Chapter 15
15
Ashley
A shley strutted through August’s back door like she did every evening. Ah, the luxury of walking through a door without first asking permission. Was there any simpler joy?
“Honey, I’m home,” she sang while stepping, unimpeded, across the threshold.
“I’m going to take back your permission if you keep barging in like this,” August called from the other room. “What if I didn’t have pants on?”
“Why are you walking around without pants on?”
“Because this is my damn house, and I don’t have to wear pants if I don’t want to.”
Ashley stopped at the kitchen door. “Are you wearing pants?”
There was a moment of silence and shuffling. “I am now. Hope you’re happy.”
“I am.” She skipped into the other room, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere on the first floor. She’d never been upstairs before. What a perfect excuse. She shot up the steps, looking in every door and ignoring the one he was in to finish snooping.
Satisfied, she returned to where August was sitting at a desk in rumpled pajama pants and a gray tee, his hair a mess. The room was an office. Or maybe a study. Was that what people with old houses called their room lined with bookshelves and a desk so immovable it must have grown there a century or two ago? Maybe it was called a library. The house was snobby enough to pull it off.
A book cart of textbooks lined up against the side of the desk, their subjects all over the place—interior design, philosophy, graphic design.
She peered over his shoulder at what appeared to be something for a world history class. “Is your major undecided too?”
“Nosy, much?” He shifted his computer away from her like she was going to cheat off some quiz. “I happen to have decided on history.”
Ashley picked up the philosophy textbook. “Did you take your time deciding on that?”
He snatched the book back. “There might have been a few majors before landing on history. I’ll just have a couple of minors to go with my degree. No biggie.”
“A few minors? That must take forever to finish.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d rather not discuss my school schedule with you.”
“Sure, whatever.” She lifted her hands placatingly, and he went back to reading his screen. “Why do you have so many bedrooms?”
August sighed and closed the laptop. “There used to be more people that lived here than just me.”
She felt it then. The quiet stillness of the house. It gave her an itchy feeling like she needed to turn on some music to keep the vacuuming silence at bay. “Where’s Uther?”
“Family dinner with his parents.”
“You didn’t get an invite?”
“Why would I?” He muttered something under his breath, and the philosophy textbook slid back onto the cart. “He knows what I am now.”
Ashley stiffened and shifted away from him. She’d almost forgotten. Her regular evenings here had desensitized her to the electricity in her throat at his proximity. Her check-in was done. She could report back to Hannah that her nephew remained incredibly boring. But something about this moment felt distressingly familiar. She just couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “You know you could always?—”
“Don’t say it.” He lifted a hand, his palm a wall between them. “I know what you’re going to say, and I’m not going to?—”
“Move already, damn it!”
They both looked up at the ceiling where the third voice had come from.
“Well, I didn’t say it.” She shrugged and skipped to the door.
“Yeah, yeah.” He opened the laptop, positioning it like a wall between them. “Go on and see what she’s up to. I know you’re not here for me.”
Ashley deliberated at the doorway. Lonely. That was the familiar feeling.
August muttered something and a drawer slid open.
The static in her throat grew to an unbearable frequency, as though he knew she was still there watching him.
Right. They weren’t friends, and they weren’t going to be. She left the room and headed to the set of stairs at the back of the hall.
Esther
Today, the chair decided not to move.
Esther ground her molars at the sound of wheels scraping against old wood as she wormed her way free, tumbling to the cold, hard floor. Another bound book cataloged, a few dozen more to go.
“Trouble?” Ashley leaned in the doorway with one of her perfect smiles pasted in place.
“Oh, so you know its name.” Esther gestured at the heavy chair planted merrily and firmly by the desk before getting up and dusting off her knees.
Ashley had never been up here before. If Esther kept moving, she wouldn’t have to think about how small the space was with Ashley in the doorway. Or how they hadn’t been in the same room since All Saints’ Day, over a week ago when Esther had basically begged Ashley to take her home. But Esther was a mature adult who was not thinking of the way Ashley had looked at Esther like she was a snack. Or the realization that if Ashley didn’t bite her, Esther would bite Ashley herself. That was new—and complicated.
