Alice #3
“We probably should’ve done what my parents did and made the walls soundproof.”
“We couldn’t,” Mom replied. “Or we would’ve never known when they were sneaking out their windows.”
“That was Erik,” I pointed out dully, flopping onto a barstool. “I just went out the front door.”
“I didn’t ever sneak out,” Joey announced, sitting down next to me. He reached over and grabbed a pancake off the tray, and my mom smacked his hand with her spatula.
“Wait for breakfast,” she scolded.
“You didn’t sneak out because you’re boring.”
“I didn’t sneak out because I like sleep,” he countered. “Sleep is great. Sleep is the best.”
“It’s family month,” I said, pointing in the air. “And I’m an adult, which means I can take a nap today.”
“Getting too old for those late nights?” Dad asked, tugging on my ponytail.
“Yeah, right,” Ira said, carrying in my mom’s vegetable oil. “Baby-faced Doodle too old?”
“I’m older than you, jackass.”
“Depends on how you’re measuring.”
“I was born nine years before you.”
“Thank you,” my mom said, taking the oil. “I thought I might’ve left it over there.”
“Granny said she also has a bag of your chocolate chips, but she was busy and I wasn’t sure where they were.”
“Damn, I could’ve made some chocolate chip pancakes.”
“You’re feeding twenty-five grown adults,” my dad reminded her. “I think they’ll make do without the chocolate chips.”
“Wrong,” Erik argued, walking in with the dorkiest fishing hat I’d ever seen on his head. “I’m devastated we won’t have chocolate chips.”
My mom made a face at my dad.
“Shut up, Erik,” he ordered. He grinned at my mom. “See how easy that was?”
They were too annoying and loud and cheerful.
Silently, I slithered from my stool and shuffled into the kitchen, poured myself some coffee, and then escaped to my room.
When we were little, my parents had built our tiny bedrooms in their wing of the house so they could be close when we needed them.
Once we were older and generally sleeping through the night, they’d built bigger bedrooms off the opposite side and back side of the house.
Joey and I shared one wing, because they knew Erik and I would’ve killed each other, and Erik and Ira shared the other wing.
Each of our bedrooms had its own bathroom, and mine had a vanity and bookcases built into the walls, probably because my mom had still been holding out hope that someday I’d be into makeup and dresses and all that.
It was their own fault, really, raising me with all those boys.
When I was young, I’d wanted to be just like everyone else, and the everyone else in my life had been boys.
I’d grown out of the tomboy phase eventually, but by that time, my mom’s dreams of frilly matching dresses were long gone.
Since I only had half an hour—less—before I had to be at Afi and Granny’s, I didn’t have time to shower and do the whole getting ready thing.
I threw my hair into a topknot, slipped into a bikini, and threw my mom’s old housedress over the top.
It was pink and faded from repeated washings, and the fabric was so worn that it felt silky to the touch.
I’d always loved it, and when my mom realized I’d reached my majority, I’d found it folded at the foot of my bed.
I never brought it with me when I left. I was too afraid that I’d lose it somewhere, but I practically lived in it when I was home.
By the time I came out of my bedroom, everyone in the house had already left, so I didn’t bother putting on shoes as I hurried after them. As long as I stayed on the edges of the gravel, I knew I’d be able to get all the way to Granny’s without needing them anyway.
The grass squelched beneath my feet from the rain the night before, and I had to dodge the random tree branch, but I made it to the house just as everyone lined up in the kitchen to grab their breakfasts.
“Have no fear, the favorite is here,” I announced, throwing open the back door as I cleaned my feet on the mat. “And on time, I might add.”
I looked up, and my heart felt like it had fallen out of my chest and landed with a splat on the floor.
The Vampire standing next to my brother Ira was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. He had dark hair and dark skin and the most shocking hazel eyes with lashes that were longer than my mother’s false ones. Tall. So fucking tall.
I gaped, resisting the urge to fling myself at him.
Oh shit.
“Oh shit,” Ira blurted, glancing between the two of us.
No. I was supposed to have a human mate. A human mate is what I’d been searching for. It’s why I traveled. It’s why we all traveled. I was supposed to find a human mate like my brothers. He was out there, waiting for me, the other half of my soul.
“Hello,” the Vampire said, his voice deep and low. “I’m Malcolm.”
The kitchen was eerily silent.
My heart pounded.
He knew who I was.
Of course he did.
He would’ve known me anywhere, just like I knew him.
I startled visibly when my father cleared his throat.
“It’s family month,” I replied dumbly. “You’ll have to come back.”