“Talk to him.I’ve heard communication is the key to a healthy relationship,” Glenn preached in a snooty tone as if he were imitating someone.
“Is that what you heard?”He smiled at Glenn’s accent.Glenn might appear flighty to some, but his sunny personality always cheered Quentin up when he began to spiral.
“My therapist is big on self-awareness and communication, not to mention that fancy necklace Jaks gave you screams commitment.”
“Who’s your therapist?”He decided to ignore Glenn’s opinion of his extravagant, possibly cursed, necklace.The Eye of Winter, with its giant diamond and platinum snowflake, could only be removed by his lover and was famous in vampire circles.It also placed a giant ‘taken’ tag around Quentin’s neck.
“Dr.Wesson.He specializes in the mental and physical health of vampires.He’s great.Your Loverboy recently hired him for the clan.He was a doctor before he was turned against his will.He specializes in the trauma of converting to vampirism.”
“Wow, that’s something.What happened to his attacker?”
“I’m not sure of the facts, but rumor has it that the good doctor took his sire out with prejudice.Everyone is shaky about the details, but from everything I heard, it wasn’t pretty, and no one has challenged Dr.Wesson since.”
“Huh, trust Jaks to hire a badass physician.”
Glenn laughed.“ I’ve only had two sessions with him, but he’s really helped.I think having gone through pretty much the same thing helps him guide me through my issues.”
“Good.I’m glad to hear it.”No matter how cheerful he appeared, Glenn had previously confessed to Quentin that he still had nightmares about his transformation.Maybe this doctor could help his friend.
“Jaks told me that they’re still looking for ways to convict your sire once they get hold of him.”
Glenn’s cheerful expression clouded.“Isn’t he still in the woods?Can’t they just go in there and get him?”
“You would think so,” Quentin agreed.“But entering his territory unprovoked could start a clan war.”
“Even though he turned me against my will?”
“We can’t prove he did it unless we can get close enough to match the magical signatures.Since you weren’t one of Jaks’s people before the turn, he can’t attack after the fact.”
“That’s a nice catch-22,” Glenn growled.
“Right!I thought about sending in bounty hunters, but unless there’s an active bounty, they won’t risk their licenses to capture a vampire.”
Glenn sighed.“Let’s finish packing and get out of here.Then you can tell me all the steamy, depraved things you do with your boyfriend.”He wiggled his eyebrows at Quentin.
Quentin laughed.“I’m not going to tell you what I do with Jaks.He’d kill me.”
Still bickering, they gathered all of Quentin’s things, and he spelled them into a dozen orbs, which he sent home with a pulse of magic.Hopefully, they went to the correct location.Just as he was getting ready to leave, he found a missed spell ball.He tucked it into his pocket to put away later.
“Were you planning to go back to the manor?”
Glenn nodded.“Yeah, wanna give me a lift?”
“How did you get here?”
“I took the bus.”
He tried to wrap his mind around a newly turned vampire riding the bus, but the image soon twisted into a sitcom scenario.Instead of getting into what a bad choice that had been, he agreed.“I can do that.”
They had to go outside for Quentin to teleport.The fields used to block magical interference prevented Quentin from teleporting from the lab.Once they were clear, they vanished from the front of the building and appeared in the vampire mansion’s foyer.
“That’s crazy useful.I wish I could teleport at will.”
Quentin smiled.“It takes a lot of energy, but it does save on car maintenance and parking fees.”
“I bet.”
With murmured goodbyes, they split up to continue their day.Quentin climbed the stairs in search of the space Jaks said he had reserved for Quentin’s workshop.He knew it was somewhere on the third floor to allow for natural light.Especially since an explosion in the basement could take out the mansion’s foundation.A fact he shared with his vampire when Jaks mentioned he was considering a basement lab.
