Chapter 28: 28

Mike seemed uncertain about squeezing six of us into his car. We were knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder and Scarlet had to sit on my lap. She silently refused to sit on anybody else's. In the end, Mike drove us a full fifteen minutes to the strip mall in the next town over.

“I’ll be back at four or so to pick you guys up,” he told us.

“Thank you, Mike,” I called back to him as the others were already making a bee-line for the shops.

Scarlet hung around me as always. She could hold short conversations with the others at this point but still it was me she far preferred. It was getting to be almost problematic. Mike had discovered us cuddled up together on my bed one morning and was now leery of me having my ‘girlfriend’ over where there was no adult supervision. He didn’t know that she slept with me in the bed almost every night. Occasionally she’d be too hungry and sneak out. The first couple times she did this I panicked but since the last murder, she hadn’t committed any more. At least as far as I or the police could tell. When she got home she’d cozy up to me until I offered my neck to her. We repeated the blood drinking routine though now she was more careful. I felt a little dizzy afterward but not detrimentally so.

Things were working out. The police were out of the asylum, according to Lee. But… I didn’t want to send Scarlet home, so I didn’t bring it up. Even if she had survived there, her living conditions were awful. Lee and the others had noticed she was wearing my hand-me-down clothes and had pressured her to come with them for ‘the big shop.’ If only they knew the rags she’d been in before.

Lee was the most excited out of all of us, but Christian was also in a good mood. My mind was trying to put together my outfit for the big night. I wasn’t going to be on stage, but I still wanted to look nice and be a part of the band, even if it was just from the sidelines.

Scarlet tugged on my sleeve as we headed toward the first of the several shops Lee had listed as ‘must-go-tos.’

I stopped, giving the others a quick glance before turning my attention to her.

“That smells good,” she said, pointing to the candy store. 

I knew what she was talking about. As long as I could remember there was a permanent sickly sweet and chocolatey smell that poured out of that shop.

“Do you like chocolate?” I asked. I gave the others another glance. They’d noticed our absence and I waved them on. We’d catch up in just a couple minutes.

Scarlet grabbed my hand, one of the many ways she told me ‘yes.’ I couldn’t help but bring her over to the shop.

Up close that smell was even sweeter and even more tempting. I brought her inside the small shop where a dainty old woman was manning the counter, carefully piping still hot and silky white chocolate into skull molds. She had many sets left to go. Still, she paused in her work to say, ‘let me know when you’re ready,’ and then went right back to it.

Scarlet practically pranced to the glass cases of chocolates and fudge to look over them eagerly.

It was probably the first time I’d seen her get this excited over something and it made me feel a weird tug in my heart I wished I could ignore but knew I couldn’t. However, Scarlet was probably pretty old, from a time when homosexuality was more or less treated as a cardinal sin.

Then again, being a vampire was treated as a cardinal sin, too.

Still as her butt waggled back and forth as she looked at this and that, I felt the heat rising in my face again and really, really wished having my blood drank frequently wasn’t damaging to my health. The feeling of her lips on my skin was…. Ravishing.

She turned around bouncing a little on her heel before she came back to me and took my hand again. As always her skin was cool and incredibly soft and silky.

“Did you find something?” I asked.

She nodded and guided me over to the shelf.

I had to hold back my breath for a moment. She’d picked out an assorted truffles box I knew was going to be expensive.

She squeezed my hand tighter. “Is it too much?” she asked. “I don’t have any money.”

“No no,” I said quickly and picked it up. In the end thirty dollars wasn’t that bad if it meant I could make her happy. Although it did mean I’d have to rethink my Christmas shopping plans.

She hugged my side, happy.

I went up to the counter and paid for the chocolate. The woman gave us a warm smile as Scarlet continued to press against my side and I couldn’t resist giving her some head ruffles.

In the end I was embarrassed. Public Displays of Affection weren’t my strong suit. Knowing that this woman had just witnessed me treat her like my pet felt weird. Especially since we were just friends. Maybe a little more than friends, I guessed, but not to the partner phase.

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I pushed her outside to get back into the cool fall air.

I took a moment to absorb everything. It wasn’t often I suddenly wished I had a mental camera to perfectly capture the feelings inside of me. I was embarrassed but a big part of me didn’t care because I could make Scarlet happy. I presented her chocolate to her and she swiped them from me before hopping down to sit on the edge of the sidewalk.

My old hoodie hid her face from my view. But I could tell from her energy she was elated with the treat.

I leaned back on my hands and decided to cloud watch. The sky was a beautiful blue; pale fluffy clouds drifted across pleasantly. Beneath it, on the far side of the strip mall’s parking lot the woods had decked out with warm yellows, oranges, and reds. The chill of the air rounded it out to fall. This was practically the true essence of fall and autumnal vibes. The only thing missing was maybe some spooky decorations.

Scarlet nudged me. I turned to look and found a chocolate held an inch from my lips.

I froze, unsure of what was going on.

She pressed it against my lips. I reached up but took it from her with my teeth. She was smiling at me again, looking pleased. The flavor was probably salted caramel or toffee. I wasn’t exactly a truffle connoisseur. 

I felt her gaze on me as I chewed and eventually swallowed. My stomach felt weird and jittery for some reason. It wasn’t the chocolate, I knew that much.

“Was it tasty?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Thank you.”

She shifted anxiously, passing the chocolate box from one knee to the other.

“What’s wrong?”

“Can I—-” she stopped herself and again turned to look at me. Her face was framed by shadows. 

I waited, expecting a question. But instead, she put the cover back on the truffles box and slowly reached up to take my face in her hands. Her fingers were cool against my quickly heating skin. I felt grounded by them and leaned into her palm.

“Do you like me?” she asked.

“What—? Of course I do,” I said.

“Even though I’m me and I do the things I do?”

“Yes,” I said. It was true that I couldn’t ignore the murder and bloodshed. But she was far more than that. And from what I knew of vampire lore, she didn’t have much choice.

“I like you too,” she said.

Her fingers drifted away from my face. I watched them go, wishing she’d put them back.

I started to lean forward and saw her do the same, when Lee jump scared the crap out of us both by clearing her throat. She’d come up behind us at some point.

Scarlet leaned against me at the noise, startled and dazed.

“Are you guys done having your moment?” she asked. “We’ve got outfits to try on.”

I took a breath and started to stand. “Okay,” I sighed.

Scarlet grabbed her chocolates from the ground and scurried to hang by my side again, disliking any thought of being too far away from me. I took her hand to follow Lee back to the shop where the others were waiting.

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