Chapter 3
My last day of work at Sandia Blood Lab was over, and the cake that awaited me at the front desk made me feel oddly guilty.
Surely everyone wanted to go home now that the day was over.
A celebration was wasted on me. Still, I fastened a surprised smile to my face when all my coworkers cheered for me.
“Wow, thank you,” I said, feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes on me.
Sam, my boss, took over, luckily. “It’s been an honor to have you working here, Fallon.
Three years have already flown by, and I can’t imagine how strange it’s going to be come Monday when I expect to see you here like always.
Your kindness and your work ethic have been an inspiration to all of us, especially me.
I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say thank you.
We all hope this next journey in your life is happy and successful, and if it’s not, you’ll always have a place back here. ”
My coworkers clapped, and the attention was back on me. I was frozen. I wished I’d just slipped out during lunch so I didn’t have to face this moment.
“Anyone else want to say a few words?” Sam asked once the silence grew awkward.
“We love you, Fallon!” Grace pretended to shout, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Please don’t go!”
“You’re going to kick butt at school,” Jasmin said. That was the untrue reasoning I’d given for quitting, since I felt like I needed a good excuse to quit.
“We’ll never find someone as good as you are at finding those impossible veins,” another phlebotomist, Cassie said with a dramatic whine.
Sam laughed. “Fallon really had the magic touch, didn’t she?”
His eyes found me again, and I knew I was expected to say something. At least everyone here had long ago realized I was strange in social situations, so their expectations had to be pretty low. I focused my eyes on the wall and forced myself to speak, despite my voice being weak and shaky.
“Well, thank you, everyone. I’m going to really miss working here and helping people. Thank you to Sam, of course, for giving me the opportunity. Thanks to everyone here who taught me so much. Um…let’s have cake.”
It was a flat note to end on, but everyone cheered nonetheless, probably just glad for the awkwardness to be over.
The receptionist Grace explained that she hadn’t known my favorite flavor, so she’d picked out a marble option with chocolate buttercream.
Good luck, Fallon! was written in loopy frosting letters.
I thanked her for her thoughtfulness and accepted a small piece.
A major part of my life had come to an end, but for once, it was on my own terms. While I listened to my former coworkers gossip over their families, their homes, their children, over the latest movies and the popular reality TV shows, I was grateful.
This life had never really belonged to me, had it?
Though I liked my coworkers, and I liked the sense of helping patients, I’d worn this role like a costume that had been too tight.
It was freeing to tear it off and know I wouldn’t have to pretend so much after this.
Everyone had lives to return to, and so my goodbye party was a short affair. I stayed to the end with Grace to clean up, and after one last farewell, the day ended like any other, with everyone driving off in their own separate directions. Tomorrow would go on the same for all of them.
* * *
The May heat hit like an oven when I opened the front door, even in the peachy light of evening.
Winter had lingered longer than normal this year, and now, as if to make up for it, summer had come early with a miserable dry heat.
It would be a relief to go spend some time up in the mountains, where it was always about 20 degrees cooler than here in the high desert. One of the positives of going home.
I’d seen through the kitchen window that Nico was at the stables with the three horses they kept on the ranch.
When I reached the metal fence, Poseidon, Derrick’s horse, stepped over from where he’d been watching Nico change out the water barrel, expecting a treat from me, just like always.
She tapped a hoof expectantly, and so I palmed one of the baby carrots I’d brought along to feed him.
He took a second one from me, and I gave his shoulders a scratch.
“The rest are for your sisters, okay?” The other two horses had jostled their way over once they figured out it was snack time, and so I shared treats with them, too, ignoring Poseidon’s huff.
“How was the last day?” Nico asked with the gentleness one might use for someone threatening to jump off the roof. He left the hose running to fill the water basin and rested his foot up on one of the horizontal bars of the fence.
“Weird.” The honesty of my answer got a laugh out of him. I pet Sheila the mini horse next, my fingers antsy to do anything while having this conversation.
“So when will you be leaving?”
“Not until the beginning of next month. I was going to leave sooner, but I have a commitment with Virgil.” I kept it vague. Nico didn’t understand my thing with Virgil, and I couldn’t blame him.
“Great, you’ll have a couple weeks to help me out on the ranch, then, sounds like.” Nico patted Poseidon’s shoulder. He turned back to keep an eye on the water, but I called out to him before I lost my nerve.
