26. Vi
vi
. . .
I caught my reflection in the glass door of the bank as Ren opened it to let me inside. I couldn’t help but cringe a little. The fluorescent lights would do nothing to hide the dark circles under my eyes—I really needed to fix my sleep schedule.
Or maybe I’d just let Elsie do my makeup every day; then at least I could feel like a zombie without actually looking like I’d passed away.
Between Kaylee’s flooded apartment and spending every night working until three in the morning at the club, I was fucking exhausted. Though I had to admit that spending half the night wrapped up in Juniper was partially responsible for my sluggish movements.
The only thing getting me through this tedious-as-hell task was Ren’s promise of dinner once we were done… and the tentative hope that my useless dad managed to leave something half valuable behind that could help my mom.
We waited patiently in line while a teller with a silver bun affixed with a claw clip assisted an elderly man with some bill payments as I politely pretended not to listen to their conversation.
“I was thinking Thai tonight?” Ren suggested, catching my hand to kiss the back, lips trailing to brush my bracelet.
“Only if there is shrimp… and tea.”
“Of course, Pet.” She chuckled. “We can pick it up on the way back to the club. Maybe take some for the girls too? I’m sure they could use a pick-me-up after Garrett dropped in.”
If I hadn’t picked up on the obvious hatred in my usually gentle vampire’s tone, the wrinkle of her nose would’ve made her feelings clear as day. I didn’t blame her; I hated Garrett too. The guy gave me the most uncomfortable feeling, like his eyes left behind a sticky residue whenever he looked at me.
The old man collected his cane, slowly making his way to the door, and the teller finally told us to step forward.
Ren took my hand, threading our fingers as she led me there. It was nice to have a little alone time since our date had been cut short. Though, I’m not sure how much I should really count that as a date since it featured my sibling as a special guest.
As much as I enjoyed being with everyone, I craved enjoying my independent relationships on their own too. Sometimes I felt that working out where I fit into the polycule—into the coven—was complicated.
But being with Ren?
That was as easy as breathing.
There’s no one I would’ve rather been with when Kaylee called. Her presence had felt like a balm on my frayed, overly sensitive nerves.
I made a mental note as we crossed the faded carpet to check in with Kaylee when we got back to the club. She probably wasn’t thrilled to be reduced to living in whatever clothes we’d managed to salvage from her ruined closet instead of her usual near-infinite selection of designer pieces.
Fashion problems made her grouchy. And a grouchy Kaylee was… Well, actually, grouchy Kaylee was sort of an everyday Juniper.
Which is not so bad at all.
The teller typed away crisply at the keyboard, half-moon-shaped bifocals perched at the end of her wide nose. Despite the claw clip, a few strands of hair had escaped as she steadfastly refused to look up at us.
“Um, hi?” I called, finally making the woman stop her clicking. She sighed as her eyes took in Ren’s short hair and tattooed neck, lip curling subtly in a way that made me bristle. No wonder my tone got a little more brusque as I said,“I got a call about a safety deposit box.”
Her eyes quickly returned to the computer as she used her mouse to click through a few screens. “Identification.”
“The… Um… The account isn’t in my name,” I explained, reaching into my bag to pull out my license and hand it over.
She took it quickly, brows furrowed as she looked over the information. “Do you have the key?”
There was something melancholy in the monotony of doing whatever you needed to do to make a buck. Surely, whoever this woman was, she hadn’t dreamed of becoming a bank teller. So, and even though I could have done without the blatant disdain and rudeness, I sort of felt for her.
Just a few months ago, I had been in her shoes at a company where I was just a number and needed to comply with a corporate dress code. But now, nothing would make me want to open Monstra again.
It was hard for an assigned parking space to compete with the workplace perks of dancing on bar tops and pouring shots into open mouths at O.
Honestly… I couldn’t remember the last time I’d bothered to doomscroll job listings.Somewhere along the line, I’d fit. And now there was no going back.
I cursed internally, realizing that I so owed Kaylee a thank you card and some flowers.
She was going to be insufferable. She’d always been a sore winner, but with this? Might as well start planning her a parade and just get it over with.
No, too small.
A national holiday.
“The key?” the teller prompted again dryly.
“Uh…” I hesitated, looking up at Ren with my face feeling warm. “I don’t…”
Ren’s hand found the small of my back and rubbed small, comforting circles there, likely hearing the embarrassed uptick of my heartbeat. Her other elbow leaned on the raised wicket effortlessly. “Unfortunately, we weren’t aware of the box before now. The bank called Vi about it—something about it lapsing due to non-payment?”
