It’s Complicated
It’s Complicated
Wasn’t it some kind of teenage girl fantasy to have two guys fighting over who got to protect you? Because this chick wasn’t digging all the toxic masculinity and alpha pheromones in the room.
My wily old fox of a grandmother sat at an all-wood dining table, short white hair framing a beautifully aged face of seventy-five years. The frail-looking granny had seen more action than Vin Diesel. But at home, Grams was far from the perfect embodiment of a seventy-plus-year-old mother of three.
She wore all black, a cinched vest, and boots that reached her knees.
Her look screamed vixen of the night, and it was everything I loved about her.
She didn’t cater her clothes to fit someone else’s expectations of a grandmother.
Only in public did she bother to pretend so we didn’t draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves.
Our normal society disguise, if you will.
Strapped to her back was her favorite weapon, a spiked bat.
It never made sense to me why she chose it over all the others.
It was a short-range weapon that barely worked for lopping off the heads of her enemies.
But for some reason, she’d gone full Negan and even named her bat Lucy.
As in, I Love Lucy. As in, Grams, Lucy is the one person you shouldn’t name a bat after because she was the golden girl of progressive female comedy.
But Grams was a huge fan of The Walking Dead and thought it was hilarious that Negan named his bat something similar to what she’d named hers all those years ago.
Ironically, Grams was the first Negan, and I didn’t even know how to properly deal with that information.
But no, not even I was courageous enough to mention any of it out loud to a woman who’d been the frontrunning Hunter in the entire organization at the brilliant age of twenty.
I never really knew my mother or father, who died on a mission when I was only two.
Grams never went into much detail where they were concerned.
I didn’t bother asking anymore. She had two other sons, who were also Hunters, and their visits were infrequent and brief.
The life of a Hunter was pretty much solitary aside from your partner.
Most Hunters married other Hunters and teamed up for that very reason.
Sure, we worked with others, but it never went on for very long.
Most missions we did with others went quickly, then we went our separate ways.
Depressing, I know. Not really the typical teenage angst, but I was dealing.
“Nigel,” Grams said, voice clipped, “I know you feel some kind of way about Phillip coming here, but I told you from the start she was bound to be assigned a partner at some stage.”
Nigel’s eyes dropped out of sight, and his jaw clenched for the umpteenth time that evening. “So what, I’m out now?”
“Not out. You just need to take a few steps back and let Vivienne get to know her partner.”
Grams didn’t pull any punches, and she certainly didn’t cater to people she loved. Not me, not her sons, not Nigel. When it came to our job, Grams was a real hard-ass.
“We’re…”
I set my eyes on him, not ready to announce our relationship. “What he means to say is that I’ve only just met Phillip, and it’s a bit rattling for me to go cold turkey on my partnership with Nigel.”
“It was never meant to be a partnership,” Grams retorted, sobering the conversation in one sentence.
Phillip stayed where he was, leaned up at the far wall with not a care in the damn world. His dark combat boots were crossed over and several long stakes were still strapped to his thighs as he focused on his phone screen beaming up at him. Like nothing we said had anything to do with him.
I stole a glance at the Austrian, only for his bewitching smile to take out my lungs a second later.
That much charm in one person should be against the laws of nature. Sadly for me, he managed to collect it all in a single glance and wink—which was evidence enough of a life of playing with people’s hearts.
Nigel cleared his throat, adjusting his t-shirt with a stolen look my direction. “I don’t like it.”
“For what reason?” Grams posed calmly. “You told me the reason you even did it in the first place was to repay my kindness. Something I never asked for, I’ll remind you. So what changed?”
His jaw strained against my grandmother’s pointed stare. And when her eyes settled on me, it was clear she knew something was up. I wasn’t forbidden from being in a relationship, but Grams made it clear I shouldn’t be in one until I was a fully trained Hunter.
“We—” he started, clearly about to say something damning.
I cut in sharply. “Is there any rule against dating between Hunters and Shifters? You’ve never mentioned Shifters before Nigel, so how are there rules?”
Phillip’s eyes caught mine for a second before his secret smile gave him away. The bastard was enjoying this. Now I was almost confident the dude wanted to sow trouble.
“It’s not a good idea, no,” Grams answered after a second’s pause.
