Not even once.
She picked up her cell phone and pressed number five.
“Hello?”
“Casey?”
“Wanda?”
Wanda smiled. Her sister always sounded so surprised when she called. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“What’s up?You okay? Mom and Dad?”
Casey always thought something was wrong if Wanda called her, too. She never initiated any phone calls, and sometimes that hurt, but tonight was about something far bigger than who’d called whom first. Tonight was about a revision to her Fuck It list, and Casey and her mother and father were number one on it. “Yeah, everything’s fine, honey. I tried to call Mom, but it’s Wednesday, and you know they go to that seafood buffet at the Shrimp Shack on Wednesday nights. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I just called to tell you I love you.” She bit the inside of her cheek to keep her voice steady.
Casey’s sigh was aggravated in the hiss of wind she blew into the phone. “Is this the ‘you suck, Casey, you haven’t called me in forever’ phone call? I’ve just been busy—”
Wanda’s voice was soft to Casey’s harassed tone. “Nope. This is just an I love you phone call, Case. I love you, and if you talk to Mom and Dad, tell them the same.”
She hung up with a quick click of the Off button, keeping her eyes focused straight ahead.
And never once did she look back.
MARTY and Nina appeared at her door just as she was folding her Fuck It list into a tiny square.
Marty spoke first, her voice tremulous and hesitant. “Ya okay? I mean, I know you’re probably not okay-okay, but we’re here to help make whatever you need okay.”
Nina nodded, her silky, dark hair falling over her shoulder to hang just beneath her breasts. “What she said.” She put a hand to Wanda’s cheek, her flesh cool, her black eyes burning bright. “So tell me what I can do to make this whatever you want to make it.”
Wanda gave them each a curt nod. “Okay. This is what I want. Do me.”
“Do you?” Nina raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” Wanda pointed to her neck. “Bite me, here”—then she remembered Marty’s biting incident and held up her hand, pointing to the webbed portion between her thumb and forefinger—“or here.”
Nina’s eyebrows smooshed together. “Did you just say what I thought you said?”
Wanda faced Nina head-on, her lips a thin line of resolution. “I did.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did, too.”
“But—”
Wanda flagged a hand upward in an instant. “And I don’t care which of you does it either. In fact, surprise me. Just do me this—when I wake up—give me the heads-up on which paranormal way I’ve gone. ’K?”
Marty and Nina looked at each other, stupefied. “Can I ask what changed your mind?” Marty inquired.
“No.”
Nina flicked her arm with a finger. “Don’t you tell us no,Wanda. I want to be sure you’re sure. There’s no going back. Never, ever. At least not in my case because it would hurt too many people.”
Wanda’s eyes widened.Who knew better than she there was no going back? Who’d only heard that three bazillion times since Nina and Marty’d been turned? “Ohhh listen to how we’re all hesitant now. Just last night you two were going to duct tape me to a chair and make me accept the gift of immortality, and now you want to be sure I’m sure? What difference does it make? Just do it, for fuck’s sake!”
Nina’s eyes widened. “You swore . . .” she accused, her voice ringing with that same surprise it always held when Wanda actually manned up enough to cuss.
Wanda’s face contorted with disbelief, while stabs of fear for what she was about to do needled her gut. She wasn’t afraid of her choice to be turned—just that it might hurt. Or that it might hurt her friends. Nina and Marty swore they’d never felt a thing, but she had a fear it’d be like the giving birth metaphor. All that “you forget the pain once you hold the baby in your arms” thing troubled her. “Fuck, yeah, I swore! I’m going to die, Nina. If that doesn’t call for a swear word, then I don’t know what the hell does. Now quit jabber jawing and friggin’ hit me. Riiiiight here, baby.” She pointed to the tender flesh of her neck and tried not to wince.
Holy Jesus, she was considering drinking blood for an eternity. When Nina had been turned, the very idea had left her so squicked by what she’d had to do to survive, she’d gagged—often. But it was just a small hurdle compared to leaving Heath forever. She’d battled all night long over which paranormal avenue to take, then she’d decided it didn’t matter what freaky road she took, just that the end result landed her on Eternity Lane.
“Wanda,” Marty interjected, grabbing her by the hand and leading her to the sofa. “Sit. Shut up. Listen.”
