She shrugged like it was nothing. “Confront him, then. Tell him it’s either one way or the other.”
“He told me that he doesn’t ever want to be second to anyone,” I said.
She raised her eyebrows. “So he has already told you. See, what’s happening here is that he is telling you to make the choice. You have to tell him now.”
I rolled back over to stare at the ceiling again. “I’m waiting until Gavin is better so I can tell him first. I need to make it clear to Gavin that I have feelings for Drew.”
“Oh, I see.”
We both lay there in silence, staring at the ceiling. I decided to change the subject. “Alice?”
“Hmm?”
“When we found Oscar, he had all those bite marks.”
“Yeah.”
“How come I have never seen you with any bite marks? I know you gave Trevor your blood.”
She released a long sigh and closed her eyes as if she were blocking out a memory.
“Because they aren’t where you can see them.”
I must have given her a confused expression, because she suddenly flung back the purple comforter, and her eyes filled with sadness. She gently pulled up her shorts just enough to show me that her inner thighs were thick with the scars of vampire bites.
“Oh, Alice,” I breathed.
She let her shorts fall back down and covered up with the comforter again.
I decided that since I’d shared, Alice needed to share something, too. “Did you love my father?” I asked her.
She nodded. “I did. I don’t know what kind of love, but he was all I knew.”
I could understand that; I had all along. “How could you love someone who was so cruel?”
She shrugged. “I don’t really know. I think…” she thought a moment, “I think that it’s easy to love someone when they take care of you, give you everything you need, and give you such a grand home.” She smiled, and I saw her eyes sparkle. “Chloe, he was never horrible. Not to me.”
I just couldn’t believe that. I wanted to believe that he was horrible to her on a daily basis, but I knew that wasn’t true because, somehow, this psycho freak had made my mother love him enough to live with him and create a child with him.
“How could you have betrayed me like that, Alice? I understand you would do whatever Trevor asked of you, but he was going to kill me.”
“You think I never thought of that?” Her voice took on an edge. “Do you really think I had the power to defy him? I wouldn’t dare, not over something like what he had been planning for you. This plan of his had been in place since before you were born. I wasn’t about to go there. I never told him no. Why would I? He saved me.”
I guess I could understand that, but her betrayal was hard for me to swallow. I just couldn’t trust her.
After a pause, she finished by saying, “And I didn’t betray you; I betrayed Trevor. I realized what he was doing to you was wrong, and I was going to help you. I knew it would be the end of my life if he caught me, but I didn’t care.”
I pondered that for a moment. It was true.
We both lay back down to stare at the ceiling and feel sorry for ourselves.
Several days passed quickly. Oscar was situated with Drew in his room and the house had quickly become very crowded. It wasn’t a big house, by any means. It was more on the quaint and small side, so it was hard to get used to two extra people living with us. For me, especially, since I had just come from having a whole suite all to myself for almost a year.
We were sort of a silent and brooding bunch, keeping to ourselves. I still went to see Gavin twice more and hoped each time his mother wouldn't be there. The whole situation sucked, because I didn’t want to give Gavin the wrong idea about why I was coming to visit; I didn’t want him to think I didn’t care about him at all, either. I mean, he was shot trying to save Drew and me.
He finally came home the day before we were supposed to go to the meeting with the lawyer about Trevor’s will. I knew I wouldn’t see him until after he was up and around. That was probably a good thing. I really felt like Drew and I needed some more alone time.
But before the alone time, we had to go see the lawyer.
The day of the meeting, Luke sat us down to explain the situation.
Our living room was suddenly bursting with vampire hunters. Oscar was excluded because there was no reason for him to be involved in the plans. Alice was allowed, since she was the reason we were going in the first place, and we needed to protect her.
“The mission, this time,” Luke stood in front of the television, speaking to the group, “is to keep the peace…” He paused. “We have no targets, even though the destination is the Talon business building, downtown on First Street.”
A round of moans and mumbles made its way through the group.
I looked from Luke to Drew and around the group. No one looked happy.
“Why no targets, Luke?” Joe called out.
I was confused. “I don’t understand why you all look so upset?”
Luke leaned on the wall beside the television. “The Talon business building is a vampire-run establishment. Any particular business you can think of that a vampire would need is run from that building.”
“What? Are you serious?” I threw my hands in the air. “How come this hasn’t been taken care of yet?”
Drew put a hand on my shoulder in a pathetic attempt to calm me. “Hunting vampires is not always as simple as it may sound. We cannot simply stroll in there and annihilate the whole building.” He removed his hand. “We need to stay anonymous to some degree, and taking out an entire building that is smack in the middle of town is not discreet.”
“I just don’t understand. Why can’t we do that? Then it would be over, and we would have a few hundred less vampires to hunt than we do now.”
Joe stepped into the conversation. “If we take out the whole building, we would literally have a vampire versus hunter war on our hands. And I know it may look like there are a lot of us, but there aren’t nearly enough to fight a war with the undead. Besides, there is legal stuff to think about. If we blew the building up, it would be investigated. Part of what we do is to stay invisible. There are cops who are vampires, not to mention agents for the government, and crime investigators. We cannot risk the community.”
