by A M Boone
Vincent rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m sure it’ll be a beautiful wedding…”
I’d heard politicians droning on C-SPAN who sounded more sincere than that. I matched his sigh and went to go join Dominic. I couldn’t look at him right now.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He smiled at me. “I’m fine. Didn’t see much cause I knew to run like hell after he exploded.”
He actually exploded. What the hell…?
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I only saw the shadow on the way out. But it was bad, from what I heard…”
My stomach lurched. “On a lighter note… How are you doing in San Diego?”
“Fine.” Another shrug. He sipped at his drink. “I have a new boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Dominic dated some douche in undergrad, but with the whole zombie thing, it made sense that he wouldn’t still be with his girlfriend either. But two at the same time? That was…
Okay. Hypocrite. I was being a massive hypocrite. I’d been shared by Vincent and Feli and that was fine, so if Dominic wanted to have both, he could.
“I see,” I finally said. “How are they?”
“Well, Cassandra’s being Cassandra, and Nathan’s pretty great.”
“What’s it like?”
“Having two people? It’s wonderful,” he said idly. “There’s just so much love and affection spread around…”
“And they’re like you?”
“Yep.” His voice was light, but curt. I’d have to ask Vincent more about Innocents later.
He rested his hand on my shoulder. “I mean, resurrecting wasn’t fun, but I feel like I’ve become a better person for it.”
“Yeah. I know that feeling.”
We idly chatted for the rest of the ball. Cubi and their partners slowly left, and eventually, only Vincent, the queen and her lady-in-waiting, Monica, Darryl, and Dominic were still there. Even Feli left.
Dominic and I rejoined Vincent and Monica.
“Did you have fun, Ime’Cahina?” he asked.
She nodded. “It’s nice to be the one in the spotlight for once.”
“Enjoy it, because you’ll never have it again.” The venom in his voice was obvious, though his voice was rougher than usual. Well, exploding into some monster would tire out anyone…
She glared at him. “You—”
“Miss Delacroix and I will be in my bedroom if you need us.”
She flipped him the bird, then waved him away, grabbed Darryl’s hand, and vanished.
The queen was led out by her lady-in-waiting.
* * *
Vincent took my hand, and we went up to his bedroom, at the top of a tower near the front of the castle. There was a lovely view of the city, and beach, and waves crashed in the distance.
Vincent tossed himself onto his bed. “What a fucking disaster.”
Understatement of the century there, Vincent. Maybe even the millennium. It wasn’t every day that you exploded into an eldritch beast and ate a bunch of people.
“Are you okay?”
“Tired, but I’ll live,” he said. His voice was so far away. “Are you okay, is the question we should be asking.”
“Fine.” My stomach was still churning a bit, but I probably wasn’t going to puke anytime soon.
“Good.” He sat up and stared at me. “I’m sorry you had to see that, it was incredibly embarrassing, and—”
“Feli told me everything,” I blurted out, and he went pale.
“Everything? Fuck me, I’m going to strangle them, and—how much did they tell you?”
“Enough. I know who—or what—your father was, and how you hear the whispers, and…”
He sighed and turned away from me.
“What happened between you and Harriet?”
“It’s complicated,” he finally said, after far too long. “Very, very complicated.”
Silence.
He shuddered and pulled his knees to his chest. “Long story short, Harriet and The Collective want to kill every last person who has extra-dimensional blood. They don’t see that it makes them just as bad as those godforsaken Mother of Light cultists.”
Feli told me this already.
“But after she tried to kill me the first time, I managed to seduce her, and she fell in love with me. Incredibly deep and incredibly hard, to the point where she almost abandoned her life’s work to be with me. But I didn’t feel the same way. I led her on for a few years, but eventually started feeling guilty.”
Feli said that most cubi couldn’t love, after all. Maybe Daniel was a fluke.
But he actually felt guilty? He didn’t use her as a means to an end?
