I was gobsmacked over what Jay Dee did to d’Artagnan. It was brilliant, but what was even more amazing about it was the fact that she showed absolutely no fear, took on a bloody vampire by herself, and didn’t fall for his bollocks routine. Obviously she cared about me much more than I realized, and because of that apparent dedication, I didn’t decline her invitation to dine with her family as I was going to do when I picked her up, feigning a scheduling conflict.
d’Artagnan was going to narked when he finally got his ring back. I asked Steffen to keep an eye on him to make sure that he didn’t destroy anything or get a body count; Steffen was one of the few who can put my lovely brother in his place.
To my surprise, Mrs. Lightfoot said yes to me coming for dinner, Mr. Lightfoot apparently had no say in the matter, however, Jay Dee didn’t feel that meatloaf would be very appealing for someone like me, thus she wanted something slightly fancier. That was most agreeable; I hated meatloaf.
Jay Dee and I bickered the entire time at the grocery store; she tried to shop cheap and I didn’t do cheap. After twenty minutes of putting everything she tossed in the cart back, replacing it with what I saw fit, she pouted as she softly growled under her breath at me.
It was turning me on, strangely enough.
Sadly, her defiance didn’t stop there and she proceeded to argue with me about paying when we reached the register. No longer in the mood for her unusual form or torture, I threw her over my shoulder and paid, earning a hard smack on my arse for it in return.
While Jay Dee showered, I made dinner. I refused to let her cook after she commented we may have to order pizza…again. Jarvis sat on the counter, taking up precious workspace, and watched me. And their mother, Sky, hovered in the kitchen the entire time with her son, which filled the tiny space to near capacity.
Sky wasn’t rude, that was surprising considering I was a vampire with an open invitation to her home, she simply wasn’t talkative. She was vigilant, which I didn’t blame her for; having a vampire in the house could be rather offsetting, especially if you were once their immortal enemy.
Jay Dee laughed when I bought a large bouquet of flowers for her mum. I had to remind her of the century in which I was born, and explain to her the rules for properly courting someone, which she snorted and laughed over for ten minutes straight. In all fairness, I did break the number one rule of courtship by sneaking through her bedroom window and snogging, not to mention, staying the night. But old habits die hard, not that I had ever properly courted anyone before.
Eventually, Jarvis couldn’t take it anymore and huffed. “Okay, Count Suckula, what’s the deal?”
I looked up at him while blindly chopping vegetables. “What do you mean, mongrel…I mean, Mr. Jarvis?” I asked.
“Ruff ruff,” he growled before laughing. “Obviously you’re not going anywhere. I was hoping that the weather would keep you away, but somehow you’re beating the sun.”
Thank God his sister didn’t tell him about the totems.
“SPF ten-thousand,” I said and he gave me a look.
“Uh huh. Since you like my baby sister, what are you getting her for her birthday?” he asked.
Sky laughed, shaking her head as she headed out of the kitchen; obviously there was no threat there.
“I already told you of the dilemma with that particular problem,” I reminded him.
Jarvis rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Dude. Just do what everyone else does; get her what you want and listen to her bitch about it for two months straight, just in time for Christmas, then you get to do it all over again! It’s a vicious cycle with my sister.”
I actually hadn’t thought of that.
“What do you suggest?” I reluctantly asked.
He laughed. “Hell, I don’t know. If you hadn’t noticed, she hardly has anything. So anything is more than she currently has.”
“You are not being very helpful in the least,” I pointed out and he smiled wide so I shoved the bowl of salad at him I had just finished dressing. “Mongrel, tell me what she needs and I will take care of it. If you like, you may put your bloody name on the card so you can take credit for it as well.”
“Fine,” he huffed and made a face at me.
I continued cooking while he thought about, drumming his fingers on his chin, his dark lips twisting into a contemplative pout more than once.
“Ah, I’ve got it!” he proudly proclaimed and I looked over at him. “A car!” he beamed before roaring with laughter.
That was easy.
“Done,” I said.
