Better Off Red (44 page)

I couldn’t keep in the loud, roaring growl that tore from my chest. The sound pushed Camila over. She trembled beneath me, gripping my sides to anchor herself to the floor. I knew she was ready for more, but I rolled off her, my sensible self wanting to check in with her lover before things went any further.

Her eyes fluttered open as I licked her shoulder. I just had to kiss her now that I was thinking somewhat straight. “You okay?” I murmured into her mouth.

“Of course, baby. I’m fine.” She wrapped an arm around my waist and gently trailed her fingertips up and down my back. I snuggled closer to her body, kissing and licking the scent of her

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sweetness off her chest. “We should have done this in Tokyo’s room.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Would have been nice to break some of her shit.”

“Oh, sorry.” I laughed, feeling more myself.

“Don’t be. The ashtray cost me five bucks, and when was the last time you saw me drinking tea?”

“I don’t know what came over me.” I sat up and looked into her eyes. “Will it always be like that, now that I’m queen or whatever?”

“Only if you want it to be, baby.” I thought about it for a little while as I listened to Camila’s gentle breathing. Taking control was fun, a major turn-on, letting the demon in me be the animal it needed to be from time to time, but I didn’t need more change. Sexual assault, temporary paralysis, and a shift to a different physical species was enough for one night.

I kissed her one more time, guiding her hand between my legs.

“Let’s take turns.”

Camila agreed, pushing her fingers inside me.

❖

A while later, Camila put on a continuous loop of the slow tempo techno jams we’d made love to and I’d fallen asleep to so many times since we’d met. We climbed in bed, cuddling close on either side of Samantha and Benny.

I slipped my arm around Sam’s waist and Camila gently stroked Benny’s hair. I thought of the times she’d done that to me and wondered how many more times she’d touched me that way as I slept. It was such a sweet gesture, cute even to watch. Sam kicked my shin, taking unconscious advantage of my distraction. I pinned her legs between mine, just hoping she’d clobbered Greg a good one during the nights she’d spent with him. I glanced back up as Camila snickered, picking up on my thought.

She never yawned, but she blinked heavily for a moment and confessed she hadn’t slept much since Cleo’s accident. She didn’t argue when I asked her ever so affectionately to take a nap. I lay

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beside them for a long time, watching the three of them sleep, wondering how I would pass the hours now, what I would do until I heard from Dalhem.

❖

Monday was the longest day of my entire life. I had to see it as a first day. My first full day with my true na’suul. My first day as queen of this weird but perfect family. The first day I could actually boss Cleo around, but as exciting as all of those things sounded, the hours dragged.

We sent Benny and Samantha off for breakfast and some last minute cramming, then we went into the office. Camila hacked into the Maryland DMV and had them send me a new driver’s license.

She changed my age to twenty-five. Then she ordered herself a new ID. It had been almost ten years since her last name change. I didn’t complain. Camila Carmichael had a certain ring to it.

Then Camila gave me a guided tour to my new queendom. She had access to part of this mysterious database of vampire-demons Benny had mentioned to me. Dalhem had the names of every vampire and feeder in North America. I had access to all the vampires who fed on former members of ABO as well as a general list of all the vampires and feeders that resided in Maryland and the states that bordered, anyone who would accidentally stumble upon one of my girls. I had the names of every sister-queen and brother-king in every chapter and could call upon them whenever I needed to.

She went through the inner workings of the house. Florencia’s kids—children I had no clue she had—owned every service we used, from catering to cleaning. They had their own schedule that worked so smoothly I never noticed their coming and going in all the hours I’d spent below ground. If I had any requests, which of course I didn’t, I could go to Florencia herself. Two of her sons were Faeth’s backup feeders. Her daughter fed Moreland. I decided to leave that one alone.

There were other tidbits like the fact there was a house the Alpha chapter owned in St. Martin that operated as a safe place

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for the girls to stay during spring break. It was supposed to be a surprise for us new girls next semester. I playfully pouted, whining to Camila that I wanted to go. She scowled back, reminding me that after dark we could go wherever the hell we wanted.

