“Don’t! Don’t even try it! You don’t get to touch me, not after a comment like that. You’re lucky I don’t rip you to pieces.”
“Do you think you could? Even if you wanted to?”
“What is the matter with you? Are you just looking to make me feel as bad as possible? You just want to piss me off? Because I’m telling you, if you do, you’re doing a really good job.”
Reagan shut his eyes briefly and ran his hand over his mouth, a compulsive gesture he had a habit of making when he was feeling particularly stressed out by something. He didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. What the hell was wrong with him?
Sure, she was nosing into his business without him ever having asked her to, but did that mean she deserved to be treated like this? Did she really deserve for him to say the things that would hurt her most?
“Jesus, Melania, I’m sorry. I don’t know. I don’t know why I said those things. There was no reason for it.”
“Oh really? Because I think there was. I can think of one really good reason why. It’s her. It’s that little human bitch.”
“Careful, Melanie.”
“No, really. That’s when it all changed, isn’t it? That’s when you started acting differently, when you stopped thinking the life we have was good enough. It was all when you met her.”
“No. It wasn’t. That was just when you noticed that anything was different. Because that’s when things being different started to take a toll on you. Do you understand how selfish that is? How selfish all of this is? Because if you don’t, you should really take a good look at yourself. Maybe try and figure out why you care so much all of a sudden.”
Melania’s eyes were on fire, as much anger in her as sadness at this point, and she lunged forward, striking out at him with one sharply nailed hand. She struck him across the face, a blow that would have rocked anyone who wasn’t also a vampire. There were others looking at them now, not in fear or anything like that, but in curiosity.
Fighting wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary for their kind. They weren’t really meant to congregate in groups the way they were and any time they did for prolonged periods of time, it resulted in bickering (at best) or outright bloodshed (worse, but also more likely). The reaction of the others in the club was just to look on with a kind of macabre voyeurism, sipping their drinks and waiting to see what was going to happen next.
Whatever it was, they were very unlikely to intervene. Vampires never did unless it was something that involved their own interest. In that respect, at least, Reagan hadn’t been very far off the mark with the comments he had made to Melania. It was true that they applied to vampires in more of a general sense and that he and Melania had a strong bond forged over time, but it was still a valid observation.
Maybe that was why she didn’t like hearing it. Maybe it was something else. It was impossible to tell and he didn’t want to try. All he knew was that he was tired of things being so complicated. There was a girl sleeping in a room not far off from him who seemed like the only thing in the world who made sense at this point, and he couldn’t have wanted to be back with her more than he did at that moment.
“Children, children. Please. Let’s all try to get along now, shall we? This sort of behavior isn’t becoming, especially not for two so fine.”
Reagan’s entire body froze. He knew that voice. He knew that voice, but it couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible that he was hearing it right now. It simply wasn’t possible.
“If you want to call someone a child, let it be him. Better yet, call him a prick because that’s what he’s being. I told you. I TOLD you he wasn’t himself these days.”
“Please, Melania. I must insist that you lower your voice. The amount of attention you’re bringing is entirely undesirable, at least to me. I’m sure that if you think it over, you will agree.”
Melania grimaced, but she also shut her mouth, which was a bit of a shock to Reagan. Nobody shut Melania up that way. At least almost nobody. Reagan certainly couldn’t do it and he was stunned to see this taking place now.
“And you, Reagan, really. This isn’t the way you talk to family. And before you say anything, please, don’t let me hear you say that she isn’t family again. That hurt my heart to hear. Let’s try to be kind to one another, shall we?”
“Andrea. What-what-”
“What?” She laughed with a musical little sound, something pretty enough to seem almost like art.
She slung her arms around Melania and Reagan like they were old friends from school, instead of what she was, which was the thing that had almost sent him into the sun before.
She was the reason he had almost done away with himself all of those years ago, not out of boredom and disillusionment with a world he had spent too much time in, but with the worst kind of heartache there was. Even remembering it now, he could feel his skin growing hot and her arm around her shoulders began to feel like the weight of a stone.
He wanted her to stop touching him, felt like he needed her to stop touching him, but how the hell was he supposed to say that without sounding like a petulant little child?
She must have been able to see his discomfort, because she smiled, hugged him closer to her, and then let him go. She looked like some kind of a movie star, something which didn’t surprise him in the least. If there was one thing Reagan could say for Andrea, even after his turning her had gone so badly and resulted in her leaving him shattered, it was that she had taken to vampirism exceedingly well.
