Exposure: Bloodlust Series Book 1

by L. L. Ash

  “You’ll just have to deal with us emotional Devon women,” she said, trying to joke but she choked on tears instead.

  “And it is my honor. I hope to help where I can, all of you.”

  Aunt Cindy sniffled and nodded before waving us into the house. Clarence touched my shoulder, having me follow as he came up behind me.

  “You’re sleeping here, in your room, Addie,” Aunt Cindy said as she pointed down the hall after we’d gone up the stairs. “And you’re in the craft room, Clarence. I hope you don’t mind, but it’s an air bed.”

  “That is fine,” Clarence told her, but paused before entering the room. “But I actually thought it would be inappropriate for me to stay in the house with Addie. I have a friend that lives nearby that I’ll be staying with for the time being. But I’ll come here in the morning and leave only at night.”

  “Oh, sure, if that’s what you want. Beverly and I don’t mind, but we assumed you kids would keep your hands off each other while under the same roof as us.”

  He smiled.

  “That won’t be a problem. You needn’t worry about it.”

  She eyed him for a minute before nodding.

  “Ok well, be quiet, and I’m going to bed for another hour. I’ll hear shenanigans loud and clear since I sleep in the room between you.”

  With that Aunt Cindy went into her room, silently closing her door.

  Clarence took a couple steps back toward my room and I motioned for him to follow me in. Closing the door I whirled on him.

  “You’re not staying here? Why won’t you stay in the house?”

  He lowered his voice to a deep whisper.

  “With my diet and my sleeping needs, it’s important that I don’t stay here, Addie. I wish I could, but I can’t. I want to be here with you and this is the only way. It has nothing to do with you and your family. I have needs that we don’t want your family to catch wind of. I truly do have a friend here in Tucson. He’ll let me stay with him, and he’ll provide me with the...nourishment I need.”

  “Fine, I get it,” I sighed, plopping onto my bed. “I don’t like it, but I get it.”

  “Neither do I,” he sighed as well.

  “What do we do now?”

  “I thought I’d see that friend. You should get some more rest, maybe shower in a bathroom that meets your standards of cleanliness.”

  His smirk irked me and made my heart glow warm at the same time.

  “And I’m sure you could use some time this morning to spend with your mother on your own. I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

  I nodded.

  “I love you,” he said quietly, taking another step toward me to dip down and kiss me. “Stay strong, my Love. And try to sleep. Yes?”

  “Yeah, I’ll try,” I agree. “And I love you too.”

  He smiled warmly at me and kissed me again before backing out the door.

  “Rest.”

  “Go,” I said back and he chuckled quietly as he closed my bedroom door on the way out.

  Flopping back on my bed, I felt the familiar comfort of my childhood bed. We’d been in this townhome almost since the divorce, and had a lot of great memories here. Steeling myself, I had to consider just how Mom might look. Aunt Cindy sounded pretty positive that Mom would not recover. But there was always a chance that she could get better. Maybe all she needed was to see me and have me with her to start to improve again. Last time we’d fought the cancer together and we’d won.

  Feeling a little better about things, I kicked my sandals off and tucked myself into bed, falling asleep.

  “Hey, Addie, Sweetheart, your mom’s awake and asking to see you.”

  I jumped at the warm, sweet voice just above my face. Blinking rapidly, Aunt Cindy’s face came into view.

  “She’s awake?” I groaned, stretching.

  “And impatient to see you. So hurry!”

  I jumped up, ignoring the tightness in my bladder as I ran to Mom’s room.

  She was lying in her bed, back propped up on some pillows with drinks and cups surrounding her on every flat surface near the bed.

  “Addie!” she cried in a weak but happy voice.

  “Mom!” I threw myself gently at her, collapsing over her on the bed as I felt my mother’s touch for the first time in months.

  “It’s so good to see you Baby Girl!”

  “And I’m happy to see you too Mom, but why didn’t you tell me this was so serious? Aunt Cindy said the cancer is starting to spread again.”

