“It is a weird concept to think about,” I agree.
“I went off on a tangent. Sorry for that, doll.”
“I don’t mind. I like when you do because you’ve made a lot of sense the couple times you’ve gone off on one.”
“I did?” She smiles, wrinkling her nose. “I don’t always remember what I’ve said.”
“Good thing I remember.” I chuckle and lean back, picking at the cupcake. Now that I know what Mabel went through in her final hours as a human, I feel even more empathy for her. “Have you talked to Devon yet?”
“Only for a moment. He has healed. Xavier’s blood is powerful.”
“I’m sure it is.”
“You want to know how Devon is doing, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” I say, debating on telling her that Devon’s last request was to not be turned. She’d understand. I think? She didn’t want to be turned. Hell, she didn’t want to be alive anymore and now she’s stuck for all eternity unless she ends herself or she’s murdered.
“He came to me,” I start, unable to keepeverythingbottled up. “Outside that factory.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know the details.” I shake my head. “He told me he found out something about the Russos and was really freaked out by it. Like, thought we should skip town and then figure things out kinda scared.”
“Oh, jeepers. He was shot before he got a chance to tell you?”
“Mh-hm,” I say with a nod. “I’ll ask him when I see him. Is he…um…like how he used to be?”
“Yes. But also no.” Mabel’s eyes go to the fake window, face blanking as she zones out. “We’re kinda like spiders, you know.”
“Who?”
“Vampires. Spiders sink their fangs into their prey and liquify the insides so they can drink it. We also use our fangs and drink the insides. I don’t know how to weave a web but it would be neat, wouldn’t it? And all my babies could join.” She motions to her stuffed animals. Man, it has to be rough being inside her head. Though maybe being that aloof is peaceful.
I’ll never know.
“Did he talk to you or anything? I know he’s not dead, but it’s just weird that I watched his human life fade but he’s still here.”
“Zeke told me your best qualities shine when you wake up after being turned. Devon had a lot of good qualities. That’s why Xavier wanted him to pass them down.”
“Right.” I wrinkle my nose at the thought of being forced to carry a Malus baby into the world. We sit in silence as I finish the cupcake. “I’m exhausted,” I tell Mabel.
“I can only imagine. You’ve been awake for a very long time and humans need sleep.”
“We do, unfortunately.” My eyes close in a long blink. In this instance, I’m glad I’ll be able to sleep and forget about everything for a few hours. Though, I have a feeling I’m going to have a nightmare.
“You should go get some sleep. And then maybe we can go out tonight! There’s a new restaurant I saw yesterday while Iwas out—before I got kidnapped—and it’s just so cute it would make swell photos! You can order food so we have a reason to be there.”
I smile. “Yeah. That sounds nice, Mabel.”
She beams at me and takes another drink of blood from her pretty pink teacup. I fold up the cupcake wrapper and take it with me as I leave the parlor, throwing it away in the kitchen. The house is usually quiet, but there’s no staff here at the moment. Filling up a glass with water, I slowly start toward the stairs, pausing for a moment when I get near Xavier’s office. It’s in the back of the house, and has two large wooden doors sealing it away from the main living area. I can hear his voice, muffled and speaking in Spanish. Letting out a sigh, I keep going only to pause again at the top of the stairs.
“Devon?” I call quietly. He’s a vampire now. He’ll be able to hear me. “Are you awake?”
“Wren?” he calls back and my heart flutters in my chest. He sounds the same, which is to be expected, but it’s so damn reassuring to hear him say my name. “Are you okay?” I take a step down the hall and his bedroom door opens.
My pulse quickens when I see him and a smile breaks out on my face. I set my glass of water on a console table against the wall opposite me and go to him, looking him up and down. He’s healed, obviously, and looks pretty much the same. There’s less color to his cheeks, but vampires don’t really look dead since their blood still circulates in their body, powered by black magic instead of their heart.
His chest isn’t rising and falling, but he hasn’t gotten out of the habit of blinking yet. If you didn’t know Devon was a vampire, it would be hard to guess.
