Teren laughed once, smiling at the sentiment. He nodded him into the house, swinging the door open wide. Hot Ben stepped inside and gave his friend a brief hug. Pulling apart from him, he turned and gave me a hug too. Shivering as he pulled away, Ben gave me a lopsided grin. "Brrr, Em. I'm still not used to feeling that with you."
He shook his head a little, seeming like the entire concept of me dying recently was hard to wrap his head around. I understood; it was hard for me sometimes too. Aside from no longer having a heartbeat, I felt fine.
Giving Teren a warm hug goodnight, I left the men to their bonding. Upstairs, I listened to Teren warm up some blood; the smell hit me from all the way in our bedroom. Sitting down at the table, Hot Ben sighed and popped open his beer. "I'm so sorry, man. I don't really know what to say. I've never had anyone that I know die. Well, no one but you and Emma, I guess."
I smiled at Ben's comment as I got ready for bed, then frowned. Carrie's death wasn't really funny. A chair squeaked as Teren sat down. "It's alright. Thanks for coming over. It's surreal...like I'm having a bad dream. I keep waiting to wake up."
Ben sighed and shifted in his seat. "How about a toast? To Carrie Davids, a life lost too soon."
Teren sighed. "Yeah."
Hearing them clink glasses, I closed my eyes for a moment, giving her my own moment of silence. After a couple of long gulps, Ben swallowed and smacked his lip. "So, tell me about you guys. How long were you together? First time you hooked up? The good times you had. Stuff like that."
Teren paused, and I knew he was considering what hearing all of the details about his life with another woman would do to me. Smiling at his thoughtfulness, I whispered, "Go ahead, I'll give you your privacy."
I heard him exhale, then mumble, "Thank you, I love you."
"I love you too, goodnight."
Closing my soundproof door, I sighed softly as I laid my head against it. The absence of every external noise wasn't as comforting to me as it had been when Teren was in here with me, but I knew he needed this. He needed to talk about the woman he'd just lost, and in ways that he couldn't talk about her with me, ways I wouldn't want to hear about. But I knew where his heart was, and I felt no jealousy over the stories that were now flowing downstairs. Just a sadness was in me, a sadness that a part of his life had been tragically removed, and right after he'd cut her loose too. The universe had a cruel sense of humor sometimes.
Teren was pretty quiet for the next few days, mourning the passing of a friend, hoping her death didn't have anything to do with her coming out to see him. I knew he felt responsible anyway, no matter how many times I tried to reassure him that people got caught in horrible situations all the time. Something similar to this could have easily happened to her at home. Sometimes, it was just your time to go.
Gabriel came out one evening, to give Teren his condolences. Teren grilled him over and over for information on how a compulsion could go wrong. Sighing as he sat at our kitchen table with a cooling mug of blood, Gabriel shook his head. "I have never heard of such a thing. Once a suggestion is implanted, it stays until it is completed or removed."
For the hundredth time, Teren leaned back in his chair and sighed, running a hand down his face. "Maybe it was removed, then? Maybe another vampire compelled her to go down there?"
Gabriel shrugged, his emerald eyes appraising as he looked over Teren's grief, almost as if he was cataloging the effects that trauma had on a person. "It is possible that another vampire superseded Halina's orders, but there haven't been any purebloods in the city for awhile."
He raised an edge of his lip and a chill went through my dead body. Teren's past experiences with questioning reluctant vampires in the bay area had pretty much cleared out the city. Gabriel kept a tab on any that had lingered behind, just in case they thought to start something with us. Hopefully those people were more cautious over angering Gabriel than they were about getting back at Teren.
Putting a hand on my husband's thigh, I said, "Don't forget that what happened to her doesn't have to be supernatural. Humans outnumber vampires, by a lot, and we're not exactly a docile species either. Maybe she just found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe she was taken down there against her will, against her compulsion?"
Teren lowered his head, nodding as he considered that possibility. Gabriel tapped his finger to his lips, his emerald eyes contemplative. Hating that everything bad in our lives always seemed to revolve around some psychotic person, I added, "You know what, maybe it wasn't even as bad as what we're thinking? Maybe she met someone and went to L.A. to spend time with him? Surely she'd be allowed to alter her plans if she wanted it badly enough? Then maybe she got trapped in the woods, hiking, just like the news said. Not everything that happens in life involves foul play."
Teren gave me a humoring smile, clearly not believing my cheerier version of events. Squeezing my hand on his leg, he exhaled sadly. "Either way, I did this to her. She was here because of me."
"No, she wasn't."
Teren and I both looked over to Gabriel, a small, sad smile on his beautiful face. "She was here because I had her entranced to be here." He raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "She was here because of me, so I am responsible for this." He lowered his eyes, respectfully. "And I am very sorry, Teren. I never meant for any harm to come to your friend."
Looking unsure of what to say, Teren only nodded.
Teren was lost in thought, studying the table when Gabriel stood to excuse himself. Teren briefly looked up at him, nodded, then went back to studying the rings of color in his cold cup of blood. Biting my lip at my husband's mood, I stood with Gabriel.
