9. Vex
Vex
So there I was. All ready to take sunshine and stardust home for the night.
Only the sneaky thing already left. That naughty little minx.
So… I followed her. Like any good vampire boy would.
Only Lazarus threw me in another cage. He really thought this one would hold me. Told me so himself. He said, and I quote, “Try to get out of this one.”
I took that as a challenge.
Let’s be real though, I don’t actually know how I’m doing it.
But I’ll never tell Lazarus that.
One minute there I am, staring at the bars, reinforced steel, all around me. And the next I’m outside looking in. At first, I thought it was a magic trick. Then it kept happening.
I didn’t even have to gnaw on the chains. They just kind of sort of melted away. Which is amazing for me. Because that means I can sneak into her shitty apartment.
You know. For protection and shit.
It’s one of those old buildings from back in the day. The kind men only wore suits into. A big house chopped up into apartments. Which means a lot of weird unused space. Somebody built this place to last and then forgot about the bones of it.
I didn’t, I’m handy like that.
Like this crawlspace that I crawled my ass into and am now stuck.
Not my fault. I swear it is not my fault.
See. I got here at like, I don’t know, before dawn, and then I got hungry. But the sun was up and Laz has me all freaked out over the sun weakness and shit.
And well. I can only eat blood. And Lazarus has been giving me those little bags, which I only packed three. Then they only lasted me a whole hour. And then I got hungry again.
I decided to nap. Because what else does one hungry vampire do when the sun is up and no blood source? Nap that’s what. So there I was. Lying in Callie’s crawlspace. Just vibing and listening to her sleep.
When out of nowhere, and I do mean nowhere, comes this rat startling me out of a comatose sleep. Well, I can’t just have a rat running around her crawlspace. So it would have been rude of me not to do something about it.
And besides I was hungry. Full on stomach grumbling and growling and giving me a hard time about not feeding it more blood. So I looked at the rat, and the rat looked at me.
And honestly? I wasn’t really thinking about the rat. Ten feet below Callie exists, heart going thump thump thump nice and slow. I could hear it through the floor. Could’ve gone up there instead. Real easy. Nobody would’ve stopped me.
But I ate the fucking rat.
Look at me. Growth.
Then I had this choice. What does one do with the carcass. I can’t just open a window and toss it. That would invite the sun to melt me alive. Even though I haven’t actually tested that out because I think Laz is just lying, maybe a little, about the sun’s effect on me.
But I wasn’t about to tempt fate. I had Callie to worry about.
I spotted a teeny tiny sliver of sunlight and thought to myself, self I bet you can toss that rat through that little gap with your weird vampire powers.
Because I have got to have vampire powers. That is what it is. My weird Houdini act.
So I tossed the rat at the wall.
It thumped back at me. Then I made the mistake of following it. Too loudly. Crouched and running.
I’m not proud to say I knocked my head on a beam and fell right on my ass.
But I did.
And then… she came looking for the sound. Because I’m not quiet.
And she saw me face down on the crawlspace floor.
And Lazarus might kill me.
Because now? Now how do I make this right. She is surely going to think I’m insane. And I didn’t bring a phone because I’m not supposed to even be here.
Oh, daddy is never letting me out again.
What do I do? I mean. The cat’s out of the bag now. So…
I walk across the crawlspace, well, I duck walk, and then I hop on the ladder and ride it down like a wave to three screaming women and a baby who is cooing at me.
I fucking love babies.
But at least I have the decency not to pick up the baby.
“Stop!” Callie screams, stepping in front of her sister. “It’s Vex.”
“Who the fuck is Vex?” Madison asks. I know her because she came into the shop once with Calypso.
Now that I have both of them in front of me, again, I made a grave mistake thinking they were alike at all. They look alike. But they aren’t.
Callie glances at Madison like she isn’t quite sure about her yet. “He works with Soren. Drove me home last week.” She rolls her eyes. “He’s supposed to be fixing my car.”
I am. Just on my own time. I call it Vex time. And Vex time runs between four and fifty-two business weeks.
“Wait—the shop?” Madison bumps Calypso. “Calypso, isn’t that the guy who—”
“Don’t,” Calypso snaps. I get the feeling she doesn’t like me.
Madison hums to herself, rocking the baby. “Shhh, Mable.”
I study them while they scream and fight over me. I’m content to wait it out.
Callie is all natural. No color in her hair, the kind that kisses that little dent at her back. So fuckable. No makeup either. Which isn’t a bad thing, but her sister wears the makeup. I can smell it. Calypso’s hair is shorter, lighter.
Besides, Callie smells delicious and Calypso smells, I inhale deeply.
“He’s smelling me.” Calypso steps away from me.
Didn’t know I leaned in. My bad.
My body just does that now, goes and gets what it wants before I catch up. New perk. Nobody gave me the manual.
