I Accidentally Hooked Up with a Vampire (Accidents Happen #2)

29. Custom Curtains

29

Custom Curtains

D on’t ask me why, but I expected all the vampires to stop attacking. As soon as their vampire leader was down for the count, I thought they would sulk away into the shadows, but they didn’t. The battle went on until Domino’s allies arrived to even out the numbers. With Vance down, every eager vampire in the area wanted a chance to take his place.

When we finally left, the vampires were still fighting, but we realized they weren’t coming after us anymore. This was a territorial battle that would end when one vampire displayed his dominance over the others.

“We need to get out of here,” Domino urged. “If they don’t sort this out by themselves, the council will intervene. If they send someone here, we don’t want them finding us.”

“He’s right. We need to keep everything about Whitney hidden,” Lena agreed as we piled into the Jeep.

“I’ll drive.” Domino took the keys.

Jackie sucked her teeth and held out her hand for the keys. “Excuse me?”

“Jackie…” Lena and I said her name at the same time.

“Not like it’s his car!” she fussed as she climbed into the back seat with Lena.

“Do you ever think about taking over as king?” I asked Domino as we drove away from the chaos.

“I have, and I realized it’s not for me,” he admitted. “There is a lot that comes with the job. It’s not as superficial as my brother made it look. I didn’t ask for this life, but I try to make the best of it, and somehow, the idea of spending potentially hundreds, if not thousands, of years looking after annoying immortals doesn’t sound appealing to me.”

“I had to ask. I mean, if that’s what you want, then I need to consider what that means for me. To be honest, I don’t want to be involved with any more vampire stuff than I have to.”

“Oh?” He raised a brow and looked at me from the corner of his eye. “You think about that?”

“We are stuck together now, right? There is a bond between us,” I said nervously, ignoring the fact that my best friends were behind me and definitely listening to our conversation.

“Yes, we are.” He smiled and pulled the car onto the open road.

As the car cruised on, I looked back at my sister, who was laid out across my best friends. Jackie rubbed her arms and Lena cradled Jai’s head in her lap with a roll of herbs in her hand. She lit the end and drew circles of smoke above Jai’s face.

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked. “What are you doing?”

“Yes, I think she will be just fine.” Lena continued moving her hand in circles. “I’m weaving dreams for her. Just trying to take the edge off any anxiety she may be having. Even in her sleep state, this can be stressful. It’s also starting the process to erase her memories of what happened. If I did it correctly, she should be dreaming of running through the clouds or something cozy like that.”

“ If you did it correctly?” I twisted in my seat. “What do you mean if ?”

“Yes, I told you this isn’t something I’ve done much of. I got instructions, though.” Lena looked up at me. “I followed it perfectly, I promise.”

“I swear, if you made this girl forget who she is!” Jackie fussed. “There is no coming back from that, Lena. You know that.”

“She won’t!” Lena rubbed her chin. “I mean, I don’t think she will. Besides, this is only a temporary fix. Likosa is coming to help me perform the actual memory cleanse and make sure she’s okay. It’s not enough to erase a memory. We have to replace it with something else.”

“Great, Likosa,” I muttered.

“You don’t like her, do you?” Lena asked.

“I’m just not sure I trust her, but if you believe she is the right person for this, then I’ll go with it. Despite my feelings, I trust you.” I smiled at her—I meant it. Even if I thought something was off about the woman, Lena had always been a good judge of character.

“Thank you.” Lena smiled.

“In any case, it’s better than her remembering the vampires who tried to kill her, right?” Domino tried to comfort me.

“You would think that.” Jackie looked like she wanted to pop him on the back of the head, but she kept her hands to herself.

“Look, I’m just glad she’s back and all this is over.” I turned and relaxed back into my seat. “I hate that any of this ever affected her at all.”

“Over?” Jackie laughed. “Girl, I hate to tell you, but this is just the beginning. I mean, there are vampires out there, running around talking about you, the woman with blood that destroys vampires from the inside out. If you think you’re walking away from all this now, you are out of your mind.”

“Yeah, you’re kinda stuck with all this,” Lena agreed. “And now that we have Jai back, I can also admit I’m happy you’re in this now. Now we don’t have to hide things or tiptoe around you anymore!”

“Focus on not destroying my sister’s mind, please.” I held my hand up to stop her cheery tone.

“I won’t!” Lena fussed. “Hey, I’m a lot better at this than you’re giving me credit for.”

“Look, I’m supposed to be looking at art, not blowing up vampires!” I snapped.

“Whitney, please. You’re special, and now you’re a part of our monster ass-kicking team! It’s a gift. Embrace it!” Jackie cheered. “I wonder what else you can do. I mean, you only just tapped into your power!”

“You’re enjoying this way too much.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to think about any of that right now.”

“Fine. You don’t think about it, but I will. As soon as I get home, I’m making plans for us to work together to get you as strong as possible.”

Jackie rambled on, but I couldn’t be bothered to pay attention. I meant what I said. Jai was okay, and for the time being, the vampires weren’t worried about us. Nothing else mattered to me, and I wasn’t about to rush into thinking about a future joining my friends in the hunt for monsters.

A few hours later, we had dropped Jackie and Lena off at Jackie’s and were pulling into my parking garage. They were going to do more work and then meet us at my place. As much as I wanted to be there with my friends, I also needed to go home and deal with the mess. Besides, Jackie’s place was still crawling with hunters, and her guesthouse had a hole in the wall. We didn’t want to have to explain all of that to Jai when she woke up.

