Listen, I don’t expect you to be comfortable with this right away, but it’s something you need to know.”
“Kyle, I know you were my professor at one point but you don’t have to treat me like a child,” I replied sternly. “I don’t know what kind of joke you’re trying to play on me, but it’s weird now. You can stop.”
The two shot glances between each other before Kyle finally sighed and set his hand on my thigh. “Please don’t run.” A rush of fear suddenly ran through my body. Why was my professor – now boyfriend – telling me not to run? Run from what? If anything, those three words made me want to do just that.
Before I could ask what he meant, he looked down at me with red covering the irises of his eyes and two short fangs protruding from his gums. I would’ve shot back and looked to Ellen, but I already knew she looked the same. I couldn’t pretend to listen to Kyle. I stood up and I ran.
Unfortunately, I didn’t make it very far before Kyle was standing in front of the door and Ellen stood behind me, keeping me trapped. The only way out was upstairs, and I knew if they could stop me from making it fifteen feet to the front door, they could stop me from making it upstairs.
“Don’t hurt me,” I begged, the only sound I could get out of my mouth.
“We won’t,” Kyle assured, stepping forward just a bit. I instinctively stepped back, nearly running straight into Ellen. Both looked normal again with no red eyes and no fangs. “We don’t hurt people. We just wanted you to know before things got too serious.”
“Do you want things to get serious? Because this is a good way to freak someone out,” I said.
“Of course we do,” Ellen said behind me. “We wouldn’t have told you this otherwise.” There was a moment of silence as my gaze flickered between the two supposed vampires. There was no way this could be real, right? That was ridiculous. “Let’s all sit down and talk about it, okay?”
I simply nodded, letting them both lead me back to the couch in a dumbfounded stupor.
“You know how unrealistic this all sounds, right?” I asked, more as a rhetorical question.
“We do,” Kyle said. “I can’t say I reacted much differently when Ellen first told me what she was.” I looked over to Ellen who just shrugged in agreement.
“I don’t really know what to ask. Should I be scared?”
“Absolutely not,” Ellen said firmly.
“Are you going to – God, this sounds so stupid – are you doing to…drink from me?” Just hearing those words leave my mouth felt wrong. It didn’t make sense. It sounded like a movie, especially considering how many of those were floating around theaters.
“Only if you’re okay with it,” Ellen said, resting a hand on my knee.
“But we can’t say we don’t want to,” Kyle muttered beside me.
It felt like the blood was rushing straight to my head and for a minute, I figured that might be a bad thing. What if they lost control? What if they hurt me unintentionally? Oh God, everything turned into such a mess.
“If you want to take some time to understand everything, we’ll understand,” Kyle said, running his hand up and down my back in an attempt to calm me down.
I leaned forward and rested my head in my hands. “I just don’t know what’s happening,” I murmured. “How is this possible?”
“To be honest, we really don’t know,” Ellen said. “I turned almost two hundred years ago,” Holy shit, “but other than who turned me, I can’t explain anything. I know how to control myself and I know what I physically can and can’t do, but I don’t know how this is possible either.”
“So you’re, what, two hundred forty years old?” I asked her.
“Two hundred thirty-three, thanks,” she said sarcastically, throwing in a little laugh. “I turned shortly before my thirty-sixth birthday, just under two hundred years ago. I met Kyle about fifty years after that.”
I looked to the man on my left. The man I had only known for just under two years. Ellen had known him for more than a century.
“So I’m…one hundred eighty-five?” Kyle said, uncertain of his answer. “I sort of lost track after I hit a hundred.”
“This is so weird,” I muttered. I couldn’t make eye contact with either of them and I almost felt dizzy with everything they were throwing my way. “I think I need time to figure this out.”
“Okay,” the both said in unison.
“You can stay in the same room you were in last night,” Kyle said.
“I thi
nk I’d feel better if I went to my own place.” Kyle’s shoulders slumped slightly at my comment, but he just nodded in response, helping me carry my bag to the door so I could drive home.
“At least text me when you get home, okay?” Kyle said.
I nodded and quickly backed out of his driveway and onto the street.
*****
The next morning, I still felt numb from the previous night’s confession. Vampires. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Vampires were something of fantasy, not something to mess around with and date. Even with all the doubt swirling in my mind, I forced myself back into my car and over to Kyle’s again, pulling into his driveway unannounced around noon.
He opened the door before I could even knock.
“Sorry. I heard you pull in the drive,” he said sheepishly. “Come in.”
“Do I have to say that to you? To let you into my house, I mean,” I asked immediately. Kyle looked taken aback by my sudden questioning, but answered anyway.
“Yeah. Any vampires have to be invited inside private residences. If it’s a business, it’s different. Hotels aren’t the same.”
Ellen stood in the living room doorway, smiling as she saw me walk in.
“Hey,” she said quietly. I could tell they were being more cautious with their words and actions after how I acted the night before.
“Can you blame me, though?” I asked, finishing my thoughts out loud. “You guys told me you were vampires, for fuck’s sake.” My voice felt like I was shouting, but it was just because of how quietly the others were speaking.
“Whatever you need to do, we’re fine with it,” Kyle said. He rested a hand on my lower back and I stiffened for just a second. Part of me remembered he was still the Kyle I knew in college, but another part of me knew he was deadly. He let out a quiet sigh of disappointment when he felt my body go rigid, but led me to the sofa so they could explain everything to me.
“Is there anything you want to know?” Ellen asked cautiously.
I just shrugged. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to ask,” I replied.
Inextinguishable Love: Firefighter and Interracial Romance Page 74