"I'll see you out, Gabriel."
He nodded, smiling at me politely. Hearing him leaving, my children blurred down to say goodbye to their pseudo-grandfather. "Walking feet, children," I automatically reminded them.
Gabriel bent down to scoop them up, both twins' arms lacing around his neck. "Bye, Grandpa Gabby," they both exclaimed together.
Gabriel smiled at them in turn. "Goodbye, Nika, Julian." He gave each one a kiss on the head, then set them down. The emerald eyes tracked every movement they made as they shifted their attention to the family dog. When Nika rubbed a spot on Spike's back that made his leg twitch, Julian got a face full of tongue. Nika was the one that giggled though.
Shaking his head at the shared emotions, I could practically see Gabriel's mind logging the information. Placing myself between his vision and my children brought his attention back to me. Stepping towards him, I lowered my voice to near inaudible. "Are you studying them?"
I tried to keep the question polite, casual. Our family owed Gabriel too much for me to risk offending him. He smiled at me though, his head tilting as he answered. "Studying...watching, it's all one and the same to me."
A frown crept into my features that I couldn't stop. "Teren and I don't want them examined like rats in a lab."
Gabriel blinked at my answer. "I'm sorry if it bothers you. It was never my intention to upset you." Looking around me at them playing with Spike, he stepped forward. His voice laced with excitement, he murmured, "I can't help my interest though. Their bond is such a fascinating one. I've never seen anything like it. They feel what the other feels." He shook his head, his eyes wondrous. "Will that bond fade, or be passed to their children?" His deep green eyes swung back to mine. "It could completely change the nature of vampirism. Aren't you the least bit curious about that?"
I was about to answer him when Teren stepped into the room. "We don't want them examined," he whispered. "They are children, not experiments."
Gabriel straightened as he looked over at Teren. Sighing, his face clearly disappointed, he nodded. "Of course. They are your offspring...I will honor your wishes regarding them."
Teren walked over to me and slung his arm around my waist. Gabriel's eyes flicked between the two of us, then down at the twins starting a game of fetch with the dog. "Have a good evening, Emma, Teren. Again, I'm sorry for your loss." His tone was polite and respectful, but detached too. I had no idea how he really felt about our denying him access to our children. But some things we would just have to risk his disapproval on.
As my husband silently healed from his emotional wounds, I filled in my sister on everything that had happened. She shared my feeling that it wasn't necessarily something bad that had been done to Carrie. Of course, my sister understood horrible accidents all too well.
Sitting on my back patio, I enjoyed the views of the water with Ashley as Nika and Julian played tag on the lawn. A gust of wind blew across the yard, the smell of salt water strongly apparent to me. My sister too as she inhaled a deep breath. Looking over at her, I saw the slight frown on her lips as she absorbed the situation Teren was dealing with. But seeing her as well as I could, I saw a sparkle of happiness in her eyes that in no way matched her mouth.
Anxious to talk about anything other than death for awhile, I twisted my lips into a wry smile. "Seriously, what is up with you lately? I know you love your job and all, but it has to be more than that, right?"
Blushing furiously, she glanced up to the slight overhang of the patio above us. The much smaller deck was accessible through a bookcase lined hallway that led to Teren's office, a loft over the kitchen that looked down into the vaulted living room. The spiral staircase in the corner of the living room that led up there was a constant source of amusement to my children, who loved tossing bouncy balls down them.
Teren was in our home, working on an article for work, so my sister assumed that he was upstairs in his office. He wasn't though. Teren had taken to writing in our soundproof bedroom. He'd started doing that more and more lately, claiming that the quiet helped him think. I couldn't help but wonder though, if it was more his way of blocking out the world so he could grieve. Either way, I gave him whatever space he needed.
Curious over what she was going to say that she didn't want Teren to hear, I assured her, "He's in the soundproof room, he won't hear you."
She blushed even more and swung her eyes to the kids giggling in the far corner of the yard. "I can't believe you guys had a sex room built."
I smacked her shoulder and she laughed, taking a sip of her wine. "Quit calling it that. You make it sound like we had chains installed in the walls or something." I rolled my eyes as she laughed harder, coughing on her wine a bit. "It's just for privacy," I muttered sullenly.
Still blushing furiously, she whispered, "Well, I get it now, why you would want the...privacy."
I scrunched my brow, taking a sip of my version of wine. Drinking was a little tricky to do outside, since the act of blood on my tongue naturally dropped my teeth down. I had to forcefully pull them back up after each sip. Wouldn't want the neighbors to accidentally catch a peek of those.
Ashley looked at my confusion and smiled softly. Glancing at my kids in the yard, she whispered, "I finally tried that...intimate thing that you and Teren do so much, and I have to say...it's pretty incredible."
I had to slap a hand over my mouth to not spit blood all over her pretty white blouse. She meant sex, but didn't want to say it again in front of my super hearing kids. Swallowing and sputtering, I finally got the liquid down. "What? When? How?" I wasn't even aware that my sister was seeing someone, let alone sleeping with someone.