WHEN I GOT back to the house it was still empty. I invited Trace inside, and he came in with me. I was starving, so I told him I was going to make myself something to eat. He was fascinated that I could cook, and I laughed at him.
“Of course I can cook,” I laughed. “Do you think my father could?”
“I can cook,” Trace said defensively. “Men can cook, believe it or not.”
“Well, the only thing my father could cook with was a barbecue and a microwave,” I replied. “If he didn’t have a can opener, we would have starved.”
“Until you learned how to cook,” Trace said.
I nodded. “Exactly. I’ve been cooking since I was eight, and I taught myself, too.”
“You’re a very independent person.”
I walked into the kitchen after stripping out of my jacket and hanging it on the coatrack. I opened the cupboards to see what we had. I didn’t want to cook anything extravagant because I knew Audrey would be cooking dinner as soon as she got home. So I settled for cooking myself some pot stickers and egg rolls on the stovetop.
“Asian food?” Trace inquired.
I nodded. “I love Asian food. In New York there’s this amazing Chinese takeout restaurant. My dad and I would order out from it all the time. I miss that place so much.”
“If given the opportunity, would you move back to New York?” Trace asked me suddenly.
The question took me by surprise, and I had to think about it for several moments. Two months ago my answer would have been instantaneous: yes. But now I had so much more to consider. There was Trace, for instance. I didn’t know if I could bear to leave him. I also had my family to consider. Could I stand living across the country from them? It was hard to know.
“I don’t know,” I finally said. “I might go to visit, but I don’t think I could live so far away from Audrey and my sister…and you.”
He smiled, and leaned over to kiss my head. “I figured you might have said that.”
“You know me so well,” I said in a teasing way.
“I do and you know it,” Trace joked right back with me.
I looked over at him as I dropped pot stickers onto the pan. “So, what do I tell my mother the next time she ridicules me about boys?”
“You tell her you have a boyfriend.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “Um, okay.”
“If that’s what you want from me, anyway,” Trace added.
I nodded. “I do.”
He smiled crookedly at me. Trace leaned over to kiss me, but just centimeters from my lips he froze. “Someone’s here,” Trace breathed.
“Who?”
“I’m not sure but if I had to guess it’s the Greathouses.”
“Oh, no!”
“No kidding.”
I bit my lip and thought about what to do. They obviously probably wouldn’t stay, seeing as Randy wasn’t around. So I could stash Trace in my bedroom until I got rid of Scotty and Buddy.
I heard the car doors shut. I turned to Trace. “Go hide in my room!”
Trace looked appalled. “That is no way to start off a healthy relationship!”
I looked at him desperately. “I don’t want Scotty and Buddy to know you’re here.”
“They probably will, anyway,” Trace muttered. “Seeing as there’s a giant jeep on the curb.”
“Shoot,” I hissed. I had forgotten all about Trace’s car. “Um, fine. Just stay here, okay? They’re probably here to see Randy, and since he’s not here I doubt that they’ll stay for more than a minute.”
“Okay,” Trace nodded.
I went to the door and stepped out onto the front porch. Scotty was helping Buddy into his wheelchair. Buddy saw me and waved. He whispered something to Scotty, and Scotty straightened. I waved at him, but he didn’t return the gesture.
“Randy isn’t here,” I called to them. “He’s out of town with Audrey and Angel.”
“Will they be back soon?” Buddy asked me. “I need to give him something.”
“They won’t be back until later tonight,” I replied. “Can you give it to me and I’ll pass it on to him?”
“Oh no, that’s fine,” Buddy said quickly. “I need to give it to him myself. But thank you for offering.”
I looked at Scotty, who was staring at the jeep. I couldn’t tell if they were going to leave or not, so I stammered out, “Would you like to come inside?”
“No, no,” Buddy said. “We see you have company. We’ve interrupted you enough.”
“Oh, okay,” I mumbled, trying to sound dejected. “Hey Scotty, will you call me sometime?”
Scotty muttered a noncommittal answer, and I felt a pang of sadness. I did truly miss him, but I didn’t know how to make things right. He clearly thought it was bad that I was hanging around Trace Casimir, but nothing he would say or do could change that, especially after what happened in the meadow.
“We’ll be going,” Buddy nodded. “We’ll stop by some other time, Anna. Thank you.”
“No problem,” I said.
I went back inside. Trace was flipping my egg roll and pot sticker with precise expertise. For a moment I lingered in the doorway to the kitchen, watching him cook. He obviously knew what he was doing.
“Thank you for watching that for me,” I said.
Trace turned to me. “It was going to burn otherwise. We’ve had a long day and you need to eat.”
I went to him and smiled. I took the spatula from his hand and turned to my food. It was almost done. The pot stickers were getting crispy. Trace took a seat at the kitchen table, and I could feel his eyes on me as I shifted the food from the pan onto a plate. I ran cool water over the pan and it sizzled, creating a cloud of steam. Then I sat down at the kitchen table next to him.
“I have another question for you,” I said to him. “It’s so painstakingly obvious I can’t believe I didn’t think about it before.”
