14. Sweet Revenge

T urney stood there keeping his face as neutral as possible as Octavius gushed at Bubby. The fish kept kissing the side of the tank he was currently in, his eyes seeming to beam happily at the vampire.

“Oh, my baby, your daddies miss you!” Octavius cried, while tapping the tablet screen as if it were the fish’s tank. “Turney, say hi to our baby!”

He faked his best smile and said, “Hello, Bubby.”

Turney sagged when the puffer fish turned away… Yep…Bubby did not like him at all.

“Oh…looks like he is done…talking…” Octavius mused softly, his brows pulling together in confusion. “Well, thank you again for watching him, Lilah. Until tomorrow.”

“No problem, Octavius. See you soon, hope you all are having fun!” she said happily before the call cut.

“Well,” Turney sighed. “Now what?”

“Now…THE WATER PARK!” Octavius giggled excitedly.

Turney smiled when the vampire began to bounce.

“It will be funnnn!” Octavius pressed. “And we will all be there!”

The werewolf’s twisted, tense expression told him that the man either didn’t believe him, or just didn’t agree.

“Water parks are loud…and cramped…and there is water everywhere. Not to mention, the constant splashing always messes with my hearing… And animals, even service ones, can’t actually go into the water. Really, there are just too many people.” Theo gave a hesitant, apologetic smile. “I think…I’ll just check out the spa instead. They supposedly offer services for animals. So Sprinkle can come and enjoy it with me.”

Meow!

He glanced down at the happy sound, watching Sprinkle wind around his legs. She was at least fifteen inches in length now, excluding her tail. The navy-blue and lilac colored kitten began to purr as she rubbed her face against him. The longish tuffs of lilac on her ears moved as they twitched. The more she grew, the more Sprinkle’s purple collar of fur filled out. It was now a beautiful mane.

Octavius smiled as she blinked her glowing light ocean-blue eyes up at him. So cute … His fur baby was simply adorable!

“Spa?” Min-ji asked with an annoying amount of interest.

What was so interesting about a spa?! You just laid there…while people you don’t know touched you… And you can't move… Ugh, the not moving part was the worst. Who would want to do something so… boring ?!

“I…” Turney began. “Kind of want to see what that entails. It has to be cute, right? A kitten spa.”

“I imagine it would involve a lot of purring,” Scarlett mused unhelpfully.

He narrowed his eyes at the three of them and snapped, “Unlike Theo, you three have no choice! Besides, you can go to the spa later, it is in our hotel!” He pouted.

How could they try to abandon him?!

Turney chuckled. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t go to the water park with you. I was just thinking about what a kitten going to a spa would lead to, is all.”

Scarlett snorted. “It’s fine, Min-ji, we can go to the spa later today.”

“I suppose,” the witch sighed.

“We will have more fun at the water park, I assure you!” Octavius hmphed, before turning to Theo with a smile. “If you change your mind, let me know, and we will come find you. Otherwise, want to meet up for lunch?”

“Sounds good.” The wolf nodded.

Smiling, he opened the park app, and quickly pre-checked in for the water park. Really, the app was so handy! Why wait in line when you could check in early and then bypass all of the unprepared people?!

“Let’s be off!”

“Octavius…don’t you think we should grab some things first…like our swimsuits?” Turney chuckled. “And before you suggest wearing them out…it’s only thirty-five today… We would get way too many stares.” The zombie quickly added, “And Min-ji would be cold.”

He blinked. “Right…bathing suits would be preferable to swimming in actual clothes, and I suppose it is too cold to wear them on the ride over,” Octavius said reluctantly, before loudly proclaiming, “Everyone pack a bag, and meet back here in five!”

Theo shook his head as he was ushered out of the room with the others. “Until lunch then.”

Scarlett grunted, while Min-ji nodded and softly murmured, “Until then.”

Once he’d heard them walk away, and their hotel room door had opened and closed, he crouched down, reaching for Sprinkle, who came right to his hand.

Attaching the leash to the hardness she was wearing, he explained, “Our goal, Sprinkle, is to take the elevator down, find a hotel worker, and figure out how to get to the spa.”

Meow, Sprinkled responded. She started to pull once he’d straightened up. Smiling, he let her guide him forward.

Octavius hummed happily as he walked down the hall, in the direction of the elevator, his boyfriend and friends following along behind him. His smile grew wider and very smug when the screaming started. Well, it was more of a scream followed by ranting.

“Well, SOMEONE put it there! I sure as hell didn’t!” a familiar, snide, nasty voice snapped.

“Sir, I understand you are angry?—”

He tuned it out as they turned the corner, the chaos coming into view. He couldn’t help but try to memorize how hater Mathew looked, dusted in a fine coat of lemon-yellow glitter. He had to say, the man’s graying-black hair looked very nice with the sparkling yellow accents.

Unfortunately, as the human came into view…Octavius felt multiple pairs of eyes begin to bore into him. One particular pair felt rather…menacing. But he, of course, ignored them all, choosing to happily whistle the Mallard Mysteries theme song as he passed the human, who was apparently too upset to even notice him. Ahh, revenge, so sweet, so fulfilling! It just warmed his barely beating heart!

On reaching the elevator, he pressed the button and turned to face the others, before promptly spinning right back around on catching sight of his zombie bun’s narrowed gaze, along with the pinched, and one might say, pained expression on his face. Well, Scarlett looked like she was about to laugh, and Min-ji appeared entertained, so at least he wasn’t alone in his celebratory glee—not that it mattered.

Octavius went back to whistling innocently as they waited for the elevator, everyone remaining silent until they were finally inside.

As the doors closed, he kept his back strategically to Turney, yet Octavius couldn’t help but flinch as his boyfriend’s hands lightly gripped both of his shoulders, the zombie now very close.

“Octavius,” Turney growled between clenched teeth.

He smiled and slowly looked back. “Ha, yes, my precious zombie bun, who loves me with all of his heart?”

The man’s pained and…now clearly irritated expression, didn’t change. “What did you do?” he hissed.

Octavius stared at the man with wide, innocent eyes and said, “Nothing at all? W-why would you ever assume I had anything to do with whatever that was that we just passed?”

“You are such a bad liar,” Turney groaned, pressing his face against his back.

“I am a very good liar! But I am not lying,” he lied.

The zombie just groaned again, the sound vibrating against his back, as Scarlett and Min-ji started to laugh.

He giggled—ahhh…his zombie bun was so silly.