Lengths For Love (13 page)

He gave me a swift kick in the shins and the pain shot up my body. I winced and rubbed my wounded area while he let me fall to the ground. “Be glad I didn’t actually break your leg there.”

“Really? You could have fooled me,” I grimaced.

He didn’t bother helping me up. “You should get inside. It’s going to get colder any second and you don’t want to get sick.”

“And you care about this why?”

“I don’t care about you, but you have to think of Alexis,” he pointed out. “She’s got a weak immune system, right? Would you want to catch a cold and stand around her, getting her more sick?”

Much as I hated to admit it, the guy had a good point. I didn’t want Alexis to feel sicker than she was nor did I want to get sick. I glowered at his backside, but stood up and followed him into the dark house that stood before us. That should have been my first clue that things were off. The place was never this dark despite vampires living in it. There were always dim lights in one of the rooms and there was always someone inside. I guess he noticed it, too, because he turned to me.

“Why is it dark in there?” He demanded.

“How should I know? I just got here.”

“You better not be lying.”

“You and I came in at the same time. How could I be lying?”

He conceded the point and opened the door. All at once, the lights came on and blinded us. Then there were a millions crackers going off and voices screaming, “SURPRISE!” while the two of us tried to figure what was going on. Who was being surprised? Why was everyone happy? What the hell was going on? Through the brightness, I saw a banner that said “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” strung from the ceiling and a million party paraphernalia tossed about.

“What the...” I started, but no one seemed to answer me. They were all too busy screaming and throwing things around and blowing on horns. No one was going to answer me at this rate.

“Enough! Enough!” Vincent waved his arms around, trying to get the noise to stop. “What is the meaning of this? What are you all doing?!”

“Surprise, Mr. Augustin?” Jenny shrugged. “Just trying to celebrate the occasion today. I know you’d be upset if we forgot.”

“And what is the occasion, Jenny?” He demanded to know, crossing his arms.

“Happy birthday, Vincent.” This time, it was Alexis who spoke up. She had traded her scarf for a curly brown haired wig and her nightgown for a blue dress that almost slid off her shoulders. “It’s my fault. I knew it was your birthday and I thought it would be nice to celebrate. I thought of doing a surprise party.”

“You?” His look of annoyance vanished. “So this whole thing,” he looked up at the room that had been decorated with balloons and streamers, “was your idea?”

“Yes. They just went along with it.”

“We thought it might be nice to celebrate your birthday,” Kristine said, holding out the cake. “I hope this didn’t disrupt any plans you had.”

Vince looked around the room and shook his head. “You’re very thoughtful and kind. I was not expecting anyone to remember or do anything for it.”

“It was actually Miss Cloud’s idea.” Alexis waved to him from behind and I felt my heart sinking. How I wanted to blurt out that Vince had threatened me earlier, had come close to ending my life. I wanted to tell her that the little, annoying zit had tried to break my leg with his toes of steel. But there was no way I could ruin the party she had planned. This had been her doing and everyone only followed along. Alexis hadn’t been able to do much besides get her treatment and rest. Who was I to ruin these bits of joy for her?

“Thank you, Alexis,” he said, giving her a look I had never seen him give anyone. It wasn’t the look of loathing that he always gave me. This one was soft and honest. I could tell that he was sincere with his thanks. For some reason, I didn’t like it.

“Well, what do you say?” She made her way to the front and took the cake from Kristine. “Do you have a wish?”

“A wish?”

“You know. Something you want.” She held the cake under his nose with one glowing candle on top. “Go ahead. Blow it out.”

He did that and there was a small amount of clapping. It suddenly made sense to me why everyone was going along with it; Alexis had made them. They didn’t give a crap that it was his birthday, but she had told them to do this. Because they didn’t want to upset her, they agreed. The smiles on everyone’s faces could easily have been painted on and no one would spot the difference. The only smiles that were real belonged to my girlfriend and the man I hated with every fiber of my being. As he leaned over to sniff the cake, I had the strongest urge to push him into it. I snuck up from behind and got ready to do so. That would teach him to abuse others and threaten me. It may not have seemed like much, but it would be worthwhile.

