“I think we got it covered,”Ari said.“Thanks, though.”
“I have a question,” I piped up. Dennis took the moment to move me off and I grudgingly obliged.“What about blood tomorrow?Should we go drink in the morning?”
“I can bring some to go with dinner,”Dennis said.
“You can what?”I thought I’d misheard, but he repeated the sentence.“Where’re you gonna get it from without killing someone?”
“I have my ways.I brought you blood last time, didn’t I? Don’t worry about it.”
“You guys have to get here at nine tomorrow morning,” Arisaid, trying to hide her uneasiness at his words.“The parade starts at nine. At the end of the parade, Santa comes out and we have to see him. It’s tradition.”
“You’re such babies,”Dennis said.
“Rude.”I made a face at him.“Come watch Santa or you can’t come over.”
“I’ll be here at nine,”Sean promised.
“I guess I’ll humor you and watch Santa. Even though he’s not real.”
I gasped as Ari shouted,“How dare you! How could you say such a thing?”
“Yeah, how could you?Santa’s not gonna bring you any presents if you keep talking shit.” I placed my hands on my hips. ‘Twas a real warning. Sean laughed, but Dennis didn’t bother responding.“We’ll see you tomorrow, then?”They both agreed. I waved goodbye as they started walking again.
“Get here at nine or we’re locking you out,”Ari called after them.
Sean gave a thumbs up over his shoulder. Ari and I exchanged a triumphant smile before going back inside.
“They’ll be here at nine,”I announced.“Thanks for letting them come, Uncle Tom.”
“No problem, niecy. I wanna get to know them more, anyway. We didn’t get to finish last time.”He was sitting on the couch across from Aunt Helen, who was watching us intently.
“Tell me about these binds of yours.”She propped her chin on ahand.
“You know about it too?” Ari asked.
“Of course I do. I wanna hear all about it. And I wanna hear about life as a vampire, Emy. Tell me everything.”She patted the couch cushions, motioning for us to sit beside her.
I smiled and sat on her left while Ari took the right. A couple hours passed of the four of us talking and catching up. Aunt Helen had a million questions about Ari’s school, Sean, my new job, possible friends or love interests I had met, and about a thousand other things.
“So there’s no one at all?”She was watching me for signs of lying.“I don’t understand how you don’t get snatched up. You’reso much fun.”
“Thanks.”I leaned back on the couch.“I’ve been asked on a couple dates by guys but I said no. There is this girl named Fiona, but I’m not sure if she’s flirting with me or just really nice? Either way, there’s no one I like.”
“Except Dennis.”
“No.”I glared at Ari, who was snickering.“He’s an amazing bind, but I don’t dateor ‘like’ people. You know that.”
“Sure.”Aunt Helen didn’t seem to believe me, either.“So when you say he’s amazing, what do you mean?”
“Yeah,”Uncle Tom joinedin,“whatdoyou mean?”
“Are we really doing this?” I groaned.
“I’m waiting.”Aunt Helen clasped her fingers.
“Yeah, we’re waiting. It’s your turn.”Ari leaned around Aunt Helen to laugh at me. She’d already gone through a Sean interrogation and was clearly hoping I’d suffer the same fate.
“Fine.” I sighed. There was no escape.“Well,he’s super smart. He went to a fancy college and got two degrees, one in Forensic Science and the other in Psychology with a focus on abnormal psychology and a minor in criminal studies—”
