29. Vi
vi
. . .
Nick’s eyebrows made a valiant attempt to find his hairline as Elsie and I walked up to the door. “Well, well,” the vampire blustered, blowing out a low whistle. “Didn’t want to miss out on all the fun?”
“Judging by your tone, whatever’s going on in there is anything but. No line tonight?”
“The joys of a private party,” he hissed with a roll of his rusty eyes before adding to Elsie,“Dana’s having a fit. You know what Garrett is like.”
“A gross, womanizing, mega icky loser?” she offered, leading me past the vampire and down the steps toward the door to the club.
“Even worse when he’s acting like he owns the place,” Nick sighed. “Good luck, girls. I don’t envy you.”
“Neither will he when I’m done with him,” I growled, and Nick just looked at me funny but didn’t say a word.
I offered him a little wave, letting the heavy metal door close between us, and the sweltering heat of the place instantly enveloped me like a sickly, sweaty fog. We nodded at Diamond at the coat check, using the left-hand side door to enter the main club, full to bursting with vampires and humans alike.
Typical for O on a Friday… Yet altogether alien. The entire vibe of the place was off. The donors, usually happy to float from table to table flirting with guests and offering their services, hung back along the edges of the room, casting glances at each other as vampires circled a group of human women that I’d never seen before. Skin pale, lips cracked, and eyes eerily vacant.
Elsie shuddered beside me, an uncharacteristically protective arm encircling my waist as she pulled me along toward the bar.
Ren’s gaze found me quickly, her eyes widening slightly in a mix of surprise and obvious relief.
I felt a little bad about how things had played out at the bank, the melodrama of the situation obvious now that I’d had enough time to calm down and process. Now that I remembered more and had seen Cherie onscreen. Now that I had yelled at my sibling and Kaylee too.
Even if they had been trying to protect me, they’d hurt me too. And I think we all wished things had gone differently, that compulsion hadn’t been necessary.
That I hadn’t missed out on so much.
I watched as Ren jumped over the bar, leaving Cole to deal with the long line of customers as she made a beeline for us.She was focused on only one thing, and that was getting to me.
Memories—precious, wonderful memories—of a moment just like this after I’d been released from the hospital a few day’s after Juniper’s birthday made my throat tight and tears prick at the corners of my eyes.
I love her so much.
A hand encircled my wrist, roughly turning me to face an unpleasant visitor.
“I thought I specifically told you I wanted you on live bar tonight, little snack?”
I jerked my arm away, glaring up at Garrett’s unevenly stubbled face.
“I don’t take orders from you.”
“Whatever. Showgirl—” The way he addressed Elsie made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck with anger. “Aren’t you supposed to be up there?” He jerked his chin toward the stage. “You don’t get paid to pick up takeout orders.”
“Garrett—” Ren started in a snarl, murderous fury rolling off her, but I put my hand on her arm and cut her off.
“It’s time for you and all your friends to leave,” I said coolly, bringing Elsie closer to my side.
“Like fuck it is, snack pack. Getting pretty bold for a walking juice box. You forget I own this place? Own your little girlfriends too?”
“Funny thing about that,” I called over the music, my hand going into the fold of my purse to locate the manila envelope inside. I pulled it out, removing the document to show the title written in bold font. “No, you don’t. I do.”
Last Will and Testament.
“As if a piece of fucking paper changes what’s rightfully mine.” Garrett snarled. “I’m owed this, and I think you forget that this room is full of my people, not yours. They aren’t going to just let you take it from me.”
“It was never yours!” Elsie shouted, turning a couple of heads. “You snake!”
“Hey, that’s not cool, Els,” Ren said, stepping up to me to back me up and get in Garrett’s face. “Snakes are intelligent predators. Garrett is just an entitled prick who doesn’t deserve to share the same last name as Cherie, much less a part of her legacy.”
“Besides,” I cut in, shaking the paper in front of the vampire’s nose with a grin. “That’s exactly what this piece of paper does, dumbass. I’m going to need you and your guests to vacate the premises immediately.”
“We aren’t going anywhere,” Garrett snapped, making a bid to grab the page from me. His mistake was coming at me with human speed, allowing me to pull back just in time, leveling him with a flat glare.
“I mean it, get the fuck out.”
“Or what?”
“Or…” I glanced at Ren, floundering a little to come up with an adequate threat that I could make against a vampire.
Being a human at that moment was actually a fucking crock of shit.
Ren nodded toward Garrett encouragingly, her jaw set.
“Or what, juice box?” he asked again.
My eyes moved back to him, stepping up angrily and backing him slightly into the wall—the red lever just beside him catching my attention.
“Or I’ll fucking make you.”
Garrett moved so fast none of us had time to react, grabbing me by the front of my shirt so roughly my feet nearly left the floor as he slammed my back into the wall.
“I’m getting real fuckin’ tired of your attitude,” he snarled. “Is that any way to talk to a man on his birthday?”
Ren reacted immediately, a hand going around Garrett’s neck and squeezing, with Elsie’s sparkly baby pink nail polish catching the lights as she tried to pry his hand away from me.