“What’s that?” Trace asked.
“Do you like; sleep in a coffin or something?” I asked, blushing.
Trace chuckled and shook his head. “No, I don’t sleep in a coffin. I don’t sleep at all.”
My eyebrows rose. “Really? Like, never?”
“Never.”
I pursed my lips. I enjoyed sleeping. It was an escape into a whole other world that was entirely my own creation. I didn’t know if I would be able to handle not sleeping at all. I wondered how he managed it.
“Wow,” I said.
Trace nodded.
“What do you do with your time then?” I asked him.
“I read, write, listen to music, watch movies, study, think, and go for runs,” Trace replied. “There’s a few of the things I do while the world is asleep.”
“Where do you run to?”
Trace shrugged. “I just run. I chose a direction and ran until the night was almost gone, and then I turned around and ran back home so I could go to school.”
“You said that in past tense,” I pointed out.
“I am aware of that,” Trace replied.
“What do you do now?”
Trace looked almost embarrassed. “Well, now I come here and I watch you sleep.”
I almost choked on my food. “You what?”
“I’m sorry, does that bother you?” Trace seemed upset. “I didn’t know it would upset you.”
“It’s fine,” I sputtered. “But um, I talk in my sleep!”
“I am aware of that as well,” Trace demurred. “It’s one of the reasons I enjoy watching you sleep.”
“Why?” I gasped out. I was still in shock and now I was embarrassed. “What do I say in my sleep?”
“When I first met you, a lot of it was about your father,” Trace said, his voice barely above a whisper. “About how much you missed him and how sorry you were. But as time passed you started talking less and less about him. For a week or so you dreamt about the rain and that’s all you talked about.”
“What do I talk about now?”
“Me.”
I blushed and hung my head. I should have known. I didn’t usually remember my dreams, but people often reminded me by telling me what they had heard me saying in my unconscious state of slumber.
“Oh, that’s embarrassing,” I muttered.
Trace chuckled. “No, it’s not,” he said. “It’s totally a normal thing. I’m sure if I slept and dreamt I would dream of you, too. You are on my mind at all waking hours of my day to begin with.”
I was about to reply when the house phone began to ring. I jumped up to answer it, and grabbed it off the hook. “Hello?”
“Anna, it’s Mom,” Audrey said. “We’ve decided we’re going to stay up here for the night. Will you be fine there by yourself?”
“I’ll be fine,” I replied. “Oh, and will you tell Randy that Buddy stopped by? He said he had something to give to him.”
“I’ll let him know,” Audrey said. “Okay, I’ve got to run. I’ll see you when we get home.”
“Okay.”
I hung up the phone and returned to my seat. I took care of my empty plate and brought it to the sink. I washed the plate, fork, spatula, and pan thoroughly, and stuck them in the dish strainer.
“What did your mother say?” Trace asked.
“I’m sure you could hear, with your supersensitive ears and everything,” I replied with a smile.
“You caught me,” Trace chuckled. “I heard. So they aren’t coming back tonight?”
“Nope,” I said.
Trace nodded. “If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to stay here then.”
“Um, okay,” I shrugged. “That’s fine with me.”
Trace and I headed upstairs a few minutes later. He sat down on my bed and I stood for a moment, thinking about what I wanted to do.
“Can I have a moment to clean up?” I asked. “I should probably take a shower, stuff like that.”
“If you need human time, go for it,” Trace laughed. “I’m not going anywhere.”
That’s what I was worried about.
I quickly grabbed a new change of clothes and ran back down the stairs. I hurried my way through my habitual showering ways. I took more time shaving my legs than I did washing my hair and body. Then I slivered into a tank top and basketball shorts and, after blow-drying my hair, I went back upstairs.
Trace was lying on his back on my bed with his hands under his head, staring up at my ceiling. I had for some reason expected him to be looking around my room. He looked up at me when I entered the room. I dumped my dirty clothing into my laundry basket and lined my hiking boots up in my closet with the rest of my shoes. Then I went and got in bed with him.
Trace put his arm around me and drew me close. I rested my head on his chest. I could hear his smooth breathing in his chest, but there was a hollowness there; something that was missing. It was his heartbeat.
“Your heart doesn’t beat?” I asked him suddenly.
“No,” Trace said. “I’m undead.”
“Oh.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Why would it?” I asked.
Trace shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t say. I just imagined it would scare most people away when it’s put like that.”
“I’m not most people,” I replied.
“That’s very true,” Trace mused. “You’re not like most people at all. I keep thinking that someday I’m going to tell you something and it’s going to frighten you away.”
“Don’t hold your breath on that one,” I muttered. “I don’t plan on going anywhere. Besides, I know so much that would scare the living daylights out of most people and I’m still here.”
“That’s true, too,” Trace said. “You’re very abnormal, but I think that’s what I like about you so much.”
I chuckled. “It has to be that.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I’m just perpetually a boring person,” I remarked with a casual shrug off my shoulders. “My life was mundane until the accident, and until you came along but the accident was kind of a precursor to you, I suppose.”