  She shrugged.

  “I thought about bringing you home, but you seemed happy there with Clarence and Genie, so why would I drag you here to watch me deteriorate?”

  “C’mon, Mom. You’re not dying,” I said shakily, willing us both to believe my words.

  She gave me a gentle smile before motioning for another hug.

  Mom refused to talk about the cancer, illness or dying for the rest of the morning, and begged every ounce of information she could from me before Aunt Cindy knocked on the door.

  “You lucky lady, you’ve got a handsome boy wanting to see you,” she teased Mom.

  Mom grinned, her lips and cheeks pale but she still looked beautiful.

  “Well don’t leave my handsome caller waiting! Let him in!”

  Aunt Cindy moved aside and Clarence slipped between her and the doorframe, entering the room.

  “Wow,” Mom breathed quietly, “You’ve done well for yourself, Addie. Don’t you think, Cind?”

  Aunt Cindy nodded vigorously behind Clarence.

  The two women grinned at each other before Mom lifted her hand up and waited for Clarence to come in and take it.

  Of course, gentleman that he was, he understood the gesture. Taking her hand, he pressed a kiss to the top and took a knee at the side of the bed.

  “How do you feel, Missus Devon?”

  His guess at using Mom’s maiden name made her smile.

  “First of all, I’m Beverly, not Missus anything. And I’m doing as well as can be expected. I’m glad you could be here with Addie. I wanted to meet you so much before I...”

  I glared at Mom.

  She gave me an apologetic look before trying to push herself up on the bed. Aunt Cindy rushed forward, grabbing her arm and hauling her further up just as Clarence stood and took the other arm, helping.

  “Wow, you’re strong!” Mom smiled at him. “It normally takes Cindy 5 minutes to get me to sit up.”

  A gentle and sad laugh escaped her and I saw the sadness in Clarence’s eyes behind the charming smile he wore.

  “I am here to help. Just ask and I’ll do what I can.”

  “In that case, ease my mind and tell me about you. Addie has been so vague on the details and it’s been driving me nuts.”

  Clarence gave me a half smile before perching on the side of the bed next to me and told her, “I’m an open book. What would you like to know?”

  Mom licked her dry lips before spilling out a flood of questions.

  Clarence lied. He lied through his teeth, giving her a story about how his parents died a long time ago, when he was young and he lived with his older brother in Grayland. Mom looked at him like a rock star and absorbed every charming word that fell from his lips. Anger welled inside me, but I understood why he did it. Mom couldn’t know who he really was, but was he really such a good liar?

  About an hour later Mom was exhausted and we left her to rest while we went to the dining room.

  “Breakfast?” Aunt Cindy asked as she opened the fridge.

  “I’ll take care of breakfast,” I told her and shooed her. “You go have some time for yourself, Aunt Cindy. Enjoy your morning. I’ll take care of Mom.”

  She seemed dubious, but she nodded and announced she’d take a shower than go get breakfast at our favorite joint down the street.

  When she left, I turned on Clarence.

  “Why did you feed Mom that whole load of bull? Your parents didn’t die when you were a kid, and Mason’s not your big broth
er.”

  “I said what I had to,” he said patiently. “And it was all based in truth. We have to have a story, a HUMAN story, to tell. My parents did die a long time ago, Mason is my brother, by blood or not. And I did spend a lot of time in LA. I wasn’t born there but I do consider it home, My American home, anyway.”

  I pouted.

  “And why did you look at Mom like that? I’ve never seen a look of pity on your face before.”

  He sighed, fussing with the silverware Aunt Cindy had already lined on the table.

  When he didn’t answer I stopped my microwaving of turkey sausage links and turned to him.

  He looked uncomfortable at the table, and that alone made my skin crawl with discomfort.

  “What are you hiding, Clarence.”

  He tinkered with a fork for another minute before shaking his head.

  “I don’t think you’d wish to know. I’ll keep the information to myself until it’s time to reveal it.”

  I ground my molars together.

  “Tell me right now or I swear I’ll...”

