Emma
Driving down the road to the house I shared with my brother Henry, as well as my son Travis, when he was in town, I smiled. In the last few months, I'd been making some small changes to the house and some bigger ones. One of the bigger ones was getting the whole outside fixed up. We'd had someone repair a few loose spots on the roof, fix the shutters and the porch, and even repaint the whole thing. I'd momentarily considered keeping it the exact same colors my parents had painted it when we were younger, but then decided that the house was memory enough. It was Henry's and my place now, so we went with colors we both liked. White with pops of a lovely blue color. Now, instead of having a bit of a rundown, unused feel, it felt like a brand new place. I was proud of it. Leaving my old life behind had been hard enough, I was grateful to have a place to put my homey touch on, a place that I can never imagine losing or leaving again.
As I stopped in the driveway, my phone began to ring. Seeing Travis’s name, I answered, “How’s my big European explorer?”
He laughed. “Well, we’re mostly studying, but I have gotten to see some incredible things.”
“And how is Jacqueline?” It had taken some adjustments to see my son as a young man rather than a boy but learning that he was dating a witch somehow had been easier to accept than he was growing up. Like our family was meant for magic.
“She’s loving it here. She said she might never want to leave.”
I tried to keep a smile in my voice, even though the idea of my boy never coming back home hurt. “I can imagine.”
He must have sensed how I was really feeling because he said, “Mom, we aren’t really going to stay. Actually, Jacqueline has been talking about how, after we’re done traveling, she could see herself settling down in Mystic Hollow.”
“Really?” Whoa, girl. Play it cool.
“Yeah, but we’ll see.”
I heard some commotion in the background. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I have to go. Sorry, Mom. We’ll have a real conversation soon.”
“No worries,” I told him. “I love you.”
“Love you too,” he said, and then ended the call.
I smiled down at my phone, then stuffed it back in my purse. Turning off the engine, I climbed out and headed up the driveway, up the steps, and onto the front porch. Before I could put my keys into the lock, I heard the telltale signs of a video game being played loudly. I only needed to wonder if it was Henry playing alone, or with his girlfriend, Alice.
Going inside, I grinned. It wasn't Henry alone or Henry with Alice. It was Daniel and Henry. They'd been hanging out together more and more these past few months. And while Henry rarely liked people in his space or touching his things, Daniel was sensitive to my brother's autism and worked hard to figure out his triggers and avoid them.
Just seeing how hard Daniel worked to make Henry at ease earned him a lot of points in my brother's book, even though he'd never say it. Daniel and Henry were a strange pair, by rights they shouldn’t even be friends, but somehow their friendship worked. Sitting on the couch facing the newly purchased, much larger TV, Daniel dominated most of the couch with his big, bear shifter body, but kept himself against the far end, since Henry didn't always like being touched.
I stood for a moment, just staring at my amazing boyfriend. The gray at Daniel's temples, woven into his auburn hair, had been spreading a bit lately, but somehow, it made him even more handsome. He wore a dark blue buttoned-up shirt that emphasized his huge arms and narrow waist. Henry, on the other hand, wore a t-shirt with characters from his favorite video game and the same style gray shorts he'd been wearing since high school. His frame was easily half the size of Daniel's, and yet, he radiated dominant energy any time he played his games. When it came to his games, Henry could take down just about anyone, well, anyone except Alice.
“Well, hey guys.” I realized I was standing in the doorway grinning like a fool, watching them, so I shook myself and closed the front door. “Having fun?”
Neither of them spared me a glance as Daniel held the video game controller up and turned it awkwardly while mashing down on a button with his thumb and screaming, “I’ve got you now!”
Henry snorted. “You don’t have anything.” My brother was quite the smack talker. Wow. He did at least spare me a glance as I walked past them toward the laundry room. Probably because he wasn't trying that hard against Daniel. He didn't need to. We both knew he'd win either way. “Hey, sis.”
"Hey."
"Darn it, move, mage! Do something!" Daniel yelled, working his control faster.
My smile widened, and I had to swallow down my laughter. It was nice to see Henry at least not slaughtering Daniel in the game. When Henry was a boy, he lost a few friends because he felt the need to always give one hundred percent when playing against someone else. His friends didn't want to be humiliated every time they played, so they just stopped playing with him. It took years for me to get him to understand that he wasn't wrong to always want to play his best, but he then had to understand why others didn't want to play with him. So, he started slowly working on giving other players a chance at least. It'd helped him to make some gamer friends in town, and online.