Grabbing the old stool in one hand and the finished book in her other, Esther hastened past the doorway to the bound books’ shelf, eager to hide whatever expression was on her face. The stool groaned and shifted under her. They needed a new one, but she always forgot the moment she was downstairs. She’d be sure to bring it up with August on her way out today. The stool tilted again, and she latched onto the top shelf to keep her balance.
“Did you need help with that?” Ashley’s heels tapped closer, but Esther was determined to do this herself.
“I’m fine.” Esther tucked the book into place. “I’ve been shelving books for months now.”
“Well, I brought back another one.”
Esther glanced over her shoulder as Ashley held up a large, black book. This turn was the stool’s final hurrah. With a crunch, a leg gave out, and Esther toppled backward, careening into the abyss. And then she was in Ashley’s arms, cradled like Ashley would walk her over a threshold. Esther didn’t even realize there was time to catch her in this position. But of course there was. Ashley was fast.
And cold. Not how an ice cube was cold. She wasn’t emitting a chill. More like a rock. Like if Esther kept her hand resting here on Ashley’s chest, Esther might sink beneath her skin and warm her all the way to the inside. Esther’s thumb moved experimentally back and forth along the smooth curve of Ashley’s collarbone. The rise and fall of Ashley’s chest shuddered, and Esther moved her attention from her hand to Ashley’s face.
Ashley’s smile was gone, and she was looking at Esther…and Esther wasn’t sure what this look meant, but it was dark and called to a deeper part of Esther.
Ashley blinked. “Sorry, sorry.” Ashley set her down faster than Esther enjoyed but still safely so it wasn’t like she could complain. “I brought you your book.”
There was a swish of air, and what felt like a brick dropped into Esther’s hands, nearly toppling her with the sudden weight. Poe was back.
“So, about Christmas.” Ashley paced the room, her eyes everywhere but on Esther.
Oh no, Esther thought. Ashley probably realized how ridiculous this plan was. A fake girlfriend? And Esther at that. She had to have noticed how awkward Esther was and decided to nicely take back her request.
“I was thinking a scarf for Dad and a candle for Mom. I can just say it’s from both of us. Do you mind being the type of girlfriend that does couple’s gifts?”
A couple’s gift, right.
“Sure. That’s fine.” This was all fine. Except now her mind raced from relief she wasn’t being fake dumped to calculating the pressure of meeting the parents for the first time. What should she wear? Was a couple's gift a proper first impression?
“All right, perfect.” Ashley grabbed the back of Trouble and swiveled it around. The chair complied with zero resistance, and Esther glared at it. Ashley pulled a notepad and pencil from her pocket and crossed something out. “Next item on the list: getting out of a large family gathering. I propose we milk Romania for all its worth.”
“I…do not know what you’re talking about. Is your family from Romania?”
“No.” Ashley set down the notepad and crossed her legs.
She wore impossibly tight skinny jeans highlighting the curve of her hip and the athletic flex to her calves when she tipped her foot just right. Esther pulled her gaze back to Ashley’s face.
“Studying abroad in Romania is the cover story I’ve been using for my extended absence,” Ashley said. “I’ll have to fake my death at some point, but I haven’t quite worked up to it yet. And I’m not sure how to pull that off. Faking your death is surprisingly difficult. Even when you’re technically dead already.”
Esther nodded as though all of this made sense. It didn’t, but she was sure she could follow along. “Isn’t Romania a little on the nose for a vampire cover story?”
Ashley stopped tapping her pen and looked at her. “What do you mean? Is Romania, like, a big fan of vampires or something?” She gave a timid chuckle. “It’s not like I said Transylvania. That would have been…” Her words tapered off as she took in whatever face Esther was making. “No. I mean, I’m not great with maps, but there’s no way—Transylvania is its own country, right?”
Esther cringed. “It’s more like a region. In Romania.”