“So, I broke it off with her, and she lost her fucking mind. We got into a fight, I beat her, and ever since then, she’s been obsessed with trying to kill me. A mage scorned…”
“Was she the mage who killed Daniel?”
“She wouldn’t be here if she was,” he snapped.
More silence.
“Join me?”
I crawled into bed with him. Was he going to drain me? Explode into monstrosity again?
He gave me a look. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said, my face burning. I sank into the sheets gently. They were ten times as silky and luxurious than the ones at Vincent’s apartment, skimming over my body perfectly…
“Miss Delacroix,” he said softly, running his thumb over my mark. I shivered under his touch, a jolt of pleasure running down my spine. “Are you afraid of me?”
What a loaded question. Sometimes, all I could see was the man—the demon—who killed my husband and had the potential to explode into something that’d make Lovecraft shit his pants. But other times…. When his voice grew soft, and he treated me like I was made of glass… The person Daniel fell in love with shone through.
“I see.”
“I didn’t say anything.” I blew out my cheeks.
“A thought’s worth a thousand words.” He bopped me on the nose with his fingertip.
He spent the next few minutes touching me everywhere. Grazing his hands over my face, my arms and legs, my waist… just enough so I’d squirm, but not enough that I’d jump his bones. Tease.
A smirk twitched at his lips, and he pulled me towards him. I rested my head on his chest.
“So… What happened to your mom? She’s blind now?”
“It’s not permanent. It’s a defense mechanism.” He shrugged and took a deep breath. “To keep my… other form from destroying her mind, she’s gone blind until she can cope.”
I stayed silent and dozed off, just listening to his heartbeat.
#
The next morning, someone knocking on the door woke me up.
“Good morning, Prince N’naandi, Miss Delacroix.” An older cubi woman, plump and curvy, with dark, slightly red-tinted skin, came in with bathing supplies and changes of clothing.
This was what it was like to be royalty? Being bathed and clothed by servants? Something about the whole thing unnerved me, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why. Maybe it was just the whole being pampered thing. After having to scrimp and save and struggle for so many years…
I rubbed my eyes, just staring. Was she really going to bathe us?
Vincent rubbed his face and shook out his hair. “Good morning, Teremi’de.”
She nodded to him. “Queen Funany’a wants you to be ready for the wedding in two hours, so she sent me. Please strip.”
Was she his personal servant? I mean, sure, okay, royalty, but she’d literally bathe him? Granted, she’d probably been bathing him since he was in training pants, but still…
The bathing and clothing was awkward, but I went through it for Vincent’s sake. Unlike at the ball, where we wore traditional clothing, I was given one of the dresses Marie made for me, while Vincent was in a snazzy tux.
Afterward, she herded us onto the beach for Monica and Darryl’s wedding. “Enjoy yourselves,” she said, smiling, then vanished.
“
That was… surreal.”
“Don’t deny yourself the finer things in life.”
But did we really need personal servants?
Monica was standing at a podium at the front of the setup, wearing a lovely black and blue dress that matched her robe from last night. An older, dark skinned cubi man was standing at her side.. Darryl was nowhere to be seen, though. Strange.
Vincent joined his mother in the front row, while I wandered over to the left side where Dominic was sitting. Left was where the family of the bride usually sat, right? And since I was Vincent’s guest…
Not gonna lie. What if Harriet and her group showed back up? Would Vincent explode again? Would they kill everyone for being a “supporter?”
But the wedding went off without a hitch, and Monica looked happier than I’d ever seen her. Love was love was love, after all. Even if it was your boss and fuckbuddy’s hated sister getting married.
But… Both Vincent and Monica could love. You’d think they’d use that as a stepping stone to commiserate, but there was a snowball’s chance in hell they’d ever even pretend to get along.
* * *
Directly after the wedding, Vincent opened a portal back to my world, and we went back to his apartment.
“So, Miss Delacroix, what do you plan on doing?” he asked.
