Charlene
We were all sitting at the compound waiting. Juliet and the three men walked into the gates. Juliet seemed depressed. Their plans didn't pan out.
But I had made sure we were having a massive party in the yard either way. Everyone was there. Everyone had witnessed their epic fight. The months of tireless training. Stress had built up… But it was over. The music was loud, and the patio was a dance floor. So many chairs. Even Jessy and his men were there. It didn't take long for me to convince Juliet to dance. She drew me closer. It had been a long time. I had missed her. Slowly, her hands roamed my body. Behind my head. Through my hair over my shoulders. Down my arms until they rested on my hips, clasping her hands. Her lips rested on my ear on the side of the dance floor where no one would see what she was saying.
"How are you?" I giggled. She was acting like she was flirting with me.
"I'm fine, and you?"
"I have a teleporter. Is there anywhere you would like to visit for a day. We can create an international incident."
I thought for a bit. "I have school." She rolled her eyes and tucked my hair in behind my ear. She kept watching her wristwatch. "What are you planning, Jules?"
"I'm waiting to see who will cave first and how long it takes them. Whether we can entice enough… But don't even peek at the crowd. Keep your eyes on me."
I gestured with my eyes over her shoulder. "That quick… Is it Kubra? I hoped it would be him."
The person tapped her on her shoulder. She glanced back. "We didn't do a good job." She had a big smile on her face and held out a hand. Carl twirled her in a circle. We had danced together so many times. All three of us… It was like second nature. She used him as her own personal dance pole when he didn't take charge or the song gave way for it. His hands ran over her waist and over her shoulders. Juliet took his hand and twirled him to me. I was waiting with an outstretched arm... knowing he was coming. Carl danced with me a little until he held out his other arm, and she came into his embrace.
"What do you guys think Mandy is doing?" Carl asked.
We both burst out laughing. Juliet in her loudest boisterous laughter. Doubling over her torso, mouth open. It had been a long time since I saw her that happy.
"Do you think she is still with Owen?" Carl asked. We laughed again.
"Should we call her and ask…" I suggested. Carl nodded excitedly.
Juliet pulled us closer, and we made a circle on the dance floor. Juliet took out her phone. She dialed Mandy's number.
"Hello."
"Hey, Mandy, it's Juliet."
Mandy went crazy, screaming. "We saw you on TV. Hey everyone, it's Juliet, Carl, and Charlene… You guys just left us here."
"Hey, Mandy! You and Owen still together?"
She was quiet. Juliet killed the call. We had such a good laugh.
"I am so glad we left that place."
"Thank you guys for sticking with me…." Juliet whispered.
Carl rubbed Juliet's hair and kissed her head. "Thank you, Jules, for the ride of my life, but I don't want to have any more excitement for a long time."
"Dr. Grant… Sounds good, Chars… You excited?" Juliet asked.
I nodded. "I am… Growing up isn't that bad."
Juliet and Carl snorted.
Louis brought us the second round of shots. Juliet didn't complain, but their eyes spoke volumes… After the shot, he pushed a beer into her hand. Walking away laughing. "If you want me drunk, you should ask Michael. He does it in like half an hour."
Michael laughed, rubbing his hand over his beard. Louis plopped down next to him, and they whispered to each other. Michael seemed to have relaxed fifty percent after Juliet got that emblem. He took Louis into his room. Juliet started cursing as she walked away. Louis was forcing her into Michael's room and into his arms.
It left Carl and me. He held out his arms to me. I wrapped mine around his neck. He was way taller than me. I couldn't glance at Kubra. Carl's eyes were on me. I felt it… And after a moment, dared to meet his gaze. "Should we have one propper kiss, Chars?"
My first thought was yes. To plant my lips on his and pull him in close. He had always been close. Find out if all of it was only friendship. I missed him. I missed Juliet. My eyes lingered on his lips.
Juliet stepped out of the room… Hey, you two get in here… I pushed him away. He held me in place. "Chars, you were so close." I knew I was. "You could have both of us. I'm not so against sharing anymore…." It had caught me off guard… He was serious.
Juliet screamed again, and he let me go… I walked across the yard. He followed, slapping my ass, and ran away immediately. "Hey, you'll pay for that," I yelled. Carl ran away into the room to hide behind Juliet.
Kubra and I had spent more time together. He sometimes came to the campus to wait for me. I was the envy of every girl. He was there in the morning when I woke up, and he didn't freak out when I danced with another guy.
I held out my hand beside my body a little to the back. It wasn't a few seconds before his fingers laced in mine. He pulled me closer and picked me up in front of him… "That was torture… I thought you would kiss him."
