Affinity

Chapter 27: Confessions

The next morning, Anastasia and Pam saw Tammy and Bob off on their trip to Vegas with bear hugs, 'I miss you's, and well-placed reminders about keeping the house clean and behaving themselves that made Nastia think Tammy at least suspected what her daughter's weekend plans were. After they left, the brothers were begging to stay for the party. Their silence up until then had been bought under the table, ten dollars each. But now they threatened to call their mom and expose Pam if they couldn't stay.

"You little toads! You can't stay! You'll ruin my party!" Pam shouted.

"You're throwing a party. It's already ruined," Nathaniel said.

Pam bristled at this and Nastia tried to reason with the twerps. "You'll both have more fun at your friends' houses."

"But we wanna stay!" Sam whined.

"Too bad. You can't," Pam snapped. "Why must you two be so annoying?"

"Guess I'm telling Mom," Nathaniel sang out, pulling out his phone to text her.

Pam swiped it away. "Guess you don't have a phone."

"You can't do that!"

"Yeah, I can. Mom left me in charge. Now get your bags. I'm taking you to Levi's house now."

Sam and Nathaniel both stomped up the stairs. Anastasia smiled at her friend. "Big sister Pam can be scary."

"Because little brothers can be a pain in the neck. You're lucky your brother is older. Anyway, after we drop them off, we can swing by the Halloween store to get better decorations. Do you think things will already be on sale?"

"Probably, but let's make sure we stay on budget. No need to run through your first paycheck."

"Right. You know me so well," she sighed with resignation. Pam's house was scarcely decorated. Tammy mostly bought Fall-themed decor that she could leave up through the entire season like hay bales and pumpkins. The only true Halloween decorations they had were kid friendly witch and skeleton cardboard cut outs.

A couple of hours later, they got back to the house burdened with their marked down purchases.

"What happened to the flowers?" Pam asked as they wrapped fake cobwebs around the stair railing. Her best friend had asked about the mysterious bouquet the night before after the curtain call, but Nastia had postponed the discussion to when they were truly alone.

"I threw them out."

This answer did not seem to surprise the redhead. "Do you think Kevin sent them?"

"That's what I thought at first, too. But now I wish it was Kevin who sent them."

"What do you mean?"

"Alright, don't freak out, but whoever sent them had coated some of the flowers in blood. The scent wasn't strong, but it was enough to put me on edge."

"For real? Blood? But who would do that?"

"That's what I want to know."

"Gunther?"

"Maybe... but if he knew what I was, wouldn't he just kill me?"

"The guy tortured that vampire, pulled her fangs out, drowned her, and then used her to hurt AJ. He isn't exactly the definition of sane."

"Touché, but it still doesn't make sense."

"Did that card have anything else written on it? If the arrangement was ordered by a florist, we can call them. They may know who paid for it."

Nastia shook her head hopelessly. "Good thinking, Sherlock, but dead end. My name was the only word written on the card. There was no logo. If it was Gunther..."