“Oh,” the teller said, a glimmer of interest in her eyes now as she handed me back my ID. “You’re box 317. I’ve already pulled the spares. If you’ll follow me.”
She stood, grey skirt swishing around her knees as she walked along the empty wickets and out through a small gate, the click of her heels dulling as she stepped into the carpeted hall, motioning for us to follow.
We trailed her, passing by glass-walled offices full of financial advisors with curious eyes until we reached the opaque gate that led to the vault.
“We’ve been trying to get a hold of you for ages,” the teller said while she opened the gate with a key from her comically large keyring. She breezed inside, motioning for us to join her in the cramped room.“You were about to forfeit its contents, you know?”
Hundreds, if not thousands, of little doors lined the walls, their sizes varying from the thickness of a short novel to big enough to hold a case of wine. Little silver rectangles and squares, their golden locks and etched numbered plates the only things distinguishing one from the other.
She located the correct box effortlessly, inserting one key from her large ring into one of the locks and one she had in her hand into the other and twisted, opening it.
“Uh, yeah,” I said awkwardly as she pulled out a metal tin about the size of a family-sized box of cereal. “Sorry about that. Honestly, I had no idea this was here.”
The teller rolled her eyes like she thought that was some sort of rich person bullshit problem. I didn’t bother telling her I had been dodging their calls because I thought she was trying to collect on an overdue credit card.
“I’ll wait outside while you sort through the contents; just knock when you’re ready to come out,” she said, setting the metal tin on the table at the center of the room. She rounded Ren with apprehension, closing us inside with an ominous click.
“I think she’s scared of vampires,” Ren observed.
“I think she’s just a rude old lady who doesn’t like your tattoos or that you’re visibly queer, but if that makes you feel better…”
She laughed, catching my hand to pull me toward her, my warm body meeting her cool front with a little oof .
“Have you ever done it in a bank? I mean, it sounds sexy as fuck. I’m wondering if there’s cameras around.”
“What? Don’t tell me you have an exhibitionist kink.” I laughed, moving away from her, but I knew what she was doing. She was trying to distract me so I wouldn’t be as nervous.
“I know you’re pretty hopeful your dad left some money in there, but I just wanted to tell you that even if he didn’t, you don’t have to worry. We aren’t going to let you or your mom struggle. Okay?”
“You don’t even know her, and you’d do that?” I asked, half touched at the offer and half wanting to bite her head off for implying that I was any sort of charity case.
“Vi, she’s your family. She’s important to you, that means she’s important to us, okay? It would be the same with Danny or Babydoll.”
I opened my mouth to protest, my stupid pride getting in the way of the rush of gratitude swirling in my chest.
“And—” Ren said quickly, interrupting me before I could go there. “It’s not a handout; it’s a loan. We’d write you a contract—make it an advance on your salary at the club so you could get caught up without paying interest.”
I blinked, staring up at her with my heart squeezing in my chest. “Ren, that’s so?—”
“If you’re about to say brilliant , I feel like I need to admit that it was Dana’s idea.” She grinned, showing off her lightly pointed fangs. “But I agreed with her. I think we should help if we can.”
“What about Garrett?”
Ren rolled her eyes. “We’ll take money from the coven’s private funds to do it, so please try to avoid getting fired so you can actually pay us back.”
“That… That would change everything, Ren. I’d be able to move out on my own again, get my mom the care she needs…”
“Well… Maybe don’t do that first one?” she suggested, moving my way to kiss the corner of my lips. “I quite like having you around the house.”
“Oh, do you now?” I asked, teasing threading my tone as I pressed my lips to hers, a goofy smile on my face. “You’re in luck! I’m a big fan too.”
“So… You’ll stay?” Ren asked hopefully, stealing another clumsy kiss.
“Do I get my own room?”
“If that’s what it takes to get you to move in, I’ll share with Juniper.”
“Damn! That must mean you’re in love with me,” I teased again.
“Yeah, I am,” Ren said softly, cupping my cheek in her cool palm for a kiss that made my knees turn to jelly. “From the moment I saw you in that café, I knew you were special. Like my heart remembered you from a past life.”
“I love you,” I whispered softly, looking at Ren’s dark brown eyes softening when they met mine.
“I’ve loved you since I first laid eyes on you,” she returned, her grip on my face becoming possessive as she brought my lips to hers for a searing kiss.
We traded passes of lips, my core going liquid as Ren moved me backwards, my back meeting a wall of metal doors. She nibbled at my lower lip, fangs grazing and threatening to break the skin as my thighs shifted.
