Chapter 24
24
Ashley
M oments after closing her eyes, Ashley woke to a buzzing on her nightstand. She hugged Esther closer to her chest, willing the buzzing to go away and leave her in this peaceful moment with Esther in her arms. Miracle of all miracles, it stopped. She gave a quick word of thanks before closing her eyes again.
The buzzing started back up, and Ashley’s eyes shot open with a growl. Esther made a small sound in her sleep, so Ashley grabbed the phone before it woke her fully.
She hit answer without bothering checking the ID. “We’re fine, Mom.”
“So many questions,” returned a male voice. “But first, I prefer Mommy.”
“Who’s calling you Mommy?” a gruffer voice asked in the background.
Ashley pulled the phone away from her face. Why was Uther calling her? Oh. Because this wasn’t her phone.
“Let me talk to her. That’s my girl, not yours,” the second voice demanded.
There was some scuffling, then August was on the line. “Well, well, Ashley. Look who’s on the wrong phone now.”
“Shut up, witch.” Ashley suppressed a laugh. Not even August’s teasing could dull the high of waking up to Esther in her arms.
Esther stretched her legs, rolled over, and flopped an arm over Ashley’s waist.
“Is that August and Uther?” Her voice was groggy with sleep. She cracked a single eye open. “And is that my phone?”
“Esther says hi,” Ashley said into the phone.
“I didn’t hear her.” Uther’s voice was small in the background.
Ashley rolled her eyes but switched the phone to speakerphone. “I thought you lot were Gen Z. What are you doing calling people on the phone anyway?”
“I can use a phone.” Uther declared matter-of-factly. “I was trying to do video call with the camera off since no one can see my face this early in the day.”
“Isn’t August right there?” asked Esther.
“He’s blindfolded,” Uther answered.
“Don’t tell them about our sex life, love,” August teased. Or Ashley assumed it was teasing. “We promised we’d call in the new year. Remember?”
“I thought you would call closer to New Year’s,” said Ashley. “You know, when the sun is still down and vampires are still awake like a considerate friend?”
“I never claimed to be considerate,” said August. “Plus, we were busy around midnight.”
“Ashley,” Esther whispered. “We were a little busy around midnight too.”
“I heard that!” yelled Uther. “Omg, we’re all going to double date. Tell me it’s official, and I don’t have to wait for the two of you to figure out why the other is making starry eyes.”
Ashley turned to Esther, unsure how to answer. They never had a chance to discuss what happened let alone what that meant going forward.
Esther didn’t look at her, directing her answer at the phone instead. “Calm down, Uther. We just woke up.”
“Fine,” he said, “but let me know the second you know what’s happening, you crazy kids.”
They chatted a little longer about their nights before hanging up. Ashley collapsed on the bed and threw her arm over her face. It was the middle of the day, but she was suddenly so keyed up—there was no way she could fall asleep now. She felt like a warm, shiny ball of fluff sitting here in her bed with the woman she was falling head over feet for, and now their two closest friends knew too.
It felt permanent. A good sign for the dawning year.
She took Esther’s hand in her own, and Esther smiled in her sweet, closed-mouth way, with just the one side pulling up. Ashley wanted to kiss that secret smile and live in it forever. She wanted forever like this—her and Esther. The realization struck her, and she remembered the silver capsule Claribel had given her ages ago.
She thought about the last time she’d fallen for someone.
“Hey, what’s the matter?” Esther asked. Of course, she’d noticed the change in Ashley’s mood.
“It’s nothing, just thinking about stuff.”
“Any of it involve me?” Esther ran her hand up and down Ashley’s thigh.
The heat of Esther’s touch was intoxicating. “Yes. And also no.”
Esther sat up, draped her legs across Ashley’s lap, and wrapped Ashley’s arms around her. “I’m here if you want to talk about it.”
Ashley held her tight. They’d started something that couldn’t be taken back or undone, but it could still be broken. Ashley would be gentle with it. “I make impulsive decisions.”
A small chuckle escaped Esther at that comment. “You don’t say.”
“Hey now.” She bit playfully at Esther’s neck, enjoying Esther’s squealed laughter. “I’m working on it.” She took a moment to fit together what she wanted to say. “I’ve made mistakes in the past, and one of them really cost me. Well, probably more than one, but one of them cost me five years of my life, and I don’t want to do that again.”
“The last time you tried to join the vampires?” Esther lifted Ashley’s hand, playing with her fingers before lacing her own in them.
“There was this girl. It’s silly really. I was lonely after spending the last year banished from my first attempt.”
“We’ll put a pin in that story.”
