His face took on a youthful appearance when he smiled. “You can’t kill me.”
“My guess is walls can still hold you. To be honest,” I said, wiping my hands on a napkin, “I wouldn’t mind having just one sane maker. Someone I’m not ashamed of or want to bury. I also wouldn’t mind if you found a hobby that would get you out of my life.”
“Is that really what you want? I do enjoy our conversations.”
I pushed my empty glass away. “I don’t trust you. I never will. Not just because of how you made me and dumped me but everything in between. You’ve lied to me, deceived me, kidnapped me, sold me, tried to sow doubt in my relationship with Christian, and I don’t ever feel safe with you around. Because sooner or later, you’ll get bored with your life and want to spice it up by fucking with mine. You don’t care who you hurt. Look at who you’re friends with! Lenore fucking Parrish. You mentored her. Is that something you’re proud of?”
He flicked a crumb off the table. “When you see a talented ancient flailing, your first instinct is to take advantage. Your second is to see the long-term benefit of helping them get on their feet again. You win their trust, and people trust me. Allies will get you a lot further in life than enemies. Tell me, Butterfly, how many enemies have you made? You can’t kill them all.”
“It doesn’t matter. I have people in my life who matter. I have a job that matters. I don’t play games.”
Houdini stared at me so intensely that I blinked. “So you’re a woman of character and morals, is that what you’re saying? You’re better than me because you’ve found love.” He slowly clapped. “Hoorah. You think you have life figured out, little one? Until you’re faced with a decision that truly tests the core of who you are, you don’t know anything. I’ll be curious in another two hundred years how this conversation goes. You’re still green, like freshly cut grass. I can still smell the new on you, and regardless of what life has thrown at you already, you can’t even begin to know who you really are, let alone what you might become. You still possess the naive optimism of a human. You stillsmellhuman,” he said, leaning in. “And given how much time you spend with your father, it’ll be some time yet before you shake free from that world.”
I gripped his wrist even though he was stronger than me. “Don’t youevertalk about my father.” I squeezed tighter, but he was unaffected.
“I do tire of your insinuations about my character.” He took my hand and loosened my fingers. “I have no desire now nor ever to harm your father or interfere in his life. In fact, I have great admiration for a man who raised someone as interesting as you.”
I sat back and took a calming breath. “If you ever go near my father, I’ll kill you seven times over. And that’s not an empty threat. I’ll hunt you down for as long as it takes. I’ll make six thousand copies of that damn key and pass them out with a reward for whoever finds the source.”
He looked out the window absently. “Threats bore me. It’s also asinine to assume that I require a threat to prove how devoted you are to your family. That goes without saying.”
“Not always,” I said, eating another fry. “You’re my blood maker, but that doesn’t mean you have me in your pocket.”
As I sat there eating my food, I realized Houdini might never truly be done with me and move on. Had I been anyone else living a regular life, he would have been bored by now. As long as I worked with Keystone and lived a life that he envied in some small way, he would always be invested. I felt certain of it, especially with the way we could easily fall into conversation as if there were no animosity between us. Would we gather every few hundred years to play catch-up? To compare notes on who was living their best life? Houdini might always feel a connection—a hope that he could somehow make me see his side of things. Perhaps even join him. I wondered how different my life might have been had he not left me for dead, if he had actually driven me back to his place that night and I’d become a full-blooded Vampire. Would we still disagree on everything? Would I have wanted to leave his care? Maybe in keeping me, he would have quickly gotten bored. This was more exciting to him, being able to see his progeny out in the wild. Not having to take on that responsibility.
“I don’t know everything,” I finally said. “I just know what’s keeping me sane. I hope we do have this talk in another few hundred years because I’m dying to see if you figure your shit out or if you’re still playing the same old games. You have new abilities living in the shadow realm as the undead. People talk about the fates or gods or God, but what if thereisa higher power that leads us in different directions? Maybe not a good or an evil force, just one that gives us opportunities or even what we deserve. I think it’s pretty interesting that you were the only one at the party they didn’t recover jewelry from, so maybe that’s fate. You were also a bit of a man whore most of your early life, and now you can’t be intimate with anyone. It sounds like the universe is catching up with you. It’s not just me, Houdini. You’ve caused a lot of pain to a lot of people. You don’t even know how many younglings you made who are out there somewhere, suffering. Maybe they can’t kill you, but it doesn’t mean they can’t haunt you. Unless something’s changed, I know you can see ghosts. When they die, they might decide to pay you an eternal visit.”
Houdini curled his lips in as if he didn’t like the sound of that.
I wondered how much thought he’d given to the prospect of the dead haunting him. Even now, if he killed someone, their spirit might remain behind to confront him, and it would be especially easy to do since he could see and hear them.
He touched the edge of the plate and stared at the fries. “Never did I imagine I would miss food. I still eat and drink to remind my senses and use my memory. It’s not the same.”
“You should have put candy in your pocket,” I said, finishing up the snacks. “It turns out that any food you had in your possession when it happened you can still taste.”
His gaze drifted upward, and it looked like an idea was twirling in his eyes. “I met a ghost who died choking on popcorn. She was carrying it around. I wonder…”
I scooted back my chair. “Well, as usual, this has been highly entertaining.”
“Before you leave, answer me one question.”
“Shoot.”
Houdini scratched his nose before lacing his fingers together. “If a genie granted you three wishes, and only three, what would you ask for? Nothing like world peace or no famine. It has to be something that would impact or benefit you personally. Be honest.”
He could have easily charmed the answer out of me, but I had no reason to lie. I gave it some thought. “World peace is a good one. Then again, I’d be out of a job.”
He grinned. “That’s a pragmatic way to approach it. Then you wouldn’t have purpose.”
“Right. Anyhow… three wishes. The first: my father to be a young man again.”
Houdini made an audible sound as if someone had poked him in the ribs. “That’s peculiar. Do you not mean immortal?”
“No. I don’t want him to be immortal, and he doesn’t want to be immortal. That wouldn’t be fair to make him exist forever at the age he’s at. I’d like a little more time with him, so that’s my first wish.”
“And the second?”
My gaze roamed around the room, settling on the woman dancing with one of the men she’d bewitched. “For the people who have wronged me to get what they deserve, whether that’s by my hand or fate’s.”
