Lengths For Love (14 page)

“So why do you think that happens?”

“Because I think he loves her.”

Jenny almost rolled off her bed when she heard that. Once she gained her composure, she asked, “Are you sure?”

“It makes sense to me. I thought he was playing a game too, until last night. The way he reacted... that wasn’t fake. He seemed almost normal there. All his reactions weren’t what I expected of him, but what I expect out of anyone else. Can you recall the last time you saw him like that?”

“I never saw him like that,” Jenny snorted. “He is almost always scowling at us and he’s angry with whatever we do. Either that or he’s constipated. I can never tell. But last night was different. I thought he was high.”

“Definitely not. The guy loosens up at the mention of Alexis’ name. One minute, he wants to kill someone. But if that someone says her name, he lets them go. I think he cares for her in a way that he doesn’t care for anyone else. I know we can’t tell when he’s sincere, but I think it’s true with her. Maybe that’s why he hates me so much; I have what he can’t have.”

“So what do you do?” she wanted to know.

I looked down at my hands. “I don’t know. I don’t want to give her to him. Treat her well or not, he’s still an ass. At the same time, I don’t want him to kill me or hurt anyone else. It’s nice seeing him act like a human being for a change.”

“But do you really want to give her up so another guy can take her?”

“No. I’m not willing and, at the same time, I don’t think I can take anymore glares behind my back. I don’t know what to do with this.”

“Well, the only solution I can come up with is if you let Mr. Augustin have your girlfriend,” Jenny suggested.

“What?” I shook my head. “No! That is not happening in this universe! I will not let my girlfriend go with that creep, no matter how much he longs for her! I’d rather be murdered than give her to him!”

Jenny paled at that. “Be careful what you say here.”

“Yeah, I know. The man will kill me for saying these things,” I sneered. “But I’m sick and tired of him making eyes at my girl while being an ass to the rest of us! I’m just not going to let that happen.”

“You don’t understand the control Mr. Augustin has on us!” She exclaimed. “He won’t take what you say lightly!”

“He’s not much older than I am!”

“It makes no difference,” she pointed out. “He’s not much older than anybody here, but his family has a lot of power. He alone has power. You have to be careful about the way you word things. The slightest insult can set him off.”

“And I guess that’s why he burned your things.”

“One of the reasons, yeah.” She hugged her knees and looked out the window. The skies had gone gray and dull. It felt like the same night that I had caught Vincent burning everything in that oil drum. How demented he looked, how sick his smile had been, how strong he was. I felt pathetic again. I had tried to save Jenny’s things, tried to knock sense to him, but lost out in the end.

“I’m real sorry I couldn’t...” I started.

“Don’t.” She stopped me. “You were trying to help but it was too late. It’s my own fault that this happened. I appreciate it though.”

“Still, he had no right to do that.”

“Try telling him that,” she snorted. “But I’ve got two strikes on me. If I mess up one more time, I’m going to be marked.”

“Marked?”

“You saw that board with all the red X’s next to everyone’s name? If you do something so bad, something that he can’t tolerate, you get an X. Consider that a strike against you. The first time is like a slap on the wrist. The second time is considered to be a bigger punishment. In my case, burning down my things. There are others who get abused. And by the third,” she shrugged, “no one knows. All I know is that they get marked.”

“So he kills them?”

“I didn’t say that. I just say they get marked.”

“But you don’t know what happens afterward?”

She sighed. “Look, it’s not a good thing to get marked. That’s all. And it’s not just vampires who get marks, either.”

I hated where this conversation was headed. “Meaning?”

“Have you ever looked at the board in his office?”

“No.”

“You should. You’re teetering on getting your third strike,” she whispered. “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

Third strike. Even though it was the first time I was hearing about this, it made my heart fall all the way to ground. I didn’t know what his plans for people were, but they couldn’t be any better than what he did to vampires. Maybe I had to start sleeping with a gun under my pillow.

“What... What should I do?” I asked.

“You should stay away. Or if you have to be near him, don’t do or anything that will provoke him. Vincent can be your best friend if you stay on his good side.”