Her mouth lowered to my neck, her intentions clear as the flat of her tongue pressed over my pulse. Never mind that hooking up in a bank vault with a surly employee on the other side of it wasn't really on my to-do list today…
Well, actually, knowing someone was right there kind of did it for me.
Who’s the exhibitionist now?
“Before we get carried away,” I panted, “let my father disappoint me one more time, okay?”
“If we must,” she grumbled, reluctantly releasing me and stepping away for good measure. She gestured at the box dramatically. “Let’s see what mess he’s left behind.”
“Final chance to guess what’s in the box,” I said, fingers dancing over the metal lip. “I’m going with five collectors’ coins that aren’t worth shit and an out-of-date passport.”
“Solid guess, Pet. I will go with…. Three two-dollar bills and the manual to a car your family hasn’t owned since you were in middle school.”
I snorted a laugh, flipping the box open, and an involuntary shriek left me as my eyes threatened to pop right out of my skull at the contents.
The teller banged on the door. “Is everything alright in there?”
“Fine, fine!” Ren called, looking over my shoulder into the box with a low whistle. “That is not an out-of-date passport.”
Banded and stamped bundles of hundreds filled the box, and my fingers trembled as I reached out to lift one of the stacks from the box. If I had to guess, I was looking at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash, maybe more.
I threw my bag down on the metal table, quickly tossing the money inside with an incredulous laugh. “Oh, Dad, you are the dumbest man?—”
I was so distracted by the cash, I barely noticed Ren hooking her finger into the box to pull out a large, legal-size manila envelope wrapped around a thick package.Her jaw ticked as she looked at the handwriting on the front.
Though the bundles of cash were only stacked two deep, not filling the entire box, under the parcel were jewelry boxes, precious metals, and a couple of checkbooks for accounts I didn’t recognize with my name scrawled along the top as the holder.
My heart was thrumming inside my chest so hard I was worried I was going to faint.
When did my dad have time to save up this kind of money?
How?
The vein in Ren’s throat pulsed as I tipped the rest of the contents into my bag, pushing the box aside to hold my hand out for the package she was holding.
“Babe, what's wrong?” I asked with a little laugh, the adrenaline of knowing my troubles were finally over making me feel lightheaded. “Did my dad have a secret family or something?”
She kept hold of the legal file without opening it, handing me the smaller, sealed-shut packet. I used my nail to slice it open, shaking the contents out onto the table with a quiet clatter.
The first thing I recognised was a flash drive with a dark red velvet ribbon slipped through the looped end tied to a small tag with Watch me written in elegant script that matched my name on the front.
Confusion quickly turned to unease as the thick stack of photographs on the table stopped being curiously amorphous, and my mouth fell open as I took in Juniper’s unmistakable coppery hair.
A sharp pain behind my left eye forced my eyes shut, my hand clenching around the edge of the table until my knuckles went white as I tried to stabilize myself.
A flood of pictures, tastes, and sounds assaulted me all at once, and it was like a dam breaking.
The early morning air was cold as I stepped through the heavy back door, balancing a crate of empty champagne bottles as I avoided chilly puddles in my heels.
Of course, it had rained.
We couldn't possibly have nice weather for a single day... Okay, not that it mattered much, given most of the party had been inside, but still—it was Juniper’s birthday! She might not get any sunshine in the Lower City, but at the very least, it could be clear.
“Just give me a sec,” I called back to the girls inside. “I'll drop these by the dumpster and meet you upstairs for leftover cake!”
“Oui, mon coeur ! But you should really just leave it! We can clean up tomorrow!” Cherie's luxurious French accent drifted back to me before the door shut with a heavy thud between us.
The party went off relatively without a hitch, save for a few clients who'd gotten a little too brave near last call. We'd even hired a couple of temp bartenders to cover for us so that Ren, Cole, and I could enjoy the festivities.
But just because I was off the clock didn’t mean I was going to leave the place in shambles, not when I knew that it was going to bother Ren in the morning anyway.
Well… Late afternoon.
I drunk-wobbled a little as I hauled the heavy box over my head to drop it into the dumpster with a crash. Turning to head back inside, a darkened figure at the end of the alley caught my eye, the way my heart picked up in my chest as much a warning as the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
There was just something... off about the way the vampire approached. And then, when he was close enough, even in the limited light from the streetlamps, I could see the way he was looking at me.
Like he hadn't eaten in a year.
Like I was the first meal he'd seen in a really long time.
I tried to scream, but by the time my body caught up to my mind, the vampire's teeth were already in the side of my neck, pulling heavy mouthfuls from the artery with little regard for avoiding damage.