She folded her arms over her chest and pursed her lips. “Listening.”
Marty’s eyes welled with unshed tears when she spoke. “Honey, this is something you have to be more than sure of and, after the way we went at you the other night and your reaction to it, we decided we’d adhere to your last wishes and lay off you. Neither of us liked it, but we were pushing our lifestyle on you, and we were wrong.”
“Not that I fucking wanted to lay off you,” Nina interrupted, “but Marty went all reasonable on me, and she made some good points that made sense once I was over the shock.We didn’t have a choice in our immortality,Wanda.You do and, even if we don’t like that choice—even if it’s fucking killing me to contemplate it—we don’t want to shove our shit down your throat, because that’s selfish. Your beliefs are your beliefs, and whether I agree with them or not, I respect them. It isn’t always easy to live like this. As much as I love Greg, there are days I’d give my left boob to be human again. If it didn’t mean fucking up half a vampire culture, I just might. But I wouldn’t want to do it without him. Believe me, I do miss my mortality. Hell, I miss stupid fucking things like chicken wings and bleu cheese dressing, but it’s still not worth giving Greg up or leaving a bunch of clan members stranded like Heath is.”
Marty nodded her blonde head. “Don’t do this because we’ve forced our opinions, our desperation on you. We were impulsive. We just wanted to help and because we have the power to do that, we got pushy.”
Well, holy fuck. She never thought she’d see the day. Nina and Wanda agreeing on anything meant the apocalypse was surely well on its way.
Wanda brushed her hands together with determination. She wasn’t taking no for an answer. Not now. “I know exactly what I’m doing—when do I ever do anything without thinking it through, writing a list, thinking it through some more? I decided going to Hell, even if the possibility is slim, is worth it. Okay? So if you want to help—then freakin’ help.” Wanda pointed to her neck, cocking her head to the left. “And if you bite me, Nina, do me a favor, don’t leave me scarred. God only knows if there’s a concealer at Bobbie-Sue that’ll disguise it.” Wanda pointed to her neck once more. “So go on, hit me right here.” But then a thought occurred to her. “Oh, but wait. Promise me if anyone ever finds out—ever—about what happens here tonight, you’ll lie like some cheap Persian carpet about how I was turned. I’d never give you up. Never. Now, swear on it,” she insisted.
Nina glared at her. “That’s the least of my worries, Wanda.”
Wanda cracked her knuckles with determination. “Okay, then—hit me.”
Both women stayed rooted to their spots on the living room floor.
“Wait—got any booze on you?”
“Booze?” Nina looked perplexed.
Wanda was in take-charge mode, and her sigh of exasperation showed it. “Yeah, Nina. You know, like the stuff you drink when you want to deaden brain cells and turn into a slobbering, crying whiner? That booze.” She held her hands wide apart. “Big booze, in fact. Never mind, I think I have an old bottle of Scotch I used to keep for my dad when he came to visit. Daddy loved Scotch.” She popped up, heading for her pantry in the kitchen.
Nina, followed by M
arty, trailed behind her—nagging. “I don’t know if drinking is the way to go here, Wanda. You hardly ever drink. Getting snockered might do something to the effects of the bite. Marty and I were stone cold sober when we were bitten, and I might add, we’ve never done this turning thing.Which brings me to our big mouths and all our smack talk about turning you.”
Wanda grabbed the bottle of Scotch and shoved it under her arm, whipping around to face them. “Is that chicken-shit I hear in your voice, Nina Blackman-Statleon? Never in all my days did I think I’d hear you pansy-ass out of anything. I’ve read about plenty of helpless women who were turned because they were too drunk to stop it.”
Nina was quick to retort. “You read that in a romance novel, Wanda! Jesus fucking Christ!You’ve read all that shit in stupid romance novels.You don’t know if it’s true.”
“Oh, puullease. Every stupid thing we read in those books about you when you were whining about not wanting to be a vampire was true. I call pansy-ass, Nina.Whassamatter, vam-pi-re? Are you just good at talking tough? Was all that talk just that? Talk?”
Nina cocked her head at Wanda, her slender face tight, her jaw set hard. She pushed her hair behind her ears. “Did you just call me—me—a pansy-ass?”