It was almost like she was born to be one, and watching her now, he couldn’t help thinking that same thing again. Her vibrant red hair shone in the dim lights of the club, tumbling down her back with loose curls that reached almost to her waist.
Her green eyes shone with irreverence, her mouth twitching with an almost smile. She looked just the way she had when he had first seen her and decided he had to have her for his own. She was just as lovely as when he turned her, just as lovely as when she trampled on his heart. It made him want to leave this place and never come back again. He took a step back, feeling as if he had been caught in some kind of a trap.
“Why are you here?” he demanded, growling so lowly that even most of the other vampires in the room couldn’t hear. “You shouldn’t be here, Andrea.”
“I shouldn’t? But why? Why ever not?”
“You aren’t welcome here. That’s why not.”
“On the contrary,” she replied with a smirk, looking at Melania who in turn, absolutely refused to look back at her, “I believe that I am.”
“Do you? And what the fuck could have given you that impression?”
“Why, because, dear! It was your own sister who invited me here! Didn’t she tell you? I’m to be a guest in your home!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Hey. Sorry, what time is it? Did I screw up?”
“I don’t really know what you mean by that. It’s a pretty broad question, don’t you think? It could mean a whole lot of things.”
“Come on, Jen, you know what I mean. Did I miss the brunch?”
“No. At least you didn’t miss it yet. That’s kind of why I called. I just figured I would figure out now whether or not you were coming. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I mean, it’s totally cool. I would just rather know now so we aren’t waiting around, you know? That way I could just go ahead and change the reservation.”
“You made reservations? That’s got to be a first.”
“Ha ha, very funny, smartass.”
Ella winced a little bit, glad the conversation was over the phone instead of in person. She didn’t want Jen to see the severely uncomfortable look on her face, the way even talking to her at this point was making her squirm. And how depressing was that? This was her best friend, her oldest friend, and she felt like they couldn’t even talk to each other anymore.
In a matter of a couple of days, their friendship had taken a nosedive, and it was all over...over what? That was something Ella was struggling to und
erstand. She didn’t want to consider one of the more obvious reasons for the bickering, which was that maybe they had finally just outgrown their friendship completely.
She didn’t want to consider that because it would have meant that everything in her life had really changed, and what was she supposed to do then? And all the time she was thinking about this, there was nothing but dead air on the line. They were both silent, with no idea of what to say next. That had never happened between them before.
They had always had things to talk about, probably too many things to talk about, enough to where she was sure they annoyed the people around them. And now? It wasn’t that there was nothing to say, more than there was too much to say, and too much of it dangerous topics of conversation.
“So,” Jen spoke hesitantly, a tone of annoyance in her voice that she was hardly trying to hide, “are you coming, or not?”
“Sure. I’m coming.”
“Good. That’s good. So, I’ll see you in like, thirty minutes?”
* * *
“Where is everyone? I don’t get it.”
Ella had worked hard to get ready fast enough to be at Jen’s brunch on time. She knew that with things being the way they were, if she was late, she was only going to cause the rift between them to grow. That, and she could already anticipate the disapproving looks she would get from Jen’s friends. She was supposed to be the responsible one out of the group of girls, and yet she was the one who had been the flakiest out of all of them.
It was totally unlike her, and she had the weirdest feeling that her ability to be responsible had been the only quality those girls kind of respected. Without that, she was just some weird girl who was getting in the way of what would otherwise have been a perfect weekend.
So she had busted ass to get there on time, only to find that the only one waiting for her in the restaurant was Jen. Now it was her turn to feel annoyed, although she wasn’t really sure who she was annoyed at. It felt like it was at everyone, just at the situation in general. Whatever it was, she knew it wasn’t a good way to start her sit-down with Jen. Not when things had already been so terribly tense between the two of them.
“This is everyone. It’s just going to be you and me.”
“But why? I thought this was another one of those bachelorette things. Like, something we were all supposed to be at.”
“I know you did. That was the point.”
“The point? What does that mean?”
“It means that was what I wanted you to think.”
“OK, I can see that, but why?”
“Because. I think we need to talk. I think it’s important, OK?”
“OK, but why? What is it you think we need to talk about?”
“About you. About what the hell’s been going on with you lately.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing’s been going on with me lately. Absolutely nothing.”
“Can you just sit, Ella? Please? I don’t know why you have to make this so difficult. Just sit down so we can talk like civilized people.”
Ella wanted to tell her there was no way in hell she was going to just sit down and have a conversation, the sole point of which was to talk about what might be wrong with her. But she had such a long history of doing what Jen told her to, and it had created a habit that was very difficult to break.
