CHAPTER 18
BIRTHDAY BOY
IT was the day he had been dreading.
Twenty-two seemed like a monumental year – then again, wasn't every year of your twenties monumental? Twenty-two meant that you had been drinking legally for over a year. It meant that you were in the big leagues now, an actual adult. There was no way he could call himself a kid anymore. In just a year's time, he'd be twenty-three, and no one likes you when you're that age – at least, that's what Blink-182 said.
He was woken up that morning by a huge mass falling onto his chest. Not exactly the way he wanted to wake up, but Hadley found the snort that erupted from his chest too funny. She sat on top of his torso, curling her legs beneath her as she drummed her fingers onto his chest. Her mouth formed into a big grin, one that Percy never wanted to go away. His heart sped up.
"Happy birthday!" She squealed, running her fingers through his honey locks. His hair was sprayed across the pillow in a collision of gold and sunlight. "Twenty-two looks good on you."
"How did you know it was my birthday?" Percy arched a brow. "I don't remember telling you the exact date."
Hadley's stare shifted, as if she had been caught in the act. She smiled again and tapped her temples with the pads of her fingers. "It's all you've been thinking about, Perce." She scoffed like it was obvious. Her cheeks flushed pink. "You're very loud in there."
Percy bit the inside of his cheek. He hoped that she didn't hear some of the other carnal thoughts he had of her at the most random moments. "Is this you admitting that you can read my mind?"
She shrugged. "Only when I want to."
"That's comforting."
She giggled, straightening her back so she didn't look like a predator confronting its prey. Hadley pushed a few tufts of blonde hair from his eyes. "So, what do you want to do to celebrate this splendid day?"
Percy felt like pressing a pillow over his face. "Do you want the truth or a lie?"
Hadley tapped her chin. "I don't know. Give me both."
"Okay, well – I want this to be my last birthday. I don't even want to be twenty-two, honestly." He exhaled heavily. "As for the lie, I could say that this day is going to be the best one of my life, but even I'm not that great of a liar."
"Percy, I'm not inflicting you on your birthday."
"Does that mean you'll turn me in the future?"
Hadley frowned. "No," she replied, "and wipe those puppy dog eyes off your face. You can't convince me to do anything."
Percy scoffed loudly, lifting his chin to look away from her, but he couldn't do it for long. His eyes always wanted to go back to her, as if they were attracted to her through a magnetic force. Hadley laughed at his annoyance and brushed her thumb across his red cheeks. She could feel the warm blood underneath his skin, pumping through his veins. "Percy, your birthday is definitely something to celebrate. Are you really that upset that you can't live forever? It's not all that it's cracked up to be."
"Okay, maybe you're right: my birthday is something to celebrate," he countered, "but my aging is not."
Hadley stifled a laugh. "Your aging? I think twenty-two might be a little young to start worrying about that. Wait until your twenty-nine, when your thirties approach."
"That's ..." He rubbed at his forehead. "That's not the point." Percy slowly sat up, which caused Hadley to move to his side. She kept a slight distance between them, as if his heart rate full of hot blood was too much to bear. "I'm twenty-two. What's that, like, two years older than you?"
"No, it isn't," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm thirty-seven, technically."
Percy's expression twisted. "You know, maybe I shouldn't be dating such an old woman. It's gross. I should be thoroughly repulsed, right?"
Hadley bared her pearly whites, lips pulling into a wide grin. She leaned in then, teeth knocking into his as she kissed him. Percy couldn't help his hands from immediately clutching the back of her head, bringing her even closer. She caressed the sides of his face, while he used his thumb to brush across the nape of her neck. For a second, he felt a scar near her collarbone – the wound from when Elizabeth turned her. A warmth pooled into his stomach, and he felt it all the way to his toes. He almost wished he didn't wear anything when he went to sleep, but that just made it easier for her to touch him in the morning, if she was feeling bold.
Percy took one of her hands in his, guiding it over and placing her fingers on his lap. She could feel him harden beneath the sheets, which caused her to pull away from the kiss. Spit dribbled onto Percy's chin, but he wiped it away quickly. Hadley was smiling big at him, refusing to remove her cold hand.
"You get birthday sex at the end of your birthday, silly." She chuckled, taking her hand away to run it through her hair. Sighing under her breath, she resumed their conversation: "So about those birthday plans?"