One of those friends being Daniel. Although the big bear shifter could probably handle it if he did get destroyed every time.
“Glad to see you’re corrupting my—” Ah, crap. I’d almost said boyfriend. Boyfriend sounded so high school. So much like puppy love. I turned my head and mumbled something, hurrying into the laundry room. Hopefully, Daniel and Henry would think they just hadn’t heard the last word of my sentence.
I got my clothes in the wash and walked out of the laundry room and through the kitchen to find Daniel and Henry giving each other a hard time.
“One more minute,” Daniel said, puffing out his chest. “I would’ve killed you for sure.”
My brother, who spent half his life on these games and almost certainly would’ve won no matter what, threw himself back against the couch and laughed uproariously. “Never gonna happen, my friend. Never.”
Daniel set the controller down and shot me a wry look. “It could.”
Even I had to chuckle at his forlorn face. “It’s okay,” I said in an attempt to comfort him. “You can’t be good at everything.” My humor was a little forced, understandably, because of the encounter I’d had not long ago.
Daniel opened his mouth to say more, then studied me with that look in his eyes. The one that said he knew something was up.
Turning to my brother, he said. "Got to go spend some time with the girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" I asked, feeling my cheeks heat.
"What? You can call me your boyfriend, but I can't call you my girlfriend?"
He could. I rather liked it, no matter how juvenile it made me feel. Heck, I’d let Daniel call me anything as long as he wanted to be with me. And I definitely preferred girlfriend to ex-wife.
"I'm going to go," Henry said, then rose and headed for his bedroom, his expression telling me he had completed what he wanted to do out here when the game was done.
I turned back to Daniel, feeling a bit flustered. "Aren't couples supposed to agree they're a couple?"
He lifted a brow. "You wanting to keep your options open?"
I laughed. "No. I've seen the options out there, thank you very much."
"So, girlfriend then?"
"Boyfriend then," I told him, then tucked some hair behind my ear, feeling strangely like a high schooler with a crush.
“Hey,” Daniel's tone changed to one of concern as he rose from the couch and walked toward me. “What’s wrong?”
I sighed, not used to having someone who cared. But now, I knew I could unload my troubles on Daniel, and he wouldn't mind. He’d do his best to help me with them. “It was just a long day.” I thought about my quick shower at Beth’s. “Let me go freshen up, then I'll tell you the whole story."
Daniel beamed. “Go for it.”
After running up the stairs, I went straight to my vanity and quickly applied a bit of eye cream. I didn’t need makeup at this point. Daniel had been spending a lot of time over here when my cases and his schedule allowed. He’d been working a lot with the local wolf pack and their young alpha, trying to help them get back on track. That took up about as much time as my many cases with Beth. So he’d seen me without all the lipstick and coverup already. I didn’t have to spend hours prepping myself for him, which was really nice.
Even if his nights spent here had been more or less platonic.
No, not platonic. Definitely not. But we hadn’t had sex yet, which was fine by me. I was newly divorced and not in any hurry. At least that’s what I told myself whenever I found myself drooling over the gorgeous man.
I ran a quick blow-drying brush through my hair and sprayed on some deodorant. There. That was good enough for around the house with Daniel here. I did take the time to change into more comfortable clothes and grabbed an outfit to put by the door. I wanted to remember to take it back to Beth’s with me so I’d have emergency clothes for next time—there would always be a next time.
Twenty minutes later, I walked into an empty kitchen. “Henry?” I called to my brother, who was back engrossed in another game on his PlayStation in the living room. “Have you seen Daniel?”
“Back porch,” he muttered without looking away from the TV.
“Thanks, bro.” I noticed a plate of food beside him but didn’t think much of it until I stepped out onto the back porch to find a leftovers feast waiting on the table, all warmed up. “Hey,” I said appreciatively. “You cooked.”
Daniel snorted. “In a sense.” Most of the food was takeout, as that was how Henry, and I survived most days when I had to work. The rest was something or another Henry had made. He enjoyed cooking, but only when the mood struck him. “I man a mean microwave,” Daniel said.
“I like a man who can micro the waves.” What a lame joke, but bless him, Daniel laughed.
It was almost getting too cold for dinner on the back porch, but it had been an unseasonably warm day. It was nice to be out here as the sun sank in the horizon, catching the last of late autumn’s warmth, such as it was. “Thank you.” I gave Daniel a warm smile and plopped down to fill up a plate with orange chicken, shredded pork barbecue, and broccoli and cheese casserole.