  “Stake me?” he asked, meeting my eyes from his seat, no humor in them. “That seems to be your favorite threat.”

  “Probably cause it’s the only threat I can make against you,” I whined.

  The side of his mouth tipped into a half smile for a second before dipping into a frown again.

  “Is it about Mom?”

  He was still, then nodded hesitantly.

  “You need to tell me, Clee.”

  He chewed the inside of his mouth before heaving out a breath.

  “If you must know, I can smell the death on her.”

  My eyes sprung open in shock.

  “What do you mean?” I demanded.

  “Her blood. It smells rotten.”

  “That’s probably just from the Chemo...”

  He shook his head slowly.

  “And how would you freaking know?”

  “Because I’ve smelled death before. Many times.”

  The words were like a truck hitting my chest. Death? Could she smell like death?

  “And her heart,” he sighed. “Her heart is weak.”

  Tears of panic started falling down my cheeks.

  “But she seems fine. She’s pale but she looks like normal. Mom seems perfectly fine...”

  “There is a time, right before death,” he said quietly, “when the victim regains some strength and vigor as the systems die. A last boost of life if you will, to help them get their affairs in order and say goodbye to those they love.”

  “No...no...” I cried quietly, praying he was wrong.

  He sighed again and looked up at me.

  “I’m sorry, Addie. I wish I could tell you differently.”

  “It can’t be true...”

  He stood and came to me, wrapping his arms around me as I broke down and cried again, for the umteenth time in his embrace.

  “How much longer does she have?” I grimaced, not wanting to hear the answer.

  “Do you truly want to know?” he asked in a whisper in my ear, stroking my hair with his large hands.

  “I need to.”

  “Days, 3 or 4 at most.”

  I sobbed again, feeling like giving up on everything at this point.

  He held me tighter and just supported me until I’d cried myself into numbness.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The next couple of days went as the first. Dad sent me texts the first day to see how I was after I had told him I’d made it to Tucson, but that dwindled to nothing by day 3. Clarence stayed at my side for the most part, but he was reserved, speaking when spoken to and always being the gentleman. Aunt Cindy put on a happy face, but sadness lurked under her mask, her broken heart covered with quick laughs and busywork.

  Mom… Mom did ok the first couple days. I was able to ignore Clarence’s words at first, while she was doing ok, but by the 3rd day I noticed her strength waning, her color disappearing further and her energy dissolve. She slept most of the time, waking only to eat some broth, until day 4 when she didn’t wake much, and didn’t eat or drink.

  Aunt Cindy and I stuck like glue, Clarence being a shadow, only there when we needed him to do something. But at night when I cried myself to sleep, I missed his body wrapped around mine, his arms comforting me, reminding me that with him, I didn't need to be strong. But he was gone, drinking blood and sleeping in a freezer somewhere in town.

  Come sunrise on the 5th day, Mom’s breathing had become disturbingly shallow, and she hadn’t woken in almost 24 hours. Aunt Cindy called the doctor and they gave us the number to call when she passed. Aunt Cindy held that number in her hand on a small scrap of paper and stood there, sobbing uncontrollably as the reality finally sunk in. Mom was going to die. She was going to die and I would be alone. Aunt Cindy would have no one, and I would be alone, barely a legal adult, not graduated from high school with a vampire boyfriend that nobody but I knew the truth about.

  I needed her. I needed my mother. When Clarence arrived shortly after 7 o’clock, I grabbed his arm and rushed him into Mom’s bedroom. She took slow, strained breaths and her paler was ghostly.

  “You have to turn her,” I told Clarence, pointing at Mom. “You have to turn her, now, before she dies.”

  His eyes widened in shock and horror.

  “Addie, I can’t...”

  “Now! You have to! I need you to, Clarence! I need my mother and you’re the only one that can do it. Please, if you love me at all, you have to turn her!”

  His lips stuttered out unintelligible mumblings for a moment until I heard Mom inhale a big breath.

  “Addie?” her scratchy voice barely wafted through the room.