Alexis, on the other hand, decided to steal my idea. When Vincent leaned over, she grabbed his hair and pushed his head into the cake. There were a billion gasps and I saw Jenny turn away. Even Kristine looked in horror at what had happened. Vincent, the guy who had threatened me and kicked me in the shins, had literally gotten his “just desserts”. He stood up, covered in white frosting and red velvet cake. Only Alexis dared to laugh at this.

“Um, babe?” I started. “That was... that was very gutsy of you.”

“My my, Vince, I say that red velvet suits you. It matches your tie,” she joked. “I think I picked the right flavor.”

“What is she doing?” Kristine whispered to me. I could only shrug and pray that he didn’t hurt my girlfriend. It had to be the treatment that was making her to do this. But warning or not, if he tried anything, I was going to choke him. I’d stuff the rest of that cake down his gullet if I had to.

Instead, he licked his lips and started to laugh. It wasn’t fake at all. He was amused by it, and I was scared. “That was very good.”

“You liked being pushed into cake?” she asked.

“I was talking about the cake itself.”

I exchanged looks with the other vampires. What the hell were we watching? Since when did this guy have a sense of humor? More importantly, why wasn’t he trying to rip Alexis to pieces after she shoved his face into a cake? Instead, he took a gob of frosting and flung it at her.

“How do you like a taste of your own medicine?” He teased. It landed in her hair. “Whoops. Should have aimed for your mouth.”

Her hair. Alexis still had strands of hair clinging to her and it only made me feel worse. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t freaked out. He didn’t want to scare her. The two weren’t having some affair and I had nothing to worry about. At this point, she was now throwing more cake at him and someone ended up screaming “FOOD FIGHT!” in the midst of this. That was when this started. Food was being flung in every direction and everything from roast turkey to chocolate sauce, was hitting me. Feeling mischievous, I started throwing whatever I found lying around. More than anything, I was hoping to hit Vincent. He deserved it after all. Instead, I ended up hitting Kristine with a piece of cake.

“Hey!” She exclaimed, throwing some back at me. “I’m not letting you get away that easy, Ian!”

“Oh, is that so?” I took a piece of cake and threw it back. “Try some red velvet on for a change! Ha!”

In seconds, the whole place was filled with laughter and food. It was surreal. Only a few days ago, Vincent had been ripping a girl’s piercing out. Almost immediately afterward, he had burned all of Jenny’s things. But now? The guy was laughing and having a food fight with the rest of us. He no longer seemed like that terrifying iron fist that kept everyone in line, but a guy like me. He was acting his age. Alexis had lost her wig in the mess, but it didn’t matter. I hadn’t seen her smiling in so long and it felt good. She was acting like the woman I had fallen for.

“I’ll get you for that!” Kristine exclaimed, throwing chocolate éclairs at my back. Soon, the food fight was between us. She got me at times, I almost got her at others. Eventually, we were laughing and rolling on the ground with all the food. She threw her arms around me and we hugged.

“Thank your girlfriend for this.” She whispered. “I have never seen Mr. Augustin loosen up and look this happy to be older. She must be doing good things for him.”

I pulled away when I realized what she had said. Alexis doing good things for Vincent. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t like the way that sounded. In the corner, I caught Vince looking at the two of us. The happy Vince that I knew was gone and I saw the monster who confronted me earlier. His smile was gone and replaced with a look of loathing. Oh, I was getting used to that look. Kristine gave me another hug and I saw his brow furrow.

“You should let me go,” I told Kristine. “I have a girlfriend.”

“I know that.” She replied, looking at my neck. “Has anyone ever told you that your neck is so pale and perfect?”

“Uh... no. You’d be the first one.”

“I wish I could have a taste.”

“Uh...” I stepped back. “That might not be a good idea. You know how he gets if you try to hurt your guests.”

“Just one bite. I promise I won’t hurt you.” She began to take steps towards me.

“You want to bite me and drink my blood. How is that not hurting me?”

“But I won’t do much harm. I can be careful.” She said, but just as she could get close enough, Alexis cut in. The music was starting and I knew she wanted a dance. I nodded to Kristine who went off to dance with another vampire. From the corner, I could see Vincent staring at us. However, he wasn’t giving me his usual look of loathing. Instead, his eyes went past me.

