The knock on the door came as a start, wakening Briony from the beginnings of a sleep she hadn’t known she had been falling into. She winced at the sound.
“Go away.”
“Briony.” It was her great aunt. Of course it was. Who else would it be? No one else wanted her. Even Aunt Sophie only wanted her as her replacement. “Open the door please, dear.”
Briony opened the door anyway. Aunt Sophie was standing there with a tray containing a bowl of soup and some crackers.
“I’m not hungry,” Briony said.
Aunt Sophie raised an eyebrow. “Really? Well, I’ll just put it by the side of the bed in case you change your mind.” She put the soup down and then perched on the bed, patting the spot beside her. “Come and sit down, darling.”
Briony did as she was told, letting herself be swept up in her great aunt’s embrace. Aunt Sophie just held her like that for a long time, patting her cheek as she pulled back.
“It’s going to be all right, Briony. I know it hurts now, but it will be all right. I promise.”
“How would you know?” Briony demanded, and instantly felt contrite about doing so. “I’m sorry.”
“I know. Besides, I’m hardly going to get angry with you, am I? You’re all I have now.”
“I’m your ticket to retirement, you mean,” Briony said. “I know you don’t really want me around.”
“Oh, now you are making me just a little angry. You really think that’s how I feel?”
Briony nodded. “I mean, why would you want me around? You’re grieving for Uncle Pete, you have this place to run… I just get in the way and do stupid things like going on dates with vampires.”
Aunt Sophie brushed a strand of hair out of Briony’s eyes. “The only stupid thing you’ve done is to start talking like this, darling. You’re my great niece, and I love you a great deal. Yes, it has been difficult losing Peter, but having you around has been nothing but a joy.”
“Except for the car,” Briony put it.
“Oh, that wasn’t your fault. I only made you pay for it because I suspect I’m supposed to be teaching you responsibility. I was never much good at responsibility when I was your age. Now don’t change the subject.”
“Sorry.”
Aunt Sophie sighed. “Briony, the point is that you have nothing to be sorry for. You’re a wonderful young woman. You’ve been very brave since you got here, and no, I’m not talking about fighting monsters. I’m talking about the way you have dealt with things. You’ve lost so much, but you have still kept going. You have even found someone who cared about you, even if he does have one or two minor defects.”
“Defects like the fangs and blood drinking?” Briony asked. “Or defects like dumping me just when I was starting to think…”
“That you love him?” Briony nodded silently. Aunt Sophie shrugged. “I was mostly thinking of the first defects, dear. After all, I’m looking after you. I’m not meant to like any of the boys you bring home.” She paused. “He broke up with you, then?”
Briony nodded, curling up so that she could put her arms around her knees. “The worst part is that he says he’s doing it for my own good. Like this is good.”
“Yes,” Aunt Sophie said, “young men can be very stupid about that kind of thing sometimes. He probably hasn’t understood quite how much you love him.”
Briony looked at her great aunt. “Why aren’t you angry about that? I mean, he’s a vampire. You hate vampires.”
“I’m also old enough to know a thing or two about love, Briony.” Aunt Sophie stood. “It’s a tricky thing. It sneaks up on you. The more certain you are that it will never happen, the more it delights in proving you wrong. And of course, it has no sense whatsoever of how appropriate things might be. It just runs up, hits you, and leaves you to sort things out.” She smiled. “It can be wonderful like that.”
“But I shouldn’t even be in love with him,” Briony insisted. “There are so many problems, so many things that can go wrong. Maybe Fallon’s right, and his leaving is for the best. It doesn’t feel that way, though.”
Aunt Sophie nodded. “I know. It feels like someone has replaced your heart with a rock. I’m glad you have realized just how hard this could be though. I’m glad your young vampire has too. Take it from me, Briony, falling in love with a vampire is easy. Staying that way, on the other hand, is one of the hardest things you can choose to do. All relationships with a vampire end in unhappiness eventually. I would rather see you upset now, when you still have time to be happy again.”
Briony nodded, even though she didn’t really feel in that moment like things would ever be better. And although Aunt Sophie undoubtedly meant well, could she really understand what it was like?
Take it from me. Aunt Sophie had said almost as if… had Aunt Sophie once been in love with a vampire? No, she couldn’t have been. She simply couldn’t have been. Could she?
“Aunt Sophie-” Briony began, but her great aunt cut her off.
“I have things I should be getting to, darling, and I think you probably need to be on your own for a while. Please don’t doubt for another moment though that I love you dearly. Oh, and don’t let your soup get too cold. It never tastes very nice when that happens.”
She was out of the door with the last words, and Briony didn’t get the chance to finish her question. Somehow though, she suspected that there wouldn’t be much point in going after Aunt Sophie now. There were moments when you could ask the big things, and Briony suspected that the moment for this one had passed. The most she would get out of Aunt Sophie now was a denial.
It didn’t matter, because Briony suspected that she already knew the answer to her question. Knew it deep down, in her bones. At some point, Aunt Sophie had fallen in love with a vampire. And it hadn’t ended well.
