26. ZARA #2
“Well, that too,” he admitted ruefully. “It never really bothered me before but Lisa’s not like the women I usually associate with.
You know the type, spoiled socialites who know the score.
Lisa’s more… real. And I haven’t quite managed to convince her yet that I won’t suddenly lose interest in her and go back to my old ways.
She’s protecting herself, I get that, I just wish she didn’t feel the need to.
I’m the one who should be doing the protecting. ”
“You really do care about her, don’t you?”
“I do. But I don’t dare tell her how much yet in case it scares her off. So I’m giving her as much space as she needs and unfortunately that means accepting that she’s not ready to meet my friends yet.”
“Well, if she’s got any sense she’ll soon realise she’s found a good one…” My words tailed off when I realised he wasn’t listening to me anymore. “Theo?”
“This should be interesting.” He gestured across the room to where Nero was forcefully divesting Tilly of the mic so he could have a turn on the Karaoke. “I’ve never heard a god sing before.”
Neither had I and I was stunned into silence by his hauntingly beautiful voice as his eyes met mine across the room and he started singing.
I recognised this song. It was a new favourite of mine by a Greek artist I’d recently discovered, and I closed my eyes and let the words wash over me.
I’d probably listened to them a hundred times before, because they resonated so strongly with me, but hearing them like this, as if Nero was singing them for me and me alone, touched something deep inside me.
If this was anything like it felt when a siren turned their power on you, I could see why Seth had warned me to be careful with mine.
“You okay?” I opened my eyes as the last notes faded away and saw Theo looking down at me in concern. “You’re crying.”
I touched my face, surprised when my fingers came away wet. “I’m good. That was just…” intensely emotional. “Excuse me, Theo. I need to speak to Nero.”
“I’m sorry, Agapiméno,” he whispered when I walked straight into his arms and hugged him. “That song could have been written for you, but I didn’t realise it would have such a profound effect on you. Are you alright?”
“Better than alright. It was beautiful. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He gave me a gentle squeeze before setting me gently aside.
“Can’t have people talking,” he said with a wink.
Oh gods, please don’t let Tilly have said anything inappropriate.
“Do you want to get a drink?” Before I could answer, Theo was there with the glass of wine I’d abandoned when Nero had started singing.
“I thought you might need this.” He gave me an assessing look but was apparently satisfied by what he saw because he let Terrah haul him away to choose a duet to sing with her.
After a couple of hours I’d lost count of how many times I’d been pulled up to sing, sometimes on my own, sometimes with someone. Even Phoebe had been persuaded to join in with an Alannah Myles number and the guys had all got up to do a pretty impressive rendition of Uptown Girl.
“Time to open your presents.” Eli took the empty glass from my hand, replacing it with a full one on the side table next to me, and I groaned.
I hated opening presents in front of people, and I’d been hoping everyone would forget and I could do it by myself the next day.
There was obviously no getting out of it now though.
I was shocked when Eli started handing me a steady stream of gifts, far more than he’d brought with him tonight.
“I snuck some of them in the other day,” Tilly announced. “Are you surprised?” She looked so pleased with herself I didn’t have the heart to tell her that ‘horrified’ was probably a better way of putting it, so I smiled and told her she was an absolute star.
Rachel gave me a sympathetic look as I worked my way through an avalanche of books, perfume, candles, bath goodies, chocolates, fluffy socks, pyjamas, a funny coffee mug from Tilly, a beautiful wrap from Rachel which I was certain had come back with her from Istanbul, and lastly a pair of Animal slippers from Eli which he handed to me with a smug grin saying, ‘now we can match, Princess’.
“I left something else in your apartment for you,” Eli whispered in my ear when I did the rounds hugging everyone and saying thank you. “But don’t open it until you’re alone.”
I was guessing it was another present, but I was racking my brain to think what he could possibly have got me that I couldn’t open in public. And I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to know.
After I’d opened my presents and we’d all eaten cake, things started to wind down, although Tilly and Nero swiftly commandeered the Karaoke again and showed no signs of wanting to stop anytime soon. I’d just managed to get Jules on her own when Eli made his way over to us.
“Are you ready to go home, Jules? I can drop you off first and come back for Rachel.” She looked disappointed. She’d stayed very quiet all evening, until Eilif had left a while ago, then she’d started to loosen up and enjoy herself.
“Why don’t you stay over, Jules, if you don’t want to go yet?
