Idris

A WEEK LATER…

“Can you act human?” Celia asked me, turning in the passenger seat of the car to face me.

I raised my eyebrows. “In what way?”

She gestured to me with a hand flung up and down my body. “Less, vampire-like?”

I blinked at her. “I’m not sure how to do that.”

She blew out a breath. “I want you there with me, I do, but there is no way Monica isn’t going to think something is up as soon as all that is Idris Gregorie steps foot into her apartment.”

“I can be inconspicuous,” I said.

She snorted.

We were heading back to Mission. This time we could go the easy way—in a car—because for once nothing was chasing us and wanting us dead. In the week since Celia had been revived, the Quellen had all but pulled out of Mission to seek blood and money elsewhere. We’d picked off most of the Valarian army that still lurked, and some had even defected to join our ranks. Keno was good and dead, as we’d found his charred body the next day.

I believed Celia when she said she loved me. I believed her when she said she was happy with her life at the mansion. But that didn’t stop me from being very anxious over returning to Mission. What if she realized she liked her life better there? What if she changed her mind?

I had expressed this all to Athan, and had expected him to roll his eyes at me or tell me I was being stupid, but instead he’d gripped my shoulder tightly and told me to trust her, to trust in what she and I had. I was trying very very hard to listen to my older brother.

Celia sat beside me in one of our black sedans as I drove into Mission. We didn’t keep expensive cars, as they aroused suspicion when we use them in Mission. This was some Japanese model, and it did the job. I didn’t really care about cars, and didn’t like to drive much anyway.

She was watching my face, but I kept my eyes on the road.

“I’m sorry. I realize you can’t be less vampire-like.”

“I understand that it might be preferable to you to have a human boyfriend who you could live with in Mission, but that is not preferable to me, because then I wouldn’t have you.”

She smiled at that. “A human boyfriend is not preferable to me, because he wouldn’t be you.”

I reached over and gripped her hand. “I will behave.”

“I know you will. I appreciate you coming with me. I have to have some closure. Let Charlie and Monica know I’m okay. Turn in my resignation at my job. I know it’s common in Mission to disappear, but I don’t want to.”

“I’m happy to come with you.”

We left the Gregorie compound shortly after sunset and were in Mission City limits in less than two hours. I never liked the city. We chose Mission for the subway tunnels, not the depressed topside. The streets were quiet, only a few teenagers roaming around before curfew. I drove directly to Charlie’s apartment, where I parked along the curb. I helped Celia out, and she heaved a breath as she gazed up at the window to Charlie’s room before grabbing my hand and walking at my side into the building.

The stairs were sticky with…something…and the walls were covered in graffiti, but Celia assured me this was one of the safest apartment buildings in town. I made a note to talk to Athan about taking some money from our coffers to give to Charlie’s family. Maybe they could get out of Mission, afford better medical care for Charlie. We had a lot of money passed down through centuries in our clan, more than we could spend just about ever—as we had investments. Plus, the interest alone on the vast sum kept us comfortable. Yeah, I’d have to talk to Athan.

Celia knocked on the door, and Monica opened it with her cellphone pressed to her ear.

“Can’t take the extra shift, Charlie has a—” Her mouth dropped open, her eyes widened, and she stared at Celia like she was seeing a ghost. “Gotta go,” she muttered before letting the phone slip from her ear to clatter to the floor. “Oh, my God, Celia!” Her voice was a shriek that hurt my ears, but Celia launched herself into her friend’s arms.

I stayed back, trying to make myself smaller, which was nearly impossible in the small hallway. Monica was babbling. “Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick, and the police didn’t do jack and…” Her gaze cut to me suddenly, like she just noticed me standing there, and she stiffened. “Um…Jesus Christ, who’s the human boulder?”

Celia reached back, clasping my hand in hers. “This is Idris.”

Monica didn’t say a word, only gaped at me. I kept my mouth shut. My fangs descended more when I fed, but they were still larger than a human’s canines.

“Idris?” Monica whispered. Her eyes sliced to Celia. “What the hell is going on?”

“Can we come inside? I’ll explain. I’d like to see Charlie.”

“Sure. Tim’s working, so—” Again, her eyes cut to me, and I got the sense she wasn’t sure about having me in her home.

“Nice to meet you, Monica,” I spoke up. “Any friend like you who means a great deal to Celia means a great deal to me, too.”

She still didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, sure,” she said in a dazed voice, then stepped back to let us walk through the door.

Twenty minutes later I was on the couch next to Celia, and she was shoving something she called a “brownie” into her mouth, while she spent the entire time lying to Monica in a way I knew made her uncomfortable. “So yeah, he’s a friend from foster care and we reconnected. I’m sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for a bit, but I’m back now. Well, I’m back to say goodbye because I’m moving with him.”

“Moving where?” Monica looked suspicious. This human was not stupid or naïve.

“Um, Canada.”

“Canada?” she squeaked.

“Idris likes cold weather.”

Celia hated this, the lying. I could see it all over her face. Her hands were clenched in her lap, and as much as I hadn’t wanted her friend Monica to know the truth—the secret of our existence was important—I knew that Tendra had told her friend the truth.

So I didn’t want Celia to have to lie anymore. Which was why I opened my mouth, let my fangs show and said, “Celia is not telling the truth, at my request, but I can see she hates lying to you, and I don’t want her to have to. So the truth is that I’m a vampire, and she’s going to be my wife, and live with me in my clan’s compound.”

Monica’s face drained of color. Then she looked at Celia. “Sweetie, maybe we should talk in another room.”

Celia wasn’t even looking at her friend, she was glaring at me. “Seriously?”

“Seriously what?”