Drew nodded. “Which is why we take them a few at a time.”
I understood that part. No one wanted to risk the community. This was our home, children and babies were here, and no one would risk losing their children to the authorities. I could only imagine what would happen if the authorities were to come here and find the arsenals that were stored in the homes.
I nodded. “All right. But now we have to go in there. With all those vampires?”
I shuddered with thought of being so vulnerable.
“Yes, we have to go in,” Luke said. “Alice has to be at the will reading, and this is actually the perfect excuse for us to get a look inside that building.”
I sighed. It was going to be a long day.
We arrived at the Talon Building with an entire entourage of hunters surrounding Alice as if she were the President of the United States. The building stood tallest among the other buildings on the street. Unlike Trevor’s windowless house, this building was made purely of tinted glass, which reflected the lights of the busy city.
Our group, prepared for anything, entered through the large double doors of the building. From the outside, we looked like an ordinary group of people, but we wore weapons strapped onto every available spot on our bodies underneath our clothes. We were trained killers… well, most of us.
Of course Gavin wasn’t with us because he was still at home, but oddly enough, Christina came. It was probably because her father was on this mission. Other than that, the rest of the group were seasoned hunters. Drew, Luke, Sara Jane—who was the second grade teacher at school—Joe, and a couple others I didn’t know well made up our group.
As we strod
e across the grey marble floors of the lobby, toward the elevators, I felt like we should have had a soundtrack. It was right out of the movies. No one even looked our way. It was nighttime, but the lobby was bursting with activity like it was midday lunch hour at the mall.
We stopped in front of a bank of elevators, and Luke stepped up to the directory list beside the buttons and ran his finger down it.
“Here it is, Maxwell and Associates.” He pushed the up button for the elevator.
The rest of the names on the list made me want to laugh. Luke was right when he said every business a vampire would need was in this building. Aside from lawyers, there was also a psychiatrist's office, a bank, a real estate agency called Everlasting Realty, and a dental office called Deadly Smiles.
While we waited for the elevator, I turned to check out the people in the lobby. Most were dressed in business suits. Few wore any kind of casual wear like we did. Nearly every one of them had the pale white skin of vampires.
Oh, my god. Suddenly, the gravity of where we were—of the situation— hit me like a ton of bricks.
I glanced around to see how the rest of the group was dealing with this. Most of them had their backs to the elevator doors so that they could see the lobby.
I nudged Drew. “I still don’t understand how this is possible.”
He shook his head. “How do you think vampires have lived among us for so long? It’s because they look like people, but are far more powerful.”
The elevator doors whooshed open, and Drew shoved me forward so we could all smash into the small space. That was insane. I just couldn’t stomach the feeling. I couldn’t wrap my mind around how could we just waltz in there and feel safe doing it. Alice had better be feeling damned lucky she had us.
I felt bad after thinking that last bit. We were making her come here. She had said before that she didn’t want anything from Trevor.
I elbowed her and asked, “You okay?”
She met my eyes and nodded, but I could tell she was scared. She had lived around vampires for a long time, but she was protected because she was in Trevor’s home. This was definitely a different experience for her.
The elevator doors opened, and we all moved into a busy office with a cubicle farm taking up the floor space.
A pale, dark-haired woman sat behind a tall counter to our left. She smiled, her crimson red lips turning up at the corners.
“Hello, how may I help you this evening?” she asked while she cradled her telephone.
Luke stepped forward. “We have a meeting with Abraham Maxwell.”
“Oh, perfect. He is expecting you. Please follow me.” She stepped down from the platform and led us down a long hallway alongside the cubicles until we arrived at an office with glass walls sectioning it off from the rest of the space. She rapped on the door and peeked through the window.
I could see a man who looked about twenty-five sitting behind a large mahogany desk on the other side of the glass. He turned away from a computer screen, saw our large group outside his windows, and beckoned us in with a smile.
Miss Crimson Lips opened the door and held it for us.
Abraham Maxwell stood and gestured to the couches while we filed into his office. “Please, have a seat.”
I glared at him as I passed, but Luke smiled and nodded, extending his hand. “Thank you for having all of us.”
I really hoped this was going to be over soon. I didn’t feel comfortable being in an entire building full of vampires. With not much room to sit, I managed to squeeze onto a couch beside Alice and Sarah Jane. Drew remained standing beside the door.
Maxwell lowered himself back into his chair. “Won’t you sit?”
Drew shook his head. “I prefer to stand, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” Maxwell turned his attention back to Luke. “All right, I have summoned you here to commence the reading of Trevor Krasimir’s last will and testament. I have asked you here a bit early because I wish to explain to you that everyone who is listed in the will must be present for the reading.” He raised his eyebrows. “Therefore, we will be joined by others shortly.”
Oh, great. I could tell by the look on this guy’s face that I wasn’t going to like this at all. I peeked over at Drew. Boy, he looked mighty irritated at the whole situation.
