“Your birthday, silly. Pay attention.”I shifted as he returned.
“I don’t want anything.”
“Nope, not an option. I’m gonna find you the perfect present and you’re gonna love it.” I waited expectantly, hoping he’d come up with something good. I really wanted to get him something special.
“I’ll think about it and let you know,”he finally said. “It’s in November.”
“Oh! It’s coming up?” I sucked in an excited breath as he chuckled. He pulled my legs across his lap again.
“The 29th.”
I was beaming now. I had so many ideas for him. I had to find out his favorite cake flavor, favorite thing to do. Maybe visit a cemetery? Would he like that? Or maybe… “What?” I realized his eyes were on me. Was I talking out loud on accident?
“Nothing. You weren’t.” He laughed at my confusion. “You’re so fucking adorable.”
“I’m not.”
“It doesn’t make you any less sexy or gorgeous, if that’s what you’re worried about. You pull off all three.”
I kept shaking my head. I disagreed. I was none of the three.“No. Juststopcomplimenting me, please. I don’t want them.”I fumbled with the sheets beneath us.
“You’re still not over everything that girl said, are you?”
I blinked. Shook my head. Whimpered at a surge of emotion. He frowned as I wiped away sudden tears. A switch had flipped the moment he called me adorable.
“Do you wanna sleep in here tonight?” he asked.“I won’t try anything.”
I nodded and lay by his side, snuggling close as he settled in beside me. The sound of his voice was more soothing than I remembered. “I’m sorry I called you crazy and told you to fuck off so many times,” I said. “You just seemed really delusional at first so I assumed you were, but now I feel bad because you’re actually not. Even though you did literally stalk me, but I’m over that now.”
“It’s okay. It never bothered me.”
I took a second before kissing him, sweetly this time. It went against every rule I had, but I didn’t care. When I pulled away, he was smiling cutely. I smiled back and turned over, taking his arm and hand with me.
“Goodnight, Dennis.”
“‘Night, Vixen.”
The In-Between
“Emy, it’s time to get up.”
I opened my eyes and let the dim colors rush in, then sat up and looked around.“I wanna keep sleeping.”I tried to lie back down, but Ari’s hands shot out to catch me.
“You’ve been sleeping for sixteen hours.”Shekept me upright while I gazed around.
“Where’s Dennis?”I croaked. My clothes from yesterday were clean and neatly folded in his chair, but he wasn’t in the room.
“He had to take care of something,”she said, shifting nervously.“He’shere, though.”
I felt the sheets until my fingers closed around Frankie’s soft arm.“I wanna go back to sleep.”I tried to lie down with him, but Ari stopped me again.
“I know hun, but you need to get up. You’re not supposed to sleep this much, remember? Dr. Kelsey used to always tell you that. And now that you’re a vampire, this is definitely too much.”She took Frankie and set him aside, then gave me a glass of water.“Drink.”She dropped some pills in my hand. My medication. My crazy meds. I swallowed them before handing the glass back.“This room is really creepy.”She shuddered.I gotFrankie back and played with his ears, staring across the room.“Do you want any food? Or blood, I mean?”She frowned when I shook my head.“You never drank yesterday. You should have blood. I’m assuming you need more by now.”
“I’m not thirsty.”I set my cat down and climbed from the coffin.“I’m gonna take a shower.”
“I guessI’ll fix this, however it goes. I still can’t believe he has a coffin for a bed.” She kept mumbling while she smoothed the sheets and fluffed the pillows.
I thanked her and left the room, then entered the bathroom for my usual morning routine. A few minutes into my shower, Arientered the bathroom.