Wanda bumped chests with her, knocking into her with a hard thud, steadying the bottle under arm when she did. “Yup. What’re ya gonna do about it?”
Nina instantly backed off, her expression contrite. “Nothing.”
“Sissy,” Wanda taunted.
Nina clenched her fists by her side. “Stop, Wanda.” Her tone held warning by the growl and sneer that followed.
“Or what?You’ll talk about kicking my ass?”
“I said, stop,” Nina growled.
Wanda jammed her face in Nina’s. If it took stirring Nina’s pot of shit to get her to turn her, just call her spoon. “And I said no, wussy!”
Marty was between them so quick,Wanda might not have seen it but for the hand that gripped her shoulder. She placed the other on Nina’s, too, parting the two women. “Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! End round one!” she shouted. “Wanda? I can’t believe I’m saying this for the first time in our friendship, but knock it the hell off and leave Nina alone. Now. Nina, if you don’t back up, I’ll make you back up, and even if you could take me, you won’t lay a finger on me because I’m with child. I win, you lose. Back—off.” She whisked a hand under Nina’s nose, wiggling it in the direction opposite Wanda.
Wanda’s chest heaved, her stomach lurched, but she backed away, as did Nina.
Marty dropped, her folded hands in front of her, placing them over the slight swell of her belly. “Now, my very irrational friends, let’s get the proverbial grip and talk about this.”
Wanda knew her eyes were probably wild, her hair mussed, while she wandered in her pink bunny nightgown with the googly eyes, for the love of God, but she needed to convince them she knew exactly what she was doing. She had no qualms about her decision. She wanted to be with Heath. End of. She was tired of playing it safe. She’d spent a buttload of time married to a fuckwit. Now she wanted a do-over. “That’s exactly what I don’t want to do, Marty. Talk. I spend all my goddamned time talking, and look where it got me. Halfway to fucking dead. Not to mention all the time I spend talking to the two of you—soothing you—pacifying you. Well, guess the fuck what? It’s my turn now. This is about me and what I want, and I don’t want to die—okay? I want to live. I don’t care how that happens either. I don’t care if I’m a vampire or a werewolf or a goddamned fairy. I—want—to—live!” she yelled, gasping for another breath before she continued. “I want to live. I want to see your baby born, Marty. I want to knit stupid booties for it because that’s just the kind of girl I am. I want to hear Nina bitch for eternity about what an event it is to shop with us. And Nina, if you call me Holly Hobby once more, I’ll yank your fangs out with rusty pliers. Got that?”
Nina nodded, mouth open, but wordless.
Wanda wiped the back of her hand over her forehead and up into her scalp. “So if it’s okay with you both, I’m going to pour myself a drink—maybe I’ll even pour myself four or five—I’m going to get stupid-drunk and then, wham! One of the two of you turn me. Okay?”
Marty’s pretty face was a mixture of skeptical and sympathetic. “Honey, all of this fire and brimstone isn’t helping your cause.” She ran a hand over Wanda’s messy hair, then smoothed her rumpled nightgown. “In fact, you look a little mental.”
Nina nodded. “Yeah. Like maybe we should call the people in charge of butterfly nets and ask them to bring the realllly big one. The one that fits your entire body.”
Wanda’s breathing grew harsh, almost ragged. “Wouldn’t you be mental if you were dying, Marty? As a matter of fact, I remember a little mental when you were turned into a werewolf—so cut me some slack.” She took the bottle of Scotch and stomped around in the kitchen, yanking open a cabinet door and pulling out a tumbler. She opened the bottle of liquor and poured a healthy shot of it into the glass, taking a whiff of it.
Marty and Nina were right behind her, trailing her like a bad case of the clap. “Wanda, that’s not fair. I was already turned by then—this is muuuuch different.”
Wanda tilted the glass back, guzzling the acidic liquid. Oh, that was god-awful. She shivered before saying, “Yeah, it is much different. I’m dying.You’re not, and you never will be, barring tragedies like bullets to your vitals—or decapitation.” She swiped the bottle back off the counter and poured twice as much as she had before.
Nina tried to grab the glass from her, but Wanda backed away, raising a finger, shaking it furiously. “Do. Not. Don’t even go there.”
Marty approached her with hesitance while she downed another double shot of Scotch. “We just want to be absolutely positive you’re sure, and we’re not sure what would make you change your mind so suddenly after you were so freaked last night.”
