by Molly Harper
Joe and Janelyn definitely made some errors, but they were savvy enough to act like it was all part of the performance. And that was how Zeb Lavelle found his children, as he entered the meeting room.
Lanky and blond and utterly human, Zeb didn’t move with the authority of Alex or Gabriel or even Dick. But I could see the moment that it dawned on him that his children were given the big finale spot in the meeting. And the pride in his smile was enough that I had to blink away a strange warm moisture that seemed to be gathering in my eyes. He loved those kids. He didn’t care that their hobby was a little out of the ordinary or worry that they were making a spectacle of themselves in front of what passed for the Hollow’s upper echelons. He was just happy to see them, pleased that they were excelling at something. That same distant envy I’d felt for Jolene, finding that life outside the pack, pricked at my heart. The twins were very lucky to have this human father—I didn’t care what my parents or anyone else said.
If anything, Alex was just as proud of my cousins, leading the audience in enthusiastic applause that eventually spread out to the other students as well. All of them stood, wearing their little performance uniforms of black pants and a green Half-Moon Hollow Music Academy polo shirt. The ladies who lunched increased their clapping, because frankly, the kids were just adorable.
Alex said, “Ladies, if you have questions, please feel free to contact me at the school. Thank you for inviting us this evening. Students?”
The whole class bowed and the ladies gave them one last ovation. Dismissed, the twins launched themselves at their father, who somehow managed to catch them without hurting himself or their instruments.
I watched from the refreshment table as Alex distributed business cards to ladies who were suddenly very interested in his “Strings for adults” classes. (I tried to keep my sarcastic muttering on the inside, but it was a near thing.) Zeb sidled up to me, grinning as the kids hung off of his arms.
“Thanks for driving the monsters, Tylene. It’s made our schedules so much easier,” he said. “I know it’s a lot. Kids, go pack up your very expensive instruments.”
“I don’t mind,” I promised as the twins scampered off. “I’ve learned more than I ever expected to about fancy-schmancy music.”
“Yeah, don’t call it that around the kids,” he sighed. “They get irritated and they try to explain things with an ear-splitting amount of detail.”
“That sounds about right,” I said, laughing.
“How are things back on the compound?” he asked, studying me carefully. “Are you doing okay?”
“It’s the compound,” I told him, shrugging.
“Yeah, that doesn’t tell me a lot,” he said, patting my shoulder. “I don’t know what Jolene has told you, but I know what it’s like coming from a family that’s…I’m trying to find a nice way to say ‘weird as all hell’ but nothing comes to mind. But I’ve been there, and I get it.”
I remembered a story when I was a kid, something about Zeb’s mother hiring a hypnotist to get Zeb to dump Jolene at the altar. But it seemed like the wrong time to bring it up.
“If you ever need anything, you call me or Jolene, okay? Even if you think it’s silly or a bother, we won’t see it that way,” he promised.
I smiled at him, hoping that he couldn’t see how shiny my eyes were getting. “Thanks, Zeb.”
“Well, we better get these two home and fed,” Zeb said. “Ty, what time are your folks expecting you?”
Suddenly, Alex was at my side. “I can drive her home, Zeb.”
Despite being accustomed to vampire movements, Zeb seemed startled with how fast Alex appeared. “Um…is that okay?” Zeb glanced at me. “Is there something I should know…what is happening right now?”
“It’s fine,” I told my cousin-in-law as his eyebrows winged up to his hairline. “Alex and I are acquainted.”
“Is that what the young people are calling it now?” he asked, his eyes tracking between us.
“I’m very safe with Alex, I promise. He’ll probably have to drop me off a half-mile from the gate, but I’ll be safe.”
“I don’t love that,” Zeb muttered.
“I don’t either,” Alex told him. “But Ty promises me that it’s better that way.”
“Just so you know, I’ll be calling Jane to ask her to run a background check on you,” Zeb said, shaking his hand. “It’s nothing personal, you would understand if you’d been around the last couple of years – with all of the various serial killer types and general mischief makers we’ve dealt with. And Ty is family, so it’s even more important.”
