Him.
Moaning again she pulled the pillow tighter over her head. The gesture was useless, it dimmed the pounding, but it did nothing to shut out the image of him that had been seared into her brain. She clearly recalled the story her mother had told her about the first time that she had seen her father, and how the world had seemed to disappear for a moment. Nausea twisted in Isabelle’s stomach. She didn’t want to be her mother and father. She only wanted a quiet, peaceful life, where she needed no one but herself to survive.
With another loud moan, she finally conceded defeat to the fact that she wasn’t going to get anymore sleep. Sighing angrily she threw the pillow aside and tossed off her sheet. She was getting way ahead of herself where he was concerned. Just because the world had seemed to disappear when she saw him didn’t mean that she had met her soul mate. All it meant was that she had finally encountered her first vampire, outside of her close knit family and friends, and it had shocked her. That was all. That was the only reason that things had been so strange last night.
However, no matter what she told herself, or how fervently she thought it, she couldn’t shake the image of him from her mind, or the strange feelings that he had provoked in her.
Thankfully, he would be gone today. Or hopefully, he already was. She had thought that notion would be pleasing; she was disgusted to realize it wasn’t.
“Isabelle!” her door burst open with a loud bang as it slammed forcefully against the wall.
She jumped in surprise, sighing wearily as her sisters burst into the room like a tsunami. She didn’t bother to turn and face Abby and Vicky as she swung her legs out of bed. She had never known privacy; she didn’t bother to try and have any now. She quickly gathered her clothes together as she moved toward her small half bath.
“What’s up?” she asked tiredly.
All she wanted was to wash her face, it would help her feel better, and wake her up. “What’s up?” they demanded following her to the doorway. “Don’t you know?” Abby charged.
No, she didn’t know what their new melodrama was, and at the moment she didn’t care. Isabelle shut the door on Abby and leaned against it. “Hurry up!” Vicky yelled.
Sighing tiredly she stood away from the door. She turned the cold water on and liberally began to splash her face, relishing in the feel of it as she slowly began to wake up. Feeling much better, she dressed quickly, pulled her thick hair into a ponytail, and opened the door to face her sisters. They were sitting on her bed, their hands clasped before them as they stared eagerly at her. Whatever they had to tell her had them nearly bursting at the seams.
She knew she was going to regret asking, Vicky and Abby could go on endlessly when something had them excited. Isabelle usually ended up with a headache from trying to follow their inane chatter by the time they were done, but ask she did. “Know what?”
“They’re staying here!” Vicky exclaimed. “We can’t get in the bathroom now! Let alone with two more people in the house!”
Isabelle blinked in confusion as she dropped her nightgown into the hamper. “Who is staying here?”
“Kathleen, and her kids!” they cried in miserable unison.
Isabelle swung toward them, her mouth dropping open. She had completely forgotten about Kathleen, Delia, and Jess in her own confusion, and self pity, last night. “What?” she nearly yelled.
“Yeah,” Abby said, nodding her golden head enthusiastically. “Kathleen starts a new job in two weeks, she thought it would be nice to stop by and surprise mom. They invited them to stay for the entire time!”
Isabelle felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head as her entire body went completely numb. “What about Jess’s boyfriend?” she croaked.
“He is so hot!” Vicky gushed, batting her eyes dreamily as she folded her hands under her chin. “Do you know he’s the one that told David what was going on with mom and dad? He’s over two hundred years old!”
Isabelle didn’t care about any of that. There was only one thing she did care about. “Is he staying here?” she managed to choke out.
“Yeah, he’s helping out with the new house right now!”
Isabelle’s eyes widened as her throat went dry and her heart jumped into her throat. There was no room in either house now, where would everyone stay? A cold chill of apprehension began to trickle through her as she gazed wildly around her room. There was more room at the other house. There was an extra bathroom, and if someone bunked up... Isabelle shut the thought down as panic began to constrict her chest.
“He’s going to be staying at the other house with Jess. She doesn’t go back to college for a few weeks. Maybe they’re soul mates like mom and dad! That’s so romantic!” Abby cried.
Isabelle felt as if she had been slammed in the gut with a fist as she struggled to catch her breath, and absorb everything that they were saying. He was staying here? With Jess? For two weeks? Her thoughts were a scattered mess, none of which were in the least bit romantic. Most of them were pure terror.
“I don’t think they are,” Vicky contradicted Abby. “They sure don’t act like mom and dad. I mean he didn’t even see Jess after he left with the stooges last night.”
“That’s true,” Abby said, biting thoughtfully on her bottom lip.
“Isabelle what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Vicky demanded.
Blinking herself out of her horrifying thoughts, she forced herself to focus on the identical faces before her. “Ah, nothing. How are they going to stay here? I mean, Kathleen is mom’s friend from school; she fainted when she saw her last night! They can’t possibly stay here! How can any of them possibly explain that none of them have aged in the past twenty five years?”
“Stefan took care of that. His powers are really strong since he’s so old!” Abby breathed reverently. “He’s made it so that whenever Kathleen, Jess, and Delia look at mom, dad, and the stooges, they see people that look like they’re in their forties.”