“I had this whole lie prepared. It took me forever to come up with it. I had to make sure it all made sense and checked out. Now you just blurt out the truth like that?”

“Little one, I can tell it pains you to lie to your friend.”

“Of course it does,” she snapped. “I hate lying. I wanted to throw up on the way here. I was worried out of my mind that I’d screw it up. And now you just go and tell her the truth anyway?” She smacked my arm, hard. “That’s rude, Idris.” She crossed her arms and pouted. “I could have just told her the truth from the beginning and saved myself a lot of stress. Ugh.”

She was cute when she was angry, which was why I lost the battle to stop my smile.

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t smile when I’m mad at you.”

“But you’re no longer the quiet Celia I first met.”

“Yeah, well, vampire assassins trying to murder me in my own home and being saved by another big, bad vampire who I then fell in love with has a way of changing a girl.”

A strangled sound came from across the room and we both looked to see Monica staring at us with a dumbfounded expression.

Celia looked contrite. “Okay, so I lied, and I’m sorry but these vampires are all secretive about the fact that they exist.”

Monica still didn’t say anything, her gaze ping-ponging between the two of us.

“So I can tell you the whole story if you want?” Celia asked tentatively.

Monica nodded and in a strained voiced said, “Th-that would be good.”

So Celia did, her hand in mine the whole time. She told her friend the truth while she held my hand. Monica didn’t believe it, but came around when I showed her my fangs and when I bit into Celia’s wrist.

By the time Celia was finished, Monica looked exhausted, but the color had returned to her cheeks. “I-I’m not sure what to say.”

“You won’t tell anyone, right?” Celia asked.

“Uh, no. First of all, because they’d throw me in a mental institution. And second of all, because I love you. Still, this is…a lot to process.”

“I know,” Celia said.

Just then a small voice drew our attention. “Cee Cee?”

Charlie stood in the opening of the hallway, wearing pajamas with spaceships on them, his feet bare.

“Honey,” Monica said, concern for her son etched in her face as she stood up. “I thought you were sleeping. You should be in bed.”

“I heard Cee Cee and her boyfriend,” he said.

Monica frowned. “What?”

“They came to see me and gave me my ocelot. He promised he’d take care of her.” The little boy frowned at me and lowered his voice in a way I knew he was going for stern. “Are you taking care of her?”

I smiled at him. “Of course, kid.”

“Is he, Cee Cee?”

The lamplight glittered off the tears gathering in the bottoms of her eyes. “Yes, sweetheart. He is.”

“How long are you staying? Would you play Minecraft with me?”

Celia turned to me, and I nodded. “Go.”

So she did. She spent the next hour playing a video game with Charlie while Monica and I watched. I found the game boring and tedious, but I enjoyed watching Charlie and Celia play it. When they finished, Celia sat and talked to Charlie. “Honey, I’m moving for good this time. I wanted to come back and visit so I could say goodbye to you and your mom.”

Charlie’s gaze shifted from Celia to me and then back to Celia. “Will you be with him?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ll be safe.”

Celia smiled. “Yes, sweetheart. Now I need you to take care of yourself. And be good for your mom.”

Charlie nodded and swayed a bit from where he sat on the couch. I could tell this had taken a lot out of him, to get out of bed and play video games. Monica saw it, too, because she immediately rose. “Time to get you back in bed.”

The boy nodded and then looked at Celia with a wobbly lip. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too, baby. I’ll keep in touch, though, okay? I’ll call.”

He nodded, and after he wrapped his slender arms around her in a hug, he let himself be led down the hall by his mother. Celia watched him go, her hand at her mouth, and I pulled her to me to speak into her ear. “I will talk to Athan. We will make sure this family wants for nothing.”

She peered up at me, confused. “What?”

“A nicer place, best medical care. We’ll make it so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Celia, we are vampires. We have clan coffers that have been accumulating money for centuries.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll talk to Athan.”

She hadn’t shut her mouth by the time Monica came back into the room, looking exhausted herself.

Celia noticed, and said to her friend, “I think Idris and I should be going.”

Monica looked like she was going to protest, and then slumped her shoulders. “Yeah, I’m dead on my feet.”

“I can tell.” The two friends embraced, and Celia handed her the paperwork she’d printed out at the mansion. “Can you please give these to the hospital? My resignation. I hope they will forgive me that I couldn’t turn in a two weeks’ notice.”

Monica laughed at that. “Sure, I’ll tell them.”

“I’m sending a letter to my landlord so I think that’s all I need to do to wrap up…my life here.”

“And you’re happy?” Monica pressed.

Celia nodded. “I’ll miss you, but I have a family now. A sister! A family I never thought I’d have, and a house full of people. Well, some of them are vampires and some are human, but it’s still a full house.”

I waited by the door while Celia hugged her friend and said her tearful goodbyes. When we were on the way back down to her car, I gripped her hand. “You all right?”

She wiped the wet from her cheeks and nodded. “Yeah, I will be. I know she’s worried about me, but I know I’ll be okay. I worry about them.”

“And we will make sure they are taken care of,” I said.

She gave my hand a squeeze in response.

Once we were in the car, I started up the engine, but Celia placed a hand on my arm. “Thank you,” she said, eyes burning into mine. “Thank you for allowing me to be honest with Monica. For giving me that time with her and Charlie. That meant so much to me.”

“I’d give you all the time with them if it was possible,” I said. “I’d give you everything.”

She leaned in and her lips brushed the corner of my mouth. “I know. That’s why you’re mine. And I’m yours.”

“Let’s get home to our family, little one,” I said.

She beamed, a smile so bright it nearly burned me. “Yeah, our family.”

I put the car in gear, and we sped off back to our home.