Chapter 36
“What the hell?” Devon looks up from the couch, taking in the sight of us. Xavier and I are splattered with blood. Theo looks properly annoyed, and is being a tad overdramatic if you ask me.
“It’s not my blood,” I tell him. “I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”
“Come, brother,” Theo tells Xavier, eyes flitting to me for a moment. He says something in another language and I catch Devon’s gaze. He shrugs, letting me know he has no idea what is being said either. They go through the house and I hear the office door slam.
“What the hell?” Devon repeats. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I learned you can kill a vampire by ripping out its heart.”
“Oh. You didn’t know that?”
I shake my head and take my heels off. “No. I’m well versed in all other monsters but the Order kept us away from vamps, remember?”
“Yeah. Makes sense. And I probably know more than I should, having grown up with them.” Devon puts his phone down and gets up. “You have a chunk of something in your hair.”
“Ew.” I wrinkle my nose and go to reach for it then stop myself. I’ll be getting in the shower soon.
“This isn’t normal, you know,” Devon goes on. “Coming home covered in blood.”
I shrug. “It kinda is for me. Former hunter, remember?”
“Oh, right. Well, I don’t want to come home covered in blood.”
“Eventually, I think it’ll come with the territory,” I add, ruefully. Devon holds my gaze and I can feel what he wants to say. Just say it. Tell me being turned isn’t what you want.
But he doesn’t, so I go upstairs to shower.
Ryder’s face flashes before my eyes when I turn on the water.
Seeing him again gave me the initial shock as it always does, but now…
now I don’t really feel much at all. I do think he loved me in his own way, but he lied to me from day one when I very specifically asked him if me being a witch was going to be an issue for us to have a relationship.
Maybe he didn’t think it would matter as much. Maybe he really did believe his parents would be okay with it. Not happy, but okay. And maybe he thought he’d be able to have more courage than he was able to muster up.
I’m sad I wasted so much time on Ryder. I’m sad I thought all I deserved was someone who lied and kept me a secret.
But it’s all up from here, right? I shake my head at my own thoughts, not sure if this current life is actually an upgrade.
Though, watching Xavier defend me for the third time now makes me want his head between my thighs all over again.
I get out of the shower, dry off, and wrap the towel around my hair. Walking into my room naked, I didn’t expect to see Mabel sitting on my bed.
“Wow, you’re in great shape,” she praises, sitting up and looking me up and down. “Back in my human years, women weren’t supposed to have muscles but now abs are sexy. Funny how times change. Delicate was the goal back then.”
“I’m glad strong is in, though I suppose I wouldn’t have cared,” I say and quickly duck into the closet to grab a robe.
“How was your night?” Mabel asks when I come back into the room and sit next to her on my bed.
“Eventful.” I let out a sigh and pull the towel from my head, rubbing it over my hair a few more times. “Ran into my family and then learned you can kill a vampire by ripping out the heart.”
She wrinkles her nose. “Such a messy way to go.”
“It is.”
“How was seeing your family? The hunters, you mean, right?”
“Right.” I tuck my legs under the covers. “Honestly, it seems wrong to call them that, but I really do hope my brothers had no idea about, well, anything. From me being kidnapped to the deal the Order made with you all…it’s just a lot.”
“Yeah. It is.” Mabel leans back and moves to her side, looking at me. “You’re my best friend but you’re also my sister-in-law.” She smiles. “We’re family.”
“We are.” I smile back at her. “And I saw Ryder, that ex I told you about.”
“Ohhh, the loser who couldn’t stand up for love?”
“That would be the one.”
She wrinkles her nose. “He’s going to regret losing a good woman like you for the rest of his life.”
“I kinda feel sorry for him. It felt different this time, seeing him. I realize now that he never gave me what I deserved and he was a weak, pathetic liar from the start.”
“Any man who leads a woman on like that is a loser. I get that it’s hard to stand up for yourself sometimes. But getting someone else involved only to walk away and leave them shattered…I know the universe will punish him. I saw it in the tea leaves.”
“You drink tea?”
“No, but sometimes the blood in my teacups leaves a pattern, so I read it.”
“Oh,” I just say, loving Mabel even more when she has her little moments like this where she’s a little unhinged. “And I agree. When I look back with clarity, I see he really had nothing to offer me in terms of improving my life. He was cute, I’ll admit that.”
“If the best thing a man over thirty has to offer is his looks, he’s probably a broke loser who can’t provide for you.”
I laugh. “You need to write that down. That’s some solid advice.”
She laughs, too. “I haven’t dated of course, but I watch a lot. Observe. I was alive and then undead before social media. It’s been interesting watching the world change.”
“I can’t even imagine.”
“I’m lucky Zeke found me and I found him.”
She looks happy when she says it, but I can’t help but wonder if she was held spellbound by him so many times before she was turned if it’s just ingrained in her brain or not. “I will say, this new wave of men is gross. I believe the term is ‘soft men era’, and I am not a fan.”
“Me, neither. I want my rights and independence but I don’t want to be a mother instead of a lover.”
“Right?” Her blue eyes widen. “I don’t get it.
If a man is over forty and he doesn’t have his own place to live, run.
Men should be providers. You’re telling me, in the last couple of years he hasn’t been able to figure out a way to secure his own housing?
My mother would roll over in her grave if she knew I even gave a man like that a second thought. ”
I’m too tired to tell Mabel most people don’t grow up or marry into rich vampire families, but I see her point. And it’s okay to not want to be taken care of by a man nowadays, but it’s also fine if you still want to have a more old-fashioned role, as long as you’re safe and happy.
“The sun will be up in a couple of hours,” Mabel starts. “I want to enjoy the garden in the moonlight.”
“It’s quite peaceful out there at night. I’m exhausted.”
“I bet.” She pushes my wet hair back. “A man who chooses safety over a soul connection has just damned himself to a lifetime of loneliness and disappointment. Your ex will feel it. I just hope you can leave him in the past.”
“I think after tonight, I have,” I tell her honestly. “I used to imagine him coming back and telling me he’s sorry and he wants to try again, but now, I can really say that thought gives me the ick.”
“Good.” She smiles. “You’re a good person, Wren. Anyone who can’t see that doesn’t deserve you, and I don’t just mean some silly man-child.”
“Yeah,” I say, thinking about the Russos.
Mabel and I say goodnight and I lay down, scrolling through Instagram to try and clear my head.
I end up falling asleep only to have a vivid dream about a modest Cape-Cod style house in a normal looking neighborhood.
I see the dream unfold as if I’m watching it on a TV show.
I’ve never seen the actors before, but I know exactly who they are.
They’re my parents, and they’re very much alive.