Isabelle gaped at them in surprise and horror. She could forge people’s memories, but only a moment or two of them, and it always left her tired and drained. She couldn’t begin to imagine the amount of power it would take in order to accomplish such a feat, it must be astronomical. “He can do that?” she breathed.
“Yeah, isn’t that awesome!? Can you imagine what else he must be able to do?”
No, she couldn’t, and she didn’t want too. She shuddered involuntarily as her sisters continued to prattle on about Jess’s boyfriend. “Isabelle.”
She jumped in surprise as her mom’s head appeared in the doorway. “Yeah?” she asked shakily.
Her mother frowned as she stepped fully into the doorway. “You okay?”
“Yes,” she lied.
Her mother’s gaze rapidly searched her face, but Isabelle forced herself to remain calm and serene, even though inside she was a seething mass of turmoil. “I see you’ve heard the news.”
“Yes.”
“It will only be for a little while, and Jess goes back to school in two weeks. Plus, the new house will be finished soon.”
Isabelle nodded numbly. “It’s okay mom.”
“Well, until the house is ready, I was wondering if um...” Isabelle’s cold chill became a frozen iceberg as a knot of fear formed in her stomach, and her terror from earlier blazed back to fierce life. If somebody shared a room, there would be more beds open at the other house, and Aiden was leaving soon for football practice, too soon. Please no, she begged silently. Please. “If you wouldn’t mind staying with the guys, and Jess?”
Isabelle’s shoulders slumped as her silent pleas went unanswered. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but Aiden leaves for college on Monday, and Ian leaves in a week and a half. In no time at all you’ll actually have more privacy over there.” At any other point in time, Isabelle would have jumped at the opportunity, but now the thought made her stomach cramp painfully. “It will also give you a chance to catch up with Jess. You two were close as childr
en,” her mom continued.
“Do you think they’re soul mates mom?” Abby asked excitedly, completely unaware of Isabelle’s silent terror.
Her mother smiled softly as she shook her head. “I don’t know honey, maybe.”
“That would be so awesome!” Abby gushed, ever the romantic at heart.
“So Isabelle, what do you say?” her mom asked, her violet blue eyes intent as she studied Isabelle hopefully.
Isabelle wanted to say no, she wanted to scream no, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her mother had been so sad after Ethan had told her he had run into Kathleen. The nostalgia, and pain in her mother’s voice when she’d spoken of her old friend, had torn at Isabelle’s heart. This was her mother’s chance to catch up with Kathleen, to spend some time with her friend, and to regain some of the time she had been forced to give up. That she had given up for all of them. Well, mostly for her father, but for them too. Her mother would do anything for her; Isabelle couldn’t refuse her this simple favor, no matter how unhappy it made her. It would only be for a couple of weeks, she could handle a couple of weeks. Nothing bad was going to come of it. She hoped.
“Sure mom, no problem.” She had to choke out the words past the painful lump in her throat.
Her mother beamed at her. “Thanks Isabelle, I owe you one.” More than one, Isabelle thought silently. “Why don’t you guys take some drinks down to the building site,” her mom suggested to the twins. They bounced eagerly off the bed and fled down the hall, bickering over which one of them would get to serve Stefan. “I think they have a crush on him.”
“Yeah,” Isabelle muttered absently. Her mind was already focused on how she was going to get through the next weeks.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah mom, I’m fine.”
“Do you need a hand moving your stuff?”
***
Two hours later Isabelle was greatly regretting the fact that she had turned down her mother’s offer of help, opting to recruit Abby and Vicky instead. They had done nothing but talk her ear off about Stefan, and how wonderful and amazing he was. She had a pounding headache, and she swore that if she heard his name one more time she was going to scream.
Not to mention, they were almost no help at all. She had only packed three bags, and two suitcases to take with her. She had already packed most of the things in her room in preparation for the move to her new home, so she had very left to take with her.
Ethan opened the screen door for her when they stepped onto the porch. He took one of the suitcases from her as he glanced amusedly back at the twins. They were each carrying one small backpack, while she had both of her suitcases, and a bag. “Taking a break?” she asked irritably.
He flashed a grin at her as he walked back into the house. “Damn right. It’s hot as hell out there. I can see you have a lot of help.”
Isabelle sighed wearily as she looked at the kitchen tile they had stepped onto. It was covered with dirt and footprints, making it hard to tell that the tile was actually a light blue instead of gray. The kitchen was pretty much clean, except for more dirty footprints on the blue tiling, but that was only because they didn’t use it often.
“Yeah,” she mumbled.
“Doug’s going to bunk with David, so you’ll have the basement to yourself. There’s a half bath down there.”
“I know,” she mumbled, well aware of the set up of the house.
He flashed another grin as they headed into the living room. She kept down her moan of disgust; it was painfully obvious that a bunch of bachelors lived here. There were two forest green couches that centered around the big screen TV on the far wall. Two green reclining chairs were set at an angle at the end of the couches; their worn footrests were still in the air. The coffee table in the center of the oval was made of dark wood, but the tarnish was faded and scratched, and there were at least a dozen water rings marring it. The screen in the corner had once been a bright white but dust and time had yellowed it, and the picture of a deer in a wild, color filled meadow, had faded. The bright reds, greens, browns, yellows, blues, and oranges were dulled and dingy.
