“Good job, I’m proud of you. No matter what he says, I know your heart was in the right place.”
“Thanks, Tweets. I appreciate that.”
“No probs. Now, you wanna go End raiding with me?”
“You know what? Sure!”
I settled into the game and somehow managed to push the matter to the back of my mind for a bit. However, that didn’t last for all that long, because once the sun fully went down and the dark cloak of night settled over the city in earnest, my phone buzzed with the distinctive pattern of a text.
I grabbed it so fast I nearly knocked over my empty coffee cup. Sure enough, it was Rowan. My stomach rolled, and I was too terrified to open the text. Was that silly? It felt a bit silly.
“You’ve gone quiet. Everything okay?” Tweety asked.
“It’s him,” I said simply. Naturally, she didn’t need any other explanation.
“What did he say?What did he say?”
“I dunno! I haven’t even opened it yet!”
“Well, what are you waiting for?”
“Maybe a dark web hacker to get me a new identity when Rowan inevitably tells me to kick rocks.”
“Okay, nowthat’shistrionic. Come on, open it.”
She was right, so I did. And his words stared back at me in brilliant white against my night mode settings.
Rowan:I think there has been some miscommunication, and I believe I owe you an apology.
An apology? I was utterly baffled, and that was about the last thing I expected.
My thumbs hesitated, but only for a few moments, then they began to fly across my keyboard, almost too fast for the haptic feedback.
Me:For what?
Rowan:I’d like to talk about it in person, if you’re open. Then, after that, if you’re still interested, I’d like to take you up on that offer of a second date.
I was confused. I was intrigued. I was a bit wary.
But most of all, I had a second date to get ready for!
EIGHT
ROWAN
Epidermis Exposé
“You can do this. You’ve fought British authorities, you’ve tussled with Nazis, you’ve taken out entire corrupt covens. You’ll be fine.” I looked to Brahmagupta, who was lounging in his tree again, as was his nature. “I’m gonna be fine, yeah?”
“Mrrp!”
“I am well aware, but this is my first time purposefully going out to interact with human society for an extended length of time without so much as a wig.”
Indeed, I was going out into the world in full albino mode. No wig. No makeup. Not even contacts. I was fully being myself. Because if I couldn’t be honest with Naomi about being a vampire, the least I could do was be honest about everything else.
And if she reacted poorly, if she rejected me just like my coven, it was better if I knew that ahead of time rather than being blindsided by it later. I was still quite surprised at how intensely I’d been drawn and wrapped up in her—and howquickly it happened. I hated to think of that continuing only for it all to come screeching to a halt in a month.
I looked into the mirror again as if it would tell me anything aside from my outfit. It was a bit more modern than my last one: light-washed jeans and a short-sleeved button-up with a subtle print. As if dressed more commonly would make my uncommon appearance more palatable.