“Dunno.” I tugged at my sleeve. “Have any wayward debtors to kneecap?”
He let out a quiet snort of laughter. “Not today.”
“Then I guess I’ll go back to my apartment? Unless I’m still stuck here.”
“You were never ‘stuck,’” he said coolly. “I just wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“It’s nice to know that you care about me that much.” I squeezed his hand, and his eyes widened. “I guess I’ll get my stuff and go, then… Santi’s probably worried sick.”
He rolled his eyes, but let me go, even as his hand lingered on mine.
I packed up all of my things, we changed into human clothes, and then Vincent drove me back to my apartment. He led me up to the third floor, holding my hand the entire way.
As I expected, Santi was sleeping outside of my apartment, drooling onto his t-shirt. Vincent nudged him with his shoe, and he jerked awake.
“Ana?”
“Hi.”
He shot up and wrapped his arms around me. “Oh, Ana… I thought you were dead.” He rested his head on the crook of my neck, shivering, and I rubbed his back.
“I’m fine. How’s everything going with Tony’s parents?”
“Eh. It’s going. They’ve been looking for you for the past few days, and I think the police think you ran off? Where have you been? Just with the shy—” He glanced at Vincent and went pale.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Dominguez.”
“What did you do to her?” he snapped, and his glamour dropped for a split second.
Vincent held out his hands in a mocking surrender. “Calm down. I’m not here to fight. Just to escort Miss Delacroix back to her apartment.”
Because he didn’t want to explode again, or worse, lose himself permanently.
“He didn’t do anything.”
“Well, I believe I’ll take my leave,” Vincent said, putting his hands behind his head. “Here’s the plan for the rest of the week. Tomorrow, you and Gloria will be training again. Wednesday, a debtor meeting, Thursday, the Christmas party, Friday, Christmas proper, and Saturday… a surprise.”
A surprise. Great. Vincent’s “surprises” would only end badly for me.
“I’ll see you later. Remember what I said.” He gave me a tantalizing smirk, then vanished in a shimmer of light.
“So…” Santi said. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” I shrugged. “Learned a lot about Vincent that I didn’t need to know, but fine.”
And that was all he needed to know.
“We went to his sister’s wedding, I ran up his Pay Per View bill… not a lot happened.”
“Are you hiding things from me?” He frowned.
“It’s not my place to tell.”
“Well, as long as you’re all right, that’s all that matters.” He smiled at me, but it was broken. God, he loved me. He wanted nothing more than to kiss me, touch me, be with me, but…
I swallowed and fumbled with my keys. Could I take this next step? It was only one little step, and Vincent gave me his blessing…
Santi glanced around and took a seat on my couch. “Nice place. Does the shyster own it?”
“Wouldn’t be surprised if he owned the whole building.” I got a glass of water before settling down next to him. “What’s a Blossoming?”
Vincent said something about it after Harriet’s attempt on my life.
He went pale and twiddled his thumbs. “Well… This is embarrassing…” Nervous laughter escaped his lips, and I couldn’t help but smile. He was so cute. “It’s kind of like second puberty? Our aging slows down, we get more powerful, and we can start having children. There’s all sorts of types, from normal to Empyreal to not Blossoming at all. But most just have a normal Blossoming.”
“I see. Interesting.”
“It usually happens around the age of twenty-five. I’m a little late, but it’ll happen eventually!” He smiled at me, but it fell flat.
I put my hand on his shoulder, and he froze up, blushing. “It’ll happen eventually.”
“I hope so. I wouldn’t want to be Unblossomed. But yeah, the main sign is that you smell like flowers for a few days… So yeah. Blossoming.” He shrugged. “But there’s another side that’s a bit… weird.”
“Weird?”
“It’s embarrassing!” He blushed even harder. “We get really… aroused and tend to shut ourselves away for a couple of days. Then, after that, a milder version happens once every two to four years, and it’s the only time we can have children.”