The room was painted a light cream, but the walls were marred by dirt and fingers marks, and in desperate need of repainting. Dust coated the TV, and the light green curtains, making them appear darker. The windows were as smudged as the walls. The bookshelf, in between the two windows on the left hand wall, was cluttered with old paperbacks that had been tossed haphazardly onto it. All of them were covered with a fine layer of dust.
Wrinkling her nose, Isabelle studied the room with mild distaste, wondering how long it would take to clean everything. It would take at least a day to repaint it. “We’re only going to be here for a few weeks,” Ethan said.
“I know.”
He glanced at her over his shoulder as he strolled across the room. More footprints marred the old, dark green carpet. It was tattered and worn with age, torn straight to the floor in some places. “So don’t plan on redoing everything, and don’t go too crazy with the cleaning.”
She shot him a look as he grinned at her. He turned to head down the curving wooden staircase to the basement. Sometimes it was nice to have someone who knew her as well as Ethan did, at other times, he was a pain in her ass. “I wasn’t,” she muttered.
“Liar.”
“You’re going to have so much fun over here Issy!” Abby cried enthusiastically.
Isabelle rolled her eyes as she stepped into the basement that had been divided by a simple ply wood wall. They were standing in the laundry and weight room, both of which she knew were rarely used. Ethan led the way to the door in the simply assembled wall and threw it open. Isabelle stepped in, and groaned silently.
The room was large, and plain. The bed was queen size, with a small wood headboard, and no footboard, it was stripped completely bare to reveal the old, indented mattress. A TV sat on an aged, rickety looking metal stand, both of which were gray with dust. A small window was set in the far right wall, a shabby black curtain hung over it to block out the sun. The door to the half bath was ajar; Isabelle didn’t even want to know what it looked like. The entire room was cool and damp, and reeked of mildew.
“I am definitely cleaning this,” Isabelle said, dropping her suitcase on the dirty, dark cream carpet.
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Ethan muttered.
“Ugh, it smells in here,” Vicky complained, wrinkling her tiny nose.
Isabelle crossed to the small set of stairs on the left hand side and shoved the storm doors open. Clean summer air rushed into the room, and she inhaled its fresh scent gratefully. “Could you open that window for me!” she called over her shoulder.
Abby quickly threw the curtain back and pulled the tiny window down. She stuck her nose into it and inhaled deeply. “Just don’t get any ideas about the rest of the house,” Ethan told her. “You’re going to have a brand new one to decorate, and scrub, soon.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Isabelle said distractedly. Her mind was already trying to figure out where she was going to start.
Ethan groaned as he moved across the room. “Just don’t have the whole place reeking of flowers, or some other girly scent. We’re manly men here,” he muttered in disgust. Isabelle quirked her eyebrow chuckling softly as he scowled fiercely at her. She was trying hard not to grin as he shook his head and turned away. “Ah crap, we’re screwed. I’ll see you later.”
He fled swiftly up the storm doors, still muttering as he disappeared from sight. “Do you want us to help?” Vicky asked softly.
Isabelle groaned inwardly as she nodded. She may not want it, but she was going to need all the help that she could get.
***
Hours later, she had the walls scrubbed nearly white again, the rug vacuumed and washed, everything dusted, the bed neatly made, and the room smelling wonderfully of fresh air, and apple. She was a filthy mess, her hair hung in straggly wet strands around her face, and her clothes were dirty and sweaty as the
y clung to her. Vicky and Abby looked just as bad, fortunately they weren’t complaining any more, or rattling on about Stefan. Now, they just sat silently on the bed, too tired to move.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
They nodded as Isabelle gathered her clothes and headed out of the basement, and up the stairs. Making her way through the living room she went upstairs to the full bath, which was also in desperate need of a good cleaning. She forced herself not to groan as she took in the absolute mess. The sink was littered with small hairs; shaving cream was stuck in it and around the edges of it. Toothpaste and toothbrushes were scattered haphazardly around, and the soft yellow of the sink was nearly white from the toothpaste and shaving cream. The floor was filthy, she didn’t even want to look at the toilet, and the shower was mildewed.
She forced herself not to think about any of it as she took a quick shower, dressed, and left the room before she started to clean it now. It would be her first project tomorrow. She wondered if she could recruit Vicky and Abby again, but she figured they were too smart to fall for that again. They had only helped her today in the hope of seeing Stefan, but it was obvious that he was staying at the building site with everyone else. She wondered where Jess was, and if she would be willing to help. She was definitely going to need it.
She entered her new room again and threw her dirty clothes into the hamper. She would also gather everyone’s dirty laundry tomorrow and do that. While she was here, she was going to make sure that everyone had plenty of clean clothes, and a clean house. She turned her attention back to Vicky and Abby, who looked as if they hadn’t moved an inch.
“Would you guys want to help me tomorrow?”
They exchanged quick glances. “Well, we were going too ah...”
Destined (Vampire Awakenings) Page 4