“What was she saying?” Alexis asked as the music came on.

“Nothing. She was thanking you for the party.” My eyes were on Vincent, but his weren’t on me. Strange. “I can’t believe you got away with shoving his face into that cake. Everyone was freaking out.”

“What for? He has a good sense of humor.”

Sure, if his sense of humor involves setting things on fire and beating me up I wanted to say, but held my tongue. Alexis was not going to believe me. No matter how many times I told her that Vincent was rotten, she would not believe it. She had to catch him in the act somehow.

“What does he tell you?” I wanted to know.

“What makes you think he tells me things?”

“He’s comfortable around you. He never gets this loose with me.”

“Well, you probably make him uncomfortable.”

I made him uncomfortable? Did she know who she was talking about? I tried not to laugh, but my eyes caught Vincent’s and this time, he was giving me the look of loathing. There. Now I felt like we were on the same page. I shot him a glare back and twirled my girlfriend around the dance floor. Let’s see how he liked watching me make out with her. I leaned forward and kissed her.

“What’s that for?” She asked when she pulled back. Vince looked at us, his face hard to read. I did know it wasn’t pleasant and he hated me more. Good. Let him hate me. It would serve him right and I’d get my bit of revenge.

“For being everything that you are,” I whispered. “And for being mine.”

She shook her head. “You’re crazy.”

“Only for you, baby.” I added, putting my arm around her and making sure Vince got a good view of us. “Only for you.”

The euphoria of the party lasted the whole week. Vince gave me an easier time and I felt better. As long as he wasn’t shooting daggers at my back, I could sleep at night. Maybe the cake in the face had loosened him up a bit.

But it didn’t last long. Toward the end of the week, Kristine showed me her newest bruise. Apparently, she had not cleaned up the windows well so he hit her. I didn’t understand how a vampire could get bruises if they were dead, but maybe that was also a myth. So much was not adding up and I didn’t know who to trust. Kristine was under the watch of Vince’s eye and Alexis just didn’t want to hear what I had to say. As for me, I wanted to go home, but I wanted to get to the bottom of everything. More than anything, I wanted to know about Vince and Alexis. They were spending a lot of time together but leaving me in the dust.

I turned to the only one that I knew could keep a secret: Jenny. Alexis would freak out and accuse me of being paranoid, I feared for Kristine’s life, and there was no way I wanted to confront the jerk. None of the other vampires hung around with me as much as Jenny did so she was literally my last hope.

I found her reading in her room, decked in black eyeliner and lace. She looked like a gothic raccoon. Her long blond hair hadn’t been brushed in days and I could tell that she hadn’t gotten over what happened that night. The more I thought about it, the guiltier I felt. I could have done something. I was strong enough to stop him from setting anything on fire but, like a statue, I stood there and let him get away.

“Can I talk to you?”

“Sure.” She moved to make some room on her bed. “Were you able to retrieve anything from the oil drum?”

I shook my head and she sighed. “I’m sorry. I went back there once the flames died, but there’s nothing that I could have saved. Anyway, I actually want to talk to you about something else. But no matter what I say, you cannot let anyone else know about it.”

“Oh, it’s a secret.” She grinned. “I’m a good secret keeper.”

“I should hope so because it’s about me, my girlfriend, and your master.” Jenny’s smile vanished at the last part. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to say anything bad about him.”

“Bummer,” she sighed. “I was hoping you’d complain about him because I feel the same way. He’s an ass.”

“Jenny...”

“I mean it! The guy is a giant dick. No, he’s bigger than a dick. His dickhead is bigger than his dick.” I started to laugh and she joined in. Smothering my laughter, she added, “I’m serious. The guy gives me the creeps. If it weren’t for the fact that his family saved me, I probably would have dumped him long ago.”

“Yeah, well, I think I know what softens him up,” I said. “Have you noticed at the party that he didn’t freak out when Alexis shoved his face into the cake?”

“That was the shock of the century. We expected him to burn down the place with all of us locked in. But he actually laughed!”

“I know. He never seems to freak out when Alexis is nearby. He stopped threatening me when she appeared. He does anything she asks. Hell, anyone else would probably suffer his wrath if they threw a surprise birthday party. But he accepted everything she did.”