“Okay.” Carter nodded. “You do that and let me know if I need to help. You guys.” He pointed to the others, currently splayed on his couch. “You need to grow the fuck up. Enough’s enough now. Here’s where we decide, right now. We pursue Serena, or we quit. You two go get all the pussy you like, but without us at your backs.” He glared at Jayden. “You were wasted. Not cool in front of Smith, who obviously gets drunk on pussy juice alone.”
Smith smiled. “Sure do.”
“The issue is I’m not sure one woman shared between us is going to be enough for you two.” I said to them. “Now, I’m fine with it. I think Serena’s a lovely woman and I’m looking forward to getting to know her better. Carter is too. But I don’t know what you want.”
“There’s something about that chick, doesn’t add up. I like her, but I don’t trust her.” Smith announced, his eyes narrowing.
“Where’s this come from?” Carter snapped.
“She was hanging around the spa trying to speak to me. Her behavior was suspicious. And she pretended not to know me.”
“Oooh, sounds like someone’s pride is hurt.” I elbowed him in the side.
Jayden spoke. “I don’t know her, but I do know I need someone with a sense of adventure. 'Cause I don’t wanna get bored, dudes. I didn’t get to know her very well, other than giving her a tour of your place, but she was hot, I’ll give her that. Seemed nice enough. So what’s next?”
“Next it’s time to take her on a date. Jayden, I think you should go first.”
“Okay, man. You got it. One hot exciting date coming up for Miss Serena Ripley.”
“We done? I’m going back to bed.” Smith announced as he stood and left the room.
“I’m gonna take off too. Catch ya laters.” Jayden stood, grabbed his jacket, and the door banged closed behind him.
Carter sighed. “What’s going off with those two?”
“They’re bored. We’re only in our late twenties, Carter. How are they going to survive a vampire’s lifetime?”
“I guess we just have to hope that as time passes, they mature.”
“I really do like Serena.” I confessed. “I would try to pursue dating her, even if our hoped-for arrangement didn’t work out.”
“I feel the same. She’s a great woman.” He patted my shoulder. “Let’s see what happens, but maybe one of us will get lucky and find love, hey? And she seems to accept the fact that the four of us are good buddies which is more than Rose ever did.”
I nodded but felt my jaw tighten. Rose was the name not usually mentioned, the one thing that had almost broken our quartet up.
“So, what are your plans for the day?” Carter asked me. “Fancy catching some waves?”
“Usually, I’d say hell yeah. But I want to go speak to my mom. This compulsion thing weirded me out. It’s never not worked before.”
“Your loss.” He smirked standing up and staring out of his window at the ocean. “Because it sure looks beautiful out there today.”
If it were possible, I don’t think Carter would ever come out of the ocean. It was a good thing that we weren’t like vampires portrayed in folklore—only able to come out at night. There were only small differences between us and humans, apart from feeding on blood and the compulsion. We could make people believe what we wanted. Put glamor's on so that people thought they saw something different to reality. We convinced people they didn’t see us feed, or that we didn’t feed from them. That they needed to have a little sleep, and they’d feel better in a couple hours. Madelyn had left Carter's house fresh as a daisy and none the wiser, other than sore between her legs from the hard fuck she’d been given.
I went back over my compelling of Serena. I did nothing wrong. It should have worked. So why hadn’t it?
“You’re absolutely sure you did it properly?” My mom’s authoritarian voice came down the line.
“Yes.”
“Well then, darling. Either she’s got vampire running in her own veins, or she’s your one true love.”
“What did you just say?”
“You know, once we are turned we’re unable to be compelled. There are some who say that if a human can’t be compelled it's because they are destined to become one of us.”
“Sounds like a crock of shit.”
“You asked for my advice, I’m telling you what I know. What’s this woman like anyway? Do you like her?”