“You trust Alex with your children,” I noted.
“Dick and Jane already ran a background check on me,” Alex said. “Well, they ran two. One when I moved into town and then another much deeper check, when Dick found out I was seeing Ty.”
“He what?” I gasped.
Alex put his arm around me. “I respect his protective nature, especially when it comes to you.”
“This is all pretty normal procedure for Dick,” Zeb assured me.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard the stories,” I muttered. “Getaway cars, incorrect German speeches.”
“That one time he helped Cal give Ben Overby an illegal lie detector test,” Zeb added. “He was dating Gigi at the time. And he was human. In his current state, the test would be pretty ineffective.”
“Dad! It’s time to go!” Janelyn called, snapping Zeb out of his thoughts.
He turned to me. “Text Jolene when you get home, okay?”
“I will,” I promised. “Night, kids.”
The twins hugged me around the waist. Then they gave Alex high fives and ran out the door.
I patted Zeb’s back. “Good luck with your assault on the Burger Shed.”
“This is going to be so expensive,” Zeb grumbled.
The twins were the last to be taken home by their parents. Somehow, we waded through the crowd of Junior Leaguers, some of whom were giving me hard stares. Alex’s hand at the small of my back seemed to make a statement. The fancy ladies didn’t like what he was saying.
Alex led me outside to his sedate black SUV with Half-Moon Hollow Music Academy written in vinyl on the doors. It seemed like such a dad car, but I guessed it made sense. He spent so much energy and time on his students.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, loading bags of extra instruments and equipment through the back hatch.
“I don’t know, it’s just a shame that you won’t have kids of your own. You’re so good with them,” I said. “Unless, you don’t want them, which is also a valid choice. This sentence is not turning out as planned. I want you to have whatever you want.”
“Well, it’s not so much a choice, but a biological impossibility,” he said. “And as much as I enjoy working with my students, I think I’m better off as a ‘role model’ instead of a father. You’re also very good with children. Do you want little werewolves running around?”
“I kind of like the ‘fun Cousin Ty’ thing. I’m there for the holidays and the concerts and the special stuff and then I can just hand them back to Jolene and Zeb before the uncomfortable parent-teacher conferences and the discussions about student loan debt and puberty,” I said, shaking my head.
“You know, I’ve never heard parenthood described like that.”
I snorted. “I’ll bet.”
My phone screen showed a message from Zeb. “This is Janelyn, using Dad’s phone. Dad’s driving. He’s making me type everything out with punctuation and good spelling because he’s a teacher and text speak makes him sick to his stomach. Anyway, Joe left his math textbook in his locker at the music school. He was doing homework before we left. Dad asked if you can pick it up. We’re already on the other side of town.”
“Everything all right?” he asked, as I buckled the passenger seat belt.
“Do you mind if we go by the school? Joe left a book in his locker and it contained homework. The consequences could be dire.”
&n
bsp; “No problem,” he said. “I need to drop this off anyway. And it means I have more time in the car with you.”
“You’re gonna end up doing so many of their errands if they get wind of this,” I warned him.
We chatted about innocent nothings as we drove through town. It was nice to be so comfortable with him, compared to how nervous I’d been just a few weeks ago. We could almost be confused with a normal, human couple doing couple errands, instead of two creatures of the night, carrying bags full of expensive noisemakers. I liked this mundane normalcy. No tension. No watching every word and gesture. No fending off aunties.
Though I’d only been there a few times, even I could see that there was something “off” about the music building. Light from the streetlamp glittered against something on the pavement and the pristine pale surface of the building was scarred by red markings.
Beside me, Alex cursed in French under his breath. I didn’t speak French, but I knew the sound of heartfelt profanity when I heard it.