Esper biology was weird as hell. It was so strange… so many supernaturals looked and acted human, but they weren’t and never would be.
We sat there in silence, just enjoying each other’s company. Santi gently took my hand and rested his head on my shoulder. Compared to being around Vincent, this was nice. Calming. For the first time in a long, long, while, I could breathe. I wasn’t smothered by Vincent and Feli’s secrets and baggage.
“I’m just so happy you’re okay, you don’t even know.” He smiled at me, and my heart skipped a beat. “Not gonna lie, when the shyster answered your phone after your… accident, I thought he’d murdered you.”
“He wouldn’t.”
The worst thing I’d have to worry about would be him exploding into some eldritch beast and making my brain melt out of my ears.
I sighed and snuggled a little closer to him. It was times like this I appreciated his… safeness, for lack of a better term. No one wanted him dead, he wasn’t secretly extra-dimensional, and he was ride or die for me.
He turned to me, and gently put his hand to my face. “Ana…”
I leaned in a bit, and his glamour disappeared. His eyes faded from hazel to a deep blue, like the ocean, and I almost drowned in them. His lips were full, and I couldn’t stop staring at his lips, his eyes, his everything.
“Ana, I…”
He put his other hand to my face and kissed me. It was soft, just skin barely touching skin, and his energy mingled with mine as our lips touched. I closed my eyes and just let him kiss me. I didn’t know how much I’d craved his touch until now.
But as soon as it started, he jerked away, his face pale. “No!”
“No?”
“The shyster—fuck me, he’s going to murder me—did I make it weird? I probably made it weird, and…”
“Santi.”
He went sheet white. “I’m so sorry, if he tries to hurt you, I’ll—”
“Santi!” I cried, resting my hands on his shoulders. “Calm down.”
“Did I make it weird?” he asked again, his voice a bit calmer.
“Nah. I mean, after what happened at Vincent’s sister’s bal
l, and literally turning into a magical bomb, this is nothing.” I shrugged.
But he was in that deep, sweeping love you really only found in books. That type of love which threatened to drag you under if you weren’t careful. He’d die for me. Hell, he’d probably kill for me at this rate. God only knew what he’d do to Vincent if he thought he’d get away with it.
He was my best friend, my confidante, my right hand man… Vincent said it was okay, so we could feel it out. We could see where it’d take us.
“Well, thanks for that. I’d be miserable if you hated me,” he said.
“I could never hate you.”
“But… I know you don’t feel the same way, so… Thanks for letting me do that. You have Mr. Aldana, and you had Tony, so…” He stood up.
No. I wasn’t going to let anyone else leave me. Not now, not ever.
I grabbed his hand. “I never said that.”
His eyes lit up.
“Vincent said it was okay, so… let’s try. Maybe not getting married or anything, but we can try.”
“Let’s try,” he echoed. “I love you, Ana. Always have, and now…”
Heat rose to my cheeks. Love seemed like too strong of a word right now. I cared for him… I wanted his body against mine, and… But love. Even Tony and I didn’t say it much.
“I made it weird again?”
“Let’s take it slow.”
“Slow. Okay. Wanna play some Smash?”
“Sure!”
We settled down with the Wii-U. Santi lost and whined a bit, as per usual, but it was lovely. Sweet.
Afterward, he kissed me on the cheek and left, leaving me with only my thoughts for company.
Maybe Santi was right. Maybe Vincent was a bit of a bad influence. Just a bit.
* * *
I idly played with the bracelet, pushing the button just enough to make it click, but not enough to make it transform.
In two months, I’d nearly killed a man, almost had my brain turned to goo by Vincent’s other form, gone to the Demonic Realms, literally exploded, and changed my life forever—
My phone rang. Anthony’s parents. This was not the time. All they were going to do was make me miserable, and accuse me of killing their son again. I let them go to voicemail.
The next day, Gloria and Vincent stopped by my apartment.