“Well, we took care of the water nymph,” I said. “Stefano is happy, but it was a rough case.”
Daniel’s eyes twinkled. “Yes, I imagine it would be. Water nymphs are notoriously difficult.”
“That wasn’t even the worst part of my day,” I said after swallowing a bite of orange chicken. “I had a visitor by my car when I left Beth’s.”
Daniel caught my tone and straightened immediately. “Who? What happened?”
I sighed. “It was Bryan, Carol’s ex. The one who got away.” I took a big bite of barbecue, laughing internally at Daniel’s shocked expression.
Yeah, no surprise there. Daniel knew Bryan in high school. They hadn’t traveled in the same social circles, because Daniel was more of a jock, and Bryan a nerd, but most of the people in a place this small knew each other in one way or another. He'd been aware that Carol had dated him, and after I explained it to him, aware of just how much his disappearing hurt Carol.
But it was more than that, Daniel had also been absolutely shocked when Bryan had showed up at my door three weeks ago. He wanted nothing to do with the guy, although he confessed that a lot of shifters naturally didn't like vampires. Even the mention of him made Daniel anxious, I could tell. He'd been hoping the guy was long gone by now. While I was sort of hoping he'd come back and give Carol at least a little closure after everything he'd done, and maybe me some too, after telling me I was in danger and then disappearing.
When his eyebrows were nearly touching his hairline, I took pity on him and set my fork down to explain. “So, a vampire named Quillan Turned Bryan into a vampire when he was pretty young. Just out of high school.”
Daniel nodded, seeming to have forgotten the food on his fork. “He looks older because vampires age until around middle age, then it slows way down.”
It was all I could do not to lean over and press a kiss to Daniel’s lips as he watched me with rapt attention. Rick had never treated me like this, like he hung on my every word. It was a lovely feeling, especially because Daniel behaved this way, whether I was telling him something important like I was now, or just something silly and dumb. “So, Bryan left town when he became a vampire. He was afraid of hurting anyone and didn't really have anyone to talk to or to question about what happened to him and how he could have any kind of normal life. But when he returned to town recently, he found out the vampire who Turned him is still Turning underage teens in our town. Which appalled him. He believes that young kids should never be Turned. That they're too inexperienced to understand what it means, and he worries that many of them aren't being given a choice, like what happened to him.”
“What happened to him?”
“He said Quillan Turned him, without his consent.”
“That’s a big deal in the vampire community,” Daniel said, his eyes narrowed. “Even they have rules that no one can break.”
“And yet, he claims this man did break them.”
The clank of Daniel’s fork drew my gaze. “So,” he said. “He wants Karma to take care of this guy?”
“Essentially.” I shrugged. “Obviously I’m not going to go kill a vampire, but something probably should be done.”
Daniel reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently. “I agree. Even if I don't normally like to agree with vamps.”
I smiled, understanding exactly what he meant. My instinct was to disagree with all vampires, too after my experience with them when my brother got in trouble for gambling. “But I’m not sure what to do. Bryan seemed to get upset when I didn’t immediately agree to go kill this guy.”
"That's a tricky one." Daniel took a few bites with a puzzled expression on his face, and we sat in companionable silence while we ate. Finally, when his plate was clear and mine nearly was, he spoke again. “Maybe, for now, we should just finish eating and head to bed. It’s been a long day and we need to at least look into this guy before we make any real plans.”
That was true. We could research Bryan’s claims first. “Good idea.” I sighed. “But what do I tell Carol?”
Daniel grimaced. “I don't know the answer to that one. You know her better than I do.”
I thought of my friend. Of her gentle smile. Of the way she always seems to wear her heart on her sleeve. “I don’t want her to be hurt again.”
He squeezed my hand again. “Maybe it’s best not to say anything yet. Let’s see what happens first. Maybe he’ll stick around now. Maybe he won’t.”
I nodded and took a long drink of my tea before answering. “Good idea. We’ll wait until we have more information. But not for too long. She’s one of my best friends, and I don’t like keeping secrets from her.” Smiling gratefully at Daniel, I leaned over and gave him that kiss. “Thanks.”
It was so nice to have Daniel. To have yet another amazing person in my life who always had my back.
How had I gotten so lucky?
A tiny voice whispered in the back of my mind, karma, but I pushed the thought away.