We Own the Night (The Night Songs Collection Book 3) (5 page)

“Sherri.” Tristan mouthed behind him and made a face. I’d met Tristan the summer his parents split up. It hadn’t been pretty. Obviously, Tristan had never welcomed this new woman into his life.

I stepped out on the deck and gasped. Once we passed a giant fish tank, long couches and comfy chairs were set up around a huge pool, with fire pits illuminating the entire yard. Like the plane, the backyard was nicer than most regular houses I’d been in.

We followed Trevor over to where a blonde woman sat, drinking wine. She stood as we approached. On first sight, I could understand why Tristan didn’t like her. Not much older than us, nothing about this woman said
mom
. She looked as plastic as the house with her platinum blonde hair, her overly tanned skin and long sharp nails. She hugged us both. Everyone did their best not to cringe on contact.

We sat down as Sherri filled our glasses from an ice and fruit filled pitcher. I sipped the sangria. It did nothing for my nerves as I waited for our meeting to begin.

“So, Callie, I just need you to sign some paperwork. It makes you a part of the real estate trust for the Alta Vista.” Trevor opened up a thick packet of paperwork, showing me where he wanted me to sign before he handed me a pen.

“Shouldn’t I read this first? I mean, I’m not really sure what you’re asking of me.” I looked around at the gathering, feeling my skin flush as everyone chuckled. Why was it so funny that I wanted to take this seriously?

“I already explained it to you, beautiful.” Tristan wrapped his fingers around mine. My heart warmed that he called me by his pet name in front of his family. “No one is selling you into slavery.”

I opened my mouth to protest then closed it before I made an ass out of myself. Tristan had no idea what he was getting himself into getting involved with Talis, or being forced into Immortal Dilemma, or before his family got coerced into funding the Alta Vista. Once I signed on the dotted line, I had control over all of these things.

“You can take it with you if you’d prefer,” Trevor offered, still seeming amused I’d dare question him. “It is a good idea for you to read it over, see if you have any questions. Do you have your own lawyer?”

I laughed. “No.” I didn’t even have a driver’s license.

“You can certainly talk to mine. They’re experienced in your situation.” Trevor raised an eyebrow and eased the paperwork away from me, closing the binder, ending the discussion. “So I hear you are my sister in law’s neighbor, Callie.”

“Yeah. My family has lived next door to her since I was like ten.” I caught Sherri looking at me the same way she’d probably look at one of those little dogs cross-bred with a poodle. Like I was just too precious. Did she know I could rip her into tiny pieces and not even break a sweat?

“I’d love to come visit some time, but as I’m sure you’ve heard, I’m not exactly welcome there.” Trevor had the same smirk as Tristan. I smiled, thinking of all the awful names Tristan’s aunt Caroline had for his dad.

We chatted for a little bit about Tristan’s family, Trevor and Sherri sharing details about Tristan that I loved and made him blush. We laughed a lot. It was a much better time than I had expected.

“We have a plane to catch.” Tristan stood up what seemed like minutes after we got there and I followed his lead. We said our goodbyes to Sherri, and Trevor walked us back to the waiting car.

Instead of shaking my hand, Trevor gave me a hug goodbye. “It was so nice to finally meet you, Callie.” He pulled away, still holding on to my arms and looked a bit more serious. “You’re a part of this family now, as unconventional as it may be. No one is going to let anything happen to you.” He pulled me back in and kissed my forehead.

I just nodded, my head spinning with his words as I slid across the back seat of the car. I couldn’t think of anything else on the way home, even when Tristan and I ruined all the pretty white furniture and joined the Mile High Club.

I
practically ran to Lennon’s door when Tony, the head of Immortal Dilemma security, stopped his jeep in front of my old apartment. As excited as I was to be here, I was haunted by the memory of my first apartment in Las Vegas, in this very complex. I’d moved in with Janelle, who ran the Immortal Fans Forever website. She helped me get established in the city, but she also helped establish a group of Tristan fans who’d rather see me gone. Unfortunately, it was Janelle who was gone now, a causality in Blade’s war against me.

Lennon ripped the door open and hugged me, then we settled quickly on the couch. She’d already put out drinks, some fruity martini for her and Venom for me. She looked as gorgeous as ever, pinup girl perfect.

“Tell me all about meeting Trevor George, doll. Is he as drool-worthy in person?”

“Ew. He’s Tristan’s dad.” It was too weird to refer to him as drool-worthy, even if it was the truth.

“He’s a silver fox.” Lennon stood her ground. “So why did he bring you to meet him? Sounds serious.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me while she sipped her drink.

“Well, it was pretty serious, but not like you’re thinking.” Trevor’s words echoed in my brain.
You’re a part of this family now
. “It’s tied in to what I asked you about on the phone.”

“I’ve been thinking about that ever since you called.” She frowned. “What’s going on?”

“So now that I’m, you know, undead, apparently that automatically makes me clan leader since I’m a woman.” I might as well go for the wow factor right out of the gate.

“Whoa. That’s pretty badass.” Lennon squeezed my knee. “But what’s Talis going to say? She’s not going to just hand you the keys to the kingdom, you know?”

