The Luna Cure

SIX

"You monsters put bottles of Tabasco in her cake. The cake she made for the Vampire King. She should've hung you." Dante said from the peninsula. I nearly jumped in the air. I hadn't even noticed he was here.

He had a mug of something in front of him, and a newspaper that he was reading. He was wearing a crisp suit, and it fit snugly on his arms. Oh my.

I shook my head, looking away from him. If I hadn't seen him, I could very well have missed Batilda. I wasn't even supposed to be near Dante, let alone in the same room.

Tristan rolled his eyes. "You suggested we put garlic in it, you hypocrite. Stop trying to make us look bad in front of our, um, guest."

Dante gave his brother a half smile. "If you knew how snobby the vampire council is, you'd want a little garlic in there too." He turned his smile to me now.

"Good afternoon. I'm happy to see you've finally discovered the kitchen. I'm surprised your sister didn't show you where it was."

I shrugged, not looking at him. Or, trying not to look at him. But that suit was fine, and on him it was exquisite. He was just so handsome, I couldn't help not looking.

"So, what'll it be, Flo? I'm gonna start calling you Flo, because Florence is long." I tried not to flinch at the name, but a sharp pain pierced my heart. I hadn't heard that name in so, so long. My brothers had always called me Flo. They had always joked that if any of them ever had a kid, I would be Aunt Flo, and that always made me die of laughter.

I closed my eyes, trying to stop the memories, trying to forget my family for just a second. At least in the presence of witnesses.

I shook myself out of my thoughts. Feeling my lips twitch upwards, I pretended to type on a phone. Triton got the memo quickly, and handed me his phone, opened up to the same typing thing I used yesterday.

I'm not really all that hungry. I'm fine with going back up to the library.

Triton took his phone back and immediately shook his head.

"No. Bullshit. You must be starving. Now, I'm a much better cook than this idiot, but that doesn't mean I'm Gordon Ramsey. I can make you a grilled cheese, and that's about as fancy as it gets. And you don't get to go back upstairs and hide until you are done eating."

Tristan walked over to his brother, handing him the laptop he grabbed from upstairs, and Dante smiled as thanks.

All the boys then went to work, with Triton at the stove, Dante typing away furiously on his laptop, and Tristan sitting next to Dante, chomping away on some potato chips he found in the two seconds he was out of my sight.

"Hey Flo, unless you find staring around the room really interesting, you can sit here." He motioned to the seat next to Dante, on the peninsula.

I froze at both the name and the idea. No. I couldn't sit next to Dante.

So I smiled, trying to cover up my fear. Batilda would kill me without a second thought. 'I'm fine here.' I mouthed. Hopefully he would understand me in short phrases.

Dante glanced up for just a second, his expression unreadable, before he dove back into his world of typing.

"Ah, shit. I burnt it. I told you, I can't do these things. Do you want me to make you a new one?" He looked over at me.