Wanton With a Vampire (18 page)

Trish tried to mask her surprise at Willow’s
reference to their friendship, but she knew she’d failed when
Willow covered her mouth and giggled.

“You so didn’t expect that after the way I
acted the other day. Sorry, I get kinda weird when I’m talking to
dead people. It’s, like, always people who died in some horrendous
way. Okay, every once in a while, it’s someone who didn’t die
horrifically, but they’re still carrying major dead baggage.”

“Dead baggage?” Trish asked because she
wasn’t sure where a conversation like this was supposed to go.

“Sometimes I get crazy ghosts who want me to
impart a message to a loved one. They hang around forever, looking
for someone who can see them, and then they get all obsessed with
me and junk. Even I get a little weirded out by it.”

“I can’t even imagine having to deal with
that,” Trish admitted.

Willow shrugged. “It sucks some days, but I’m
sure you know how that is. I mean, seriously, you must feel like
your head is going to explode when you see the past in overlays.
Totally freaky.”

That’s when Trish realized that Willow wasn’t
just there to check on her. Willow felt a connection with her. They
both had unusual talents, and Willow likely didn’t have anyone to
talk to about what she dealt with most of the time.

“Would you like something to drink?” Trish
asked and didn’t miss the relief in Willow’s eyes. It was becoming
obvious that Willow was a little worried Trish would send her
away.

“That would be great!” Willow said and
followed her into the kitchen. “This house is nice. It almost makes
me want to chill with Uncle Nathaniel.”

Trish laughed. “Nathaniel isn’t as bad as you
think. Maybe you should give him a chance. You might end up liking
him.”

“Maybe,” Willow said with a noncommittal
shrug. “Aiden isn’t as bad as I thought. Don’t tell Tempest I said
this, but the Irish accent is kind of sexy.”

“Especially now that he’s got the whole bad
boy biker thing going on,” Trish added. When she first met Aiden,
he’d been pretty clean cut. Now he had long hair, a goatee, and
seriously dressed like a biker.

Willow grinned. “Yeah, he really pulls the
look off well. Again, don’t tell Tempest I said any of this. He’s
good to Tempest.”

“See? You just need to get to know the
Draksel men better.”

“It’s kind of hard for us, me and my sister,
Rose,” Willow said. “Our dad died when we were young, and now we
have a grandfather we never knew. Roman looks like he could be my
brother, so I don’t know how to act when he calls me his
granddaughter. The whole thing is just a little too much to take
in.”

Trish nodded and then turned to look in the
fridge. “They have this extravagant coffee machine I have no idea
how to use. There’s also soda, and more juice than any family
should ever have.”

“Can I play with the espresso machine?”
Willow asked excitedly.

“Sure,” Trish said. “I’m not entirely sure
anyone living here knows how to work it.”

“I know how to use it,” Isaiah said from the
entryway to the kitchen.

Trish jumped. “Jeez, Isaiah! Why do you
always have to sneak up on me?”

He gave her a shy smile and pushed his
glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “Sorry,” he said as he made
his way to the monstrosity this household called a coffee machine.
Opening the cupboard, he gestured to the selection of coffees— some
ground and others whole bean. “What kind would you like?”

“You people have more coffee than Peet’s!”
Trish said, staring wide-eyed at the selection.

“This is, like, so awesome,” Willow said,
carefully selecting the coffee she wanted.

Isaiah started up the machine, but Willow’s
attention was at the far end of the kitchen.

“Are you okay?” Trish asked.

“Dead chick over there wants to talk,” she
said casually.

Isaiah tensed, and his skin paled.

Willow walked across the room and had a
full-fledged conversation with someone Trish couldn’t see. A year
ago, Trish would have thought Willow was insane, but she’d become
much more accepting of weird stuff in this last year.

Willow looked over at Isaiah and nodded.
After a few more quietly spoken words, she headed back across the
room.

“That girl has been stalking this place for
way too long for something like this,” Willow said.

“What did she want?” Trish asked.

Willow looked at Isaiah. “She wants me to
tell you she was dying and to thank you for helping her go in an
incredibly cool way.”

Isaiah’s fist closed tightly around the
coffee mug he was holding until the ceramic cracked. “That’s not
possible.”