“Have you noticed that Talis hasn’t been around much lately at Embrace?” I asked, resisting the urge to down my Venom in one sip.

Lennon thought about it for minute. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “Why is that?”

“She’s dead.” I paused and put my hand up before she had a chance to speak. “Blade killed her.”

“Oh my God.” Lennon’s mouth fell open. “You found Blade.”

“More like he found me,” I sighed. She wasn’t going to like any of this. “Since he killed Talis, he’s also technically clan leader. He’s been on a rampage. Tristan seems to think he’s the one who killed Janelle, and--” I paused, and Lennon’s face started to fall before I even got the word out. “Jacey.”

Tears fell from Lennon’s eyes, but she didn’t move or make a sound. I just sat and watched her, helplessly. I wanted to hug her, but I hadn’t finished delivering the worst of the news yet. I’d only destroyed part of her world. I’d wait to try to comfort her until I blew the whole thing to bits.

“Tristan seems to think that Blade has been working with Peter all along to destroy Talis’s clan.”

Her eyes narrowed. “But why would Peter want Jacey dead? That’s not possible.”

“When Blade showed up at the Immortal Dilemma show the other night, he said he owned a piece of the band and he fired Tristan. He made it stick, because when Tristan went to play the next show, he got kicked out. Tristan is pissed, and that’s an understatement.”

“I’d heard something happened at the show, but I didn’t really pay attention to what,” she said almost apologetically. Times like this Janelle and her gossip site would have come in handy. “I still don’t understand what this has to do with Jacey.” Her voice broke as she said his name. They had made such a great couple, her fun-loving ways mixing perfectly with his seriousness. He’d been found dead around the same time I’d been found undead. “It doesn’t explain why Peter would want Jacey dead.”

She burst into tears and I finally went to her to hold her as she cried. The new revelation ripped the wound freshly open. Once she calmed down, she didn’t say anything, and I wasn’t sure what to say, either. I didn’t want to upset her more, but I didn’t want to trivialize what had happened by changing the subject.

“Well, I guess I should know better than to let my guard down around these blood suckers,” she finally said as she sat up and straightened her top. “Present company excluded, of course.”

“No offense taken,” I said quietly. “I don’t even really know what I am yet, so maybe I shouldn’t be excluded.”

Lennon’s face fell all over again. I knew it was easy to forget someone was a monster when they were still packaged like a human. “You’d think after spending almost all my time with vampires, I’d be used to this. I’d be smarter than this.” She sighed and looked down at her hands. “Jacey didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know.” And I didn’t know what to do about it.

That wasn’t true. I knew exactly what I had to do about it. I just didn’t want to.

We fell into another awkward silence. “Oh, we have a new girl at work.” Lennon thankfully changed the subject.

“Oh yeah?” I perked up at the chance of gossip. Finally, something normal.

“She’s from Massachusetts, too! And she’s got a rock star boyfriend who just happens to be a vampire.” Lennon seemed to consider this all good news.

“What? You said I couldn’t be replaced.” I pouted. Next she’d move in with Lennon and totally take my place. “Who is she and who’s the guy? Someone we know?”

“Her name is Melanie and she’s dating Ryder Maddox.”

“Who’s Ryder Maddox?” I never paid attention to hard rock bands before I dropped myself in the middle of their world. I’d never fully catch up.

“Sometimes I forget how young you are. From Soul Divider?” Lennon tried to ring a bell for me.

“I’ve never heard of them,” I confessed, feeling utterly unprepared for my life. It was so much easier when vampires were things in Never Never Land.

“They aren’t really that popular anymore. They used to be huge, about ten years ago. But they’re part of the same clan as Immortal Dilemma.”

My clan.

“Huh.” I’d have to ask Tristan if he knew anything about them. If he wasn’t still in tantrum mode over being fired. Tristan without anything to occupy his time was a dangerous, volatile thing. I’d been tiptoeing around his Venom-fueled outbursts and broken furniture ever since he broke the news.

I guess it was better that he broke furniture than took out his anger where he really wanted to—on Blade.

I bristled, mad at myself for thinking of protecting Blade while I watched my best friend crumble from the pain he caused her.

“I’ll have to come visit you guys at work so I can meet her, as soon as Tristan calms down a bit. He doesn’t want to go out yet, since everyone’s buzzing about his absence from the shows.” I’d felt sick for days. Hysteria swirled around the Alta Vista, its toxicity choking me.

“That would be so fun! And this whole thing should pass soon. Immortal Dilemma was built around Tristan. They can’t survive without him.”

“I know. We’ll figure it out.” I’d already overwhelmed Lennon with too much information. I realized I never finished telling her about why we went to see Tristan’s dad. The packet of paperwork sat in a safe place in the guest room, a place Tristan only came to when I invited him. Even completely obliterated on Venom, I hoped Tristan would know better than to destroy that paperwork. It was our key to restoring some sense of normalcy.

Lennon shook her head and smiled. “It’s never a dull moment with you, doll.”

“Y
ou need to sign that paperwork,” Tristan growled when I came back from Lennon’s house.

“I’m working on it. I haven’t finished reading it yet, and—“

“Just sign it.” He cut me off. “No one’s trying to screw you.”