“A lot of bad things have happened to you since I’ve known you as well,” Trace demurred.
“Like what?” I quipped, drawing a blank.
“Well, for instance, you nearly drowned,” Trace reminded me.
I snorted. “That was my own stupidity. It had nothing to do with you. I’m sure it would have happened even if I had never met you.”
“You were almost kidnapped.”
“That has nothing to do with you either,” I pointed out. “That was just an instance of terrible bad luck. In fact, if it wasn’t for you I would probably be dead by now, or worse.”
“That’s true, when I think about it like that,” Trace mused. “But at the same time, think about what I have put you through, all of the stress and such because I couldn’t make up my mind about whether or not I could stand to be around you.” He paused for a moment. “That sounded harsh.”
“I got what you meant,” I assured him. “And honestly I didn’t mind that stress. It sort of helped to take my mind off of what I had done.”
“About your father?”
“Yes.”
Trace was quiet for a moment. “You know, you have never told me what truly happened that night.”
I looked down. “I haven’t told anyone, except the police in New York, what really happened.”
“Would you tell me?”
“It hurts to talk about,” I whispered, feeling tears burn in my eyes. “I-I can’t talk about it. At least not right now. Maybe someday, but as for today, I would rather keep the conversation light. It’s been a good day.”
“That it has,” Trace nodded. “I’m sorry for pressing it.”
“Don’t be,” I said. “It’s something that I should tell you, but right now I just can’t. I haven’t even told Audrey all of the details.”
“I understand how hard it must be to live with guilt so strong,” Trace murmured. “Because we all live with some immense guilt, that one skeleton in our closet that is the darkness in our minds.”
“I’m glad someone else sees it the same way I do,” I said. “I thought I was alone in that philosophy.”
“And perhaps someday we can share those skeletons,” Trace continued. “And in that, we will be closer.”
“Yes, we would be,” I agreed.
Trace looked down at me with a smile on his lips. “This is a depressing subject. Can we change it?”
“At any time, please.”
He laughed and rolled over until he was on his side and we were facing each other. His fingers were on my hip and knowing where his fingers were sent shivers down my spine and created warmth in me I was unaccustomed to.
“I have a proposition for you,” Trace declared.
“What’s that?” I asked.
He grinned crookedly. “How about tomorrow I take you to meet my family?”
My eyes widened. “I thought they went…camping.”
“They’ll be back early tomorrow morning,” Trace explained to me. “So if we go over to my house around noon, they will be ready for us.”
“Do they know we’re coming?”
“Is that a yes?”
I mock-glared at him. “I’ll answer your question if you answer mine.”
He rolled his eyes playfully. “Okay, I’ll play your game. Yes, they’re expecting us.”
“Do they know that we’re…together?”
“Hey, you’re supposed to answer my question first,” Trace teased me, gently poking my nose with his finger.
“Okay,” I pouted. “Yes, I will go with you tomorrow to meet your family. Now, do they know we’re together?”
“They’ve been anticipating it,” Trace replied. “At least Roslyn and Rosemary have been.”
I blushed. “Oh.”
“So you will go?”
“Yes.”
Trace smiled happily at me. “Alright.”
I leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. He kissed me back, his fingers digging into my hip.
Trace pulled away and looked down at me. “Are you nervous about tomorrow?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not,” I replied simply. “It just doesn’t scare me.”
“Being in a house full of vampires doesn’t scare you?”
I snorted. “Well, when you put it like that…no.”
Trace rolled his eyes at me, but he was smiling. “Anna Snow, you are a mystery to me each and every day.”
“That’s good,” I said. “If I was an open book, there would be nothing to learn about me.”
“That is very true,” Trace mused.
I drew myself closer to him and lay with my head on his arm wrapped around my shoulders. He wrapped his other arm around me and pulled me even closer. My eyes closed, and I knew I could happily sleep there.
“Hold on,” he demurred.
Trace got out of bed and flicked off the light. He crawled back in bed with me, and pulled the covers up over us. He settled in next to me and pulled me close against him. He was cold to cuddle against but I didn’t mind. I draped my arm across him, letting my hand rest against his chest. His arms wrapped around me, and my eyes drifted closed once again. Trace kissed the top of my head, and I snuggled up closer to him. Our feet entwined in each other’s, and we were as close as we could possibly be.
I knew within that instant that I loved him, and I loved him more than I had ever loved another being. It was with Trace that I wanted to spend my life with, and nothing was ever going to change that. He was the most amazing, compassionate, and loving person I had ever met, and I couldn’t be more grateful to call him mine at last. The feelings I felt had been building up for so long, and I wondered if I had fallen in love with him at first sight. I wasn’t sure I even believed in that sort of thing, but being with Trace made everything make less sense. But that was part of being in love—the more you loved another person, the less sense everything else made. And I was okay with that.
I drifted to sleep in Trace’s strong arms, and had the most wonderful dreams that I knew I would never recall.