Chapter 16
Briony did not question Aunt Sophie about her past. There didn’t seem to be much point, and in any case, she had to get to work at the diner. Briony thought about calling in and saying that she wasn’t feeling up to it, but then she would have to explain why, and coming up with an explanation that didn’t feature the words “my vampire boyfriend has dumped me” seemed like too much to bother with.
So instead, Briony spent her evening waiting on tables with a brisk efficiency and a forced smile that fooled nearly everyone, at least judging by the tips she received. At this rate, she would have the repairs to Aunt Sophie’s car paid off in no time, not that she had any intention of quitting once they were.
Kevin came in, taking his usual seat and ordering the same burger and fries that he had ordered before. Briony wasn’t in the mood to start a conversation from which he would just slip off, though, so she kept things professional, taking his order and making sure everybody else in the place was kept happy. After about five minutes, Jill the other waitress came up to her.
“Is everything ok?”
“Sure,” Briony lied.
“If you say so, though I know an ‘I’m going to keep working whatever’ smile when I see one. I’ve worn a few in my time.”
“I broke up with my boyfriend.”
“Oh, honey, that’s terrible.” Jill treated her to a quick, one armed hug, made awkward both by the presence of a diner full of customers and by the fact that she was holding a hot coffee pot in the other hand. “Still, there’s no shortage of potential replacements. The cute guy with the dark hair has been staring at you since he got in here.”
“He’s not interested in me that way,” Briony said.
“Isn’t he? Trust me, I’ve worked here long enough to know what I see.”
Briony looked around for Kevin, deciding that this was something that needed to be sorted out before it went any further. Predictably enough, he was gone. What was it with him and running off? Did he think it made him seem more mysterious? Or had he just finished his burger? That was the problem with all this supernatural stuff. You could let it take over your thinking to the point where everything seemed bizarre and outla
ndish, and then you would find yourself forgetting that sometimes people did things for perfectly ordinary reasons.
Though not, Briony suspected, in Kevin’s case.
Somehow she made it through her shift and back home to the Edge Inn. Home? When had it become home? Briony was too tired to think about it. Too tired to do much except finish her homework, watch a bit of TV with Aunt Sophie, and collapse into bed, asleep almost before she hit the pillow.
The next day brought more school, and with it, the stares of the other kids. Even Maisy and Steve looked at Briony for a long time as she arrived, though their expressions said that it was in sympathy rather than anything else. Maisy met Briony over by her locker.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “Only you look kind of upset.”
“I’m fine,” Briony lied. It was the kind of lie she was getting good at. After all, Maisy didn’t want her misery sloshing over her, not when she was so happy with Steve now.
“I don’t believe that for a minute. You are so not fine. Now come over and tell me and Steve all about it.”
Maisy took a grip on Briony’s arm that said quite clearly that she wasn’t taking any nonsense from her, and more or less dragged her friend over to where Steve waited for them.
“Hi, Briony.”
“Hi, Steve. Maisy, you can let go of my arm now.”
Maisy shook her head. “Not until you tell me what is wrong. It’s Fallon, isn’t it?”
“Why do you think that?” Briony put it as carefully as she could.
“Well, he hasn’t been in for a couple of days now.”
“Maybe he’s been sick,” Briony suggested.
“Yeah, right. Now, are you going to tell me what happened? Did you guys fight or something?”
Briony found herself thinking back to the car. To the sight of Fallon’s fangs glistening in the darkness.
“Or something. And then he broke up with me.”
“That’s terrible!”
Briony nodded. She knew that already. Knew it better than anyone. The three of them stood in uncomfortable silence for a few seconds.
“Look, Briony,” Maisy said, “you know we like Fallon, he’s a cool guy and everything, but he isn’t the only boy out there.”
Hadn’t she had this conversation with Jill just the other night? It seemed strange to be getting the same advice from both her and Maisy, especially since as far as Briony could see, they were both wrong.
“He was the only one interested in me.”
“Of course he isn’t,” Steve said. “Practically every boy in school would want a chance to… ow, Maisy!”
“Sorry, my elbow slipped.”
“I said “practically”. I didn’t mean me.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Maisy said, and grinned at Briony. “Steve has a point though. All the boys at school like you. It is one of the reasons Pepper hates you so much. In her world, they should all be lusting after her.”
That was enough to make Briony smile in return, but she shook her head. “I think I am giving up on dating. It’s not like I have time for it. I’m too busy working, most of the time.”
Maisy rolled her eyes. “Oh come on! What kind of teenager are you? You’ve got to have at least some fun, you know.”
Briony wasn’t sure how that applied to her life, given everything else going on in it, but she promised that she would at least try. Mostly, she promised it so that Maisy wouldn’t try anything silly like trying to set her up with someone. With a bit of effort, Briony managed to get through the day, and headed off to work as usual.
Kevin was there already when she showed up, and Briony felt her eyebrows rise as she passed his table.
“Two days in a row? That must be some kind of record for you.”
“What can I say? I like the company here.”
“Do you? It’s not like you exactly stick about for it.”