“He has a good side?”

“Ian...”

“Okay, okay, I’m going to try and can the insults.”

“You better,” she warned. “He won’t take any of it lightly.”

“I’ll try.” I said, crossing my arms. “But if he tries anything with me...”

“No,” she said firmly. “You shouldn’t do anything. I talked back to him and look where that led me; I lost everything. And you didn’t see him before he burned everything. He was furious. His face was red and he kept grinding his teeth. I’m surprised he didn’t just put a stake through my heart!”

I was silent, thinking back to that night. So Vince burned her things because she had talked back to him? That was an overreaction if I ever saw one. But I always starting to see what everyone meant by not pissing Vince off. From ripping piercings to burning mementos, he didn’t strike me as someone who gave second chances. The fact that Jenny was alive was good enough.

“Okay.” I said. “I see what you’re trying to say. I won’t breathe a word to him.”

“Good.” She nodded, patting my back and helping me off the bed. “Now the good news that I almost forgot to tell you: The vampire who is going to change Alexis is coming back by June.”

June. I wondered why this was good news.

“He can’t come sooner?”

“No. Didn’t explain why, though.”

I could have laid money on the table and bet that it was Vince who was keeping him away. But for what reason? Did he not want Alexis to become a vampire? I got off the bed and thanked Jenny for her time.

“No problem,” she said. “If you need anything, just let me know.”

“You’d be willing to tell me anything.”

“Yeah, because I like you,” she winked. “And I trust you over everyone else here.”

“You don’t know me that well.”

“What I know, I like.”

That was good enough for me, yet there was still a burning question. “Have you seen Vince or Alexis today?”

“Together or separate?”

“Either or.”

“Not separate, but you might find them together.”

“Thanks.” I closed the door behind her and went to where Vince’s bedroom was. Nowadays, the conversations had moved over there. I always wondered if I would walk in and find them together in bed. However, they were always both dressed and not under the sheets.

I found Vince and Alexis talking with each other again on his bed. Once again, neither was naked. This time, I decided not to sneak up on them or break up the conversation. I didn’t want to seem like the boyfriend who could not trust his girlfriend with another man. Hell, if she could get away with shoving the guy’s face into a cake, I didn’t really have to worry about her with him. Somehow, she made him a more tolerable man.

What did worry me was her health. The weight loss was starting to show and there were moments where she had no appetite whatsoever. She looked like she would snap in half if someone tried to hug her. I wasn’t sure what kind of deal she had struck up with her doctors, but things seemed to be fine. A lot was not adding up, but if she knew what she was doing, then who was I to butt in and say no? I had left her to make her own decisions on this. I was not family who needed to know everything. I could only hope she stayed in touch with her family while we were here. She did use the phone on occasion, but I wondered if she was telling the truth. I never had reasons to doubt her before, but times had changed.

I started to move away until I heard Vince speak up. “I know you’re scared about the whole thing.”

“Petrified,” Alexis admitted. “But it’s what I’ve always wanted. There’s so much about vampires that I love.”

“What you read in the book isn’t necessarily what you’ll get in real life.”

I’ve been telling her that forever, dude. I thought glumly. But I stood in place and kept listening.

“Why does everyone live here?” She asked.

“They owe my family in more than one way. We keep them safe. And I promise, when you are turned, I will make sure nothing happens to you.”

I didn’t see what he was doing, but I didn’t like how that sounded. He was going to keep her safe? How long would that last? How long would it take before he started abusing and tormenting her? Kristine had showed me plenty of her scars and bruises to know that this creep hadn’t changed. Alexis was not going to be a special case after a few years.

Starting to head in, I heard Alexis speak up again, “Promise me that you’ll look after me.”

That froze me. She asked him to look after her, not me. Getting a little brave and curious, I peered through the crack of the door. They were still on the bed, but now Vince was closer. I saw him touch her cheek and wanted to melt through the floor. He touched her. He touched her and she grabbed his wrist, pressing her face against his palm. I didn’t know what was stopping me, but I could not move. I could not break out and burst through that room. I wanted to punch him, beat him to a pulp.

