Waiting (24 page)

S
IXTEEN

“Oh, come on! Give him to me. I want him!
”

I'd woken up early, still wrapped in Parker's arms, before ta
king an early morning dip in the
hot tub with him, then showered and started making breakfast before Sam and Francis decided to finish their argument in the kitchen with me.

“He's mine. I don't give up what's mine.” Francis wasn't budging on his decision.

“Come on.” Sam looked to me for support. “Brian was surprisingly amazing in bed and I want to make him mine, but Francis wants to keep him. Don't you think I should get him? I'll take good care of him.”

She batted her perfect lashes, cracking a smile from me. I didn't want to get involved with vampi
re politics so I settled for
shaking my head and looking at Francis who seemed unwilling to reveal his real reasons, though I knew he was hiding them.

“I'll give you two of my sexiest girls.”

Still he just shook his head and smiled. Sam pouted
for awhile
then left without getting her way.

Parker came back from his trip in town moments later, shoving food in the fridge and pantry before taking a seat next to Francis at the counter, both watching me finish my meal.

“Isn't she sexy, shoving those embryos in her mouth like that?”

I stilled, fork full of
eggs halfway to mouth when Francis spoke. It was gross what I was eating, now that I stopped to think about it, but ended up shoveling it in my mouth after deciding it was much better than drinking blood.

“She is.” Parker spoke proudly while I finished chewing my mouthful.

“What's grosser, eating eggs or drinking blood?” Before they could answer, I finished for them. “Blood. Duh.” They both quirked their lips and left it at that. “Stay here.”

I held up my finger while asking them to wait before I skipped out of the kitchen to Parker's room where I grabbed my camera out of my purse and came back and found them having a silent conversation, glancing back at me when they heard the click of my camera turning on.

“You are so cute together and I haven't seen a single picture of you two.” I snapped a quick one of them both surprised, then smiled and waited for them to look comfortable before snapping the next one. “There. Thank you. I'll make you both a copy.”

They smirked at each
other before the awkwardness finally disappeared.

“Before I forget, why is it that Brian didn’t have to invite you in last night? Have you all been there before?”

They shared a sideways glance while I sipped on some juice.

“We don’t need to be invited in anywhere. I had a sort of spell, or enchantment if you will, placed on your apartment only to keep you safe while I was away.”

“What? How did you do that?” This just kept getting weirder.

“A witch friend of mine owed me a favor,” Parker explained with a shrug, as if the details were inconsequential.

I stared down at my plate of food, moving the contents around while I thought. A witch?
I’ll be damned. A change of subject was needed in
order
.

“So what's in your plans for this week while I'm away at work?” I shoved the last of the eggs in my mouth then started washing my dishes in his sink. “If you think you'll be incapacitated again, please let me know in advance.” I winked.

“Not in my plans, but I'll
do my best to keep you informed
.” He stood and faced Francis. “Sam took off and I've got to meet Tiny. Mind staying with her until I get back?” He cast me a sheepish grin.
“Not that you need a babysitter
but I'd rather be safe than sorry.” He was around the counter with his arms wrapped around me before I could blink.

“Me too. How long are you going to be gone? Maybe I should just go home since I have to work
tomorrow
.”

To come off as a stage five clinger this early in our relationship was not in my plans. We've established we're in a relationship and I was going to be damned if I ruined it so soon. He's been my dream man ever since my Jonathon Taylor Thomas crush ended. Learning
 
more
and more about him, he's embedded himself deep within me, making me want more.

“I can take you home if you'd like, though I was kind of hoping you'd stay here tonight.” The sexy grin on his face ensured a heavenly night was ahead.

“I'll stay
but I have to go to work in the morning. No more calling in sick.”

I'd give in and stay, but with rules. Becoming one of those girls who gave up their career for a man, possibly just passing through their life, was not me. That would never happen.

“Hurry up and leave already. I need to leave by ten tonight.” Francis winked at me, making Parker's grasp tighten around my shoulders.

“Where are you going?” Parker's tone was wary.

“Out of town. I'll be
back in a few days. Don't fret
.  Y
ou're not getting rid of me forever.”

Parker rolled his eyes then kissed my forehead.

“Just stay out of trouble and call me if you need anything. It's only ten, I should be back by two this afternoon.” He placed his finger under my chin and lifted my face to capture my lips with a soft, tender kiss. “Stay safe and I'll be back in a bit.”

I bit my lip and stared at the space he'd been standing until Francis cleared his throat, pulling me from my fantasy thoughts.

“I know. I'm pathetic.”

He smiled wider at my confession.

“No, you're not. It's cute.” That caught me off guard. “I'm glad I came back in my
brother’s
life in time to see him happy like
this. If I never saw him again
I'd be happy with
memories
of him from the last two weeks.” His eyes seemed to glaze over as he reminisced over being with his brother again.

My chest tightened, overwhelming feelings to comfort him made me come around the counter to take the seat next to him.

“Do you ever talk to him like you do to
me? I know you like to be funny
but I can see the hurt you feel, and that he feels.” He was silent for so long I put my hand on his shoulder to make sure he'd heard me.