  I scrambled over to her, perching onto the side of the bed as she looked for me right in front of her face.

  “I’m here Mom,” I told her, clasping her cold hand in mine.

  It felt almost the same as Clarence’s, just not nearly as strong.

  “My baby,” she sighed, looking at me, but not really seeing me. “I love you, Honey. I always have and I always will. You were the sunshine in my life.”

  “No, Mom, stop talking like that,” I begged, panic seizing me again.

  “It’s time, Baby. You’ll do just fine without me. You know who you are, you know that I love you and I know you love me too.”

  “Of course I love you...”

  “Take care of yourself...” her voice dipped into a whisper. “Be everything you want, do everything you want. Live your life fully like I did. Be happy my Baby girl and don’t be afraid.”

  I was incapable of talking through my swollen throat and blurry, tear-drenched eyes.

  “I love you,” she said again quietly and slipped back into sleep.

  “Momma, Momma wake up!” I slapped at her hand.

  She refused to wake again, and I spun around, begging Clarence again.

  “Please Clarence, she’s dying! I need you to, you have to!”

  “What I am is worse than death, Addie,” he said quietly, his hands shaking with emotion almost as bad as mine.

  “But I would still have her!” I screamed.

  “I can’t Addie… She would hate being this… I can’t do that to another person. She loves you, but it’s her time...”

  I screamed again, letting go of Mom’s hand long enough to beat on his chest.

  “Do it! Turn her! If you love me then turn her!”

  “I can’t...” he said weakly, his eyes strangely dry while his entire face contorted with pain.

  “Then feed her your blood! DO SOMETHING!”

  “It wouldn’t work. She’s too far gone. Let her have peace.”

  I slapped at his face again then froze.

  The room was absolutely quiet. No more strained breaths or breezy exhales. I rushed back to Mom and took her hand again.

  “No no no no no no...” I begged, touching her face and her hand and her hair.

  She was gone.

  I sat there for a long ti
me, silent as I stared at my dead mother. Gone. Every birthday party, every girls night, every mom and daughter slumber party, every movie night with popcorn and that month’s hottest actor.

  It was all gone.

  She was gone.

  A big hand touched my shoulder gently but gave me no warmth.

  Rearing around I pulled back my hand and slapped him across the face as hard as I could.

  “Get out of here.” I growled at him, holding back my torrent of emotions ready to burst like a tsunami out of me. “Leave now, and I never want to see you again.”

  “Addie...”

  “NOW!” I screeched so loud my own ears were ringing.

  He took a step back then turned and was gone in less than a second.

  Falling to my knees, I found Mom’s hand again and pressed my forehead to it, then let the flood of emotions come.

  He wouldn’t save her, and now she was gone, taken so cruelly by rebellious, microscopic cells.

  I wasn’t sure how long it had been before Aunt Cindy returned from getting a few things at the grocery store, but eventually she found me at the side of the bed and started sobbing in the doorframe.

  That quick, our whole lives, changed and gone like the flick of a light switch.

  Mom had left a will. She didn’t have a lot in this world, but what she did have she left between the two of us, Me and Aunt Cindy.

  She left the townhome in Aunt Cindy’s care, but she left her car to me. Both being paid off thanks to efficient budgeting and her life insurance policy on the house. Upon her death the house was paid for in full and was given to her beneficiary. Aunt Cindy. She left no debt besides medical bills which were paid off with her life insurance, and besides the funeral, she didn’t make another expense, in life or in death.

  The funeral was nice, already arranged by Mom and Aunt Cindy. Evidently Mom had known in the last couple of months that she wouldn’t recover and had planned most of it herself. She had a plot in a green cemetery not too far away, and I visited her grave every day, watching as the dirt turned to sprouts of grass and was soon covered over.

  3 months. It’d been 3 months since Mom died. I was still in Tucson with Aunt Cindy, no longer needing a legal guardian but needing a mother figure. We both needed someone to cling to as we lost the most important person in our lives.