* * *
I awoke to the rays of the sun falling across my face. I blinked owlishly, and felt extremely groggy and addled. I rolled onto my back, and stared at my ceiling as I tried to recall the night before. With a gasp I sat upright in bed. Trace had spent the night with me! I looked down at the bed. He wasn’t there with me. I looked over, and found him sitting in the middle of my bedroom floor with a book in his lap.
“Trace?” I breathed.
He looked up and smiled his gorgeous smile. “I thought you had gone comatose for a while there. I was worried.”
“I’m sure,” I chuckled. “What are you reading?”
“The Tempest,” Trace replied. “I’m almost done with it.”
My eyes opened in surprise. “When do you start reading it?”
“I think around five or six. It’s eight o’clock now.”
“Wow, I wish I could read that fast!” I muttered.
Trace chuckled and closed the book. “It’s a blessed curse. I like to enjoy books thoroughly, and being able to read so fast makes it feel almost like I never read them at all, even though I can recall every last detail.”
“So you have a photographic memory?” I quipped.
Trace smirked. “I do.”
“Lucky,” I demurred.
Trace stood up fluidly, and set the book on my desk. He came and sat down on the bed beside me and went to kiss me.
Feeling a moment of human insecurity, I put my finger against his lips. “I need to be human for a moment.”
“Alright,” Trace said, sounding a little confused.
“I’ll be right back,” I told him.
I pecked his cheek and skipped downstairs. I washed my face in the sink and brushed my teeth. I pulled a hairbrush through my tangled locks. When I was satisfied that I had freshened up thoroughly I went back upstairs. Trace was standing in my window and looking outside at the sunny day.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” I asked as I shut the door behind me.
“The sun?” Trace asked.
I nodded even though he couldn’t see it. “Yeah, the sun.”
“It is nice,” Trace mused. “But honestly I prefer the blue sky. And it has to be clear. It can’t have any of those wispy horsetail clouds.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I like the blue sky too.”
Trace turned and smiled at me. “I suppose you need a moment to get dressed?”
I shrugged. “You can just turn back to face the window. I’m not ashamed to change in front of people.”
“I never thought you were. It was just polite to ask.”
“True.”
Trace turned back to the window, and I went to my closet. What did one wear when going to meet a house full of vampires? Was I supposed to dress nicely? Based on how well Trace dressed, I assumed his family dressed well. I mused through my blouses and dresses, unsure what I should wear.
“Should I wear a skirt?” I asked Trace.
“A skirt?”
“A skirt.”
Trace laughed outright. “Wear whatever you feel comfortable with, Anna. It’s just my family. They aren’t royalty or anything. You could go in old sweats and a hooded sweatshirt if you wanted.”
I pulled a face. “Well, I wouldn’t do that. I think I’ll settle for a blouse and jeans. It’s casually formal.”
“That sounds nice.”
I picked out my red blouse. It was one of my favorites. It had a low-cut neckline that met in a knot below the breasts. The straps wrapped around my neck and ended in another knot between my shoulder blades with two joining straps on the back. I put it on, and matched it with a pair of dark blue skinny jeans. I decided to go with my classy lace pumps. I debated make up and doing my hair, but I decided against it. I wouldn’t put make up on to meet another boy’s family, so why should I do it for Trace’s?
“I’m decent,” I told him, and he turned around.
His face lit up when he saw me, and he breezed across the room. Trace wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off my feet, pressing his lips to mine. I giggled when he put me down, feeling giddy.
“Are you ready to go? Do you want breakfast first?” Trace asked me.
I shook my head. “No, I’m not hungry.”
“Alright,” Trace said. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll need to leave a note for my parents,” I told him as we headed down the stairs.
“What are you going to say?”
“I’ll just tell them that I’m going to be spending the day with you,” I replied easily. “They won’t mind.”
“Alright,” Trace said.
I grabbed my coat off the coatrack and locked the front door behind us. Trace held my hand as we walked down to the jeep. He helped me inside, and I buckled in. He walked around the hood and climbed in next to me. Then we were driving south out of town, a direction I hadn’t been in.
“So where exactly do you live?” I asked him.
“I live about four miles outside of town, heading southwest,” Trace replied. “It’s a pretty big property. It used to be a farm, before we bought it.”
“Is there a barn and everything?” I asked, teasing.
“Well yes, actually there is,” Trace replied matter-of-factly. “It’s a little old and rundown, but Rosemary is working on fixing it up. She enjoys architecture and that sort of thing. She did all of the interior decorating. Well, she and Roslyn did anyway.”
“That’s cool,” I said.
“Very,” Trace chuckled.
It was about a twenty minute drive out to his house. It took about ten minutes to get to his road, and then about another ten minutes to go down their driveway. The driveway was lined with trees and ferns.
When we finally pulled up in front of the house my breath was taken away. It was a luxuriously large farmhouse, white with dark green trimmings. Well-kept rosebushes lined the front of the house below the large wrap-around porch. The house was very large, and I could easily see how it could accommodate a family of eight. The yard around the house was very nicely kept, and I could hear a small creek bubbling right in the trees that surrounded the house.