“Nico. I’m going to ask you permission for something, but ‘no’ isn’t actually going to be an option.” I squeezed the metal fence, despite the nearly-burning heat.
Nico’s confusion cracked into a smile. “Fallon, I’ve never seen you like this. What is it, then?”
“While I’m gone, I’m going to have Peter Fenton stay on the ranch to watch over all of you. He can stay up in the loft in the barn, and he won’t ever be allowed in the house, and…” I ran out of steam under his scathing look.
“Peter Fenton? The vampire who was stalking you?”
“Now imagine what creatures I fear enough to let him protect you.”
“Fallon, are you…caught up in something?” Nico had never been one to poke into my private life, so for him to even obliquely ask meant he really was worried. As valid as it was, I didn’t want to make him feel that way.
“You know what happened to Derrick.” I cringed. That hadn’t been the right thing to say.
“That’s not a good enough reason to let that creep live here. We have two teenage girls. I have to think of Subin, too.”
“Luckily he’s obsessed with me, not them.
” That hadn’t been the right response, either.
For as much as I’d been playing this conversation in my head, I was really messing it up.
“He’s harmless. Really. I have him under control.
You won’t even see him while I’m gone. But you have to get your dad on board, too. ”
“This is insane. You know I can protect my own land.”
“Please, Nico.” His manly fuming stopped.
“You know I don’t usually do this kind of thing.
Look, Virgil’s getting into local politics right now, and it honestly has me jumpy.
It’d give me so much more peace of mind knowing that Fenton was here to protect you in case any vampires came and tried something.
I’m going to ask him to come here no matter what, so…
please. Just accept it and make it easier on all of us. ”
“Fallon…” He lifted a finger and broke from the conversation to deal with the hose so that it didn’t overflow.
He twisted it into a neat bundle around his arm and stored it on the hook on the side of the stable.
He took his time coming back over, a silent argument playing out on his moving lips.
“Is there…something I should know? About you?” It was a few seconds before he met my eyes, and I froze like I’d been caught naked.
I even wanted to bring my arms up to cross over my chest.
“No.” My voice was so small. Real convincing.
I’d gotten far too used to the Hopes politely averting their eyes from my odd qualities.
Of course, this was the first time I was hunting again since moving in with them.
It had to be harder to ignore now. Even being as discreet as possible, they noticed I was gone most nights of the week.
“Are you in danger?”
How could I lie to him about it? This was why Hunters were such solitary creatures. It wasn’t just myself I had to worry about now. Outright lying to Nico’s face didn’t feel like the right thing to do, but hiding my identity was always going to be my top priority.
“Are we in danger?” Nico asked once my silence drew on too long.
“No. No, you shouldn’t be. And if you have Fenton keeping guard while I’m gone, I won’t have to worry about that changing. Can you convince your dad for me?”
Nico sighed and put his gloved hands on his hips, and suddenly he looked a lot like Gabriel.
“You know Papa Hope. He’s always happy to take in sad little strays.
” To make that point, he gave Sheila a pat.
“That’s where Derrick got it from. You’d have had an easier time just going right to Papa for permission. He always had a soft spot for the kid.”
“I know,” I smiled, and I hoped he could hear my respect for both of them.
“Thank you, Nico. I’ll make sure Fenton stays out of everyone’s hair.
I know he’s…” I shrugged. There were a lot of words that could fill in that blank, so I let Nico do it himself.
The fence rang hollow where I gave it a couple of smacks to announce my departure.
“Fallon?”
I stopped and turned.
“This vampire thing,” Nico asked with clear embarrassment. “Should I be worried?”
“Vampire thing?” My heart rate picked up, and the rising heat in my head threatened to spin me to the ground. I took a few deep breaths and kept my feet under me.
“You know. Virgil. Peter?” He shrugged, and gestured vaguely with his hands, and relief was a cool rush of water down the back of my neck. Or maybe that was just the uncomfortable sweat that was collecting beneath my hair. Nico had no idea about my hunting. He was just worried about my social life.
“I know, it’s weird. But…”
“That’s life, I suppose?” he offered, red-faced and ready to move on from discussing my personal business.
“That’s life,” I repeated.
He nodded and focused his attention down to where he was kicking at the dirt with the tip of his boot. “Be safe, Fallon.”
“You, too, Nico.” I started to walk back, just to give him space from the heavy awkwardness, but I stopped myself and turned back with one last important message. “Thank you. Really.”