"Carl asked… I thought about it… If I wanted to… he wouldn't have needed to ask."
Kubra pressed his lips onto mine and fell with me onto Michaels's bed. The crowd went wild when he kissed me and didn't let go. I heard Juliet ask Michael if he wanted us all out of there. He pushed a drink into Juliet's hand. "You owe me, Louis."
They left the room, and Michael pushed one into Carl's hand. "For all those nights you looked after her… I'll watch them." Carl saluted and left with Juliet. His arm around her neck.
Michael cleared his throat next to us. "I know black sheets are kinda hot, but yeah, Juliet and I haven't even so… get lost."
Kubra got up in one roll and picked me up. "I love you," I whispered. Kubra paused at my words. His eyes were on me. Michael's head came up off the floor, and he smiled.
"Does this mean you want to sit on my lap?" I jumped off him and took my drink from Michael. "Maybe after this. I give consent, Michael…."
"You sure, Charlene? I don't think that's a good idea. Do you want to become a doctor? Or a mother of a vampire and a werewolf baby. There aren't any human sicknesses to reason away your baby looking like… that."
I laughed. Kubra seemed happy. He put me down when I wanted to leave to join Juliet… "You can judge just how drunk I am."
Michael paused and pulled Kubra back into the room, closing the door.
I would love to be a fly on the wall. Louis came over and pushed his ear against the wood. "He's giving him condoms… Juliet Michael has condoms!" Louis ripped open the door. "Why do you have protection."
Juliet came towards the door. "What the hell, Michael? Who are you sleeping with."
"Who do you think… honey? They are a few years old, but… should be good."
Juliet smiled at him. "You would have never needed them. I don't like it…." She turned around and walked back to the crowd.
"Yeah, like I didn't know that… I was in the van. All my life." He yelled. "James and I had to watch you and Jerry for six months… Should we tell Marcus about that… And I'm a responsible adult… not a child." He did it deliberately and waited for her. Louis came and grabbed her from behind when she strutted back to the room.
"No, Sorry… My night." Louis retorted.
Michael tossed the pack at me. "We'll keep an eye on you. Go get drunk."
***
We were sitting around the fire pit an hour later. It was quiet. I was still deciding about becoming an infected vamp, but Rodrigo wasn't there anymore.
"Hey, did Rodrigo leave behind everything we need to turn me?" I asked Juliet next to me. She was lying on Louis's shoulder, staring into the fire.
"No, Charlene. I think you should forget about that idea." Cindy said. "We could rather connect you to Kubra."
"Everyone keeps saying that. But it still means I would be vulnerable." I kept my eye on Kubra. He had avoided the topic for a long time. Gave me an excuse that we needed to wait till Juliet fought Ahasuerus and see what happened.
"It's not that we think it would be a bad idea… Are you really going to start killing people?" Louis asked.
"Rodrigo gets away with drinking other creature's blood… I wouldn't be killing people… Juliet. I think you should tell us what happened on the farm. When you first changed and how you managed."
She didn't mind.
***
Juliet
"I was in a depression, sitting wherever I went, at a coffee shop or in the park. I would sit for days in my room. Especially when I was manifested. It was hard to accept the way I looked… I couldn't even put on the TV because it was all too strange. I didn't understand half of it except the news channels that quickly became so boring in the amount of time there was to get a hold-off.
"I didn't want to see my dad."
I kept staring into the fire. I couldn't meet Marcus or my dad's eye. I didn't really want to remember myself like that.
"I had utterly put Marcus out of my mind. I made a deal with myself that I would never see or talk to him again. No, I would never even think about him. And if I saw my parents, I would do the same. I didn't belong anywhere, and it made me even more depressed." Charlene and I gazed at each other. "Not something I would want for a friend."
When my eyes did come up, they fell on Michael as I told the story.
"I woke up with a commotion downstairs and the house and servants in an uproar one morning.
For months, I had seen no one. Michael was scared… If I think about it now, I was actually very sick not eating… When I came down to a sea of people and one man everybody was bowing to, I stopped midway down the stairs.
Samuel glanced up at me, and his countenance was so soft, and the smile he gave was so genuine that I walked towards him. I held out a hand, and instead of shaking it, he took it in both of his and kissed it.
"Juliet, I am your uncle Samuel." He said. "As you can see, I look just like him, so you can be in no doubt of its validity. So, even though you have never met me, I mean you no harm. I won't even talk to you unless you desire it… But I hope you will come and spend as much time with me as you want. The study door will be open, the library door will be open, and every other room."
All the servants bowed.