“And I just wanted to… Well, I barely made it to the second semester before I told her about me.”
Ashley waited, but Esther stayed quiet. She assumed there would be comments at the end.
“Obviously, that was a mistake,” Ashley continued. “She ended up telling a friend, who told another friend, and the next thing I knew, the supposed existence of vampires was the worst kept secret in Plattsburgh. I thought maybe if I controlled the spread until the end of the school year, I could still make it work. But one of the vampires caught word of it, and that’s when I had to leave town while they did a city-wide sweep, cleaning people’s memories of me.”
Ashley shivered, thinking back on those early days when Hannah and John would interrogate people in the front sitting room, trying to follow the trail of the rumor and control the spread. Taking someone’s memories—nonconsensual control over another person’s body—never settled right with Ashley. There was a certain level of violence to the action, and that thought was probably what kept her from letting go and perform it herself.
“Geez, that sucks,” Esther said.
“Yeah, it did. Anyway, this was all a long-winded way of saying, I trust you, and I’m all in. If that’s something you’re interested in.”
Esther clenched Ashley’s hand. “But? I feel like there’s a but in there.”
“But I want to take it slow. Or at least not my typical diving in blindly. You feel like something big, Esther, and I don’t want to mess this up.”
“That’s fair and smart actually.” She hugged Ashley’s arms to her again. “I don’t want to mess this up either. We have time. Let’s just see where this goes, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll cross that bridge then.”
Ashley tucked a finger under Esther’s chin and tilted her head up. “And if it does?”
Esther’s eyes darkened. “Then we’ll figure that out too.”
Esther kissed her, turning to all fours and crawling over Ashley. Ashley grabbed the back of Esther’s head and pulled her in closer, deeper, trailing a hand up and down the curve of Esther’s back.
In the end, it was Ashley that had to break the kiss. “I would love to keep this going, but we should probably pack so we don’t miss our flight.”
Esther rolled off her and sighed. “If we must.”
Ashley got up and tugged on a shirt and pants and wrapped a blanket over her entire body. As she headed to the door, she noticed the two crosses resting on Esther’s nightstand.
“Your earrings are still off.”
Esther stretched and scratched her head. “Well, I don’t wear them to bed. That would be uncomfortable.”
“Do you wear them most days?”
Esther’s cheeks pinkened when she made eye contact. “I used to.”
Three words. That was all it took to take Ashley’s breath away. Esther said the earrings didn’t fit her outfit last night, but it was clear now that it was for Ashley’s benefit. And boy, had she benefited. Esther had literally made herself vulnerable, opened herself up to Ashley, and Ashley would not squander that level of trust.
“I…Esther.” Ashley had to look away to control her tears.
She didn’t know what to say, what to do with this. She was dangerous. Vampires were dangerous, and Esther trusted Ashley enough to leave herself bare.
Ashley walked back to the bed and took both of Esther’s hands in her own, kissing her knuckles. “You are a treasure, Esther Green.”
And the sweet smile that spread across Esther’s face was worth every sunset.
“But…” Ashley pieced together what she wanted to say. Esther alone in a room with Hannah and how helpless Ashley had felt flitted through her memory. Esther may trust her, but there were still other dangers in the world. “I’d like it if you still wore them in Plattsburgh.”
Esther studied her face but finally nodded, and a weight Ashley didn’t know she was carrying lifted.
“Thank you, sweetheart.” She kissed Esther’s hand one more time before tucking the blanket tight around her and heading for the door.
“Where are you going?” Esther asked.
“To the garage before my parents get home. I stuck the last of my blood bags in the bottom drawer of the beer fridge for safekeeping. I’m about to go chug like five of them just in case. We’re not having a repeat of our last flight.”
“Good plan.”
Ashley reached for the door again.
“Wait, one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“What happened that first time you tried to join the vampire house?”
“Oh.” Ashley laughed. “That was dumb. Someone caught me with a deer near the end of my second semester and ran off screaming. I told Claribel and Cynthia right away, and we managed to find the person before they told anyone else. But I still had to leave while the vampires did a sweep just in case. I didn’t even need that deer. I just wanted to know if they tasted as bad as I remembered. So you know, they do.”
Esther chuckled. “Well, go finish off the beer blood then.” She flicked her hands at Ashley, waving her out of the room.
“I’m going, I’m going.”
“Oh, and Ashley?”
“What?” Ashley groaned in mock frustration.
“We’re real now, right?”
Ashley jumped and tackled Esther to the bed, giving her a quick and firm kiss. “We’re very real, sweetheart.”