“What do you think?” Trace asked me before we got out of the jeep.
“I think it’s lovely,” I breathed.
Trace and I got out of the jeep, which he left parked in the middle of the driveway, and made our way to the house. He was holding my hand as we walked up the front steps and he opened the door and stepped inside. I followed him, nearly reluctantly. I shut the door quietly behind me.
Inside the house smelled overpoweringly like Trace. I breathed it in deeply and made myself feel almost lightheaded. I focused on the house to avoid smelling the air so intensely. The front room was very open. There were black leather couches that accented the white rugs, walls, and coffee and end tables. There was a magnificent fireplace that took up almost the entire wall, and odd artwork sat on top of the mantel. To my left was a flight of stairs leading to the second floor. Going forward was a doorway, and I wondered what it led to.
“Everyone is in the kitchen,” Trace told me softly. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” I said nervously.
He smiled at me, and started for the doorway. Through the doorway I had observed was a dining room with a long glass table and black chairs. It was set to perfection, and I thought it was ironic considering the fact that Trace’s family didn’t eat like normal people did. Two long mirrors hung at each end of the room, and it took me by surprise to see Trace reflected in them. I supposed it was another myth proved wrong.
We entered the kitchen and paused in the doorway. The Casimir family was in various positions. Jolene was standing in the back of the room, staring out a window with her arms crossed over her busty chest. A petite black-haired girl sat with her knees to her chest at the kitchen table and she was playing chess with a chestnut-haired man. The matriarch of the family, a beautiful redhead, was standing against the stove with a book of interior design in her hands. Tizane was near a dark-haired man that stood at least six and half feet tall.
When we entered the room, Rosemary set her book down on the counter top and came to us. She took me in her arms and squeezed me lightly.
“Anna, how nice it is to finally meet you!” she chirped. She pulled away and looked at me, holding me by the shoulders. “Oh, Trace was right: you are beautiful!”
“Mother,” Trace muttered as I blushed.
Tizane walked over to us. He shook my hand once. “Anna, it’s a pleasure to see you again and at least this time it isn’t at the hospital.”
I nodded. “It’s nice to see you again, too.”
The petite black-haired girl skipped over to us and Rosemary and Tizane parted. The girl planted two kisses on me, one on each cheek, and flashed a blindingly white smile at me. “Hello, Anna, I’m Roslyn. And boy, you smell better than I thought you would!”
“Um, thanks?”
She tittered. “We’re going to be great friends. I can just see it already! Martin, come say hello!”
The man she had been playing chess with stood up and came to me. He shook my hand with a stiff firmness, and he looked a bit uncomfortable. “It’s a pleasure,” Martin said in a muted voice. “You’ll have to excuse me. I’m not as used to being around humans as everyone else is.”
“It’s totally fine,” I told him.
He flashed me a thin smile and returned to his seat. Roslyn smiled at me again, and I could tell I was going to like her already. Happiness rolled off of her in waves, and it was contagious. My mood was lifting.
“Are you hungry or anything, Anna?” Rosemary asked me. “I can cook you something. It would be the first time we’ve used the kitchen since we moved in.”
“Maybe next time,” I told her. “But thank you for the offer.”
She smiled. “Thomas, come say hello.”
Jolene’s head turned so fast that I heard the wind whoosh through her hair. She glared at me as Thomas, who I assumed was her significant other, walked over towards us.
Thomas was a bear of a man, nearly as wide as he was tall and it was all muscle. He had a childish face and playful eyes, and I knew he was really just a teddy bear disguised as a grizzly. This was confirmed when he picked me up in a hug, sweeping me off my feet. He set me down after a moment.
“Call me Tommy,” he said in a gruff voice. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Anna Banana. Trace has been talking about you non-stop for months now.”
I turned to Trace and smiled at him with one brow raised. “Is that so?”
“I have told you that,” Trace muttered, obviously embarrassed.
I elbowed him playfully. “I’m just teasing you.”
Roslyn looked from Trace to me. “Trace, why don’t you give her a tour of the house? It’s so lovely. I couldn’t stand it if she left before she got to see the whole place.”
“Does that sound alright to you?” Trace asked me.
I shrugged. “I’d love to see the rest of the house.”
Trace took my hand again and led me back the way we had come. The house was a maze of beauty, but I knew if I came over often enough I would get the hang of it. Each room had its own color theme, with its own style of paintings and other décor. It was a fabulous place that felt very comfortable. Trace took me upstairs. We didn’t open many of the doors because they were bedrooms, but he pointed out who’s were where. At last he showed me to his bedroom.
“Are you ready to see my room?” Trace asked me, and I nodded simply.
He opened his bedroom door and let it swing open. I stepped inside with Trace one step behind me. I stared into his bedroom. The walls were a deep blue and the carpet was golden. It reminded me of an Arabian desert. There was a long black leather couch pushed against one wall beside a towering bookshelf filled to the brim with novels and tomes. On the immediate right of the door was a wall-to-floor rack filled with vinyl records, CDs, cassette tapes, and 8-tracks. On a glass stand right beside it on the next wall was an expensive-looking set of speakers and a music player that played CDs and cassette tapes. There was also a music player that a phone, IPod, or MP3 player could be plugged into. The far wall was one large bay window that stretched from one end of the wall to the other. The walls were covered in posters from all different eras. I saw authentic World War II campaign posters, rock posters, original Beatles posters, an autographed picture of Marilyn Monroe, and an assortment of small watercolors.