The lawyer sat back in his chair and eyed Drew as well. “Being as you are here on vampire business matters, nothing more, I trust there will not be any problems from your hunters.”
The whole group stiffened and shifted simultaneously. These people had a gene in their blood that made them want to kill vampires; they couldn’t help it. I could see already how hard it was for them to sit here in an office across a desk from one and not put a bullet in his heart.
Luke said, “No problem from us as long as a truce remains with yours.”
Maxwell stood and stuck out his hand. “It’s a deal.”
Luke took the vampire’s cold hand. I could almost feel him cringe inside. “Deal.”
Deal, my ass! Ugh!
Just then, Miss Crimson Lips rapped on the window again.
“Come,” Maxwell called out.
The door opened and the one person I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing again entered.
"Vanessa," I mumbled.
She wore a floor-length, white fur coat, and her chocolate hair was piled up on top of her head in a huge mass of curls. I couldn’t see the expression in her eyes, because they were hidden behind a pair of large, black sunglasses that contrasted with her pale skin, making it seem even whiter than it was.
Freakin’ wonderful.
Maxwell stood up to greet her. “Nice to see you, Vanessa. Would you like a seat?”
I chuckled to myself while I watched Vanessa scan the room. We were taking up all the couches and chairs, so there was nowhere else to sit.
Ha! Take that, freaky psycho vamp.
My victory was short-lived. Miss Crimson Lips produced a chair from the other room and sat it off to the side of Maxwell’s desk, as far from us as she possibly could.
“There you are.” She offered the chair to Vanessa.
I was surprised Christina had kept her mouth shut the entire time. It probably had something to do with her father being there. Funny how people were totally different around their parents.
Maxwell shuffled a few papers on his desk. “We await one more, and then we can begin.”
One more… who else was coming?
Vanessa removed her sunglasses and peered at me with a smug look. “It’s so nice to see you, Chloe. May I inquire as to why you are here?”
Oh, the nerve. “Trevor was my father,” I responded. “Why wouldn’t I be here?”
She waved her perfectly manicured fingers through the air. “Oh, I don’t know, Trevor not really giving a damn about you wouldn’t have anything to do with it, now, would it?”
“Enough!” Maxwell snapped at Vanessa. “We are here to discuss the last will and testament, and that is all. Any other issues can be addressed elsewhere.”
Yay, Maxwell.
Once again, there was a rap on the door. After it opened, I was surprised to see Dahlia there. She was as beautiful as ever, her porcelain skin and pale hair making her look like a goddess of some kind. Only today, instead of interest, I saw anger when she laid eyes on me.
She quickly capped it and removed black leather gloves from her hands.
“Hello, Abraham. It is so nice to see you.”
It occurred to me this was the first time I had ever heard her speak. Her voice was delicate and beautiful, like the rest of her.
He took her hand and kissed the back of it, then led her to another chair that had been set beside Vanessa’s. “And it is even more so to have you here, Dahlia.”
She glanced at where Alice and I sat smashed together and gave us a nod.
I wanted this to be over. At least we were able to get on with the reading.
“Very well. Now that we are all here, we can co
mmence the reading.” Maxwell sat in his chair and pushed a button on his phone. “Margaret, would you please bring the television?”
“Right away, Mr. Maxwell,” she piped back through the intercom.
Not a minute later, there she was, rolling in a flat screen on a cart. She parked it off to the side where everyone would be able to see it.
“Trevor left us a video will. In support of the video, there is paperwork to accompany it.”
He stood and inserted a DVD into the disc drive underneath the television, then took his chair while Margaret dimmed the lights.
Suddenly, a face I never wanted to see again appeared before us. I shifted uncomfortably and gave Alice’s leg a squeeze before I stood. I couldn’t handle sitting and staring at his face, especially with Vanessa and Dahlia in the room.
While Trevor spoke, I moved to stand beside Drew. He silently moved behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I knew it was hard for him to make himself vulnerable by not having quick access to his guns.
I snuck a glance at Christina and saw her staring at us. Our eyes met, but she quickly looked away. I could see jealousy there, still. Somehow, I didn’t think she and I were ever going be friends.
“If you are watching this, then I no longer exist,” Trevor stated. His dark hair and eyes focused on the camera. “If you are sitting in this room, it means you were important to me in one way or another, and I have given you something of importance that I possessed during my existence.”
His face, his voice, everything about him made me shake. I hated him. Even though he was gone, I still hated him.
“Let’s begin with my estates. All of my homes, including the one in Greece, and everything in them, I bestow to Alice Matthews. Alice, you may do whatever you wish with the homes. I know I haven’t said in clear enough words what you meant to me. So maybe the wealth and importance of such a gift will show you just how much you meant to me. If I could have come close to loving anyone else but Felicia again, it would have been you.”
Alice burst into tears. I had thought we were past this, but I could understand how being able to see his face would be hard on her. Christina, of all people, got up from her space on the other couch and grabbed the box of tissues from Maxwell’s desk. She handed them to Alice with a slight nod and then went back to her spot.
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