I held my breath as we rode the elevator up to my apartment. I wanted to get Jai past the devastation before she woke up. When the elevator doors slid open, I slapped my hand over my mouth.

The hall was perfect. The floors and walls had all been repaired, and there wasn’t a hint of blood in the place.

“How is this possible?” I eased out into the hall like it was a mirage that would fade away.

“Money.” Domino smirked. “Everything is possible with enough money.”

“You paid to have this repaired?” I looked at him.

“Yes, I did. There are services that take care of these things. If you think chaos like this isn’t happening every night, you’re wrong. When it does, there are cleanup crews that erase the evidence of monsters who destroy custom carpets.”

“I was preparing myself to get an eviction notice on my door.” I sighed as I led him to the door. “Glad I don’t have to worry about that now.”

“Of course not. I wouldn’t let that happen to you.” Domino followed me inside. “You didn’t ask for all this. You shouldn’t have to lose everything because of it.”

“Thank you.” I closed the door behind him after he carried my sister inside.

Grrrrr! Maverick sat in the hallway and rolled his eyes at us.

“I should feed him. You can put her in my room,” I instructed Domino.

After Maverick had his meal and Jai was tucked safely into my bed, we met in the kitchen. Watching my cat devour his meal reminded me I had had little to eat myself. My stomach growled as I searched through the kitchen for something to snack on.

“Would you like me to run out and get you something?” Domino asked.

“No, I’m good.” I pulled out some kimchi, seaweed, and tuna. “This will do.”

“Is that for you or the cat?”

“I know you aren’t talking after the disaster you left in Jackie’s kitchen!” I pointed at him.

He threw his hands up. “I’ll shut up.”

“Thank you.”

Domino turned to look out the window while I inhaled the food. It wasn’t enough, but I’d make it work.

“The sun will come up soon.” He glanced back at me.

“What if he was wrong?” I asked.

“What?” Domino turned to me, quirking a brow.

“Miguel. What if the change wasn’t permanent and you explode when the sun rises?”

“Remember me well?” he joked.

“Not funny,” I fussed as I put the plate and fork in the sink. “We need to be serious about this.”

“How about I just stick my toe out? If that lights up, then we know.” Domino lifted his foot from the ground.

“Domino…” I fussed.

“The only thing we can do is try, Whitney.” He walked over to me, his eyes filled with warmth, and gently pulled me into his arms. “I don’t want to leave this world now, not after having finally found you. But what other choice is there?”

“That was mushy.” I poked his chest. “We could just pretend it never happened and you can stay in the night.”

“Seriously?” Domino shook his head. “What about your days on the beach? What about walking hand in hand under the sun? Don’t you want that?”

“Yes, but I’d rather you stay alive.”

“And what about the blood thing? Shouldn’t we find out if your blood would hurt me?” he continued. “Or do you not care now that your sister is safe?”

“Ouch.” I frowned. “Do you think I’m that selfish?”

“I didn’t mean it that way.” He sighed. “It was supposed to be a joke.”

“I think your jokes only land when they're directed at monster hunters.” I smirked.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So we test it out and hope for the best.” I looked out the window. “Is that what you really want to do?”

“Yes. I don’t want to live with the mystery,” he said resolutely.

“Okay. Then we’ll do it.”

Domino headed for the couch and stopped when I didn’t follow him.

“You want me to sit alone?”

He shook his head. “No, but I can’t sit there.”

“Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sit here. Why is that?”

“I can’t.” I stared at the special order symbol of my success. “It’s like there’s something holding me back.”

“Okay, we can unpack that later.” Domino grabbed two chairs from the kitchen table and pulled them to sit in front of the window.

We sat together, hand in hand, and waited for the sun to rise. I held my breath as the first rays of light touched my skin. When I turned to look at Domino, I could see the slight fear in his eyes.

“You’re still here,” I whispered.

“I am.”

We sat together, smiling at the sun, until the doorbell snapped us out of our enjoyment.

“Who could that be at this time?” I pulled out my phone and looked at the camera. Standing there were my best friends.

As soon as I opened the door, Jackie skipped inside over to Domino.

“Oh, look, you’re still alive.”

He nodded. “Yes, and so are you.”

“I’d say something about forcing a sharp piece of wood through your chest, but I’m actually glad you’re alive.” She pulled a brown envelope from her back pocket and handed it to him. “Here!”

“What is this?” Domino frowned at the envelope without opening it.

“A bill!” Jackie grinned.

“Excuse me?” Domino scoffed. “You’re billing me? For what?”

“If you think I’m paying for the damage done to my home, you’re out of your mind.” Jackie looked over her shoulder at Lena and me and winked.

Domino opened the envelope and looked at the itemized list, his jaw tightening as his eyes lit up. “Fifteen thousand dollars for curtains ?”

“Did you forget the one you set on fire after your nasty vampire sex?”

“You expect me to believe you paid fifteen thousand dollars for a single curtain?”

“No, but they were custom, and now, they all have to be replaced. I can’t have curtains in my home that don’t match!”

“You’re out of your mind.” Domino tossed the paper in her face.

The two bickered, and Lena lifted the coffee cup carrier.

“This is going to be the rest of our lives, you know?” She smirked.

I snatched up a cup of coffee and took a long drink. “That’s starting to sink in.”