“What the?” I whispered as he slowed to a stop. I took in the hateful messages spray painted on the building in a careless hand. “LEAVE TOWN, VAMPIRE!” and “LEAVE OUR LOCAL GIRLS ALONE!” were among the kinder sentiments. The window had been smashed and the glass scattered all over the parking lot was catching the light.
“Oh, no.” My heart sank as we opened our doors.
Maybe this was what Lurlene knew? Maybe she had seen Alex when he visited the compound, then followed his scent to the school? My cousins had done this sort of thing before, petty vandalism and pointed spray paint messages, but never to someone outside of the werewolf community. What if she’d sent pack members here to harass Alex into breaking up with me? I inhaled deeply, trying to pick up on any familiar scents, but all I smelled was the dry, chemical scent of the paint. That was unusual, but not unheard of. My relatives knew that vampires’ senses were just as keen as ours, and they knew how to mask their scents.
Alex yanked the unlocked door open and rushed inside. I followed, my heart in my throat. He rattled the still-locked office door, sighing a bit in relief as I flipped on the lights. The studio was trashed. Mirror glass glittered on the floor, providing a sort of perverse frame for more choice phrases painted on the wall. Chairs and stands were thrown about the floor. It looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the acoustic panels.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
He shook his head and rubbed his hands on my arms.
“You think I haven’t dealt with something like this before? I had most of the spare instruments and equipment with me. This is just a little paint thinner and cleanup. And I’ve been meaning to upgrade the acoustic panels anyway.”
“What about your house?” I asked. “Jane took a report from another vampire in town a week or so ago. Iris something. Her windows were smashed and her porch was spray painted.”
He scoffed. “I’m sure it’s fine. No one knows where I live. I bought the place under a corporate shell. Besides, I have alarms that communicate to my phone if there’s any motion near my property lines.”
I nodded. “But not near your school?”
“I didn’t want to be driven nuts with the alarms going off every time a truck drove by.” He shrugged. “I work at the school. I sleep in my house. I see the error of my ways now.”
“This could get worse,” I told him. “If we keep spending time together. It could get a lot worse.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“I’m worried my family could have done this. They know the kids take classes here, and that you’re a vampire. They could be lashing out at whatever vampires they think are ‘influencing me,’” I gasped. “Oh, no. Jane’s shop!”
I pulled out my phone and dialed the number for Specialty Books.
“Why do you think Jane would be targeted?” he asked as the phone rang.
“My family really dislikes Jane. They blame her for Jolene being pulled away from the family and I’m sure they’ll blame her eventually if they figure out how far I’ve ‘gone astray.’ If they went after you, they’d go after Jane, too.”
Dick picked up on the third ring. “Dick! Are you all right? Is the shop okay? Where is Jane?”
“Slow down, Ty, slow down. What’s going on?”
I explained about the vandalism and the similarities to what happened at Iris’s house. After assuring me that the shop was un-burgled, Dick promised he and Jane were on their way over that moment, “with reinforcements.” I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded very official. I hung up the phone as Alex collected the laptop and some files from his office. I guessed he didn’t feel leaving them in the building was a good idea, given the smashed windows.
“Well, you saved me the step of calling authorities, so thank you,” he said. “We don’t know that it’s your family.”
“We don’t know that it’s not my family,” I replied. He paused and stared at me. “Yes, I heard the double negative, too!”
Alex stopped what he was doing, crossed the parking lot and kissed me hard. My knees went a little wobbly and I clutched at his tie. His hands slipped around my waist and pulled me tight against him.
“Take a breath,” he told me. I obeyed. “And another.”
“That’s playing dirty,” I murmured against his lips.
“Not as dirty as I could.” He waggled his brows. I gasped and he chuckled. “See? Now, you’re breathing normally.”
“So wrong,” I sighed, shaking my head. “I don’t know which is weirder, ‘persistently genteel’ you or ‘occasional subtle pervert’ you.”
“I think we both have our merits,” he informed me. “Now, does your family know anything about me, specifically?”