She sat, accepting the pear martini Jen slid in her direction without comment. True, it wasn’t even noon yet, but this was sure to be an unpleasant encounter and besides, they were in Vegas, after all. As far as Ella could tell, anything went in Las Vegas.
The two girls waited as their server set down an array of brunch type foods, staying in total and wretchedly uncomfortable silence. After he’d gone, Jen took a long sip of her own drink and then leaned forward, her whole-body straining towards Ella with a look of both concern and reproach.
“So. Seriously, Ella. What’s the deal with you?”
“There is no deal. I don’t have a deal. I’m just enjoying myself, Jen. I’m finally having a good time. We’ve been over this. Don’t you remember? The awful conversation in the bathroom?”
“Of course I remember.”
“Then what’s the point of doing this? I don’t get it. It’s like you just want to fight or something.”
“No. I don’t. But what do you really know about this guy, El? Aside from the fact that he’s good looking and he paid you some attention? He could be a freaking serial killer, for all you know. Did you ever think of that? You could be in like, total danger, for all you know.”
Ella had to bite her tongue to keep from unleashing all of the things she wanted to say. If only Jen knew the kind of things Ella knew about Reagan. The information would have made her head spin, would probably have sent her screaming all of the way out of Vegas. It was funny, though, her saying that he might be a serial killer.
Ella was pretty sure Reagan had killed more people than any known serial killer in the world’s history. The very nature of what he was meant that he must kill, and he had been alive for an awfully long time. But it was also true that he would be able to protect her better than almost anyone out there on the planet who might wish to do her harm.
He had claimed her. They had claimed each other, and consequently she was under the umbrella of his brutal strength. Ella felt safer now that she belonged to Reagan than she had ever felt in her life, but there was no way for her to explain that fact to Jen without revealing what Reagan was, and that was something she would never do. Not only was it not her place, but there was also no way on god’s green earth that Jen would believe a story like that.
She would likely believe that she was being made fun of, and that wasn’t going to improve their friendship in any way. In the end, Ella felt like there was no really good way out for her. She had the biggest secret ever, one she couldn’t share, and it was taking a major toll on her friendship with Jen. She knew she had a choice, but she also knew that she had already made it. As much as she moved Jen, and she really did, she wasn’t going to give Reagan up. She couldn’t.
“So that’s it, huh?” Jen asked heatedly, her face flushed with anger. “You aren’t even going to answer me now? What, do you think you’re too good for me or something? Is that it? Because believe me, one hot guy doesn’t change everything about you. Not even Superman could do that.”
“You just don’t understand,” Ella whispered, looking stoically at her folded hands in her lap.
“What was that?”
“You don’t understand,” she said louder, feeling her own anger flaring up again and trying to shove it down deep where it couldn’t do any real harm, “you don’t. You don’t understand anything about it. Because you don’t know him.”
“And neither do you!” Jen shouted, drawing marginally curious looks from the other handful of guests who had decided they just couldn’t wait any longer to start their drinking for the day. “That’s my whole POINT, Ella! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along! You don’t know him, and you’re acting stupid.”
“I’m staying.”
Ella spoke the words before she even realized she was going to do it, and she felt almost as shocked by them as Jen looked. She hadn’t specified exactly where it was she was planning on staying, but then again she hadn’t needed to. They both knew what she was talking about. The question was, did she mean it?
She wasn’t aware of ever having considered just not returning to Austin when her friends did, but here she was, telling Jen that exact thing. It was a crazy idea. It was totally crazy to stay in a city she didn’t know for a man she had only just met. But everything about her time in Vegas had been crazy, so why not this thing as well? Why shouldn’t she stay?
Looking at her life in Austin now, she didn’t feel like there was all that much for her to return home to. At least not anything she wanted more than she wanted Reagan. And she wanted Reagan more than anything she had ever wanted in her whole life.
She didn’t want to say
it, didn’t even want to think it because of how crazy it was, but she was pretty sure she was at least halfway in love with him already. They had only known each other for a handful of days, and she was already falling in love with him. It didn’t even matter if it sounded crazy. It wasn’t crazier than the rest of it, was it? It wasn’t crazier than the fact that she was sleeping with an actual vampire.
There was nothing on the planet that could have been crazier than that. There was no way to explain any of that, though, and the look Jen was giving her now was unlike anything she had ever experienced in her life. She was looking at her like she was on the verge of calling the men in the white coats and having her crazy ex-best friend carted away to be fixed. An unsuspecting and unfortunate waiter happened to walk by at that exact moment, and Jen snapped her fingers fiercely at the boy.
Vampires In Vegas Page 13