I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

It was the very last thing I expected. It was the very last thing any of us expected, really, but especially me.

It was only a week after he… after he kissed me. I mean, when a friend you know that well kisses you, you expect it actually means something. Something like… say, they have feelings for you as more than a friend? Now I don’t know too much about normalcy, but that’s a pretty normal conclusion to draw, right? We hadn’t spoken about it… we hadn’t spoken at all, really… Hunter started spending most of his time out of the warehouse. He kept making up new excuses, but I knew he was just trying to get away from me. He did a good job of seeming stoic. I couldn’t tell if he was embarrassed or angry or licking his wounds, but I assumed he was at least thinking about it a fair bit. I know I was.

I was not at all expecting him to come back the warehouse one night with a girl on his arm.

But no, even that would be too simple for my lifestyle. She wasn’t just a girl. She was one of the most stunning visions of perfection I’d ever laid my eyes upon. Leapt from the runway, or so it seemed; pin straight blonde hair, light enough to shine like a halo framing her face, falling to her chest that lifted softly out of habit, not necessity. Her figure was tall and thin, lithe and fit. Her skin was flawlessly pale, lines of perfect black defining the almond shapes of her bright blue eyes, far outstanding my own with their supernatural supremacy. Unlike Pete, she seemed somewhat out of place in her casual attire; tight black jeans and simple white tank top. Shiny white pumps on her feet made her tower above the rest of us, and her beauty brought with it a cold air.

I zoned out entirely as Hunter introduced Emily to us, explaining how they met and how we could trust her regardless of her nature. She was just like Pete, he said, only in need of companionship, in need of a substitute to blood. Bullshit. I could tell the guys were cautious about letting someone else into our loop, but they’d grown to trust Hunter the way I did. (Except Pete, of course, but he’s always an exception to everything, isn’t he?) If Hunter said that Emily was worth it, then we had no choice but to go with it. Pete was automatically furious with the idea, but due to his usual tendency to overreact and throw tantrums (I seem to recall a certain incident where he’d almost strangled me to death because I was simply being bitchy?) Patrick, Joe and Andy overruled him in Hunter and Emily’s favour.

Hunter glanced at me quickly as he and his new… friend made their way over to the couch to get cozy. I pretended I didn’t see him and hastened the rest of the guys into the kitchen.

“Are you sure about this you guys?” I whispered, aware that the new vampire in our midst could probably hear me anyway, but she didn’t seem to give a damn about my existence and was probably distracted by Hunter anyway.

“No,” Andy said, before either of the other two could babble justifications. “But we’re going to have to take a risk. We took a risk with Hunter for you. He’s one of us now; we owe him the same courtesy.”

“This is different,” Pete growled, echoing my thoughts exactly without even meaning to. “She’s a vampire. Vampires don’t travel alone like that. They don’t just happen upon and start dating hunters. This is ridiculous.”

“You’re a vampire,” Andy pointed out bluntly. “What do you think happened with you and Elle?”

Pete’s dark eyes narrowed.

“This is different, and you know it. First of all, I don’t travel alone, I have you guys. Secondly, I hated Elle for months; I didn’t just fall in love with her out of nowhere and bring her home to meet the parents.”

For a heart-fluttering moment, I forgot about the situation we were currently in and lost myself in what Pete had just said. Fall in love? What did he mean? Was he just exaggerating to make a point, or did he mean that he… No. I had to focus. This wasn’t the time.

Patrick sighed.

“Look, we have to give her a chance. Yes, it’s a risk, but she probably is just a lost, lonely vampire in need of somewhere to fit in. Probably even newly changed.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, she looks hundreds of years old.” I peeked through the door to the youthful beauty and raised my eyebrows, having to trust Pete’s judgement on this one. “She looks out of place. And if she was newly changed she would have killed Hunter by now, and probably tried to get the rest of you too.”

Patrick took his glasses off and cleaned them on his shirt, rubbing his tired eyes. Joe noticed Patrick’s weakening state from lack of sleep, and stepped in with an unusually firm tone of voice that closed the matter.