Percy covered his hands with his face.
"You can't get out of this that easy, Perce."
He peeked through his fingers, sending her a glare.
Hadley simply arched a brow. "I know! How about I made you cake and invite all the good people at the Cortez – which is, like, three people. James won't be invited, don't worry. I'm sure it'll be a blast –"
"That sounds like a terrible idea."
"Well, that's just your wrong opinion."
Percy smacked his hands onto the sheets. She looked so excited, and he would be a fool to deny her of something like this, no matter how much he didn't want to. He needed to stop being so whipped, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. His former friends would be so displeased with him. Maybe he couldn't blame them.
"Fine," he muttered, "you can make a party."
He would do anything to see the grin she gave him every day. He might even kill to see it.
•••
Percy had never liked his birthday. Truthfully, he didn't like a lot of things, but his birthday was definitely up there. Birthdays were a time of celebration; to rejoice in yet another year of living with your favorite people. He never quite had that.
His parents remembered his birthday – as any good parents would – but parties were out of the question. They didn't have the money to hold one. He never had one of those "Sweet 16" parties. His sixteenth birthday was spent in his room, playing Call of Duty with a slice of strawberry-vanilla cake in his lap.
His friends hardly remembered. He didn't blame them. It was right before Thanksgiving break, and everyone had their family to worry about. Percy used to walk through the halls of his high school, looking at the birthday notes people would stick on their friends' lockers. He didn't mind his friends not remembering his birthday – I really don't, he would tell himself – but the sight of these notes made him sad. He wanted notes on his locker. He wanted a party.
Because of this, he began to resent his birthday. Percy didn't care about people remembering. He didn't need notes on his locker. He didn't ask to have a party. His birthday was just another day, except he was a year older. But after learning about Hadley's affliction, he started to dislike his birthday even more. He didn't want to age anymore. Couldn't he just be twenty-two forever?
Hadley was wrong. Humanity was overrated.
But he let her throw whatever kind of celebration she wanted. While he disliked parties now, he didn't like telling her, "No." Plus, there was going to be cake. You'd have to be an idiot to hate birthday cake.
Hadley was doing her best to prepare a party. She was excited for it, despite having a secret vendetta. (She hoped – prayed – that this party would show Percy how nice it was to have a birthday every year, to grow older. She was truly asking for a miracle on this one.) However, Hadley Monroe wasn't a party planner. Elizabeth was – in fact, the older vampire excelled at celebrations. But there was absolutely no way she'd help with this one. She wasn't a fan of Percy, and at the very least, all Hadley could expect from her was to maybe show up.
Hadley wasn't a cook, and Percy knew that. He had her food most of the time. But Hadley was definitely not a baker. She managed to somehow fuck up a Betty Crocker cake mix, leaving Iris to finish another cake. She knew what to do, and from scratch. "I used to bake all of Donovan's birthday cakes," she explained, whipping the batter in her hands. "His friends would inhale it. He loved my cakes. Donovan was such a good child."
Iris seemed so happy when she talked about Donovan. They all hoped he was better off, being far away from this hellmouth. Hadley missed him dearly. She missed his soft blue eyes, and his devilish smirk whenever he knew she was up to no good. She wanted her fake-dad back and wished he could see her now. At first, he probably wouldn't approve of her relationship with a human, but he would warm up to Percy. He would be so happy for her – she knew he would.
Liz had the idea of throwing the party in the basement. Probably not the best idea, seeing as this one room was used for most of Elizabeth's killings. She liked to keep her prisoners here, glowing in the bright pink and purple lights, chained as their blood trickled through an IV drip.
But they weren't going to think about that now. "We'll clean this place up," Liz assured Hadley, who had protested to the space before. "Sweep out all the cobwebs. Scrub the floor of any blood –"
"You can't remove the smell of death from here though," Iris argued.
Liz had spun on her heel to face Iris, clasping her hands together. "I think that just gives it character."
Hadley left them to it. They seemed to have more confidence than her with the party. She went to the kitchen and finished frosting Iris' mouth-watering strawberry cake. Hadley had a feeling that Percy was growing restless. (He usually was when he had to spend the day without her.) But Hadley still had so much left to do. She still had to go to the Snappy Mart to pick up bags of chips for him, as well as a few bottles of his favorite kind of red wine.
