by Alice Bello
~*~
After a long hot shower, Lucy changed into a pair of jeans and cute little pink tank top with lips drawn in red glitter across it. Taking a reinforcing breath she headed down stairs to have it out with her grandmother. She still couldn’t get over her grandmother being able to smell vampires and werewolves. And how does she know about vampires and werewolves, either?
Gram poured Lucy a cup of coffee and already had a plate filled with eggs, sausage, and fried potatoes. Lucy wasn’t going to eat it, but she really was starving, so she grudgingly sat down and took a few hasty bites, and washed them down with the coffee her grandmother had just handed her.
Then she started.
“How the hell can you smell vampires and werewolves? I was up close and personal with them and didn’t smell a thing.” Lucy’s grandmother took a breath, about to speak, but Lucy cut across her. “No, no! What I really want to know is how do you even know they exist?”
Gram stared her down, and Lucy could feel herself losing ground in the conversation fast.
“What I’d like to know, before I tell you anything, young lady, is why you were in their company in the first place?”
“Oh, um…” Lucy hadn’t thought up a good excuse for that yet. She gulped and then nervously took another sip of her coffee. What’s a good reason to be in the company of monsters? By the time she said, “I just ran into them last night,” her grandmother already had a look of total disbelief on her face.
“Okay, I knew the werewolf from before...” she hesitated, trying to think of a better, more benign excuse, but this wasn’t one of her back stabbing acolytes back in San Bernardino. This was her grandmother, who was the only person in her entire family who truly loved her. She couldn’t just lie to her. And Lucy was getting the distinct impression that her grandmother knew a hell of a lot more about this new and exciting world of monsters than she was letting on.
Lucy was in over her head, and since she knew nothing of these things before last night, she decided the truth would not only be the easiest path, but would yield the most gain. Gram could help her... maybe.
“I’ve known the werewolf for four weeks,”
“Is he your boyfriend?”
Lucy shook her head. Her words came in a fast, furious wave. “We’re engaged, and no, it’s not a for real kind of thing, it’s just a business arrangement, and I didn’t know he was a... and then there was this blonde bitch, she’s the... vampire.”—it still felt weird saying the words vampire and werewolf out loud— “Turns out she’s the one he should be engaged to, but since they’re different species, their families wouldn’t take it too well. I really just thought he was gay or something, and needed me to be his beard. That was until the vampire tried killing me. I knew she was one, you know, a vampire, right off. And then Gabe came out of the restaurant and wolfed-out and stopped her.”
Lucy halted. The scene from the alley flashed before her eyes, and with it the rollercoaster ride her emotions had taken her on—one moment feeling like she was falling for Gabe, the next moment she was terrified the blonde vampire chick was going to kill her, then confusion and fear as Gabe came to her rescue and she saw him change into his wolf form. It was just too much to sort through.
And then there was the way he was with psycho Delia. How could he be in love with a nut-job monster like her?
Monsters of a feather, her bitchy inner voice jibed.
Her grandmother just sat there staring.
“Oh, and we were at the engagement party when all this happened. Not in the restaurant, but in the alley behind it.”
Gram cleared her throat and then very calmly asked “Engagement?”
“It’s just for show, though no one can know that it’s all fake and all.” The way Gram was staring at her, Lucy just couldn’t stop the heedless stream of words from coming out of her mouth. “I’m getting paid a lot of money to be his fake fiancée. A ton, actually. Enough that I’ll be able to go to any college I want.”
Gram just stared at her, her expression unwavering.
“So I can get my future back!” Lucy almost screamed.
Gram rolled her eyes, picked up her coffee cup and took a long, leisurely drink, seeming to savor the taste of her coffee as she contemplated everything Lucy had just confessed.
“You’re telling me, then, that you entered into a fabricated engagement, to supplement your life style,”—she didn’t miss much, did she?—“and to ensure your future education. And now you’ve found yourself not only in league with werewolves, but a vampire wants you dead?”
“Yep, that’s about it.” Lucy tried to smile away how much trouble that sounded like.
“And if it weren’t for your fake fiancé, you’d be dead?”
“Yeah… okay, that sounds really bad but it’s not as bad as…” Her grandmother was giving her the “cut the crap” look. Lucy lowered her head in defeat. “Yes… probably.”
Gram shook her head and was about to speak, but Lucy said, “I mean, Gabe pulled her away, and they fought it out, but...” How can I say this and not sound completely crazy? But then again, vampires and werewolves being real was pretty crazy to start with. “I think I kind of forced her to let me go. I mean, I just told her to let me go. Actually I couldn’t even talk! I thought for her to let me go, and then suddenly she just did.”
“She let go of you?” Gram suddenly looked very interested.
“Yeah… she looked as shocked about it as I was.” Lucy looked away as she replayed what had happened. “It was like something… some force coming out of me was holding her back. It really did a number on me. I’m still beat.”
Lucy’s grandmother smiled.
“Do you know what this all means?” Lucy asked, feeling apprehensive because her grandmother was smiling like a maniacal Cheshire cat.
“I think I do,” she said, standing up and retrieving her purse, her prescription sunglasses, and her car keys. “But I think we need to road test it first.”
Lucy frowned as she followed her grandmother out the back door. “Road test what?”