I approached a watercolor. It was of a bushel of flowers that I couldn’t identify. It was absolutely beautiful, and I wanted to know who the artist was. I searched the corners of the painting for a signature.
“In case you’re wondering, I painted that one,” Trace announced to me.
I turned to him. “You painted this?”
Trace shrugged. “Hitler was good at painting, too.”
I snorted. “Lovely comparison.”
Trace came over and stood behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me against him. He kissed the top of my head, and I lounged against his solid body.
“Do you want to see my favorite watercolor?” Trace asked. “I just finished it a few nights ago.”
“Sure,” I said enthusiastically.
Trace let go of me and walked over to the end of the couch. He bent over and grabbed something, and straightened. It was the watercolor. It wasn’t big but it wasn’t small, and I couldn’t wait to see it. Trace came back to me, and turned the watercolor around so I could see it.
It was a painting of a girl with dark brown hair, and light pale skin. She had sad brown eyes. She was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and she had her arms crossed over her chest. She appeared to look very sad and lost.
“Is that me?” I whispered.
“On the first day I saw you,” Trace confirmed.
I felt tears well up in my eyes. I looked miserable in the watercolor, and I couldn’t believe how well Trace had managed to make my emotions look real.
Trace frowned. “Are you going to cry? Please don’t cry, Anna.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to cry. It’s just…wow. I look so sad in the watercolor. It’s hard to believe.”
“That’s what you really looked like,” Trace told me. “I have a photographic memory, remember?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. I remembered looking in the mirror every morning and thinking I looked normal, when I never looked normal at all in reality.
“I plan on starting a second one,” Trace announced. “It’s going to be how you look now. I promise it will be much happier.”
I nodded.
“Would you like to sit on the couch?” Trace asked me as he set the watercolor down on his organized desk, and I nodded again.
Trace’s arms were around my waist and in a moment I was airborne. Then I was falling, and Trace caught me in his arms like a baby. He was already sitting on the couch, and now I was sitting on his lap in his arms. I blinked twice.
“Did that take you by surprise?” he asked me in a teasing voice.
I head-butted him lightly. “Yes, you meanie head.”
“I’m a meanie head now?” Trace laughed. “Well, my sincerest apologies go to you, my fair lady.”
“And I accept it with all the dignity I have left,” I joked with him.
Trace shook his head as he smiled. “Your dignity is perfectly intact. I don’t think anyone can harm that.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I asked.
He pursed his lips. “I don’t believe it is.”
I laughed. “Okay.”
Trace smiled at me and shifted us until we were both lying down on the couch. It was barely wide enough to hold the both of us, and I was almost half on top of him.
“No bed?” I suddenly realized.
He shook his head.
“I guess it would be just an unnecessary detail,” I shrugged. “Since you don’t sleep it would be a waste of money.”
“It’s not a money issue,” Trace replied. “I’ve never found the need to have a reminder of something I can’t do or have been rubbed in my face.”
“I understand,” I nodded.
“But I’ve been considering getting a bed lately,” Trace added.
My eyebrows lifted. “Why is that?”
Trace smiled softly at me. “For when you spend the night with me here. I wouldn’t make you sleep on a couch. It couldn’t be comfortable at all.”
“You don’t have to get a bed just for me,” I told him. “Besides, I doubt I’ll be here much. I’m sure Audrey and Randy wouldn’t approve of me spending the night with my boyfriend.”
“Unless I sneak you out,” Trace replied. “This is very easy to do. And besides, wouldn’t it be nice if we could lie comfortably in a bed while you’re here instead of squeezed together on this tiny couch?”
“I suppose,” I said, seeing his reasoning. “I just don’t want you to spend your money.”
“Darling,” Trace said. “This isn’t me trying to brag or anything, but I’m serious when I say money isn’t an issue. When you’ve been around for quite some time like I have been, money sort of gathers itself.”
“I see,” I nodded. “So you’re…wealthy?”
“Wealthy would be a good word to describe my family and I.”
I nodded again.
“That doesn’t bother you, does it?” Trace asked me, suddenly sounding unsure of himself.
I shook my head. “Not at all! I’m just trying to wrap my head around it is all. I’ve never been anything close to rich in my whole life.”
“It doesn’t change anything about me,” Trace said quietly.
“No, it doesn’t,” I said. “I think you’re still a wonderful person to be around. You could be homeless and I’m sure I would still want to be with you.”
Trace smiled. “That’s good.”
“Your room is nice, even though it doesn’t have a bed,” I told him suddenly. “It’s really peaceful and unique.”
“So is yours,” Trace remarked. “I enjoy your room more than I do mine, but I’m sure your company has something to do with that.”