“Yeah, it is,” Willow said, grabbing a roll
of paper towels. “Dude, you have got to get a grip.” She opened his
fist and carefully cleaned out the bits of ceramic before using the
paper towel to apply direct pressure. “Seriously, you cannot go
breaking things whenever some weird stuff happens. Hello! You’re a
vampire, so I am guessing weird is what your life is all
about.”

“Should I get Justin?” Trish asked.

He shook his head. “I’m fine, but you don’t
know what you’re talking about. I killed her.”

“She didn’t say you didn’t kill her, just
that she was cool with it. I mean, I guess her other option was to
die from some hideous heart disease. Instead, she says she died
having sex with a hot looking nerd. Her words, not mine. You are so
not hot to me.”

“Even if what you say is true, what about her
family?” he asked without looking up from his bloody hand. “They
have a right to know what happened to her.”

Willow shook her head, looking sad. “She was
in the foster system since age ten when her grandma died. There
wasn’t anyone else. Actually, I guess her dad is still alive, but
she doesn’t even remember him. He was in prison most of her life.
He was paroled the day you met her. Guy is a serious nut job, and
she was terrified he’d find her. That was also the day her
boyfriend broke up with her and kicked her out.”

“How do you know all of this?” Isaiah asked,
still looking doubtful.

The expression on Willow’s face said she was
losing patience with Isaiah. “Didn’t we already cover this?”

Isaiah just nodded. He stood frozen for the
longest time, and Trish was afraid to say anything. His sanity was
a new found thing, and she wondered if she should call Ivy to help
him. Finally, Isaiah let out a shuddering breath.

He looked like he was getting ready to leave
when he suddenly turned and wrapped his arms around Willow. “Thank
you. I know you aren’t sure about any of us, and you didn’t do this
for me, but thank you anyway. This guilt has been killing me.”

Willow was stiff at first, but she ended up
hugging him back. “I’m glad I helped you. For what it’s worth, you
seem like an okay guy.”

Isaiah released her and smiled. “I intruded
on your visit. The coffee should be done soon.”

With that, he walked out of the room.

“I’m not sure if I should let him leave
without telling his brother what’s going on,” Trish said. “Isaiah
has been having some issues.”

“He’ll be okay,” Willow assured her. “Guilt
was causing a lot of his problems. Now he can deal with this in a
different way.”

“Thank you,” Trish said, a little teary-eyed.
“When we first met, I got the impression you were kind of cold and
didn’t care too much about most people, but I was mistaken.”

Willow laughed. “Yeah, most people think
that. Trust me, I like it that way, but it’s okay if you see me
differently. It’s hard when you have the weird talent in the group,
and I get the feeling we’re going to be good friends.”

“I think you’re right,” Trish agreed with a
smile. “So, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead,” Willow said.

“What happened to the airhead speak with all
the ‘likes’ thrown in?”

Willow giggled. “I don’t do that all the
time. It annoys the heck out of Tempest, which is a huge plus
because she can be a bossy control freak. It also throws people
off, because I don’t look like a flighty airhead. My sister does it
too.”

Trish laughed, a little surprised that she
was enjoying her conversation with Willow so much. They talked
about books, movies, and how bossy the Draksel men were. Trish
hadn’t realized how much she needed to complain about that until
they started talking.

“Seriously, I was about ready to scream every
time one of them said ‘Trish is off-limits’. Who do those guys
think they are?”

Willow snorted. “Yeah, the alpha male thing
is really annoying. How can you stand being in a relationship with
that Alek guy?”

Trish gave her a naughty smile. “I wouldn’t
call it a relationship.”

Willow laughed. “Oh, you slut!”

That’s when Caitlin came into the room
looking annoyed and bored, which was how Caitlin normally looked.
Her face softened when her eyes fell on Willow. “Justin wants me to
thank you for helping Isaiah. He would have come in here himself,
but he heard you talking about what an overbearing ass he is.”

“I didn’t do it for Isaiah,” Willow claimed,
her lips pressed in a stubborn line. “I did it for the dead
girl.”

Caitlin waved off her remark. “Whatever. You
helped Isaiah, so my husband is grateful. He doesn’t care what your
reasons were.”