“Let go!” she insisted.
Like anything they did didn’t matter at all, Garrett bore down on me.
Panic flared to life in my belly, the memory of that vampire in the alleyway now fresh in my mind—but instead of succumbing to the fear that should have made my stomach drop and fingers shake, I was just… angry.
Angry at Garrett for feeling so entitled to the life Cherie built for us that he’d tried to steal it out from under our noses.
Angry that he was faster and stronger than me only because he’d made the change.
And, fuck it, I was angry he was stressing out my coven.
My hand found the wall blindly, sliding along its smooth expanse as I missed my target.
“Get out,” I snapped one last time as my hand found its mark on the second try, fingers curling around the cool metal and pulling down.
An alarm blared to life instantly, shrieking over the pounding of the music in a teeth-jittering wail. Ren’s fist found the side of Garrett’s face, his hand slackening around my shirt as he staggered to the side to be bumped and shoved by his party guests as they began to run for the exit, spurred on by a cascade of frigid water coming from the sprinklers overhead.
Elsie squealed, putting her arms up to try and shield her face and hair as bodies collided with our little group, rounding us to head upstairs.
Garrett recovered, making a move toward Ren that was impeded by Dana’s firm grip on his shoulder, shoving him hard toward the way the crowd was going—the door.
“I think you were told it’s time to get the fuck out,” she snapped.
“Yeah,” Elsie said, her bubbly little voice unusually harsh. “The owner kicked you out, Garrett. Don’t come back.”
“You’ve never been welcome here,” Ren added. “That won’t change now.”
Garrett took one final furious look at the rest of us before he let the crowd swallow him, carrying him out the door and up the stairs onto the street.
I shoved the paper back into the envelope and into my bag to try and save it from the water just in time for Ren to scoop me up into her arms, twirling us.
“That’s my girl,” she said happily, catching me in a heavy kiss. “Thank you for coming back.”
“I think I missed enough time I could’ve spent with my coven, don’t you think?” I said, moving my mouth over hers for another kiss. “I’m home.”
“Yeah, you are,” Dana said, tugging me out of Ren’s grip and into hers. “I’m so fucking sorry, Vi. We didn’t know?—”
“You don’t need to be. I was confused and freaked and didn’t know what to do. I know this wasn’t your call.” I hugged her back tightly, eyes squeezing shut as her cool, wet body pressed against mine.
“What fucking idiot pulled the fire alarm?” Juniper shouted as she came flying out of the back, her soggy orange hair sticking to her face.
“We were wondering the same thing,” a couple of firefighters asked as they stepped up to our little group in their reflective jackets.
“Garrett Aubert,” Dana said without missing a beat, heaving an irritated sigh that was so expertly paired with a pinch to the bridge of her nose that even I questioned if I’d been the one to do it. “He was furious that the owner asked him and his friends to leave. God, look at the damage!”
“And are you the owner, miss?” the shorter of the two asked.
“No, that would be me,” I said proudly, making Juniper gasp quietly behind me. “We all saw him do it. Can you communicate to him that he’s banned from the premises? Should I call the cops? Or the Coven Investigation Unit?”
“Uhhh.” The taller hesitated. “Can one of you come with us and point him out?”
“On it,” Dana said, following them. “Any way that I can help, really, please.” She cut me a look as she passed, triumph blazing in her warm eyes as she mouthed, Thank you, darling .
“I’ll get the sprinklers off,” Ren said, kissing me quickly before heading to the back, leaving me standing between Elsie and Juniper.
“Don’t you think the fire alarm was a little overkill?” Juniper asked, though the relief on her face was obvious as she enveloped me in her soft arms.
I pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Insurance will pay for the remodel. Besides, it's time we shake up tradition a little, don’t you think?”
She caught my lips in a searing kiss, the anxiety of the day melting away as she cuddled in closer, leeching my body heat.
“Whatever, as long as I get to actually enjoy my life with you.”
“Long one that it is,” Elsie teased, wrapping her arms around my back in a three-person hug. “No matter what happens… We’ll get through it together.”
The memories that’d haunted me from Juniper’s birthday felt like shadows now, whispers of smoke from a stubbed-out cigarette.
Immaterial.
Unimportant.
But something was still troubling me.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I said softly, tilting Juniper’s face to mine. “What happened last year, it wasn’t on you. I know you… blamed yourself a lot. I remember that now.”
“Vi, I—” she said softly, voice tight with the threat of tears.
As difficult as my resurfaced memories were, they were just as hard for my family— my coven .
And I wasn’t going to disappear into myself. Not when they needed me.
Not ever again.
“I mean it,” I said, pressing tender kisses along her cheekbone. “I love you, Juniper. And I’m so fucking lucky—no, grateful —that I got to fall in love with you all over again. I think if you had to, you could probably make it a lucky three.”
“Let’s hope that two is enough to stick,” she said with a weak grin that showed off her pointed fangs.
My reply was lost to the taste of her blueberry lip balm.