Chapter 8 An Alarming Proposal #3
“Yeah.” He rocked on his feet, looking between me and Dennis, before eventually wandering back to the register.
“He probably thinks we’re on a double date,” Ari said.
I was too busy eating to respond. This place made the best pancakes in the entire world.
“Have you eaten pancakes throughout the entire world?” Dennis asked.
I didn’t respond to him either due to a delicious bite of food. How had he even heard that? No matter. He wasn’t gonna distract me from midnight dinner.
“I have a question,” Ari started, pushing a bite of omelet around the plate. She’d barely touched it so far. “Do you know Melissa?”
“Yeah.” Dennis placed a hand on my mostly bare thigh.
“Really?” I glared at it.
“Really,” he said cheerfully.
“Not really ‘do you know her.’ I meant really you’re gonna put your hand on my thigh like your dead person skin isn’t freezing cold—”
“How do you know her?” Ari asked Sean over my rant. I grabbed Dennis’ hand and moved it away.
“She and Mateo dated for a couple years,” Sean said. “They broke up a few months ago when he found out she’d been cheating.”
“So she is a vampire.”
“Which makes her so much hotter,” I said. All three of them looked at me. “What? It seems like she sucks as a person but that doesn’t make her not pretty. Her makeup was,” I did a chef’s kiss motion, “and her highlights are perfection. I give credit where it’s due.”
“Even after she slapped you?” Ari grinned when I shrugged. “Why am I not surprised? You always go for the crazy ones.”
“Are you…?” Sean was looking between us while Dennis stared at me.
“Bi,” Ari said.
“Sexual and polar. Get it?” I laughed at my joke, which was hilarious.
“Seems like you’d know, Dennis. You’re always reading her mind,” Ari said.
“I hear thoughts about me, not random chicks. Not that I’m complaining.”
“Don’t be weird about it. It’s not for your entertainment and it doesn’t mean I’ll have a random threesome with you.” I watched his hand until I realized he was only reaching for my hair this time, which fell a few inches past my chest. I sipped my milkshake while he toyed with a lock.
“Do people really assume you’re down for threesomes?” He seemed genuinely surprised. Which was surprising to me, because usually men’s minds went straight to that.
“All the time. The level of audacity most men have is insane. They act like bi women are a porn waiting to happen. It’s obnoxious and I’m tired of it, so don’t do it.
” I narrowed my eyes, waiting for his audacity to arrive, but he only nodded.
I kept waiting for a smartass or perverted comment but none came.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I realized. It seemed he didn’t have the same amount of audacity as most men—on this topic, at least—which was a lovely surprise. “Sorry. I guess I got defensive too soon. I assumed you’d be pervy about it. My bad.”
“So who else is a vampire here?” Ari looked from Sean to Dennis, then back to Sean. “Don’t tell me it’s confidential or something?”
“Okay. I won’t tell you.” Sean’s smile was mischievous.
She kept trying, asking Sean questions while he dodged real answers, but I was too distracted to pay attention. Dennis’ hand was casually resting on my thigh again.
“Can you stop?” I asked quietly. My tummy fluttered as he barely smiled—it was hard to keep my thoughts under control when he smiled like that.
“You really want me to?”
“Yes.” I tried to sound stern. It didn’t work.
“I can tell when you’re lying.”
“I’m not lying. I’m…” I racked my brain for a clever synonym for lying.
“Excited,” he finished for me.
Ari and Sean were still talking—she was trying to convince him to share vampire secrets—but all I could think about was Dennis’ hand. I sighed and tried to refocus on the conversation. That is until my milkshake was rudely stolen. I frowned as Dennis took the last sip.
“Excuse me, I don’t remember saying you could have that. Now it’s all gone.” I took it back and sadly looked inside.
“That is what happens when you finish something.”
Ari stifled a laugh at his sarcastic response.
“Sorry.” She tried not to smile as I turned my pout to her.
“Do you want some of my pink lemonade?” She held it out but I shook my head.
“Don’t think I forgot what we’re talking about.
” She switched focus back to Sean. “I’m not leaving this alone.
Melissa and Mateo dated for a while. Which means she’s a vampire, which explains how her cheek healed immediately after Emy cut it. ”
“I forgot Vixen cut her.” Dennis laughed shrilly. “It’s impressive you could get hits on a vampire. Although she probably let you. At least the second or third one.”
“I think she was more caught off guard than purposely losing,” Sean said. “She’s used to getting away with whatever she wants.”
“How come?” I shifted when Dennis moved his hand to put an arm around my shoulders.
“Reasons.” Sean shrugged.