"But first, there is something that you need to see and do, and I think you will either hate it or take to it. He snapped his fingers, and two of the servants handed us jackets, gloves, and Wellington boots. We walked down the road and to the barn I had passed so many times.
When the doors opened, there was just one person in there. Standing unbound in the middle of the floor. Uncle Samuel looked at me. I looked at him and then at the man. All I could do was wait. I was determined… Not to kill someone. If I had to die, I would have….
The longer I watched the guy… I could feel myself changing… And out of nowhere, I wanted to kill that poor guy. I tried to stop the urges, but there was no way, and I ended up struggling to fight him. I had no training."
***
I paused, thinking… Michael was smiling at Samuel. Their eyes were shining in the firelight... But Michael's did come back to meet mine. He had been weird the last couple of months. Like he was that first time at the embassy. But since Ahasuerus, that was only a few hours ago… He seemed better… His hand played with his beard as I told the story. His eyes never left mine…
***
"I'm sad to say that they stood laughing at me… I was hopelessly getting thrown about. The guy got in one good shot in my stomach. In one swift manifestation and a speedy movement. My uncle hit the guy down on his chest, making him double over as he kicked him in the gut, exposing his neck.
He did not have to ask, and I bit into his flesh. When I was done, I laid back in the sand in a state of ecstasy. My depression was gone in an instant. I felt almost fantastic. My energy was back, and my brain was working. I could move freely."
***
I stopped talking… Waiting to hear if one of them would finish the story.
"I was just hangry," Samuel said next to my dad. "That's what she said…." Everyone laughed. I chuckled. Michael smiled at me.
"Michael told me that I needed to come back because you were so downcast. He could not take the gloominess anymore. It wasn't his place to give you your first meal, and… your father deferred that special occasion to me."
I regarded Michael and thought about everything else that happened leading up to it… His eyes were remembering it too and penetrating mine… It was a little more than just that. Louis gripped my hand, reading my thoughts.
"After that, I was back to my normal self. I talked and talked, and he listened and answered every question I had. I spent months with him training me and making me control my manifestations."
***
Charlene
"Charlene… You tell us how you coped that first night Marcus brought a person to the house in France." Carl asked.
"I had forgotten about that… We had never seen Juliet kill someone. Drink someone's blood till it ran down her chin… That night was one of the worst nights of my life.
Marcus wasn't so… courteous as to tie them up and gag them." Juliet laughed again. It was so good to see all of them relax. To tell stories. "So there would be no screaming. They wouldn't know when it was coming… Or that they could see what was biting into them."
The guy was struggling… But Marcus just knocked him out. Dragged him upstairs. I ran to my room. There really wasn't time to make a fuss or make it stop. It didn't take long, or Marcus took the guy outside again… I guess I just thought about Juliet and her dying vs. someone else dying… No… Moral…Code."
"It's a whole other story… killing a person yourself, Chars. It's not something we want for you… If I had to put an innocent random guy in front of you. Would you be able to stab them to death?"
Of course, I wouldn't, but she had a point.
"If you change. You're not guaranteed of the outcome… It's not like being born that way." Cindy said softly.
It was quiet around the fire for a while. Most of them had to do it a first time… I guessed everyone was thinking of it… A good song came up, and Juliet dragged Louis to go dancing. He liked dancing with her… Kubra took my hand and led me to my room.
***
Kubra closed the door behind us. He fell onto the bed. I dropped next to him.
He was aimlessly staring up at the roof. I scooted closer, and he pulled me onto his chest. "So, are you going to tell me?"
"I have asked. You said no… So, whenever we get married… I'll do it."
I sat up and pulled my leg underneath me. "You were serious. I thought it was about us living together."
"I actually have self-control, you know… I'm not some stupid human guy who will break your heart… And I love you. It won't change."
It was such a matter of fact to him. He was so sure and stable. Nothing fazed him. I was the one that didn't want to commit. Stuck in a human mindset that monogamy was from the pit of hell. Boring and should only happen when I was thirty-eight. If I didn't want to die alone. The stupidest reasons to get married in the first place. My parent's marriage was what killed the idea for me. I was never like Juliet. I never fell in love quickly… I liked the idea of love and romance, but that was it.
"What if I want to get divorced."
He sat up. "Then I'll divorce you. We can cut the cord, and all will go on as normal… Just remember that you'll be getting what every woman longs for."
"That is?"
"A guy that doesn't go to bed… when you're angry. If you don't sleep. I don't sleep."
"Okay, fine… But only if we have a double wedding with Juliet. I don't want to walk down the aisle without her."
Kubra leaned in and kissed me.