I paused. “No.
“Do they know Iris at all?” he asked as I shook my head.
“Maybe they saw her photo in the newspaper the other day, with Jolene involved in her big group hug on the front page. My mama pointed it out to me, maybe she showed it to them, too,” I said, pinching my nose. “Or maybe I’m just panicking. And I’m making it about me, which is wrong, given the situation. I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying you’re sorry. This is very clearly not your fault.” He rubbed my arms again. “It’s nothing I can’t fix. I’m unhurt. You’re unhurt, so everything’s fine.”
I grumbled as he hugged me close to him. A few minutes later, several vehicles arrived, and the parking lot was full of vampires. Jane and Dick jumped out of a black SUV and I threw myself at Jane.
“Oh, thank goodness.” I wrapped my arms around Jane and squeezed her tight. Behind her, two figures rushed toward Alex—men I didn’t recognize. One was dark and lithe where the other was broad and blond. However, both of them looked extremely irritated at the situation at hand.
“Not that I mind the public display of affection, but are you all right?” she asked.
“I’m fine, just unnerved by the whole thing,” I told her. “I still think it could be my family, but Alex thinks they don’t have a reason to hurt him or Iris. I tried to explain the crazy factor, but he’s not convinced.”
“It’s something to consider and we’ll keep an eye out,” Jane promised me. “But from what we saw at Iris’s house, well, not to be rude, but they didn’t leave a lot of evidence behind. No prints, no hair, not even strong smells. And unless your relatives spend a lot of time watching ID Discovery, I don’t think they’re capable of that level of forensic countermeasure.”
I nodded. “No, that’s fair. So where does that leave us?”
“It leaves me and Dick taking reports and handling this just like we would any other vandalism case. And you, take a deep breath and stop assuming the worst. That’s my job.”
“Just the idea that I could cause Alex this kind of trouble,” I said, shaking my head.
“Even if it was your family, you wouldn’t be causing anybody any trouble. It would be your family,” she said. “Don’t take that weight on yourself.”
�
�Fine.” I rolled my eyes and waved to all the extra vampires in the parking lot. “So, if you’re going to handle this like any other vandalism case, why did you need reinforcements?”
Jane waved over two dark-haired vampire ladies who looked a lot alike with their high foreheads and delicate jawlines. The younger of them looked familiar in that “we went to school together but weren’t friends” kind of way. I remembered her name was sort of fancy and French, and that she seemed nice. But she definitely ran with a more popular crowd than I did.
“This is Iris Scanlon-Calix and her sister, Gigi.”
Gigi. That was her name, Gigi. Like most important information, it arrived in my brain just a few seconds too late.
“Oh, it was your house that was vandalized,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
I took a cue from Alex’s book and didn’t reach for Iris or Gigi’s hands. What if they didn’t feel as friendly toward werewolves as Jane and Dick did? Gigi seemed to sense my reluctance and grabbed my hand, pumping up and down.
“Nice to meet you,” she said.
“The house is already cleaned up,” Iris said. “Cal called in some people who took care of it the next day. I know I had a strong reaction.”
“There were very specific threats made to the vandal’s person and property, should you ever find them,” Gigi observed placidly.
“I used the word ‘strong!’” Iris reminded her. “I know it’s kind of silly, considering the damage was fairly minimal, but I just feel so violated. They messed with my flower beds! Do you know how long it took Mom to cultivate those rose hybrids?”
“Years,” Gigi agreed. “But you still have some intact specimens. And Cal can’t worship the very ground you walk on if that ground is under a jail.”
“Damn your wisdom beyond your years,” Iris muttered.
Behind the bickering sisters, I could see the men who had rushed to Alex talking quietly with him. The tall blond stepped toward the building and started randomly touching objects, which seemed like a poor strategy in terms of investigation. Jane excused herself to go take pictures of the damages. Alex lifted his head and nodded to me, waving me over. Gigi and Iris looped their arms through mine and walked me over.