“Wait, what?” he choked and looked at me confused, then laughed. “Whatever, Dude. What’s for dinner?” he asked, grabbing some plates and started setting the table.
Bloody hell, how did we go from him telling me to leave his sister alone this morning, to him telling me not to hurt her, to talking to me like…. acquaintances, not friends, but friendlier?
“New York strip, grilled asparagus with a four-cheese sauce, and a green salad with baby leaf and romaine, Brie, green apples, roasted garlic, and toasted almonds with champagne vinaigrette. And for dessert, a classic Crème Brûlée,” I said and smiled wide; I loved food.
“Huh,” he huffed and looked at me curiously. “If you were a chick, I’d totally hit that.”
“Um...thanks?” I offered with a cringe.
Thankfully, Jay Dee joined us before her brother tried to man-rape me. Her long wet hair was rolling down her back in clingy, wet curls, and the vintage gray Star Wars shirt she wore presented her breasts masterfully, the matching pajama pants made her arse look even rounder, and the fuzzy slippers on her feet made me chuckle.
“What’s up?” she asked, and smiled wide.
“That’s my shirt!” Jarvis complained. “Sis, your tits are going to stretch the hell out of it!”
“Would you rather I go topless?” she countered and he glared at her.
I raised my hand. “I am in complete support of that suggestion,” I piped in, causing her to blush and Jarvis to roll his eyes. “Dinner is served,” I said since her shirt was staying on and Jarvis was getting ready to throw another tantrum over his minger shirt getting stretched.
Dinner was interesting and not something I would ever subject myself to again without much coercion and promise of sex.
Sky and Reign watched me while I ate. I smiled while I chewed, trying to keep the irritation from showing on my face at being their bloody dinner theater. Jay Dee kept looking at me apologetically; obviously her parents’ behavior was embarrassing her. Jarvis was completely oblivious to it, he kept moaning over the food, stealing more than one bite from his sister’s plate when she wasn’t looking—it took all of my self-restraint to not stab him in the hand with my fork over it.
Eventually, Sky laughed. “This is ridiculous,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Where did you two meet?” she asked and smiled warmly.
“School,” Jay Dee said with a shrug. “We share first and fourth period together. I totally tackled him his first day of gym, causing a fumble. It was awesome.”
Everyone laughed, everyone but me; I rolled my eyes so she kicked me under the table, giving me a warning look.
After that, conversations flowed around the table. Her father, Reign, said very little, but he smiled and joked on occasion. Jarvis was rambling on about some of the things he had seen while traveling through Eastern Russia. I had seen them all before, but the excitement in which he described them with made me want to see them again, almost as if I would have been seeing them for the first time.
Their family was very peculiar to me. They were warm and caring, funny and kind, and vividly aware of each other’s emotional well-being.
I envied them greatly.
My family was never like that, not that I remembered, and I wished that they had been now that I had seen it firsthand.
“Where did you get the necklace?” Sky asked, looking at her daughter curiously.
The question stole Reign’s attention and his bronze complexion paled considerably.
Jay Dee looked down, oblivious to the silent exchange between her parents, and picked up the pendant which was resting just below her suprasternal notch. “Funny story…well not funny at all actually, it kind of pissed me off, and if it were anyone other than Yahto, I would have totally been kicking ass and taking names. Anyway, he said that when they found me, I had it on and they took it because they didn’t trust the white man,” she said with a shrug. “I really haven’t given it much thought. I just put it on and left it at that.”
The silent exchange between her parents continued, and it made me curious as to why they seemingly recognized the pendant.
“May I?” I asked, holding my hand out expectantly and she nodded.
Her parents started to object—that was the tell I was waiting for—so I cocked an eyebrow.
Both instantly sat back in the chairs, glared at me, and closed their mouths.
Jay Dee took the necklace off and handed it to me.
Bloody hell!
This is a bloody totem, and by the looks on her parents faces’ they are well aware that this belonged to Jay Dee, as well as know the significance of the piece. Fascinating. It is not entirely unheard of for rare pieces like this to be lost in the human world, but still, to have a human wash up on shore wearing such a remarkable piece is nutter.