“Dammit.” Ashley turned to the ceiling and groaned, the vibrations of which sent goosebumps racing up Esther’s forearms. “It’s fine. We’re fine.” Ashley took a deep breath and shook out her hands. “If they haven’t noticed in the decade I’ve been using this excuse, then they won’t notice now. Let’s just skip to the list.” She picked up her notebook. “First up, large family gathering. I propose we tell them we’re exhausted from travel and jet-lagged. We couldn’t possibly function at a large gathering under such conditions.”
“That could also be an excuse for why you’re not going out during the daytime.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, jet lag. Maybe you have an important meeting when you get back and a week isn’t enough time to switch your sleep schedule twice. So, we have to make the nights work instead. You did say they don’t know you’re a vampire, right?”
“Right.”
“You’ll probably want to do a better job of hiding that too.”
“I do a perfectly adequate job of hiding my vampireness, thank you very much.” Ashley flicked a lock of golden hair over her shoulder and tipped her chin up. Esther did her best not to be charmed by the dramatics.
There wasn’t enough room on the desk to sit so Esther leaned instead. “I mean, I noticed something was up after spending time with you once . And I haven’t known you your whole life.”
“Well, that’s just because you are very astute.”
Esther gave her a skeptical look.
“Fine, what am I messing up on?”
“Well, the speed was the easiest giveaway. There’s also the issue of body temperature, not aging, and presumably the whole blood thing. That’s a real part of the equation, correct? I’m not making this up?”
“Are you asking if I drink blood? Yeah, that’s still a vampire thing.”
Esther clenched her thighs together. Now was not the time to analyze this new kink she was developing. “Well, that makes a whole other list of potential problems.”
Ashley waved her comment away. “Don’t worry about that list. I have it under control. One of the benefits of a vampire Family is they’ll take care of getting you blood where and when you need it.”
“And the other vampires are cool with you leaving town for a week? I thought you said you were supposed to be cutting ties with your family. How does this fit?”
Ashley pulled out her list again and began writing, but it looked more like doodling flowers and stars on the borders. “It’s a farewell trip. I promised to fake my death at the end of the school year.” She looked up and pointed her pencil at Esther. “And, no, I don’t have a plan for that yet, but the vampires don’t need to know that.”
“Well, I’m certainly not planning on saying anything.”
Ashley nodded and went back to doodling.
“That just leaves monitoring your speed, hiding your age, and making sure you aren’t suspiciously cold all the time.”
“Oh, is that it?” Ashley’s tone was sarcastic, but she’d switched to taking actual notes. “Did you have any suggestions? I’ll take anything you have to offer.”
Esther froze. This wasn’t a big deal. Except it was a very big deal.
Sour cream or no sour cream was the smallest of concerns compared to how Ashley should disguise her people-eating tendencies from the two people who knew her best in the world. The number of ways this could go wrong was staggering. Actual lives lay in the balance. She shouldn’t be doing this. Going to Ashley’s parents, pretending to be her girlfriend. This was a terrible idea. She was flirting with disaster.
“I can’t,” Esther said. “We shouldn’t?—”
“Actually…” Ashley closed her notepad and set it on the desk, her gaze fixed on Esther. “We should take a break from this discussion. Christmas break is over a month away, and we’ve laid some solid ground here. What if we switch the subject to something a little less anxiety-inducing?” She shifted Esther’s computer so she could see the screen. “What are you working on?”
“Box and whisker plots.” Esther snatched the computer and began typing notes.
Ashley pulled her hands back like Esther might bite them off, which was fair. Esther needed to write this idea down before she forgot it.
“I have no idea what that means,” Ashley said. “Is it a cat thing?”
“It’s a kind of graph,” Esther answered over her typing. “I’m trying to format Professor Jenkins’s data collection from last semester and organize it into easily digestible graphs and a box and whisker plot would be perfect for comparing the span of averages between groups. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner.”
“Did you want me to leave? I can let you work on this since it sounds like you just had a breakthrough.”
