50. Adam
Adam
It’s been days of locking ourselves in the apartment, fucking, making love, doing puzzles, and just letting ourselves enjoy this small, blissful moment.
The sun peeks through the windows, sparkling against all her golden jewelry.
“We need to buy her more jewels,” the Slayer nags and I snort out a laugh.
“What?” Iris groggily asks, and I grab her wrist, inspecting the manacled bracelet she wears for protection.
“The Slayer thinks you need more jewelry.”
“Hmm. He might be on to something.”
“See. I told you. We are not being good enough mates. She deserves all the gold.”
“We can definitely make that happen,” I tell her as she nestles even closer to me, neither of us wanting to go back to the real world. Well, as real as our world gets now. Iris’ life is full and we need to figure out what our everyday life looks like.
She’s so soft and perfect next to me and I can’t hold back the words anymore.
I should have said them the moment we were safe, and I probably shouldn’t tell her while we lie naked here in bed, lazily not wanting to wake up and face life, but it seems like if I hold this in for another second I’ll combust.
“I love you, Iris,” I say and she adjusts herself so she’s resting on her side looking at me.
“I love you too, Adam.”
With a shaky hand, I cup her chin and bring her mouth to mine.
I grew up with nothing, didn’t value myself or my life. It took being possessed to start living, but it’s all because I have Iris.
We stare at each other for a long time, both of us probably feeling the same butterflies of admitting our feelings for one another. I rub my thumb along her cheekbone wondering how the fuck I got so lucky, but I’m not going to dwell on it.
“So I guess we kind of need to figure out what life looks like, huh?” Iris says and I can’t help but to laugh, because what does life look like now?
“Are you saying you don’t want to be mine and the Slayer’s sugar momma?”
She rolls her eyes, moving so that she’s rested on her elbow, the sheet falling back to show off her breast. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to having this woman in my bed.
“I just want to make sure you’re both fulfilled. Outside of me,” she adds that last bit in and I nod my head. “You should paint again, create.”
“Yeah, I think I will.”
She gives me a warm smile. “So that’s it. No more hunting down enemies, watching our backs, having dark visions. We just live happy, normal lives?”
“We just live,” I say, kissing her one last time before she gets up to clean herself up.
“And what am I supposed to do?” the Slayer grumbles in my mind.
“I don’t know, buddy, you’re going to figure out what you like.”
“I like Iris,” he says plainly.
“Did you not just hear everything she just said, that we need something in life outside of her as well?”
“I heard her, and I’m telling you I need nothing besides her.”
I sigh heavily, running my hand over my chest. “Maybe you’ll like creating? You like carving.”
“Like is a strong word. I’m just excellent at making stakes and designs.”
“Isn’t there something you’ve seen on TV or in real life that you’d like to try?” I ask him and it’s the wrong question.
I find out exactly one week later that you should never ask a vampire slayer what hobby they would like to take up.
I knew Scarlett shouldn’t have let him watch Ghost. First of all, he 100 percent believes in them now and it’s how we’ve found ourselves at a pottery studio, covered in clay.
“I hate this,” the Slayer complains, crushing his shitty looking pot with a fist.
“Then let’s try something else,” I tell him, and he agrees.
“You can’t join a Jiu Jitsu club,” I tell the Slayer and he complains as we stand out front of the building.
“Why not?”
“Because you have superhuman strength and would likely kill a mortal.”
“I would go easy on them. I could teach all these weaklings all about the dangers of vampires and how to protect themselves.”
“Dude. Give it up, find something else.”
“You’re being incredibly unsupportive of my dreams, and I’m going to surely let Iris know that you’re of no help.”
“You’re literally in control of the body right now.”
He makes an irritated noise, but he doesn’t join the club.
We continue our walk, trying to brainstorm something for him to do.
He doesn’t mind painting with me, but he seems to just drift off during those times.
The man needs a hobby; he’s never had the urge or time to get one before now.
His life was slaying vampires in the hopes of one day finding Iris but never had time to consider what life with Iris actually looked like.
It’s then we walk past an axe throwing warehouse and I swear on my life the Slayer looks through the glass like a child would a candy store.
“They…the mortals, look they’re throwing axes at a target, not well, but they are throwing them.”
“We could go inside,” I urge him and he takes the bait, opening the door and going to the front desk.
“I would like to throw sharp dangerous items at the board,” he announces, and the clerk looks at him like he’s a few dollars short, but he gets him signed up for a lane.
The Slayer pays with a stolen credit card.
It’s something that we’re working on, all the theft, but for now he seems to have found an outlet.
The Slayer throws for hours and he garners a crowd, all the men pitching their clubs and why he should join. In the end he joins what I would consider the least likely to win team he could have chosen.
“I will turn you losers into winners,” the Slayer tells them.
“You can’t say that out loud,” I groan at him, but he completely ignores me, and I watch in amazement as he has his Mighty Ducks moment with these guys.