Kevin looked thoughtful for a moment. “Then maybe I should.”
“I will believe that when I see it. Do you want the usual?”
Kevin nodded, and Briony hurried off to the kitchen to give his order to Pete. He was still there when she got back, which was a start at least. He was even still there twenty minutes later, having eaten the burger. Shouldn’t he have run off by now?
In fact, Kevin stayed there for the next few hours, working his way through a succession of milkshakes as Briony kept up her service to the other customers. Whenever she looked over, his eyes were on her, and occasionally he would smile. It was almost disconcerting, having him sit there after the way he had just disappeared before.
Even George seemed to notice, asking Briony at one point if he was bothering her. Briony found herself shaking her head.
“No. He’s actually kind of cute, doing this.”
“Cute?” George gave her the look of someone who had never used the word before in his life. “If you say so. Just be careful. I mean, he’s older than you.”
“Only by two or three years.”
“That’s a long time, at your age.” George paused. “Oh, would you listen to me? I’m turning into my old man.”
Briony hugged him, which made George squirm uncomfortably. “And very grateful we all are too. I’ll be careful, I promise.”
“Sure you will. I’ll tell you what, take out the trash and you can leave a little early tonight.”
That struck Briony as a good deal, given that she took the trash out most nights anyway. She got the bags and hauled them out to the dumpster. By the time she got there, Kevin was leaning on it.
“You don’t want to do that,” Briony said. “You don’t know what’s in it.”
“The same stuff that’s in that bag, probably.”
Briony winced and threw the thing into the dumpster. “How did you know I’d be back here?”
“I heard your boss say it. Would you maybe like to go somewhere after this?”
Briony had been half expecting it. “Um… maybe.”
“There’s something I would like to show you.”
“Not the best line in the world,” Briony observed.
Kevin shook his head. “Not really. Please? I think you’ll like this, and you look like you could do with cheering up.”
He had seen through the false smile? Most of the customers didn’t look closely enough. For some reason, that made Briony feel happier than she had for most of the day. And Kevin had saved her life.
“Sure, I’ll come with you. Um… after I’ve washed my hands.”
It did not take long, and nor did the trip to the spot Kevin had in mind. They walked it, and as they did so, Briony found herself actually getting a feel for the town. Some towns needed to be walked around, it seemed. Their stroll ended at a small lake, built off to one side of the town square. Briony had passed it every day on her way to work, but had never really looked at it. There were ducks out on the water, along with the bigger shapes of swans.
“What are swans doing here?” Briony asked.
“It’s home for them. Here, you’ll see them better through these.” Kevin passed her a small pair of binoculars. Obviously he had planned ahead. Through the binoculars, the swans were beautiful. They glided together in pairs, seeming almost to dance across the surface of the water. “They mate for life, you know.”
“Really? I thought that was just something people said.”
Kevin shook his head. “They mate for life, and wherever they find a mate, that’s home. I guess for these swans, their hearts lie in Wicked.”
Briony smiled at that. It was romantic, in a way. “How do you know all this, anyway?”
“I was going to become a veterinarian,” Kevin said. “Hey, don’t laugh. I was. At least until I showed up here with my brother.”
“So what changed?” Briony asked.
“Everything. It all seems like a long time ago now, even though it’s just a couple of months.”
“I know what you mean,” Briony said.
“I know you do.” Kevin paused, staring out at
the swans. “Briony, do you believe in destiny?”
Briony thought about it, and then nodded. “My great aunt tells me that it’s my destiny to be here.”
“She sounds like a wise woman. I don’t. Or I didn’t. Now though… oh, I’m not doing this right.”
He kissed her then. It wasn’t like the way Fallon had kissed her. There was nothing tentative about it. It was hard, passionate, and extremely good. It was all Briony could do to keep from melting under the intensity of it. When Kevin pulled back, she found herself gasping for breath.
“Meeting you felt like it was meant to happen, Briony. Like we were meant to… I’m getting this wrong again, aren’t-”
Briony silenced him with a kiss of her own. She understood it. She didn’t need the words. She could feel the attraction just as strongly as he did, and right then it was just enough to feel his arms around her, his lips on hers.
Chapter 17
It took Briony a few seconds to recognize the sound of her phone when it came, she was that caught up in the moment. Briefly, she considered ignoring it, but the ringing continued, and Briony knew she had to answer. After all, there weren’t that many people who had her number, and Briony knew that most of them wouldn’t call without a good reason.
It was Aunt Sophie. When Briony answered, her voice sounded tense.
“I need you to come back to the Inn, Briony. Something has happened.”
“What?”
“Preservation Society business. Come back at once.”
Briony hung up and then turned to Kevin. “I have to go. It is kind of urgent. Though maybe… would you like to help out? It sounds like an extra hunter could come in useful.”
Kevin shook his head. “I am not sure that they would appreciate me just showing up. If you need extra help, I’ll be around.” Kevin kissed Briony again before they parted, cupping her face in his hand and looking earnestly into her eyes, “I’ll definitely be around.”
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