“I will.” Vince promised.

I still didn’t move.

By the end of May, Alexis had taken a turn for the worse. She was no longer feeling the urge to get up and go places. Twice, she went to the hospital for treatments and they took care of her. But her hair was almost all gone now and she wanted to sleep more than do anything else. I stayed by her side as much as she allowed me. The only thing that made her happy was the fact that she’d be turned soon. In fact, she was the only one in the entire house that was excited by this fact.

“I won’t have to deal with this anymore,” she’d tell me, flipping through the pages of her vampire novels. “I’ll be a vampire and I never have to worry about chemo again. I won’t ever need to go to the hospital. Can you believe that? Never again.”

Maybe she didn’t have to worry, but I did. Not only was I worrying about the eventual turning, I worried about Vincent. The guy spent time with her like I did, but it was never to threaten her. If I was lucky enough to be in the same room with them, I could get a chance to see them. He talked to her, held her hand, and I saw him laugh on more than one occasion. No doubt about it, he had a thing for my girlfriend. He could go as far as look, but he couldn’t touch.

Yet she still spent a lot of time with him and wasn’t afraid of it. She might have heard stories about him, but took no heed to them. Earlier in the day, I had found them sitting outside and laughing over some kind of conversation. It left me torn. On one hand, I was happy that she was happy. I hadn’t seen her smile in a long time and it was nice to see someone could entertain her. On the other hand, it was Vince entertaining her. He smiled a lot more around her than with anyone else.

“Hey there!” I greeted them, forcing myself to smile at Vince. Alexis looked pleased to see me interested in their conversation. “What’s shaking out here?”

“Hi, honey,” she said, sitting up. “Vince was just talking to me about the time he went to the opera and the man next to him split his pants when he went down to tie his shoes.”

“I didn’t know who I felt more embarrassed for, him or the woman who was with him,” Vince smirked. “I have no doubt she wanted to die right then and there. As for me, I felt humiliated on his behalf. I don’t think I saw him when we went back for the second half.”

Amusing. I sat down with them, much to Vince’s chagrin. I knew it irked him from the way his smile disappeared. I, on the other hand, found this quite funny. “I’m glad he’s around to entertain you.”

“Yeah, me, too.” She looked at him and I rolled my eyes. Who the hell was this guy fooling? He was trying to make a move on her, but didn’t because of me.

Vince cleared his throat. “So, Ian, how are my horses today?”

“Good. The mare’s doing real well with the pregnancy from what I can tell,” I nodded. “I still called the vet and had him double check. He said that everything would be fine. Just look after them and tell him if anything seemed to be wrong.”

“Oh, that’s great. Did you hear that, Vince?” Alexis grabbed his arm. “Your horses are going to be okay and you’ll be riding them again! Maybe, once the baby is born and I’m feeling better, I can go riding with you, too. I’ve always wanted to ride a horse.”

“Really? You never told me that.” I frowned. It was true. Alexis never showed any interest in wanting to ride horses before. Sometimes, she would turn her nose up whenever I came in smelling like a stable. I never saw her get excited when I told her I got to work with horses. So this was something new.

“Things change. I’m beginning to see why you spent so much time with them. Not the nicest smelling creatures, but they aren’t too bad,” she said, getting up and rubbing my shoulders. Her hands, I noticed, weren’t as strong as they used to be. Her grip could sometimes make me wince, but this didn’t make me flinch. The chemotherapy had been taking its toll and now it was taking it out on her hands.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“So am I,” Vince said, standing up. “So same dinner plans as usual?”

“Oh, yes!” Alexis turned to me. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I haven’t seen you all day. Vince is taking us to this restaurant and then to the opera house. He managed to get tickets yesterday. Great seats, too.”

Opera? Why was I never informed of this opera? And what made him think I was a fan of opera? “Um, I guess I’m going to have to pass.”

She looked disappointed. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I thought you would jump at the chance for a date with your girlfriend,” Vince said.