“Probably.”
There was a knock on the door. It sounded a little frantic. “Trace?” Roslyn’s soprano voice called from the other side. “Virginia is on her way back!”
Trace sat upright. “I thought she wasn’t going to be back until tonight?”
“She didn’t say why she’s coming back, but she’ll be here soon!” Roslyn said, opening the door and stepping inside. Her light pale eyes were wide. “What are we going to do?”
“I need to get Anna out of here,” Trace muttered, and stood up. He dragged me to my feet.
“Wait, what’s going on?” I demanded to know.
“Virginia is on her way back,” Trace told me. “That is not good. She’s…not as good at keeping herself in check around humans as the rest of us. She’s worse than Martin and I’m afraid with as good as you smell she won’t be able to handle it.”
“Shoot,” I mumbled.
“That’s right,” Roslyn tittered. “Trace, you better get her out of here quick!”
“Let’s go,” Trace said to me.
Without warning he scooped me up in his arms. He ran down the stairs and out of the house so fast I barely registered what had happened before he stopped dead on the front porch. Trace swore a word I thought I would never hear him say.
“What?”
“She’s already here.”
“Come back inside!” Rosemary cried from the front door as Martin and Tommy whizzed past Trace and I so fast that the breeze they created stirred my hair.
Trace turned around and ran back into the house. The front door slammed shut behind us, and Trace deposited me in the kitchen. They sat me down at the kitchen table, and Roslyn, Rosemary, Tizane, and Trace formed a protective line in front of me.
“Is she really that bad?” I asked no one in particular.
“She can be,” Tizane replied. “I love her, but her will isn’t as strong as ours. She kills more often than not. I know she tries not to, but she was reared to be a brute vampire, not a gentle soul like the rest of us.”
I bit my lip. “You guys will protect me, right?”
Rosemary turned her head and smiled warmly at me. “Of course we will, sweetheart.”
Trace nodded. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Anna. I swear that to you.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“She’s just fed, so perhaps she won’t be as ravenous as she would be if she was thirsty,” Roslyn said.
“Hopefully,” Rosemary agreed.
“Where is Jolene?” Trace asked.
“She left not long after you and Anna went upstairs,” Tizane replied. “She needed time to think. That’s what Jolene told us, anyway.”
Trace hissed. “It would be better if she were here.”
“I’m sorry,” Tizane said sincerely.
“It isn’t your fault, Father,” Trace remarked. “We’ll just have to make do with what we—”
The front door burst open.
“Martin, Tommy, let me go!” roared a female’s voice. “I’m perfectly capable of handling myself in front of Trace’s pet!”
“Stop fighting us, Virginia!” Martin hissed. “Make this easier on yourself and leave now!”
“I’m perfectly fine!” Virginia protested. “I was just hunting.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tommy said gruffly.
“It’s not that we don’t trust you, Virginia, it’s just that we know our instincts are hard to control,” Martin told her reassuringly.
“I’m fine!” Virginia said.
Then the three of them burst into the kitchen. Tommy and Martin were holding her by her arms, and she wasn’t really fighting them. Virginia was dragging them with her and they were struggling against her.
“Ooh, you do smell lovely,” Virginia murmured, her eyes meeting mine. She smiled at me in a friendly way. Then she looked around at her family. “See, I’m completely fine! My thirst is under control. I’m under control.”
Tizane and Trace exchanged a look.
“I would feel better if you were gone until Anna and I leave,” Trace demurred to his sister.
Virginia looked hurt. “I can’t believe you guys don’t trust me,” she pouted. “I have been doing really well lately, haven’t I?”
“You have,” Tizane admitted. “We just can’t have any incidents here, Virginia. You should understand why.”
“I do,” Virginia replied. “I just think you should have a little more faith in me.”
“Let her go,” Rosemary said to Tommy and Martin. “I think we’re okay.”
“Let’s just keep some distance between you and Anna, alright?” Trace said to Virginia.
Virginia nodded. “Trust me brother, the last thing I want is to harm or kill Anna. I’m not a vicious monster.”
“I know that,” Trace told her. “Just behave yourself and keep your distance.”
“I will.”
Tommy and Martin released her, and Trace stepped out of the line they had formed and pulled me to my feet. He turned to Virginia. “Virginia, this is Anna.”
“It’s nice to meet you, even from a distance,” Virginia joked.
“You too,” I said quietly.
“I don’t want you to be afraid of me,” Virginia said. “My legacy is far greater than what I actually am. Back in the day, before I met Tizane, I would have slaughtered you without thinking twice. But I’m not like that anymore.”
“I understand,” I nodded. “But I’d still like to keep my distance from you. I don’t want there to be any…incidents.”
“That’s fine by me,” Virginia said. “The more time I spend around you, the more accustomed I will be to smelling you so my thirst will be less powerful.”
“That’s good,” I said.
“Anna, would you like to go home now?” Trace asked me. “Or go back upstairs?”
I pursed my lips. “I should probably get home, honestly.”
“Okay,” Trace said.