“No, don’t go.” Esther grabbed Ashley’s wrist as she shifted in the chair. “Sorry.” She let Ashley’s arm go. “It’s just—I should let this idea simmer before investing more time and effort into it. I just wanted to get these basic notes down. There. Now, what were we talking about before?”
“Suggestions on how to make me seem less vampiric.”
“Oh. Right.” Esther regretted reviving this conversation. Her insides shrank as her heart raced.
“You know you’re not responsible for everyone’s actions, right?” Ashley said. “Whether you suggest it or not, whatever comes out of it is not on you.”
A quick huff escaped Esther’s lips, somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. “Well, either I give consistently bad advice, or I’m cursed to always give the advice that leads to the worst possible outcome.”
“Okay. This is fascinating, and being cursed is something I can relate to.” Ashley propped her elbow on the desk and rested her chin on her fist like she was a Gene Wilder meme. “Were you always cursed, or was there a moment when you first noticed it manifesting?”
Esther turned away to the bookshelves. “You think I’m being ridiculous.”
Cool fingers enveloped Esther’s hand, drawing her attention back to Ashley.
“I’m honestly fascinated by you, Esther Green.” Ashley’s face was so earnest.
“Oh.” Esther’s heart beat faster at the revelation. She was fascinating? But Ashley was the one with the big personality and the gorgeous eyes. Ashley was a vampire, for crying out loud. And she was going around calling Esther Green, of the small voice and quiet demeanor fascinating. Esther needed to sit down. She slid down the desk, losing Ashley’s hand in the process, and landing with a plop on the floor. “You really want to know?”
“I most definitely do.”
Esther knew when the whole thing started. Or the first incident she noticed at least. There could have been smaller, unmemorable moments before then, but the big one— “It was my parents’ divorce.”
“Oh.” Ashley slid down to the floor next to her, leaving Trouble to drift off to the middle of the room untethered. “That does sound like a big one. When was that?”
“Thirteen years ago now?” She tried waving it away like it was no big deal. “I was probably a couple of years older than Jason.”
“Do you want to talk about it? I’m told I’m an excellent listener.”
“I thought I was helping. They were so busy all the time and hardly talking. I just wanted them to be happy again. I heard about this radio giveaway for a free week-long cruise for two, all expenses paid. It felt like a sign, so I called the station, and I did it. I won. I gave my parents the tickets.” Esther braced her forearm across her chest, holding herself in place, while she fiddled with the cross at her ear. “By the time they got back, Mom had taken a job as the cruise line’s sous-chef and Dad had met Marjorie and their divorce was officially being filed. I’d failed at keeping them together.”
“Are they happy now?”
“I think so.”
“Then that’s what really matters. You didn’t wreck anyone’s life.”
“But that doesn’t negate that my good intentions end up with negative results. You heard what Uncle Pete and Jason were saying. That was just the tip of the iceberg. I can’t recommend the smallest thing without the worst possible outcome happening.”
Ashley nodded along. “That’s fair, but I still think you’re taking on too much of the responsibility for other people’s decisions.”
Esther eyed her sideways, not trusting her words. What she hadn’t told Ashley was that a part of her just wanted something new, something exciting, and sometimes she projected that desire onto others when giving suggestions. When she picked the restaurant for the family reunion, the final choices were either the new place or a couple of chains they’d been to a million times. When her aunt asked Esther for her thoughts on a new hairstyle, Esther had already overheard her aunt bemoaning the lack of control she had over her wedding and how she wanted something for herself. When her parents fought, her mom lamented never going anywhere new anymore and her dad would fire back that he needed more quality time. In the moment, her suggestions always sounded like the right ones.
“All right.” Ashley’s cool hand on her knee brought her back from her memories. “How about you continue to tell me your thoughts and suggestions. I’m immortal after all. You can’t kill me, Esther.”
“You say that now,” she mumbled.
“I’m ready for whatever you throw at me. Trust me. It’ll be fine.” Ashley smiled, and it took some of the chill out of the room.
“All right,” Esther said. “I’ll try.”