“I won’t forbid something if you really want it, but V…
” her eyes found mine, and the sadness dwelling in them shut down my anger, “there are reasons Shifters and Hunters never truly collaborated. I can’t go into the details.
While there aren’t really any rules against friendship, there are reasons we don’t… mate with them.”
Mate? Did my Grams just say mate?!
Despite my face saying it all, the pitch of my voice would’ve totally given me away. “I haven’t! I mean…we’re not…”
Not that it was anyone’s business, but Nigel hadn’t even kissed me. The dude barely hugged me, claiming I was underaged and it was better if we didn’t do anything that could get me in trouble with Grams. Staring at him half naked on missions was practically sex to me these days.
It wasn’t something I was used to, craving someone. But over the last few months, I’d say it was a feeling that grew like a cancer on a sound mind. Now, it was all I could think about.
Damn hormones.
Maybe that was the entire reason I drooled over some bad boy vampire hunter; Nigel was too careful and considerate, and I didn’t want to push harder than necessary.
I didn’t blame him.
Any girl would be lucky to call him hers.
It was amazing to have someone genuinely respect you, and I wanted to be considerate of what he wanted to do.
I told myself over and over it was for the best we didn’t do anything.
But, if I were truly honest with myself, I needed someone who took charge and claimed me as theirs.
Too long I’d done exactly what was expected of me. Too long I was bound by an oath I never voluntarily took. I just wanted someone to help me break the rules every once in a while.
Shit. I was the actual worst. Wasn’t that the complete opposite of women empowerment? I was a walking, talking contradiction. Some badass huntress who didn’t need no man I was turning out to be.
Nigel crossed his arms and glanced at Phillip, disdain deepening the lines of his face. “Rose—”
“You promised me,” she started softly, eyes on Nigel. “I can’t say why, Nigel, but there were reasons I made you promise me that one thing specifically.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed, and I watched the two of them in perplexity before Nigel nodded and left the room. The door at the front of the house creaked and then slammed shut. My shoulders unintentionally reacted to how angry the sound felt in the air even minutes after he’d left.
Phillip sighed and pushed off the wall. “Now that we’ve handled that, I need a list of known families in the area.” The way he called Nigel “that” sat in my throat like liquid fire. “Someone knows why we’re seeing a sudden surge in this area, and they know V well enough to follow her every move.”
I was lost to my silent disdain for the Austrian and his dismissive attitude towards Nigel before what he said registered all the way. “What?”
Phillip’s light eyes rose. “My guess is someone posing as a classmate is responsible for tracking your whereabouts. They would have the most access to you during the day. Probably someone close, a friend or bully.”
“Hey now, I don’t get bullied.” I looked over my shoulder, staring at the hallway Nigel left through, and sighed.
My entire life had been mapped out for me.
It wasn’t new that I couldn’t have something other teens got to have even when they didn’t want it.
But this was the first time someone else was caught in the crossfire.
Still, to do what I do, sacrifice was a necessary evil.
And by the looks of it, I wouldn’t be given a choice.
Not that I ever was.
“Why would you think it’s someone at school?” I asked, distracting my mind with the present conversation.
The Austrian’s smile said he thought I was adorable, and nothing rubbed me worse than feeling like a child in someone’s eyes. “Has anyone in the last few months gotten close or struck up a friendship with you?”
Confused, I carded through my memories, but I barely paid attention to the people around me that weren’t Nigel or Kate. And when he graduated, I mostly spent time with Kate. I refused to villainize my only friend, so I thought through who I shared the most classes with at school.
“Daxon,” I said softly.
Phillip went quiet, his eyes searching my face. “The blonde-haired, fast-talking gym junkie in my class?”
“Well, he’s in all of my classes.”
Phillip stood straighter and let his gaze wander my body for an uncomfortably long second. “And you never thought to question that? What are the odds of having the same kid in every one of your classes?”
Well, somebody’s sporting a seriously beefed-up God complex tonight.
Affronted, I glared at him. “If I did that, I’d question everyone. I don’t go anywhere else. I’m not worldly like you, Phil.”
Grams cleared her throat, standing. “Vivienne.”
I swallowed my sass and smiled. “Guess we should start with him and move on if we don’t find anything.”