“Your brother is here,” Frankie reminded him. “You need to remember him, too. Go talk to him.
Threaten to eat Lorenzo if he ever hurts him. That’s always entertaining.”
Snod whined, bumping his mouth against Frankie’s throat insistently.
“Come on, Obe,” Frankie scolded. “It sounds like the worst of the crying has passed. Just... try not to
forget Rees again, okay?”
Snod could easily recall Rees scowling in that purple sweater dress now and he smiled at the
bittersweet memory. He let it sink into him and he allowed himself to miss his friend. “I won’t,” he
promised. “Let’s go have a drink to him, hmm?”
“Let’s have several,” Frankie agreed happily, kissing Snod’s cheek and leading him back to the bar.
They finished off the bottle of blood before Frankie sent Snod stumbling over to find Athaliah. He had
taken a break from dancing and laughing, currently leaned back in a chair near the stage.
Athaliah’s face brightened up at his approach, kicking out a chair for him to join him. “Hey, dear
brother,” he gushed. “Fancy meeting you here!”
“Not really,” Snod drawled. “I work here.”
“Ugh,” Athaliah groaned, rolling his eyes. He reached for Snod’s hand, a little sloppy from all the
alcohol, giggling, “Even as a fucking vampire, you have no sense of humor.”
Snod pouted at that.
“I love you,” he said suddenly, trying to focus on Snod’s face. “Even as an undead fiend. You know
that, right?”
“Yes,” Snod said, raising his brows.
“I’m glad Frankie saved you,” Athaliah went on. “I don’t care what you are, as long as you’re here. It
was too hard to get away from all that shit in that fucking cult, and I wasn’t ready to lose you.”
“Are you happy?” Snod asked quietly, glancing down at their joined hands.
“Yeah,” Athaliah chuckled. “I’m free, I have you, I have a job I don’t totally hate, and I got a guy I’m
super crazy about.”
Snod’s lip twitched.
“Lorenzo wants to marry me, you know,” Athaliah teased, enjoying Snod’s scowl. “He loves me. And
I love him.” He tilted his head expectantly, saying, “This is the part where you say you’re gonna drain
him dry and all that shit?”
Snod smirked.
