Shaking my head, I just take another bite and stare straight ahead. I’m too tired to get into this right now.
“You’re telling me you think it’s a good idea to date a fucking vampire?”
“If you wanted to watch me telekinetically throw things around you could have just asked.”
Easton puts his burger back in the wrapper and turns in his seat to face me. “Sore subject? I’m not the only one who thinks you shouldn’t be with him then.”
“Are you for fucking real right now?”
“I am. I know we had our issues, Callie, but I’m worried about you. That fucker is old and powerful. He’s a killer.”
“So are you.”
Easton swallows hard, making his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “That’s different.”
“Why?” Anger surges through me and it’s all I can do not to blow the glass right out of the windows. I am so sick of people telling me that I shouldn’t be with Lucas simply because of what he is. “Because the people you killed were different from you enough to justify their murders?”
“People will hear you.” Easton grabs my wrist.
I yank my arm back. “Good. Killing is killing, and you can’t justify it. I promise you half the people Lucas killed deserved it at least, which is more than I can say for you. You slaughtered a pack of weres.”
“Werewolves, Callie. They were fucking werewolves.”
“They owned a bakery!” I whisper-yell. “Vegan bakers and that was before being vegan was trendy. And you and your cult of ignorant, judgmental, sexist and backwoods hunters killed them in their sleep. Then they sent you after me. A teenage girl who didn’t even know witch hunters still existed.”
“If there’s one thing I regret—”
“Save it.” I ball up the rest of my burger, having lost my appetite. “You’re no different than him, you know.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Easton doesn’t object for once.
I close my eyes, forcing myself to take in a breath and calm down. “Lucas knows exactly who I am. He knows what I’m capable of and he loves me for it. He doesn’t look at me like I’m a freak. He’s not scared of me. Doesn’t think I should find a way to strip myself of my powers. He loves me for me. And I love him for the same reasons.” I open my eyes and look right at Easton. “I’ve spent too much of my life being angry at people like you, people who fear what they don’t understand, who’d rather repress and deny me of my basic rights as a human-fucking-being. But you know what? I’m not mad anymore. I just feel sorry for you. Because no matter what, you’ll never be free. You live with so much hatred in your heart…”
I bring my hand to my chest. “I can’t even imagine the weight you must feel. So know this. As you’re lying down to sleep tonight, heart racing and mind whirling with all your hateful thoughts, body unable to relax and let go because you’re so angry about things you can’t control…I’ll be in bed with my vampire. After he drank my blood during sex, of course. Oh, and that sex is always amazing because he’s had a very long to perfect his methods and because I love him.”
The lights flicker above me, and I take it as my cue to leave. I let out another breath, feeling lighter already. I’ve told off my father, my brother, and Easton all within a week. I just need to check Doctor Howard off the list and I might be on my way to making a full mental recovery from my childhood trauma.
Hah.
“Tell Melinda I hope she feels better.” I stand and hold my hands to my side, not caring that blue magic is sparking around my fingers. “And stay out of Thorne Hill.”
All I want is a big glass of wine and my bed. Preferably with Lucas in it, naked and next to me, of course. Though I’m too tired for sex right now. But just having him next to me makes everything better.
Seeing a truck with an Anderson Construction sticker on the door is the last thing I want to see when I pull into my driveway. All three of my familiars are on the porch, sunbathing like regular cats. They hold up the pretense well, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the nons close to me were suspicious, especially Betty.
She seemed concerned when Pandora and I left to go to the hospital. It’s not like I can take a cat inside with me, and it’s way too hot to leave a pet in the car. Really, Pandora just shadowed home, faster than anyone could notice. It’s not like I could tell that to Betty, and sometimes I feel bad lying to her.
“What the hell is this?” I grumble, trying hard not to take my bad mood out on anyone who doesn’t deserve it. I park in the dry grass of my side yard, leaving enough room for the trucks to pull out of the driveway.
Binx lets me know Lucas is in the dining room, sitting around the table with the construction workers. They don’t know he’s a vampire, and I’ll have to open and close the back door quickly in order to keep his cover.
“Thanks,” I tell him and hurry up the back-porch steps. I’m sweating already in the short time it took for me to go from my Jeep to the house, and I dodge in as fast as I can, hitting myself with the door in my rapid attempt to slam it shut before sunlight burns my beloved.
He’d heal immediately, but then everyone in the room would know he’s a vampire. Which really wouldn’t be a big deal since both Lucas and I have the ability to change memories. Though I really don’t feel like dealing with anything like that today.
“Ah, sweetheart,” Lucas says, standing from the table when I step into the dining room. “You’re just in time.”
Three men sit around the table, and blueprints of the house Lucas just bought for us are laid out in front of them. Lucas comes over and puts one hand on the small of my back. He pulls me in for a quick kiss and pushes my hair back over my shoulder.
“Are you all right?” he asks quietly.
“I will be,” I huff, obviously struggling to let go of my anger. “What’s going on in here?”
“We were going over the structural damage of the house.”
“Is it bad?”
Lucas pulls out a chair for me to sit in. “Not as bad as I anticipated.”
I sit down and look at the blueprints, remembering that we left a headless zombie in the attic. It probably stinks to high heavens with this heat right now. “That sounds promising.”
“It is,” Lucas says with a smile. He bought me the house as a surprise after I rather casually mentioning that buying and fixing it up was a dream of mine. We had plans to meet with contractors and builders who specialized in restoring historic homes. I could have sworn we weren’t supposed to meet today, but I’m sure Lucas mov
ed up the meeting to try and make me happy, to try and offer a distraction from the shitstorm that is my life.
But all I want to do right now is drink myself into a stupor and pass out after watching 90s made-for-TV movies about witches.
The contractors start explaining the plan of action to me, and it doesn’t take long before I’m getting excited and start thinking about the future.
About Christmas together and how I’ll finally have my twelve-foot Christmas tree.
About the parties we can have in the summer, sitting outside on our patio at night with our friends before taking a midnight dip in our in-ground pool.
About waking up day after day—or night after night—together.
Forever.
Only…my forever will end.
Lucas will live on past that.
Alone.
Forever.
Chapter 8
“Would you like me to make you something to eat?” Lucas slips his arms around me and pulls me to his chest. The builders just left, and we’re sitting on the couch in the living room.
“Maybe in a little bit.” I pull my legs up and wiggle closer to him. “Can we just sit here first?”
He nods and presses his lips to mine before laying us down. My eyes fall shut and exhaustion takes over. And then I remember the zombie in the attic.
“Dammit,” I mutter.
“What’s wrong, my love?” Lucas runs his fingers through my hair.
“The builders are going to the house and we never took that body out of the attic.”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Last night when I was waiting for you to come back. I couldn’t exactly sit still and do nothing.”
I lift my head up and look at his handsome face. “So you buried a body?”
“Call it my therapy.”
I rest my head back down against him. “I love you, Lucas.”
He pulls a blanket off the back of the couch and covers us up. “I love you too. Get some rest, Callie.”
Nodding, I close my eyes and readjust the way I’m lying so I can run my fingers through Lucas’s hair since I know he likes it. We both end up falling asleep, and I wake up six hours later needing to use the bathroom. Lucas is literal dead weight when he sleeps, and it takes a bit of maneuvering to get out of his embrace without waking him up. The sun has set by now, and while those six hours of sleep felt wonderful, I want to crawl back under the blanket and snuggle up with Lucas again, sleeping soundly the rest of the night.