21. Liquid Courage

Chapter 21

Liquid Courage

I hung up the phone, too freaked out by all he had said. Freaked out to hear they hadn't used mind control and that my obsession with them was real. That my foolishness was no one else's fault but my own. And why was it that I kept finding them at all? That was three times now that I had been the one to seek them out. First Talon, then Victor in the park, then even outside the restaurant last night. It was like I couldn't help myself.

Was there something wrong with me?

A message come through and I read it thinking it would be from Stacey… I was wrong.

‘Be at the Penthouse tonight at seven and pack a bag.'

I couldn't help my reply.

‘A bag of garlic and wooden stakes?'

His own reply had my stomach fluttering again.

‘Try underwear and rope.'

Damn it, why couldn't I help the smile that tugged at my lips? Where had my tears of frustration gone? Was that all it took, a flirty message? I shook my head at myself, already knowing that I should stop. That I should turn off my phone and ignore him. That no matter what… I should not reply.

Of course, I replied.

‘Plugging in my wood lathe now.'

I could almost hear the laughter in my mind.

‘See you at seven, funny girl, don't be late and PS… I like garlic.'

I sent him a gif of a girl dressed as a giant blub of garlic and told him,

‘Then I have my dress all sorted.'

After which I berated myself for flirting further but once again, I couldn't stop. It was like a sickness. When his reply came through I nearly dropped my phone in my haste to see it.

‘Good, I will sharpen my claws and be at the ready to tear you out ofit.'

I shuddered at the thought of him tearing anything off me. I forced myself not to reply again, knowing I was just encouraging him. What I really needed was to try and find a way out of it.

I also had a lot of explaining to do with Stacey, who let's just say, had a lot of questions. She nearly wept for all woman kind when I told her they were my gay friends and were actually a couple. Because after the first lie I had already told, it seemed like the most logical thing to do. To tell her how they hadn't got my number last night, but knew I worked at the bookstore. How they were forcing me to go out tonight, blah, blah, blah, the lies went on and on.

Because what else could I do, tell her the truth? That would only end up putting her in danger. At the very least, Victor had kept his promise and not asked her for my address. He was trusting that I would turn up of my own free will. But he also knew that if I didn't, then he had other means of getting to me. Just having them talking to Stacey today was enough to put the fear of god in me.

"Think, damn it!" I said, walking to the kitchen and grabbing the emergency booze, which was a bottle of apple schnapps Stacey had been bought as a gift and hated with a passion. As for me, I was desperate for anything that would calm my brain and turn off the ‘brother obsession switch'.

Hence why by the time seven a clock came round, I was shit-faced drunk and not exactly where I was supposed to be.

"I thought you were meeting your new gay friends tonight, and I have to say, I would totally buy a strap-on if it meant them giving me a shot," Stacey said when she came in and I burst out laughing, snorting a little for good measure. Something that provided a dead giveaway I was three sheets to the wind. Hell, fuck that, I was ten sheets… maybe even twenty.

"Okaaay, looks like someone wanted to start the party early," she said, putting her bag down slowly as if she was about to approach a wild party animal.

To be fair, she hadn't seen me drunk that often but when she did, it almost always ended in tears, not from the giggle fits, but from pitiful tears that always came after getting another bill I struggled to pay. Two glasses of wine was all it usually took for that to happen.

Which was what was so surprising about now, because I was currently playing the part of the happy drunk. I had no idea why, not when my fucked-up life included witnessing murder, two insanely hot Vampires, multiple kidnap attempts, and kissing said hot Vampires. Oh, and all the while forgetting that I had apparently willingly signed up to be a blood donor for the foreseeable future.

Should I start taking extra vitamins?

Maybe iron supplements? Maybe I should have gone for steak instead of that bowl of cereal…? Ha, like I could afford steak! Mmm, maybe they would feed me steak… Ooo, with creamy mashed potato and buttery veg.

"What are you thinking about? And have you been playing with my weapons?"

"Yes, but they aren't sharp enough," I replied drunkenly.

"Of course not, most of them are movie props," Stacey argued as she took the fake dagger from me and set it back on the shelf where she displayed her ‘weaponry'. It was unfortunately useless to me. Because despite what I said, I didn't have the means of making a stake and nor did I have a dress that made me look like a giant piece of garlic. In fact, I could barely afford Garlic bread at this point.

"So what time is your hot gay guy date?" she asked, making me shrug my shoulder and say.

"Seven."

"Oh shit, Nessa, it's nine o clock!"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. The type of hysterical giggles that only came from madness or a mostly empty bottle of schnapps. I was going with somewhere in the middle.

"Oooh, they are gonna be soooo pissed," I said, covering my mouth with my hands.

"Why?" she asked, making me whisper behind my hand,

"They had plans for me." Something which felt like the understatement of the year.

"Just call them," she suggested, making me wave my phone at her.

"I can't, I turned my phone off," I said, making her reach for it and say,

"Just turn it back on and…"

"No!" I shouted, snatching it back before she could because I didn't know if they could track the phone or not.

"Okay… look, if you don't want to go, just don't go."

I winced, knowing that wasn't much of an option for me, because if I didn't, I would only end up paying for it tomorrow.

"I better had," I said, making her frown in question.

"What's going on, Nessa?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, deciding a shower might do a good job toward sobering me up. Stacey followed me into the bathroom where I turned on the shower, getting it warm before I got in.

"You've been acting weird since…"

"Since when?" I asked when she paused.

"Since the fortune teller."

The second she said this it was like everything just slammed into place all at once. Like a total Tada moment, making me turn to her and agree.

"You're right, this all started that night."

"What all started?" she asked as I was tearing my hooded sweater over my head, having already changed once from the night before.

"Everything that happened was after meeting her," I told her, grabbing on to her arms and trying to get her to understand the tiny amount I had given her.

"Okay, you're not making sense now," my friend tried, but instead of explaining, I said,

"I need to grab a shower, but do you think you have anything that will fit me? Anything I can wear that isn't my usual jeans and T-shirt?" I asked, making her eyes widen and all thoughts of what I was talking about were lost when she squealed.

"Eeeek, makeover time!" Then she ran off, and I looked at myself in the mirror and said,

"What just happened?"

My face had no answers.