They don’t even seem to mind when he tells them their form is shit, or when he brings up vampires. All they care about is being good, and sure enough, he brings them to victory.
He comes out of the whole ordeal with an axe trophy and two days of the week position to help teach the art of axe throwing.
“Do you think our Iris will be proud?”
“Of course she will,” I assure him as we get home.
We’ve been doing a better job of teleporting less, only when necessary. It’s been an adjustment for the Slayer, treating this life like it won’t be so short. We can walk, enjoy good weather, or sometimes suffer in the Louisiana humidity, but we’re alive.
When we open the door to the apothecary, Iris is bottling a few things up at the front desk. She greets us with a wide smile.
“You are mated to a champion,” the Slayer tells her, sliding the trophy over the counter where Iris inspects it.
“Tell her about the job.”
“Oh, and I got a part-time job.”
Iris gasps in excitement. “You did. Did you make friends too?”
“I would not go that far. Those mortals were especially weak. I think I’d rather stick to the wolves.”
Iris exhales, but gives him a nod. “I’m so proud of you.”
The Slayer is boosting with pride as he gives her a dramatic kiss.
“Alright, I need some time to finish my commission.”
“You will not hog her all night, Adam.”
“I won’t.”
Easy as breathing, we swap places, and I steal a kiss from our witch.
“He really enjoyed it?” she asks, hopeful. She’s always worried that the Slayer won’t find his footing in this world. He just needs some more time.
“He did. You should have seen them all. It was like he was their axe throwing god.”
“I am an axe throwing god,” the Slayer boasts between us.
“So when are you going to show me this commissioned piece? You know I haven’t seen anything besides what was in your old apartment,” Iris says, finishing up her work as I rub the back of my neck.
“You can see it. Might as well summon Scarlett too.”
Iris’ brows furrow but she does just that.
“I was in the middle of a serious hunt. This better be good,” Scarlett complains.
“Adam is going to finally show us his art piece,” Iris says, and Scarlett looks at me with interest.
“The one you’ve been sulking over in a corner, staring at me like some creep while I watch my shows?”
“That would be the one.”
“Well then let’s see it.”
I head up the stairs first, and Iris and Scarlett follow me. The piece is covered and I just hope that they both like it.
“The guy is a collector of realistic animal art. His wife is working on decorating her library and her favorite animal is a fox,” I explain.
“I already like this woman. She sounds like she has great taste.”
I smile at Scarlett as I remove the tarp and turn around the piece. It’s her perched on a log, with butterflies around her, not so dissimilar from the puzzle Iris worked on with the Slayer, except there’s no doubt this fox is absolutely Scarlett.
“Adam, it’s wonderful.”
“Wonderful? It’s a masterpiece,” Scarlett says, bounding up to me and jumping into my arms.
I may or may not be on a mission to get her to love me as much as she loves the Slayer, and I think this may have swayed her ever so slightly.
Iris comes up behind me, grabbing my arm and resting her cheek on my biceps as she inspects the art.
“I was thinking after I’m done I could do a portrait of us with me and the Slayer both in it so it’s like we’re both in charge of the body at the same time.”
“Oh you smooth motherfucker,” the Slayer complains.
“I’d love that,” Iris says gently. “There’s something else I want to show you. I just don’t want to upset you.”
I glance down at my witch, thinking the worst as she pulls out her phone, giving it to me and showing me the article. I read it and I can’t help but boast in laughter.
The headline reads: Lottery Winners Fall From Grace.
The Landry’s are a family who came from a hard life. Winning the Powerball suddenly took them into a new world they never could have dreamed of until that world was ripped from under their feet.
Why? Because the lottery ticket was fraudulent. Police have been investigating the family since their win and have suddenly come into a plethora of evidence against the family. The judge is not allowing bail, and it appears each member will sit in prison while they await their trials.
“The curse came to bite them back in the ass,” I say with a snort.
“I’d still kill them for you, you know?” the Slayer says and honestly, it’s kind of heartwarming.
“What they did was wrong, but I’m right where I want to be,” I tell Iris, leaning down and giving her a kiss. “I’m pretty sure this was always my fate, too.”
“Yeah, I think it was,” Iris agrees, looking at me in a way I never fathomed possible.
“We need to get a copy of this painting before you give it away,” Scarlett interrupts and I pet her fur the way she likes.
“Absolutely.”
I hold Iris tighter against me and realize I have everything I didn’t know I needed. A family, a real one, and I’d never say this to the Slayer, but I’m pretty fucking lucky he chose me to be his vessel.
For the first time in my life, I’m happy. A paint brush in my hand, the love of my life at my side, our furry familiar, and even a demented, socially inept vampire slayer that I share a body with.
All my life needed was a little magic, and now that I’ve found it, I’m certainly not going to waste it.