I looked down at my feet, slightly embarrassed. “Basically, this.” I motioned to myself, wearing a grey undershirt, a blue plaid flannel over it, and ripped jeans. Yesterday I had on a different shirt.
My little sister, with an eye for fashion, rolled her eyes.
“What are they, a suit and tie?”
“Something like that,” I mumbled.
“What’s the name of her work? I’ll send someone to watch, and tomorrow night we’ll go. You’ll be presentable then.” She walked to the door and turned, looking around the room again. “Desiderio,” she sighed. “Get your shit together.” She shook her head as she exited.
The next night she burst into my room with a dress bag. She tossed it on the bed and demanded I go get dressed.
“Shower and do your hair too.” She pinched her nose, and I shot her the middle finger before doing as told.
The suit she had brought me was all black, including the dress shirt. It was slimming and fit perfectly, which given her expertise, was not surprising. I did my hair as she directed with a comb and some gel and slid the black dress shoes on. I forced a smile in the mirror, and Ludovica grimaced.
“Never do that smile in public, ever. Come on.” She reached for my hand and started pulling me out of the room.
She had chosen a pink cocktail dress, which I was almost sure she’d brought. It was covered in pink feathers and looked just as ridiculous as all her other clothing.
She had a town car waiting for us. We slid into the back, and it took us to the club.
Just like the other night, there were vampires lined up outside.
“I text Ginata earlier, and she put us on the list. She’s not joining us, but we’ll get in quick. Come on.” She reached for my hand when the car stopped and pulled me out. Begrudgingly, I followed her out and to the front of the line.
The bouncer from before was the one to greet us. He recognized me immediately. “I see you’ve found someone to steal a suit from.”
I bit my tongue as my rage began to flare. Everything about this place pissed me right the fuck off. Elvie cleared her throat.
“Ginata is our sister. We’re here visiting and wanted a drink. She said there would be a table for us.”
He scowled but looked at his tablet. “Name?”
“Ludovica.”
He found it quickly and nodded. He stepped aside and let us in. “Enjoy your night,” he said rather curtly.
We were met by a cocktail waitress dressed in a silver rhinestone bra and shorts. She took us through the dark room and sat us at a table in the back, away from prying eyes.
All the while, I scanned the room for Scout. She was nowhere to be seen.
“So, how were Dante and Tully?” Ludovica asked. After a second waitress took our drink orders and brought us a bowl of red pills. I slid the bowl away from me and shrugged. “I heard you burned their house down.”
I nodded.“They haven’t changed. Quite literally. Tully was still in his old hockey jersey. Still annoying as hell.”
That made her eyes sparkle, and she laughed. “Oh, how I miss the good old days with all of us in one place.”
“We should do it sometime. A weekend or something,” I shrugged. Her face paled, and she shook her head vehemently.
“Oh no. Tully and I— it’s too hard,” she swallowed, and just then, the waitress brought her a large glass of blood and me a glass of cinnamon whiskey. She waited until the server was gone to finish her thought. “We don’t get the ending you and Scout get.”
There was an awkward silence for a moment as I considered her words. Tully had also mentioned something to that effect, and guilt welled up inside my gut. Was I the lucky one out of all of us?
Scout was still nowhere in sight, but I finally caught a glimpse of a familiar shape. It was his movements I caught first, as I had seen those so many times it was a joke at this point, but his face only confirmed it. That was Landon behind the bar. I clenched my fists under the table and could feel the heat rising out of my body as I fought the urge to use my cards on him. He would die a slow death.
“Elvie,” I started, trying to calm myself. “Have you ever heard of soulmates that when one is far away and doing something, the other person gets transported like a ghost and is forced to watch but not interact with them?”
Her face told it all. Her mouth fell open, and her eyes went wide. “No! Did you? When? Tell me everything. What was she doing when it happened?”