She threw the plastic tumbler into her sink. Fuck that. She’d just drink from the bottle. Another healthy swig and she had an answer for her change of heart. “Heath. Heath made me change my mind. How’s that?”
Nina yanked a chair out from the table and sat, her black almond eyes apprehensive. “How? Did he pressure you? I’ll kill him if he did. He has no right.”
A bit of the booze dribbled down the side of her mouth. She swiped at it with her thumb, then decided her thumb tasted damned good. “No, he has no idea I know what he told me is true, so how could he pressure me, Nina?”
Nina once more passed Marty a look Wanda couldn’t summon the energy to examine. She had some paranormals to convince.
She blew a strand of her hair out of her face. “Okay, here’s the deal. I love him—that’s why. And know what? As hard as I’ve tried to keep him at arm’s length—do the fuck-buddy crap you talked about, Nina—I sucked at it. Plus, I think he wants more. I couldn’t give him that. But I can if you bite me. So . . . yeah . . . so there. That’s why I want one of you two lily-livered pansies to change me, because I want to live—with Heath. I want to see if he loves me, too. Or if he doesn’t now, that he might given the chance to have me say something other than ‘we can’t get involved.’ ”
Marty cocked her head while her eyes darted over Wanda’s face. “So tell me this, sweetie. Isn’t he going to wonder how the hell you were turned and by who? We’re not supposed to turn you according to both pack and clan law. He lived by those rules, too, once. Okay, so he was once a vampire, he’d understand it’s possible—which brings up a whole other problem. He’s now a human, honey. He won’t live forever. If we’re successful—you will.” Marty placed a hand on her belly and rubbed it with a protective palm.
Yeah, yeah. She’d given that a lot of thought, but she’d rather have the possibility of maybe as much as fifty years with the man of her dreams than none. And she said as much. “I don’t care. I’d rather have what time Heath has left on Earth than nothing at all. I want to be able to talk to him about all the stuff that I’ve kept my
mouth shut about because I was foolishly trying to remain nothing but his mattress mate. I love Heath. In fact, I discovered that just last night. It hit me at the craaaa-ziest moment, too. When he was eating, of all things, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.”
“Love does that,” Nina said, her affection for Greg ringing clear in her words. “It sometimes happens in the simplest, most fucked-up of ways.”
Wanda’s smile was of wistful agreement. “And I knew—it just was. I knew I could watch him eat those stupid chocolates until my eyeballs fell out of my head. I knew I was getting in deep. I knew I wished I had the time for more, I just didn’t know it would be this kind of more. I don’t know how it happened, or why it happened now, but it did—and I want my shot at happiness, too. If you guys can have one, a shot to live out your HEA, I mean, so can weeee—I mean, I—what-ev-errrr.” The effects of the Scotch were hitting her—hard. Before her wits were spirit soaked, she wanted to make her desires clear. “Pleeaassse, do this for me. Please. Oh, and I pomise—don’t assssk, don tell. ’K? I won tell nooobody it wassss you guys who did it.”
Nina cracked her knuckles, passing Marty a glance Wanda couldn’t keep her eyes straight on and might have been left suspicious by, ’cept she felt too good to care what all these weird looks between them were about.
“It doesn’t matter if you tell him about us or not,Wanda,” Nina reminded her. “How the fuck will you explain turning into a vampire or a werewolf? You had the conversation about him being a vampire, but you never said a word about us and what you know. Is he going to think you just found some random asshole paranormal who just happened to be hanging around to turn you?”
Wanda wandered off to the living room, dragging the blanket her mother’d made her off the couch, and followed the path to her bedroom, the bottle tucked under her armpit. Alcohol spilled as she went, but she didn’t even care if it stained the carpet. She was too busy focusing on the narrow trail to her bedroom, a path that now seemed kinda warbly and not nearly as easy to follow as it had been yesterday when Heath had playfully chased her into her bedroom. Ahhhh, Heath . . . “I dunno—who caressss. Iss no big deal. I tole you guys that already. I promise I won’t say nuffin’ about you guuuuys.” Ohhhhh, was that her words all smushed together and slurring? Niice. Very nice. Boozer.
The Accidental Human Page 27