” I offered. “There’s still some of your stuff here isn’t there?
” If she stayed I’d be able to interrogate her about what was going on with her and Eilif.
“Tilly’s staying too.” She and Nero were currently going to town on A Whole New World from Aladdin and I just hoped she wasn’t going to interpret that as him changing his mind about taking her dream walking.
“You know you can still use my apartment anytime you want, sweet pea.”
“I think I will stay then,” she said. “Thanks, Dad.”
I watched as Eli wandered over to where Rachel was standing chatting with Terrah and Theo, snaking his arms around her waist from behind and leaning in to whisper something in her ear.
She turned her head and smiled up at him and a flash of envy shot through me.
Gods, how I wished Seth was here. I was starting to wish I hadn’t invited anyone to stay over, so I could be left in peace to feel sorry for myself, but it was too late to change my mind now.
“So, what gives with you and Eilif?” I asked Jules in an attempt to distract myself from missing Seth once everyone who wasn’t staying had finally left.
We were sitting in the kitchen while Tilly was still happily singing her heart out in the lounge – she was doing her own version of Milkshake now and changing the words to how her cocktails brought all the boys to the bar, so I was confident she wouldn’t be able to eavesdrop.
“Was I imagining it, or were you avoiding him all evening?”
She sighed. “It’s complicated.” There was a lot of that going around tonight. “I like Eilif, but I kind of like someone else too and I don’t know if he’d be okay with that.” Guilt was written all over her face, but I couldn’t think why. It wasn’t like she’d actually started seeing Eilif yet.
“I’m getting the feeling there’s more to this that you aren’t telling me.”
“Yes. But I’m not sure now’s the time. I don’t want to have to drag my dad out of bed to come back and get me when you kick me out.” Was she serious?
“Unless Seth is secretly popping back from the Underworld and you’ve been seeing him behind my back, I can’t see that happening,” I said. “Who is it?”
“Raquel.” Didn’t see that one coming.
“Raquel as in The Oracle?” She nodded. “How the fuck did that happen?”
“She came to visit me a few weeks ago. Said she wanted to apologise. Explain her side of things. I told her to get out of course, but she seemed so genuinely sorry that I agreed to hear her out and somehow I found myself starting to kind of like her. Are you mad at me?”
“I… well, no, of course I’m not mad at you. Concerned for you, certainly. But its none of my business. You know what you’re doing.” She didn’t look too sure about that. “You do know what you’re doing, right?”
“I hope so. I know she meddled in all our lives, but I don’t think she had much choice really.
And something she said got me thinking… she said although she regrets what she had to do, she’d do it again in a heartbeat if it was to help her family.
And that I’d do the same if it was my family.
I was angry at first, told her I wouldn’t because my family would never forgive me if I did.
But that wasn’t true. I’d do anything to protect my dad. How he felt about it wouldn’t matter.”
“I suppose we all feel that way when it comes to protecting the people we love.”
“That’s not all though. She told me she was with me when I became a vampire.
Watched over me, got me through it without going on a rampage from the blood lust. I didn’t know enough about vampires at the time to know that transitioning as easily as I thought I had was unusual.
Dad knew, but he just assumed it was because of what I was, being the first born female vampire and part of the Prophecy. ”
“Are you sure she’s telling the truth, though? She’s not the most reliable person. Surely if she’d been there you’d remember.”
“She said she made me forget. And I believe her. I mean, think about it, Zara. I woke up from that ferry accident with a freshly drowned body conveniently lying next to me. And after draining it, I supposedly just went home and got on with my life. Raquel’s version makes a lot more sense, don’t you think? ” It was difficult to argue with that.
“So, I’m guessing you’ve seen her more than just that one time if you’ve developed feelings for her. Does she feel the same?”
“I’ve met her three times now. And that’s the question I keep asking myself.
She told me she wants a life of her own, one without fate and prophecy dictating everything she does.
To be able to wear her own face as she put it and have friends.
But I really don’t know if she sees me as more than that. ”
“Maybe you should ask her then, before you burn your bridges with Eilif.”
“We need more wine.” Neither of us had noticed that the music had finally stopped until Tilly came bounding into the kitchen brandishing an empty wine bottle. “Are you two coming back to the Karaoke party or are you going to sit out here being unsociable?”
“Unsociable,” we both said at the same time, then giggled. “But more wine sounds good,” I added, “and maybe some more cake.”