“I did a
lot of bad things, unforgiveable things. I'm lucky he even let me back in his life. The fact that he trusts me alone with you is...I have hope that we'll be able to go back to the way things were, before we were changed, before we killed our own mum.”

He had such emotional baggage with no
one to let it out to. Now I understood why he'd been so nice to me since we met. He must've felt that I understood and that I'll listen, wha
t with how I'd opened up to him. G
ushed really.

Smiling, I grabbed his hand and drug him out into the hallway then into the theatre room, complete with huge red comfy couches and what seemed like hundreds of throw pillows.

Francis needed to talk and I wa
nted to at least be comfortable
before letting him get it all out.

“We've got a few hours, why don't you start at the beginning?”

He propped his head up with his hands behind his neck and crossed his feet on top of the large community foot rest.

“It's not a fancy story. Our mum turned us against our will, making us into something we'd only ever been told was a beast, a demon with no soul and
 
conscious
. Our time was one of religion and belief. There was no questioning it, it just was. Everyone lived and breat
hed to please our God;
to become a vampire was to be condemned to hell. When
we woke up we were thirsty.  W
e couldn't rid ourselves of the hatred we harbored for our own mum to do this to us.” He was staring at the blank screen as if trying to picture it happening now. “Our ability to communicate
telepathically
was instant and quite the surprise. We'd just made our first kill and I'd been thinking about how good it felt when the blood flowed down my throat, when all of a sudden the thought echoed, but in Parker's voice. We met eyes and both asked if we could hear each
other, both of us nodded.  T
hen he told me to hold up two fingers and I did.”

His smile was contagious. How cool would that be to realize you had the ability to communicate silently with your best friend. They only had each other.

“Aside from the eating of humans, I like this story.”

He chuckled at my lame attempt at a joke, trying to lighten the mood.

“We taught ourselves how to live, survive, feed from humans while keeping them alive and being inconspicuous together. Our mum disappeared
again but we learned to track
with the guidance of a much older vampire, and found her almost a year later and killed her. She was a vicious beast, almost tore us both to pieces before we were able to behead her. She'd become a full blown Pulpa by then, frenzied from all the blood. Afterwards we finally felt free, not waiting for her to pop back up and ruin our liv
es in some other tremendous way.  B
ut I lost it.
Barely sixty
years into my new found limitless life and I went crazy. I didn't see the point in living and
purposely
picked fights, murdered hundreds of innocents and even almost murdered Parker when I was in a blind blood rage.
 
I didn't remember any of it until I sobered up two years ago. I stopped killing all my meals and could actually hold myself together. Remembering my whole day and not blacking out got easier with every passing hour.

“My eyes sta
yed red until about two
month
s
ago.
T
hat's when I knew I could start trying to confront Parker. His powers have increased greatly, more so than I expected since he doesn't drink his victims to death.” He turned to look at m
e and explain. “Typically Pulpa
s are stronger since they gain strength by taking the very life essence out of their meals, whereas
Fangs
gain strength with every passing year, keeping a steady feeding pattern. Parker is definitely smarter and has the most sense
, but I'm stronger than him now
since
I
binge drank for years before finally coming to my senses.”

“Well since your eyes are clear he knows he can trust you no
w, right? You obviously aren't
 
still killing and I'm sure he's just as eager to go back to the way things were.”

“Possibly, but I'll never be able to forgive myself, just like he can never do for...” He gulped and shook his head, not finishing his statement.

“Of course
 
you can forgive yourself. You've
only been clear headed for
a
few months
since your eyes changed back. It will take time. It's not like you don't have hundreds of years ahead of you to change.”

Hi
s lips twitched at the
obvious statement.

“I know. It's still
weird
though. Me sitting here with a human, confessing t
o killing hundreds of your kind.
A
nd you're the one consoling
me.”

We both chuckled at the irony, though I was fully aware how I could easily have been a
victim somewhere along the line
if Parker hadn't been watching me all this time.

“You're not evil. Yo
ur soul is still attached
or you wouldn't be kind and caring, Francis. The fact that you care enough to worry about it proves that.”
 
I used this moment to try and get some more answers. “Sam and I were talking last night and she told me the last person Parker killed on purpose was a man about to rape her.” He nodded to confirm it was true. “Then she said something about an accident that Parker never really got over.”

He lost eye contact with me and stood up, clearly not liking where this conversation was heading, piquing my interest even more.

“What happened?” I stood with my fists clenched at my sides, nervous of what he was about to tell me.

“That's not my story to tell, and I'll ask you not to bring it up. We'd crossed paths at that time in his life and two innocent lives were taken. He blames himself even though he had only been there because he spotted me and was trying to capture me. It's my fault it happened, but he still blames himself.”

“Sounds like you're both as stubborn as the other.” His features lightened when I didn't press him for more information. “Where are you going tonight? When will you be back?”

He got that hesitant look back in his eyes before answering me.

“I've got a hunch about something and it might all lead back to the sa
me Pulpas that changed over our
mum. They might've had a hand with recent event
s. Don't say anything to Parker.
I want to have something solid to go on before I worry him with this.
 
He'll be devastated, so let's just keep this between us for now.”