Whatever, I was sure it would pass. It was probably only a few wayward flakes.
Sookie trotted over and rubbed her head against my ankles, meowing loudly. She even briefly rubbed up against Redd. Traitor. She was never affectionate to others like she was to me, it was our own sacred bond.
She had been in a strange mood ever since the beetle incident. I guess I couldn’t blame her.
“Well, let’s defrost a little and then get to work. If we finish repairing the loft today, we might be able to finally get started on those new shelves,” I mentioned hopefully. Redd had convinced me to lay wood over my previously stone floors, and that had slowed our repair progress. As had the stone reinforcements on all four walls.
This was taking much longer than I had expected, but I wasn’t necessarily upset about it. I subtly glanced at Redd.
He grumbled an agreement, eventually removing his cloak with reluctance. He was clearly not built for the cold. “You should get one of those enchanted fireplaces in here. It’s fuckingcold.”
“Do I look like I’m made of silvers? Those things are expensive,” I muttered back. “Toughen up. It’s not that cold.”
“Says the local. You forget I’m not from here. I’ve never been this cold in mylife.”
I held my arms out sarcastically. “Awww, you poor thing. Need me to warm you up?”
He shot me a glare. “No. I’ll live.”
I let my arms fall back to my sides with a snort. “I sure hope so. It would be so embarrassing to have to tell everyone such a strong and fearsome vampire dropped dead from a little chill.”
“Oh great, she’s got jokes,” he grumbled.
“Get to work, frosty. We’ve got lots to accomplish today.”
His exasperated sigh was extremely satisfying.
Redd and I lost ourselves in our newfound routine, not noticing the hours as they passed. I didn’t want to open the door to take the garbage outside, so we made a pile by the door to deal with later.
I was growing to appreciate the grumpy vampire’s company more and more, as much as I had tried to avoid it. He would be leaving eventually, he made it clear that he wasn’t here to stay, and it would be a waste of time to grow attached.
He was just taking a break from Sunhaven, before he either went back or moved on to somewhere new.
I couldn’t figure him out. He spoke fondly of his home, but he didn’t seem to want to go back any time soon. He didn’t sound passionate about traveling, either, like my Ma and Pa were. He just reluctantly accepted the fact that he was moving from place to place.
It was strange.
“You don’t talk about your home much, aren’t you from Sunhaven? I travel there often; you guys have some lovely shops. Do you miss it?” I asked while scooping up a pile of dust. The dust was never ending. I needed to invest in an anti-dust crystal for the shop, whenever the silvers were flowing again.
He took a moment to think before answering, his hands busy sorting a pile of wooden boards.
“I do miss it sometimes. There’s not much to tell, though. Nobody wanted me around there anymore. It was for the best that I left.” I couldn’t see his face, but he sounded a little too nonchalant. Like he was forcing it.
I scoffed. “I’m sure that’s not true. I bet there are tons of people missing you right now. What about your family? Or your friends? Or any lady friends?” That last part slipped out before I could hold it back. Whoops.
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye, a frown pulling at his mouth.
“Trust me, they’re happy that I’m not around to screw things up for them anymore.” He turned his back on me, moving over to begin hammering down the new loft stairs.
I couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t deny having lady friends back home.I’ll have to pry more information out of him about that later.
I stepped into his eyeline and tapped him on the arm, forcing him to look at me.
“No way. Please explain. It’s not like you’re a creepy murderer or anything, you’re just a little bit of an asshole.No offense. There’s no way they were happy to see you go,” I insisted. The thought of Redd having nobody missing him back home made my heart ache in a strange way.
Everyone deserved to have people who cared about them enough to miss them fiercely.
He took a deep breath, hesitated for just a moment, and then he began to speak.