She lifted my hand, gently twisting my wedding ring, and generously offered to let me take part in all her personally owned business ventures. I told her I’d have to get back to her. I had no idea what I wanted to do now, and I figured it was best to get a hang of the whole queen thing before I started taking on part ownership in tattoo shops and hotels. Plus, I had some Japanese to learn.

She gave me Dalhem’s phone number and Benny’s mother’s, just in case. That brought our joking and teasing up short. I just wanted to know what was going on with my parents. Tuesday morning couldn’t come soon enough.

With exactly twenty-four hours left till I heard from Dalhem, I opened the door to Amy. She was a mess, tap dancing, sobbing like a fool in the hallway. After I got her to stop crying and yelling,

“Oh, Ginger,” she agreed to grab a few things from our room that my parents would never notice missing, my letterman’s sweater and pair of flip-flops I’d spent all summer breaking in.

It eventually sunk in that I wasn’t actually dead, and she asked me what my official story of death was going to be. I’d admitted I didn’t know, but assured her I’d work Greg in there somehow as the villain. Danni came by to get Amy for her econ final. She just hugged me, thank God. She dragged Amy with her dramatic good-byes out the door, skipping all the crying and theatrics.

I went back to the office with Camila. Just as I sank back in her lap, I got a text message from Mom. She wanted to know if Camila and I had made up and if I was okay. She also wanted to know if I’d picked up my birthday presents from the university post office.

I kissed away the pained look on Camila’s face as she read the text over my shoulder, then I deleted it. I texted Amy and asked her to go to the P.O. to find out how long they kept packages before they returned them to sender.

After a few deep breaths, Camila explained to me the importance of subtle behavior around humans.

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“People only remember a passing pretty face for a few minutes, a day at best, but they remember if you do something, say something, that stays in their mind. Always be forgettable, Red,” she said.

“Although that won’t be easy.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll just shift into Cleo if I ever feel like making a scene.”

A few hours later, Natasha showed up with my two additional feeders. Paige and Anna-Jade. They’d volunteered as soon as they’d heard the news. Barb hadn’t called a chapter meeting. I felt terrible for taking two feeders from Natasha, but she didn’t seem bothered by it at all. She and Rodrick shared several feeders outside the house, and she could still see the girls every day. She hushed my buts and what-ifs and released Anna-Jade to me before I could argue anymore. I thanked her before she disappeared, promising her I would take care of Anna-Jade and Sam just as well as she had. She winked at me and told me she knew I’d do much better.

Before I accepted Paige, she turned to Camila.

“You’re not angry, are you—that I’m leaving you?”

“No. Ginger’s my wife. I’m willing to share.”

“Oh,” Paige said, shocked. “So I still can’t sleep with her?”

Camila barked out in laughter, tossing her head back. “I release you, Paige Charlotte Plummer. Serve this sister-queen as you would serve the master himself. As you would serve me.”

I accepted the little horndog’s vow, shaking my head as I grabbed her hand and sliced a cut, nice and deep. She didn’t even flinch. I sealed the bonding wound, licking the blood away, and somehow I should have known that out of all my feeders, Paige’s blood would be the most potent aphrodisiac. I was very happy with Anna-Jade and Paige. I kissed and held them both, a little embarrassed at how sad the thought of them leaving for the three weeks after finals made me.

They headed off to class just as Rodrick appeared at the door. He had a letter from Greg’s father, apologizing for Greg’s “unfortunate”

behavior. I told him I’d read it later, but thanked him sincerely for everything he had done. He and Pax had already returned the body to Greg’s family, who had planned to officially report Greg’s death

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as a suicide early next semester. They’d work me in however I decided—as soon as I heard from Dalhem.

Samantha was still a little out of it when she came back from the newspaper office that night. I had Cleo bring Andrew by and we ordered some pizza for them. Andrew was just so calm and gentle, it was impossible not to like him. He didn’t hesitate to tell Sam how Greg had acted with him. Knowing Greg had been that cruel with more than just her helped Samantha relax a lot, but the comfort wasn’t enough to keep her from spending the night in our bed.