Jay Dee looked at me, her large onyx eyes pleading for an explination.
“Duc…Miss Jay Dee, the blue is ancient Roman necklace set in the middle of a Jerusalem Cross. The glass alone would date back more than two thousand years. See these four smaller crosses at the corners?” I asked, leaning into her and pointed to them and she nodded. “They are thought to symbolize the four books of the gospel and the four directions in which the gospel spread from Jerusalem.”
I handed it back to her.
“It truly is a lovely piece,” I commented, my eyes flickering to her parents and their eyes narrowed. “It is like me family ring,” I said, turning back to Jay Dee and cocked an eyebrow.
Jay Dee’s eyes widened before she nodded nonchalantly and secured the necklace around her neck, tucking it under the collar of her shirt.
“Why didn’t Yahto’s dumb ass say something?” Jarvis asked as he helped himself to a fifth steak. “I mean, I get the keeping it from the white man thing, I would have done the same, but come on. He waited thirteen years to bring it over?”
Jay Dee shrugged. “He forgot about it. Bro, you act like you just met him! I may have the blonde hair, but Yahto totally has the blond roots.”
That was amusing and true.
“Indeed,” Reign mumbled under his breath.
Sky reassuringly patted his hand. “You have it now, Sweetheart, and that’s all that matters. Think of it this way, it was always close at hand but never at hand, thus it was safe.”
Jarvis and Jay Dee looked at each other, making identical faces that unmistakably translated to ‘Mum has lost her goddamn mind’, but the look on Reign’s face was that of understanding and complacency in what his wife was reassuring him of.
“Of course,” he agreed. “And that’s the only reason why I won’t kill him,” he said.
Jay Dee gave him a look. “It’s a stupid necklace, Dad. It isn’t a big deal. Besides, he already feels super guilty about it, even teared up a little, so no harm no foul. Okay?”
Reign cocked an eyebrow.
Jarvis leaned into me. “You’re about to watch the old man get played,” he whispered and Sky chuckled under her breath.
Jay Dee batted her lashes at him. “Daddy, let it go. I love Yahto, blond roots and all. It was his extremely belated birthday present to me,” she said in a sweet tone. “Please?” she purred.
Reign’s head tilted to the side and his dark brown eyes softened. “Of course, Sweetheart. Anything for my little princess.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Jay Dee said with a smile.
Beyond impressive.
Once dinner concluded, thankfully it didn’t last for many courses and excessive conversation, Jay Dee and I sat on the porch swing out back while Jarvis and Sky cleaned up. Jay Dee was stretched out on her back with her head resting on my lap while she spun a wild flower between her fingers.
“Do you think your brother is still pissed?” she asked with an evil smirk as she watched the spinning white and yellow flower between her fingers.
I laughed, it was hard not to laugh.
“Most likely,” I said. “d'Artagnan can, and will, hold a grudge for centuries. He is a unprecedented pain in the arse like that.”
“So I’ve seen,” she dryly agreed. “Why did you try to kill him? I mean, don’t get me wrong, he totally deserves it and then some, but was there a specific reason other than the fact that he’s a giant tool?”
Softly I caressed her head, allowing my fingers to play in her silky hair. The sun was dipping low in the sky, the last rays of daylight peeked out from around the mountains in the distance, painting the horizon in beautiful shades of red, purple, and orange. It was a beautiful moment, one which she was asking me to ruin with my past. I wanted her to know me, the real me, the Tanis Ashton that I have kept hidden inside for centuries, just as mum said I had been doing, but at the same time, I wasn’t entirely sure who in the hell Tanis Ashton even was.
Take the leap, mum said.
That was what I was going do, for the first time in my life: take the leap.
