I answer the phone as I climb into the van. “Hey, Mom.”
I want to praise myself for sounding so calm after such an insane morning. I mean, the last couple of days have been hell.
“Evan! Hi!” Mom always sounds like talking to me is the best part of her day.
“How are you?”
“Fine, I guess. I had a few minutes, so I thought I’d give you a call.”
“Well, I’m glad. It’s always good to hear from you. Is the agency still treating you okay?”
She chuckles. “Yeah, but it’s hard work in this market. No one wants to buy a house right now, no matter how pretty I make it.”
I chuckle. Mom can make even the ugliest house feel like a home. It’s how she got hired as a professional stager for Spokane’s largest real estate company.
Man, if she could only see this place. She would lose her mind.
“Anyway, what’s new with you?” Mom says. “You sound happier than the last time we talked.”
I smile despite everything. “Yeah. Um, you’ll never believe it, but I found Jericho.”
She gasps. “What?”
“Or he found me really, but yeah. I’m with him right now, actually.”
I can easily picture her with a hand over her heart as she processes the news. Eyes wide and mouth agape. She cares about Jericho just as much as I do, and even helped me look for him when she could. “Well, don’t stop there! Tell me everything! How is he? What happened?”
“Do you remember that interview he went to?”
“The one in Prodigy? Yeah. You went to find him, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Well,” I hesitate, realizing I should have told her about this a long time ago. She’s going to hate what I’m about to say. “He was turned that night, Mom. That’s why he didn’t come back.”
“Turned? What do you… Wait, as in… oh, God. Jericho’s avampire?”
“Yeah, but he’s fine, I promise. And that’s why he stayed away, to—”
“And you said you’rewith him?”
Shit. I knew this wouldn’t be easy. “Yes, but everything’s under control. He’s fine.” At least, as far as I know. I haven’t actually seen his bloodlust tested yet.
Mom groans. “Oh, Evan. No! That’s not okay!”
I take a deep breath. I had six months to adjust to the idea of Jericho being a vampire, so I can’t blame her for reacting the way she is. Hell, Istruggled with it at first too, wondering if I’d ever feel safe around him again. In the end, I decided if I could feel safe around Ralph and Pansy, then I could feel safe around my best friend.
Mom doesn’t say anything for a long time. “I’m… well, I don’t know what to say. Are you sure that’s safe?”
“He’s in control, and he’s doing well. Actually, he’s almost exactly the same, aside from like… normal changes of course. But yeah, we’re hanging out again.”
And coming up with a plan to kill his psychotic sire…But I definitely can’t tell Mom that. She’d have a heart attack.
“Are you sure he’s okay, though? Because I’ve known a few vamps who struggled with their thirst for years, Evan. Years! And he only disappeared what, nine or ten months ago? That’s not—”
“Hold up. You know vampires?” I thought Mom only hung out with humans.
Mom hesitates. “One of my closest friends was turned when you were about seven years old.”
My eyes widen. “Who?”