❖

I thought it would be best to take the quick bullet from Dalhem and get on with my day. I invited Cleo to bring Andrew over for a nice breakfast with Samantha in our apartment. Florencia felt a little bad about all the dying and families breaking up, so she whipped up some pancakes for us. I had no desire to eat at all until we lifted the lid off the five short stacks and the mountain of bacon she sent down.

I was good to go after one pancake, but I still groaned pathetically as I ate it. Butter and syrup had never tasted so good.

After Samantha left to take her algebra exam, Camila turned to Cleo.

“I have to apologize,” she said.

“Why?” Cleo asked as she reclined against Andrew’s chest.

“I should have asked you before it became a matter of your life hanging in the balance.” Camila glanced at me and I took her hand. “I should have asked all the girls. And we will, from now on. We should know what you all want the very first night of initiation. It would have killed me to let you go, but it was your choice and I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too. I have been a complete shit head, but I understand why you did it,” Cleo said. I didn’t miss the gentle way her hand moved up Andrew’s thigh. “I still want to see my mama, but I’m sorry for being an asshole to you.” Then she turned to me.

“I’m sorry I dragged you though any part of it too, my Queen.”

“It’s okay. I think I put myself in it. Tomorrow, with Camila’s help let’s go say good-bye to your mom.” Camila nodded in

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agreement. We’d all been so caught up in my accident and my transition that the trip Cleo had been promised was nearly skipped over. “No,” Cleo replied. “They know I love them. I have to move on.”

“You’re sure?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Apologies accepted, Cleo and Andrew said they wanted to hang around until I got the call. Faeth showed up to join in the wait. And then Tokyo dropped in. And Omi. We fought the awkward moments, filling silences with stupid stories, hatching ridiculous plans for the rest of my life. I liked Cleo’s idea that we start a rumor I’d run off to join the circus. Camila played along for a while, joking that I would love a career in hotel management, but slowly she grew more and more quiet the closer it got to eleven a.m. Still, when I looked at her, she was sure to smile. I kissed her gently, every time reminding her it was the two of us, no matter what, forever.

Eleven o’clock, eleven oh five, eleven thirty came and went.

By eleven forty-five, I’d considered whether Dalhem himself would come and break the news to me.

At noon, I took a moment and silently said good-bye to Todd, my mom, and my dad, knowing they would do much more than survive without me.

I glanced over at Camila once my prayer was over. I’d managed to keep it together, but her eyes were gleaming.

“Just let it go, okay?” I said hoarsely.

“Okay, Red,” she murmured back, swallowing her tears.

I took one more kiss from my Mila, then let out a hopeful sigh.

“Do you know what Seamus does for Caana?” I asked.

“He’s her bounty hunter.”

“Seriously?” Tokyo asked, her eyes lighting up a little too much.“Yes. That’s why he’s so hard to find. He goes off the grid when he’s working and Caana doesn’t give him much time off. Dalhem had him summoned the moment you were changed,” Camila said.

“Well, maybe I’ll text him or something. I want to talk to him some more.”

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“About this Seamus…Is he fit?” Faeth asked with all the subtlety of a bull.

“Did you just ask me if my uncle was hot?” I scowled back at her. “No, she asked if he was fit,” Cleo mocked.

“He looks like Red, just a foot and a half taller with a beard,”

Camila replied.

“I can work with that,” Tokyo said, flashing her fangs.

“You are not fucking my uncle.”

“Why?”

Suddenly, my cell phone jumped on the coffee table. Cleo grabbed it and tossed it to me. I snatched it out of the air, snarling when I saw the name on the display.

“Yes, Amy.”

“Omigod, Ginger. What happened? Did they call?”

“No, they didn’t. They—”

The call waiting beeped. I pulled my phone away from my ear.

Incoming Call: Alfredo Carmichael. Home

“Amy. I have to go.”

“Ginger, wait.”

“It’s my mom! I have to go.”

I hung up on her and switched to the other line, trying to hold down my small breakfast.