“Before me brother blessed us with the dark gift….wait, allow me start over,” I pleaded and she nodded. “I am married,” I blurted out and the flower spinning between her fingers instantly stopped and she swallowed loudly. “I was seventeen, which was not young in that century. I loved her and she loved me, or so I thought. Samantha was the sole survivor in her family when the sickness hit our village. We grew up together and were best friends, so I thought it was only right that we marry. When d’Artagnan blessed me with the dark gift, he turned Samantha as well. I never wanted this life, Duckie. I did not long to live forever, and I sure as hell did not want to be a monster. However, me thinking was that if I had me wife with me it would somehow make it acceptable...knowing that we could be together for all eternity, it gave me a sense of temporary contentment with the fate me brother condemned me to.”
I looked from the horizon to Jay Dee but her face was as expressionless as stone.
“They say that there are two types of vampires, Duckie. Those who stay human, in essence, and simply evolve physically; they retain who they were in their human life, and nothing is lost, only gained. And then there are those vampires who change completely by thoroughly embracing the dark gift, thus losing their humanity altogether. I, obviously, did not change, however Sam did. It was slow, at first. I knew something was wrong right away, but she was me wife so I kept me mouth shut and turned a blind eye. Eventually I could not ignore her behavior any longer, and when I went to address it, I walked in on her and me brother shagging in our bedchamber.
“I lost me temper and staked him, threw her out naked on the streets, and relocated without telling anyone. Eventually me brother apologized, and being the daft arsehole that I am, I believed his apology and forgave him. After all, it does take two to shag. However, when he did it again, and again, and again, I finally gave up on the notion of love and relationships and vowed to never be in one again...that was nearly two hundred years ago. Sometimes you have to sacrifice in order to prevent killing those related to you,” I said the latter with a chuckle though there was nothing amusing about it in the least.
Jay Dee was quiet as her feet tapped out a slow rhythm to match the one I was slowly rocking the swing back and forth to. “What a bitch,” she finally said. “Seriously, I would have kicked her ass up one coast and down the other. I don’t understand how people can deliberately hurt someone like that. I mean, when you marry someone, you are bound by that vow, immortal or not. Hell, my parents have been together for more than eighty years! Completely ridiculous,” she said with a snort
Needless to say, that was not the reaction I was expecting, and as usual, the strange young woman had me in awe.
“Why’d you try to kill him most recently?” she asked.
“No reason other than the usual reasons, Duckie,” I whispered, truly at a loss for words.
We sat quietly for a while; the only sound was the creaking of the porch swing and the rustling leaves from the slight breeze blowing in from the west.
It was nearly the perfect moment.
“Do you still love her?” Jay Dee whispered.
“Who?” I asked; yes, it was a daft question and a horrible stall tactic.
“Your wife,” she clarified and rolled her eyes.
“I will always love her as a friend,” I admitted. “However, the love that went beyond friendship was lost long ago. I think it died when she embraced the dark gift. Who she once was... Sam was completely lost to me, thus there was no one left to love. You have to remember, Duckie, I was very young, and times were very different back then. Samantha, the Sam who was me best friend, she had no connections, no family, no money, no livelihood...nothing. When her family perished, she was...the only options for young women without means and support were to turn into mistresses and whores.”
Her eyes widened.
“So you see, on one level, I was helping me best friend and first love, and on another, it was a very young, quick, and questionably non-existent courting.”
“Interesting,” Jay Dee mumbled, watching the, once again, spinning flower. “What does she look like?” she asked.
“Sam is short with dark brown hair, gray eyes, very dainty with no curves and hardly any breasts...the polar opposite of you.” I laughed; it was rather amusing when I finally thought about it. Sam was nearly a foot shorter than Jay Dee, and her opposite in every way. “Why do you inquire?”
Jay Dee simply shook her head as she slowly plucked each petal off of flower between her fingers, watching what she was doing studiously. “Tanis, why are you here with me? I’m not what you find attractive. I guarantee that all the girls you’ve been with, or have been interested in, will all be tiny brunettes. Are you just preoccupying yourself with the strange wolf girl because everyone else treats you like a leper, and she should as well, but she is obviously too stupid to know so? Let’s not forget this blonde also antagonized your homicidal a*shole brother, regardless of oath, and I’m sure he’s going to go out of his way to get back at me...most likely through you since you weren’t included in that stupid oath he made. Honestly, Tanis, why bother?”