“Sorry about insulting your husband,” Willow
said.

Caitlin rolled her eyes. “He is an
overbearing ass.”

“I don’t know how any of you put up with
them,” Willow said. “Trish thinks I should give them a chance since
we’re family, but I’m not sure I could handle the macho stuff.”

“They’re trainable,” Caitlin assured.

“Like a dog?” Willow teased.

“Not that trainable,” Caitlin said dryly.

“That is not very nice at all,” Trish
admonished Caitlin, struggling to keep her laughter under
control.

“Before you start defending the idiots, you
should know they’re fascinated with the fact that they used their
mind control crap on you before your clairvoyance appeared.
Everyone seems convinced that you’ve always had repressed psychic
abilities, so they think mind control never should have worked on
you.”

Trish’s confusion quickly transformed to
anger. “Mind control? They used mind control on me? When did that
happen?”

“Hannah’s birthday party. Drew was using it
to get you to hook up with him, and then Noah used it to get you
away from Drew,” Caitlin explained. “I was pissed when I found out.
You have Alek to thank for the fact that they haven’t tried it
again as some sort of experiment.”

Trish shook her head. “They are such
idiots.”

“No argument from me,” Willow said.

“Me either,” Caitlin added.

“You don’t even know the half of it,” Trish
continued, both annoyed and amused. “Drew wasn’t using any sort of
compulsion. That was the first time I’d met him, and he was cute,
so I was talking to him in the kitchen. Then he got kind of pushy,
and it was making me uncomfortable.”

“So, you were flirting with him,” Caitlin
said as she caught on to what Trish was saying.

“Huh?” Willow asked in confusion.

“For whatever reason, when I’m nervous around
a guy, I giggle, bat my eyes, and wiggle around like a tramp. It’s
why I take back up to clubs.”

“And Drew is like an untrained puppy most
days,” Caitlin said. “Even the slightest encouragement, and he’s
humping your leg.”

“It wasn’t that bad, but he was getting too
handsy. I was working on getting out of the kitchen until Noah came
in. I had a huge crush on Noah,” Trish explained to Willow. “So, he
walked into the kitchen looking almost like he was jealous. That’s
what I thought anyway, but it was probably just his protective
nature. Anyway, he tells me to come over to him and that I don’t
like Drew. I’m thinking he’s interested and getting all breathy and
stupid looking because I don’t know how to react.”

Caitlin laughed. “Neither of them used any
compulsion on you successfully?”

“I don’t think so,” Trish said, not sure if
she’d know if they had. “There were a few times when they were
talking funny, and I almost said something, but it seemed rude to
point that out.”

“Then what about that time Justin made you
cluck like a chicken to prove he was a vampire?” Caitlin asked.

Trish shrugged. “It just seemed easier to
play along. You were only arguing with Justin out of habit. He’d
proven his point about being a vampire before that.”

“You might play nice, but you are an evil
little bitch,” Caitlin muttered.

Willow’s lips curled into a wicked grin. “You
should let them do their experiment. It would be hilarious if you
played them.”

“Alek will never let it happen,” Caitlin
said. “He’s adamant about protecting Trish from any mind
control.”

“Alek has no say in my life,” Trish insisted.
“We should do this. It would be really funny.”

“Then we’d better do it before Nathaniel gets
back,” Caitlin said thoughtfully. “He’d probably be more pissed
about them trying this stuff on you than Alek. Isaiah won’t go for
it, either, because he thinks it’s wrong to control people’s minds
when you can avoid it.”

“So, we can only mess with Justin, Noah, and
Aiden?” Trish asked.

“And Drew,” Caitlin said, but then added,
“Scratch that. The other boys won’t play with him.”

Trish shook her head. “Plus, Drew’s feelings
would be hurt.”

“Please tell me you did not just say you’re
worried about hurting Drew’s feelings,” Caitlin said.

“He’s not that bad,” Trish insisted.

“Since when?” Caitlin asked.

“Since always,” Trish said. “I’ve already had
this argument with Alek. I’m not about to have it with you
too.”

“Ooookay,” Caitlin said, giving Trish a look
that said she thought Trish was crazy.

“So what should we do?” Willow asked.