“Pete, we’ve made up our minds. She’s staying here. You don’t have to like it, but this is happening. Don’t get upset because there’s another vampire living here for once.”

Pete’s fists clenched and he gave Joe a murderous glare before fleeing for his room the speed of a flying bullet. I planned on arguing the case on my own, but I only managed an incomprehensible syllable before Joe interrupted me.

“And Elle, there’s no need for you to get jealous because there’s another girl here now.”

“I’m not jealous!” I exclaimed, indignant and outraged, but he may as well not have heard me.

“Just because Hunter’s attention is going to be focused on someone else from now on, doesn’t mean he’ll forget about you. And just because she’s so… pretty… doesn’t mean any of us will think of you any differently…”

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not fucking jealous, I don’t give a damn about how beautiful she is, this is bigger than that! We know nothing about her. She could suck us all dry in our sleep. It’s a hazard having her here.”

“Hunter trusts her…”

“So what? Everyone’s judgement can be impaired. Especially a male’s when it comes to a beautiful woman.”

“We’re all sick of arguing with you Elle,” Patrick said quietly, looking down as he always did when he said something that wouldn’t be received well. “The decision’s been made. You’re fighting for a lost cause.”

I tried to mimic Pete’s furious expression as I left the small room, but I’m sure it could never have had the same effect that his did. I tried escaping the main room, but I couldn’t avoid seeing Hunter running his hands down the blonde’s sides, their lips moving swiftly together and making me feel physically ill. I hesitated a moment, wondering if I should try talking to him, but before I could even turn around I felt both pairs of eyes on me and pressed on to my room. I couldn’t do it. This was too much to process.

Not for the first time, I crashed on my bed and slipped into unconsciousness wishing I was someone else.

***

“I can’t believe they kicked me out of my room to make way for her,” I grumbled into Pete’s shoulder for the hundredth time.

“I know, I know,” he repeated, stroking my hair.

“I’m really not happy with this. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t fit.”

“I don’t like it either, you know that. But we both know that the others can be stubborn as hell when they want to be.”

I mumbled something inaudible that I can’t remember, bitterness palpable as can be, before we fell into dark silence again. I reluctantly opened one eye to check the time on the table beside Pete’s bed, discovering it to be 2:13 in the morning. We hadn’t been hunting that night in order to let the newcomer become comfortable. She must have known that Pete wasn’t fond of her, for she never spoke to him and he made his dislike incredibly obvious. She’d tried to talk to me once or twice, but I wasn’t very responsive, so she just clung to Hunter’s side and tried to become friends with the others while Pete and I sat brooding in our moodiness. It hadn’t even been 48 hours since her induction and already everything had changed. The one I was most currently pissed off about being the loss of my room.

“Elle?” Pete asked after a minute or two.

“Yeah?”

“What’ve you been doing? I haven’t been able to read your mind for about two weeks now, and it’s starting to worry me.”

In my mind, I breathed a sigh of relief. So he didn’t know about the kiss yet. I’d been trying my hardest to create mental barriers for a while now, so I was pleased to discover that they worked when I most needed them to.

“I… I like being able to keep my thoughts to myself, Pete.” I said quietly.

“Well that’s fine… I guess…” he said, although he didn’t sound impressed one bit. “I just want to know how you’re doing it. No human’s ever been able to do it before… except Hunter.”

He grumbled the last part and I smiled to myself. It had definitely been a good idea to ask Hunter how to block my mind… back when he still talked to me and all. It had taken practice, but it was paying off now. And I knew it frustrated Pete more than he let on.

“I can’t tell you.” I said softly, turning my head up to look him in the eye. “If I tell you, I won’t be able to do it anymore.”

His eye twitched and I could tell how hard this was for him to give in. For a moment I half expected him to explode into an angry rant, but he surprised me.

“Ok then. I don’t like you having secrets, but I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I do,” I assured him.

I think.