It was one step, but it was a big one, and I almost wanted to cry. Who knew, maybe I would. But probably only after the macarena wrapped up.
TWENTY-ONE
ROWAN
Bombs Away
Naomi was glowing.
She always glowed with an ethereal energy, but tonight she was absolutely resplendent. With the happy pink on her cheeks and the sheen of sweat on her brow as we danced, she was the picture of total happiness.
And I loved it.
Lovedher.
I really,reallydid.
We’d packed so much into less than a year of knowing each other, and although it was extremely fast—at least from my perspective—I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my time with her. How long that was, and whether she’d eventually take the bite to make that forever, were decisions to be made down the road, but I knew without a singular doubt in my mind that whether it was five, fifteen, fifty, or five hundred years, I wanted them all to be withher.
The emotions surging through me were a little discordant with Lil Jon’s proclamation for me to get low, but no matter. I’d agonized over how to say the words for weeks now, and now they began to burst out of my mouth of their own accord.
“Naomi, I?—”
“Wow, this is quite the little party you have going on here.”
If it were anyone else, I probably would have kept right on dancing. The thing was, it wasn’t just anyone. Although we weren’t close, I would recognize Orthallow’s voice anywhere, even if it was completely impossible that he would ever attend our misfit mixer.
Naomi noticed that I jolted, losing the rhythm of the side step we were doing, and looked over my shoulder with a warm, welcoming smile that my fellow vampire didn’t really deserve.
“Hello. Are you a friend of Rowan’s?”
“Something like that,” Orthallow said. “We’ve known each other for a few years. Obviously, I had to come and support our favorite music nerd. If anything, I knew the music would be rockin’.”
Huh.
This was not the confrontation I had expected. Was that pessimistic of me? Or was my fellow vampire pulling a trick?
I didn’t think so, as he sounded quite genuine. Even with the whole Celestia situation, I had been able to tell something was up with him. As much as Orthallow tried to be the cool, debonair undead, his tones were pretty readable sometimes.
“Well, I thank you for your support. If you’re thirsty, we have a small supply of chilled bloodwine in the kitchen. I can put it on a warmer for you, or you can have it as is.”
“Don’t worry yourself. You’ve got a lot of signage around, so I’m sure to figure it out. I just wanted to make sure I thanked you for doing this, Rowan.”
There was warmth to his voice that I hadn’t expected, and when I met his gaze, I saw a myriad of things there. Some uncertainty, some shame, and maybe it was naïve of me, but mostly I saw someone who wanted to change.
If he wanted that, who was I to stand in his way? He was still young, after all.
“Glad to have you here. But you should know, the real brains behind this is Naomi, my partner.”
Orthallow’s glance went from me, to Naomi, then back to me. This time, his smile was more certain. “I see your taste has much improved. Charmed, Miss Naomi. Don’t let this one fool you, he can be a rightbeastwhen he wants to be.”
I didn’t know if my girlfriend had sensed the tension when he’d first walked up or if the triumph of the day had her loose-lipped and fuzzy, because she looked him right in the face and said, “Oh, believe me, I know, and Ilikeit.”
That got a laugh out of the vampire. “Well then! I’ll leave you to it. Happy Valentine’s Day, you lovebirds.”
“Right, it’s V-day this weekend,” Naomi murmured, her eyes going wide. “Kind of crazy to think about. I was so caught up in planning the mixer, I didn’t realize it was coming up.”
“That’s all right. I think it would be nice to celebrate with a low-key night in. Just you, me, and some delicious food for you and drink for me.”