Wolf girl? She’s obviously been around too many bloody werewolves...she even talks like them half of the time.
“Duckie, you are correct,” I agreed.
She sighed and pouted her bottom lip out.
It made me laugh.
“If you will so kind as to allow me to finish,” I said, trying to clear the amusement from my voice. “You are spot on when it pertains to me past, however, Duckie, you are me present, at least I would like you to be. Honestly, Duckie, you are by far the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and the fact that you physically go against what I thought was attractive makes me laugh. In getting to know you these past few days, I have discovered that the person you are on the inside is a thousand times more beautiful than the person on the outside, and never did I image that it was possible to find that in a woman. Am I using to you preoccupy myself with, to distract me from this shitehole small village life? I may have been initially, however, everything is open to change, and that is exactly what happened. Change is one of the many joys of being who we are; change is a constant and it truly can be a wonderful thing, as you have shown me without even trying.
“If Sam knocked on my door tomorrow and pleaded for me to take her back, and vowed to devote her life to me and our marriage, would I take her back? No. Would I even contemplate it? No. She is my past, a long, nearly forgotten memory of many lifetimes ago.”
I was sensing that she didn’t believe me in the least.
“Duckie, what is it that I can do to get you to believe me? I just had dinner with werewolves and did not think twice about it. If that does not show intent, I do not know what would...come to think of it, I do not recall ever having to meet someone’s parents before. That is rather interesting, and yet that omission should work in me favor,” I said and cocked an eyebrow and caressed my thumb across her pouting bottom lip and she softly kissed it. “Angelic pillows of rose-tinted velvet that beckon to me in the darkness,” I whispered. “You so easily distract me, Duckie. You truly have bewitched me, mind, body, and soul. What is it we were talking about?” I asked since I allowed myself to be distracted by her beautiful lips.
She smiled. “Nothing. I’m just being a stupid girl.”
“Duckie, you are the farthest thing from daft. Please tell me what you are thinking about.”
“When I was thirteen,” she whispered and closed her eyes, “I went to my first boy-girl party at Marsha Heder’s house. It was the first and last time I wore a dress,” she mumbled the latter. “They played Seven in Heaven. Y’know, that dumb kissing game where they lock you in the closet with someone and you’re supposed to make out for seven minutes. Anyway, when my turn came, they locked me in the closet with Marsha’s golden retriever. She said he was the only male who would ever kiss a disgusting freak like me, and since he licks his own ass, he obviously didn’t have taste. I ran home in the rain crying. After that I gave up on the whole endeavor of boys. Obviously her words had merit because no one bothered or wanted me before or after that. So you will have to excuse me for having some doubts and self-esteem issues.”
Simply give me the word, me love, and atonement you shall have.
“Does this Marsha Heder still live in the area?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Why?” she asked, and opened an eye to look at me. “Did you plan on killing her?” she said ominously.
“The thought crossed me mind,” I told her honestly.
Jay Dee softly snorted. “Don’t worry about it. She got what was coming to her. Karma is a bitch,” she purred. “She weighs like three-fifty and is only five-two on a good day. She got knocked up her freshman year and dropped out of high school, doesn’t know who the fathers of any of her four kids are, so why lower yourself to her level? I’m over it. In the end, I got the better end of the deal.”
She may be over what had happened to her, however I am not.
Homicidal thoughts aside, what they did to her was horrible, and as usual, Jay Dee didn’t hold any ill-will because of it.
“Duckie, I have never played Seven in Heaven before, however, if you would care to play now, it would be an honor and privilege to hold you in me arms and caress your lips with mine.”
She chuckled. “Thanks but that isn’t necessary. I think we played many hours in Heaven last night, and it was much better than I could have dreamt of.”
“Silly bird,” I whispered and leaned down and caressed her lips with mine.