“No. If being your friend means being able to take you out during the day then I’ll work on it,” he says with a smirk.
I place a hand on my hip. “Warin, you’re a vampire.”
“Yes. A very rich one,” he replies, placing his hand on my shoulder.
The touch sends a tingle down my spine, and it’s impossible to ignore.
“But you are a witch. Which means you need around six to eight hours of sleep a night. I wouldn’t be against you going nocturnal, but as it stands, you need your rest and I have a slayer to track down.”
“Uh, okay?”
He walks me all the way to my room, not entering the doorway.
“Have a wonderful night, Ember. I’ll work on our friendship date,” he says, not allowing me to answer as he shuts the door.
I blink at the wood, before gripping the handle and swinging the door open, but of course, he’s long gone.
“What the actual fuck?” I whisper to myself as I turn around in the room.
Gus is eating popcorn, nodding his small head.
“I say the same thing every time you go off and do something stupid. What did you do now?”he asks.
“I think I just agreed to be friends with a vampire.”
“At least he has good snacks.”
I walk over to him and touch his forehead, which he swats away. “Oh my gods, Gus. Did they Stockholm Syndrome you with food alone?”
“The chef made this popcorn on the stove, Ember. Then she poured Isigny Ste Mère butter on top. It’s honestly about time I started being treated like a king. Plus, not a single fairy in sight. These vampires are deathly quiet.”He laughs maniacally for a moment at his own joke.
His laughter quickly ends as I grab a fistful of popcorn and shove it in my mouth.
“Oh, this is really good,” I mumble as I swallow, grabbing another fistful.
“Get your own, witch. And go suck up to that vampire so I can have a rich step daddy.”
“Gus,” I chastise. “You hated him. You told me how stupid I was for letting him in the house, how we were all going to die.”
“I’m a confident enough familiar to admit when I was wrong. I was wrong. This is the life,”he sighs, relaxing more into his chaise as he lounges deeper into the chair.
I consider telling him what I saw in Warin’s memories, but something stops me. It was a private moment, one filled with insecurity, and Warin showed it to me. Telling Gus would be an invasion of that trust and I just can’t do it.
Could I truly be friends with Warin? Could I truly trust him to be honest with me?
I think back on all my interactions with him. He’s been rude and demanding, sure. But he’s never been pointlessly cruel. He’s never tried to harm me. Manipulate me, sure. But something tells me that the reason Warin manipulates people is because he thinks he knows best.
No matter how much good he’s done, though, I think back to the memory and how he took both men’s lives. I do think he believes he was in a do or die moment, but it still gives me pause.
Even if I’m drawn to him, I need to be smart about this. If he wants to be friends, he needs to earn it, with actions and being truthful.
The house is extremely quiet during the daytime. The only sounds are when Gus is eating or when I go down to the kitchen.
I realize then that I’m almost aching for it to be nighttime, so I have someone to talk to. Which is embarrassing.
I’m almost missing the fairies bitching and complaining about every single thing. It makes me wonder if I’m incapable of being alone or if I’m just endlessly lonely?
How could I be lonely when I’m surrounded by an ornery raccoon, catty fairies, or my amazing friends?
