“That’s so cool,” Laney says and then laughs. “Witches and faeries and demon hunters…you just need a vampire friend now.”
“Historically, witches and vampires don’t quite like each other,” I tell her, and judging by the surprise on Sam’s face, she had no idea.
“It is a pleasure to meet you.” Nik takes Laney’s hand in his. “Any friend of Anora’s is a friend of mine.”
“And you as well.” Laney smiles. “Hey, Sam.”
“Hi,” Sam tells her. When Ethan and I went back to Syracuse for the holidays, we all went out together. It was a nice demon-free time, though Sam was annoyed with how excited Laney and I got with Christmas-themed anything. “It was nice of you to surprise Anora.”
“I’m just glad it was an actual surprise! It’s hard to keep secrets from someone you’ve known more than half your life. Not seeing her in person helped.” Laney eyes the popcorn. “Were you guys having a movie night or something? I hope I didn’t interrupt. Harrison said he talked to you beforehand, trying to suss things out.”
“You didn’t. Nik, Ethan and I watch movies with popcorn almost every night. We take turns who picks the movie, and no one likes my horse movies.”
Laney laughs. “I remember having to suffer through those at every sleepover. And I like horses.”
I fake a dramatic gasp. “You mean to tell me you didn’t enjoy watching Spirit every other Friday?”
“I don’t think I would have minded as much if you didn’t cry every single time.”
We both laugh, and Harrison comes into the living room, greeting Sam and Nik. He and Ethan get along really well, which is nice for obvious reasons. We’re not any more related than any other brother and sister, but there is something true to be said about the whole “twin thing”. Harrison hasn’t liked anyone I’ve dated before, and I’ll admit it made me question my own judgment a little.
And as it turns out, no one I dated before was as right as Ethan is for me.
“Really,” I press. “Tonight was more of a watch a movie and not think about how I’ll be formally accused of murder to an old organization of demon hunters in two days if I can’t find the real murderer kind of thing.”
“What?” Laney’s brown eyes go wide.
“I would say it’s a long story, but it’s not. And you’re probably going to get roped into demon research in the morning. But you’ll be fine because this demon just killed someone one by making them live out their nightmare and won’t kill for another two days. Also, we think it might be targeting hunters though that’s kind of a shot in the dark at this point since we just found out about a bunch of new victims. Well, they’re not new. They’ve been dead for a while now we just didn’t know they were connected.”
“If that’s the short story, I think I need the extended version. With bonus scenes.”
I flash a rueful half smile. “Good thing I have wine.”
I slide the pocket door shut, closing the sitting area of our bedroom up for the night. Harrison is sleeping on an air mattress in there, and Laney took the spare bedroom where Romeo is set up. Sam is on the couch in the library, saying it’s good enough for her. It is a really comfy couch, and there’s still a small fire going. Ethan and I have both taken many naps on that couch.
“I think this is a sign we need to finish that fourth bedroom in the attic,” Ethan says when I crawl into bed. “And maybe even put in a fifth or at the very least, get a nice pull-out couch.”
“Is there such thing as a nice pull-out couch?”
He laughs and pulls the blankets up over both of us. Hunter is on the foot of the bed, and I shove my cold feet underneath him, snuggling up with Ethan. It’s only a little after midnight and I’m more than ready to pass out for the night.
“It has the rough-in for another bathroom and even a small kitchen.” He wraps an arm around me. Ethan has sketched out plans for the attic already, and we keep going back and forth on adding two bedrooms or just one and making the rest of the space into a bonus room or sorts, with a large TV, a pool table, and other games. I hate the phrase “man cave” since it implies women don’t enjoy those sorts of things, but it would essentially be just that.
It’ll be a nice hangout spot for us now, and I might have let my mind wander a little into the future, thinking how nice of a space it would be for kids. I would have loved taking my friends up to the third floor, away from my parents when I was a teenager.