The second she stepped outside earned her a migraine, and god, did she hope then that he would appreciate this party.
•••
"Okay," she spoke softly, walking close to the front desk, where both Liz and Iris stood casually. Draping an arm across the table, Hadley wiped the sweat off her brow from the hot, California sun. "I just set out all the shit I bought at the Snappy Mart. I think we should be good until tonight."
Liz nodded firmly. "Roger that, Captain." Her eyes perked up once she heard the bell to the entrance ring, but her stare quickly darted back to Hadley when she asked, "Is the Countess going to attend tonight's festivities? I mean, she didn't even help, but I know she never misses a party."
"I imagine that a lot of the regulars will be in attendance tonight, and as long as they don't lay a single finger on Percy, everything should go according to plan." Hadley grinned sweetly, but the two women before her could hear the seriousness in her tone. "Which means that Elizabeth will come as well – fashionably late, of course."
Iris swallowed hard as a pair of footsteps approached the front desk. "What about March?"
Hadley snorted. "Not if I can help it –"
"Excuse me, ladies."
Three heads turned in the direction of a male voice. Hadley narrowed her eyes at the short man nearing the front desk, bald head shining in the dim glow of the chandeliers. She didn't like the way he looked in his pressed suit, fine details embroidered on his tie. The whole outfit just screamed, authority, and Hadley didn't like those being above her. The monster inside of her threatened to jump out.
"I have to speak to you three for a few minutes," he said, whipping out a pad of paper from his suit pocket, "if you don't mind."
Liz opened her mouth to say something, but Hadley was already replying, venom laced in her pretty tone, "Actually, we do." She lifted her chin defiantly. "Who are you?"
"Detective Avery, miss," he spoke clearly, almost eloquently, like he had rehearsed this conversation a dozen times before. "I have questions for all of you regarding a recent local case."
"Ask away, detective," Liz grinned, pink lips pulling upward. "This hotel is crystal clean. We have nothing to hide."
Detective Avery arched a bushy, grey brow, before turning to look at Hadley for a short second. "What do you know about the disappearance of Percy Isaacs?"
Hadley's spine went rigid. She could hardly look away from the detective, mouth opening slightly. Iris' eyes almost bugged out of her skull, and it was only Liz that found her voice to ask, "Um – is that the boy on all the missing person's flyers?"
"Indeed, miss," Detective Avery replied. "Wasn't Percy Isaacs staying at this hotel the day he went missing?" He tapped the pen onto his pad of paper. "Don't even make me ask what happened to his friends."
Iris cleared her throat. "I checked the three boys in," she said, earning a worried glare from Hadley. "I can't tell you what happened to the kid's friends. I didn't see them again after I checked them in. I only remember Mr. Isaacs ... leaving the hotel by himself one night. After that, he never returned. I assumed he left without checking out."
The detective's eyes went narrow, and again, he looked to Hadley's anxious expression. "Are you a resident here?"
Hadley swallowed down the bile rising in her throat. It hurt to even speak, and maybe that's because she felt guilty just by opening her mouth. Her voice sounded like crushed gravel when she answered, "My ... my mother owns the hotel. So yes, I live here."
"Did you happen to see the three boys at all when they checked in around the end of August?"
Hadley's throat burned as she muttered, "No, sir."
The detective eyed Hadley for a minute. His stare formed into slits, studying her with suspicion.
She cleared her throat. "Um – is that all you needed from us?"
"For now," he replied, flipping his empty notebook back into his suit jacket. Rubbing a hand over his mouth, the detective continued, "Expect me to return. I haven't quite figured out this place yet, but I'm determined to find the kid."
She swallowed hard, sweat gathering on her brow. Liz sent the man her sweetest smile and approached him, placing a hand on his back. "Thank you, detective. I'll walk you out," she offered.
Hadley knew the investigation would appear on their doorstep sooner or later, but she somehow hadn't expected it to arrive so quickly. Her whole body began to shake when Detective Avery looked over his shoulder, staring straight at her. It was the beginning of the end.
•••
A/N: More dialogue in this was borrowed from New Moon!!! The drAMA IS RAMPING UP PEOPLE