I thrashed at first, but once his venom met my bloodstream, my body went loose and languid, which all but signed my death certificate.
Surely someone would come check on me when I didn’t come right back inside. Right?
“Please,” I moaned, my eyes squeezing shut.
When I opened them again, it was to the overly bright sterile vault. I blinked back a sudden wave of terrified tears, my body still catching up to that… memory?
Sometime between me closing my eyes and now, Ren had caught me by the waist to steady me, her dark eyes troubled.
“Are you okay?” she asked urgently. “I thought you were going to faint.”
“I—” I choked out, an immense wave of grief stopping my words and threatening to pull me under.
How could I explain what I’d just seen without sounding crazy?
And how could I know that voice was Cherie’s?
Mostly to give myself something else to focus on, I used the sleeve of my jacket to wipe my eyes away, looking down at the photographs with a sharp inhale.
The world tilted again, and I had to cling to Ren to avoid being pulled into another memory. It was right there—right at the corner of my vision.
Juniper, Ren, Dana, and I sat around a woman. I knew it was Cherie. I was sure of it, the memories of her fresh as if I’d spoken to her today.
How she smelled of Chanel number 5. That her favourite movie was The Sound of Music . That she’d dragged me and Dana to watch a stage production of it as punishment for forcing her to watch Fast and the Furious with us and Kaylee. Mornings spent learning how to make hollandaise sauce from scratch—which, in my case, meant spending at least 25% of the time using a fork to carefully remove seeds from it after fucking up squeezing my lemon.
A hundred moments, all of them leading to knowing someone in a way that meant you loved them very much.
Vision blurry, I slammed my hand on the table with a loud rattle.
“Did you know?”
“Are you—” the teller started.
“We’re fine!” I shouted back. “Go be nosy elsewhere!”
Ren sifted through a few of the photos, eyes landing on a shot of me lying naked with Cherie wrapped around my side, Ren’s hand in frame as evidenced by her tattoos as she acted as the photographer.
Her mouth worked, no sound passing her lips.
“Did you fucking know?” I demanded, my temper spurred on by the crushing feelings of loss.
“I—” she said softly, dropping the legal file onto the table. “Vi, I… I swear, I?—”
I snatched it up and opened it, hardly able to make out the twelve-point type through my tear-filled vision.
The will.
O was, undoubtedly, mine .
Cherie had left it to me .
A sick feeling had begun to take up residence in my stomach, a nausea that bloomed until it was a real concern that I was going to throw up all over the floor.
“You knew,” I managed to choke out over the rustling of documents and furious huffs of Ren going through the remaining contents of the box.
“I swear to you, Vi, I did not.”
I swiped the rest of it into my already overfull bag without looking, a couple of photographs falling to the floor. Staggering through the sensation that the world had turned on its axis, I knocked on the door.
“Let us out.”
“Vi,” Ren pleaded. “I swear, I didn’t know.”
The teller's curious face peeked through a gap in the door before she opened it enough to let me pass. “Everything in order?”
“Yes; I’m ready to go,” Isaid quickly, half running out of the vault and into the lobby before Ren caught up to me, catching my sleeve.
“Vi, please. There has to be an explanation?—”
I jerked my arm out of her grip, looking up at her wide-eyed face, feeling like I was seeing a stranger.
No, not a stranger. Someone I knew so much more deeply than anyone else. So much more than I could’ve ever imagined knowing.
“It wasn’t a past life we shared, Ren,” I hissed, making my way through the door. “It was this one. And it's over.”
She stumbled back like she’d been slapped, buying me valuable time to make a split-second decision once I was on the busy street. The bus has just pulled into the stop in front of the bank, letting out a group of commuters.
I hadn’t fully thought to move before I was stepping onto the bus, fishing in my bag for some money to pay the driver. I slid a hundred from one of the bands, handing it to him.
“Keep the change, but go right fucking now, please.”
He laughed. “Alright, Miss.”
The bus jerked into motion, nearly taking me off my feet as I turned to watch Ren’s shocked face disappear from the window.
They lied.
All of them.
The weird moments we’d shared. The sense of déjà vu. The undeniable pull that I felt toward them. They knew me. They’d been with me.
I sank into the closest seat, my head going between my knees as I tried to breathe.
I’d been part of their coven before, and not one of them told me.
Anger bubbled up in a deep well inside my chest, making it hard to think straight. But two things were clear.
Kaylee was in one of the pictures, so she knew. And there was no way something this major had happened to me without Danny knowing.
And when I found them? There would be hell to pay.