“Taken.” I tilt my head. Another vampire marked her. “You think you know a girl.”
Her eyes go wide. “Vex,” Calypso says it like a warning.
“I forgot you two knew each other.” Callie rubs her temples.
“Headache?” I step behind her, swat her hands away, and start to rub.
“Oh, that feel—” She swats my hands off. “Vex, what the fuck are you doing in my crawlspace.”
Don’t tell her about the rat.
“Keeping you safe.”
Madison chokes, then sniffs the baby. “Oh, look at that, she needs a change.”
“Poop.” I laugh.
“Fucking men.” Calypso gives me the stink eye. “Vex. Can I talk to you.”
“No.” I step closer to Callie. It’s like there’s this invisible string drawing me to her.
Calypso grabs my arm, nails digging in. “Now, Vex.”
I look down at her hand, then back at her face. There’s something in her eyes, urgent, the kind of thing that makes the new parts of me sit up. But Callie is right here, and the baby is still cooing, and I’m starving, and I just ate a rat, and—
“Fine.” I step away from Callie. It takes me more than it should. “But make it quick. I got a lady to protect.”
Calypso drags me to the kitchen. I let her. I want to know what’s got her wound this tight.
Soon as we’re out of earshot she whirls on me. Shoves me into the refrigerator hard enough the magnets clatter to the floor. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Language.” I swear like a sailor. She doesn’t need to know that part. “And I told you. Protection.”
“Bullshit,” she snaps.
Oh. Oh. “You know.”
“Know what?” She wheels on me.
She goes a little panicked, a little green.
“You know,” I say it slower.
“Your fang is showing.” Ah, so that is how she knows.
I run my tongue along my teeth. It is, in fact, out. Oops. “They have a mind of their own. I haven’t quite figured out how to get them to retract on command.”
“Fucking vampires.” She paces.
“You do know.”
Her eyes narrow. “Does your sire know you’re here?”
The word makes me wince. “About that. Lazarus only knows what he needs to know.”
“Oh my god. Her boss!” She shoves a hand through her hair. “He’s going to kill you. And then he’s going to kill me for knowing and not telling him.”
“Technically, you just found out, so—”
“Vex!” She punches my arm, which hurts more than it should. She’s stronger than she looks. “You can’t just stalk my sister.”
“I’m not stalking her.” I cross my arms. “I’m guarding her. There’s a difference.”
“From the crawlspace?”
“I was being discreet.”
She squints at me, then eyes the little window over the sink. Marches over, grabs the rod for the blinds, twists. Sunlight dumps into the small kitchen.
I scuttle backward. “You missed.” I prop a shoulder against the fridge.
“Fucking vampires.” She paces again.
“You are marked.” I gloss right over the fact that she knows what I am. Also how. I got so many questions, because her sister doesn’t know, and—
“Shut the fuck up.” She circles the kitchen, talking to herself. “Callie doesn’t know. She doesn’t know. This is what I get for not telling my sister. This is bad. This is really fucking bad. And you, and your—” She rounds on me.
“And my what?”
“You want her.”
“Yeah,” I say it because it’s terribly obvious. I have stars in my eyes.
“No.” She straightens up. “You can’t have her.”
“Pardon?” I laugh. “That’s not up to you. You already got a—” I inhale deep. “Not a coven.” Seriously, how do I know this. “Blood bond.”
“Shut up.”
“Who?” No one I know. Also I only know two other vampires.
“Not your business.”
“Might be.” I sniff her again.
“Stop sniffing me.” She gets in my face, but only because I’m slouching. “Stop sniffing me.” Lower this time. “You have blood on your chin.”
“Rat.” I wipe it off. “Think Callie noticed?”
“You ate a rat?” She tugs on her hair.
“To be fair, the rat was a menace.” Nobody laughs. Don’t know why. It’s funny. “And I didn’t break in exactly. I just slipped in.”
“Through what? Solid walls?”
I shrug. “Maybe. Still figuring out how it works.”
She pinches the bridge of her nose. “You don’t even know anything, do you?”
“It’s complicated.” I mutter it. “Lazarus doesn’t exactly hand out an instruction manual.”
A sound echoes from the living room and we both freeze. Was that a remote clattering to the floor? Callie’s voice carries down the hall. “What are you two talking about in there? Should I be worried?”
“No!” we both shout.
Calypso grabs my arm again, fingers digging in. “You need to leave. Now.”
“And go where? It’s daylight out there.” I tip my head at the window she just tried to murder me with.
“Not my problem.” A whisper now. “If Lazarus finds out you’re here—”
“He’s going to find out anyway,” I counter. “Callie saw me. She’s not gonna just forget.”
“How the fuck did you even get in?”
“Huh?”
“An invite?” She’s pacing.