Rosemary came and hugged me again. “It was very nice meeting you. You will have to come back soon. Maybe I’ll even cook you dinner.”
“I’d like that,” I told her.
Roslyn came and kissed my cheeks again. “You and I will have to go shopping sometime,” she told me. “You look like you like clothing.”
“I do, kind of,” I laughed.
Tizane embraced me as well. “It’s always a pleasure seeing you. You make my son so happy.”
Martin told me goodbye from across the room by Virginia. Tommy picked me up in another hug, squeezing me.
“Can’t. Breathe,” I muttered.
“Sorry,” Tommy grinned, setting me down. “Sometimes I don’t know my own strength. Well, little sister, I’ll see you around.”
For some reason I almost felt honored when he called me ‘little sister’.
With all goodbyes done, Virginia left the room and went upstairs so Trace and I could leave. We walked out onto the front porch. He kissed my forehead.
“And that’s my family,” he demurred.
“They’re very nice,” I remarked.
“Let me go get my car,” Trace said. “It’s in the garage. You don’t mind waiting here for me, do you?”
“Not at all,” I said.
Trace was gone. He returned just moments later driving his Mazda 3. I climbed into the passenger side, and we began the drive back into town. When we arrived at my house, Buddy’s truck was in the driveway as well as Randy’s. I was saddened. I was hoping to spend more time with Trace, but I knew things would not go over well if Trace and the Greathouses were in the same vicinity.
With a long goodbye kiss, Trace left me to deal with Scotty and Buddy. I walked into the house, intent on going directly to my room. But Audrey had other plans for me, and I had to follow them.
“Anna, come sit with us,” she called in a voice that told me I couldn’t get out of doing it.
“Okay,” I muttered.
“Where have you been?” Audrey asked me casually.
“I was with Trace,” I said. “At his house. He wanted me to meet his family.”
Audrey nodded slowly, letting that sink in. “Is there anything you would like to tell me?”
I felt embarrassed. She was interrogating me in front of Buddy and Scotty. Buddy was looking at me with deep interest, and Scotty was staring down at his shoes. I could feel that my cheeks were blood-red.
“No,” I said.
“Okay,” Audrey nodded again. “Have a seat and spend some quality time with us then.”
“We hardly ever see you anymore,” Randy quipped. “You’re always with that Casimir boy.”
“We’re…good friends,” I said. “I enjoy spending time with him.”
“If you say so,” Randy said, turning his attention back to Buddy. They were in the middle of a conversation clearly.
I went and sat down on the couch, at the opposite end from where Scotty was sitting. I felt extremely awkward and unwanted. I stared down at my hands, folded and placed in my lap. I wanted to escape to my bedroom, but at the same time I wanted to ask Scotty to go somewhere with me so we could talk. I weighed my options.
After much trepidation I decided to ask Scotty to go for a walk with me.
“Hey Scotty,” I said softly. “Do you want to go on a walk with me?”
“Um…” Scotty definitely sounded uncertain. “Why?”
“I think we should talk.”
Scotty was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “I don’t think we have much to talk about, Anna.”
“I think we do. Will you please just give me a minute of your day?”
He sighed. “Let’s go.”
Scotty and I stood up at the same time. “We’re going for a walk,” I said to Audrey, who nodded in response.
Scotty and I walked out the front door and started down the street. We walked for several minutes in silence. He was the one to break the quiet.
“So, what’s on your mind?”
“I just want to know one thing, Scotty,” I said to him. “Are you mad at me for whatever reason?”
“I have one specific reason,” Scotty replied. “And I think you know what that reason is.”
I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Whatever it is, just tell me. If it’s about Trace I’m sorry. I just…I can’t help but be with him.”
“You’re with him?” Scotty exclaimed.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” I remarked. “But yes, yes we are.”
“Anna…” Scotty moaned. “That guy is bad news. His whole family is. I thought I told you that!”
“I think you’re wrong,” I muttered.
“Look, my dad is scared of them for whatever reason,” Scotty admitted to me. “I don’t know why exactly. He won’t say. But if my dad has a reason to be afraid of someone, it’s a damn good reason. I think you should stay far, far away from that whole family.”
“It’s my life,” I snapped irately. “And I think there’s nothing wrong with being with a—” I cut off. I was about to say vampire! “With a person that I know isn’t a bad person.”
“Whatever you say, Anna,” Scotty said. “But when he hurts you in whatever way, don’t come crying to me because I told you so.”
I felt like I had been slapped. Scotty, the boy who had been my best friend since I moved to Reedsport, had basically just forsaken me. I stopped walking in the middle of the street, feeling tears stinging in my eyes.
“Anna?” Scotty said.
“Just go then,” I cried out. “If you’re going to be such a jerk to me, then go away and don’t come back!”
I turned and ran back towards my house as tears began to spill down my cheeks. I burst in through the front door and slammed it behind me. Ignoring Randy and Audrey’s wondering questions I ran upstairs and kicked my bedroom door shut behind me. I threw myself on my bed and sobbed into my pillow until I fell asleep.