“Who are the other vampires?” Ari asked in a hushed tone. “If you don’t mind telling us,” she stammered, backtracking at Dennis’ gaze. He stared for several seconds while she shrank back.
“Stop scaring her.” I smacked his leg.
“It’s nothing you need to know about.” His eyes were still on Ari.
“If you guys are gonna keep following us around, we should know these things. What if Emy picks a fight with another vampire and it doesn’t go as well?”
“I can hold my own, thank you very much.”
“I doubt you can hold your own with a vampire. I’m pretty sure you got lucky. We need to know who to be careful around.”
“You’ll be fine,” Dennis said. “Or at least you will, Vixen.”
“Wait, why only me?” I glanced at Ari. “She’s right, if you’re shoving your way into our lives you better start explaining things.
Also, question. How do you get inside without being invited?
I guess technically we invited you in here by holding the door open, but what about the other times you go places? ”
“Emy. Focus,” Ari scolded. “I’m not safe because I’m not blood bound, right?”
“You catch on fast. Unlike Vixen over here.”
“Rude. I’m smart. I was about to say that, too.”
“No, you weren’t.” Dennis pulled the lighter out and flicked it on. “You were wondering if bouncers have to invite us inside the bar so we don’t melt in the doorway.”
Ari laughed as Sean shot me a confused look.
“What? It’s a real question. And why are you such a pyromaniac? You’re gonna burn the whole restaurant down.” I tried to grab the lighter from Dennis but pulled my hand back when he almost set it on fire.
“Emy, stop distracting everyone. This is serious. More people have been randomly killed in town lately. What if they’re all being killed by vampires? We need a warning if places aren’t safe anymore.”
“You’ll be fine. Most of those were me.”
She gaped at Dennis while I made a noise of disbelief.
I knew which murders she meant. They’d been on the news lately, including this evening before we left for the bar.
One happened the night Dennis first drank in front of me and the time of death was nearly the same, probably while he was harassing me at the bar.
There was no way he’d done them all. At least not that one.
“No, they weren’t. You were literally with me when one happened,” I said.
“Oh, thank god.” Ari’s horror melted away. “I’m tired of you messing with me all the time.”
“Who said I’m messing with you?”
“Stop it.” I smacked his leg again.
“Fine. I was messing with you.” He smirked at her sigh of relief. “But the murders were vampires. Our system has been falling apart lately. I must say, I’m all for it. There are too many humans. Most of you are unnecessary and should probably die.”
“Ignore him.” I shot Dennis a warning look as Ari shifted uneasily. “I’m sure he’s kidding.”
“I’m not.”
“He’s not wrong,” Sean said. “I mean, he’s wrong about humans needing to die. But it’s true about our political system kinda falling apart.”
“So there’s a vampire political system.” Ari pursed her lips. “Interesting. That makes sense. I mean, vampires must stay organized and hidden somehow, right? What’re the basics of this system?”
“All you need to know is that things might start getting weird and dangerous. Probably not too bad, but without a bind you won’t be safe the way Emy is.”
“Nope,” Ari was firmly shaking her head, “that’s not all we need to know. You’ve been forcing your way into our lives for almost a week now. If you wanna stick around you better at least explain the basics of what’s going on. Don’t think you can drag us into this without telling us what ‘this’ is.”
“Fair enough,” Sean said. “I’ll give the basics. Our main system used to be a few core rules: don’t kill people when you drink unless it’s necessary, if you do kill don’t leave traces—”
“Does no one enforce this?” I couldn’t help but interrupt to ask because from what I’d gathered of Dennis so far, it did not seem like he complied.
“Kind of?” Sean rubbed his neck before glancing at Dennis. “Vamps can usually get away with a small amount of kills. Nothing comes of it unless you become too much of an issue.”
“And he’s not an issue?” I nodded toward Dennis. “Didn’t you say you kill when you’re annoyed?” I asked him.
“Every once in a while. As a treat. It’s fun leaving corpses out for humans to find.”
There was a tense silence while Ari and I waited for him to laugh. He didn’t. Not even a smile. I barely held back a shudder before asking, “What else is there?”
“Don’t tell people about vampires or how we work,” Sean continued, “don’t turn or bind anyone without their permission, and don’t mess with another vamp’s bind. Right now, the only one still being respected is the last one. And it’s not for the human’s sake, it’s because binds are seen as a claim.”
“Wait, should someone bind Ari?”
“I can do it,” Sean said.
“What? No.” She dropped the fork she’d barely used.
“What if a vampire tries to kill you?” I asked. “I’ve always saved you from anyone who messes with you, but I can’t save us from a vampire.”