Bad Taste (Part II) // Colby Brock

251 - Rebecca

"No, I'd say this should all be yours," Jax denied as he swept a hand across the room. "I mean, no one can know you're down here... at least they shouldn't know after a while. And I'm sure now that you're a vamp like me, you can sacrifice some time to becoming the best maker of clothes as well as designer of clothes."

I glared at Jax. "What're you trying to say?"

He smiled. "That you've always had us make the clothes for you and have never done it yourself? You just came up with the ideas, which is good, too."

"I never liked making clothes, it was like the tidy up after a party when I was a younger designer. I just wanted the party." I sat down on the couch I'd woken up on just a week ago as a new species. My hand swept over the leather slowly, feeling the textures a human hand couldn't pick up. "I don't know, this room feels too big for just me."

"You could make it seem smaller," Tara suggested as she zipped to the bottom of the stairs. "First you make the stairs its own room so you can have lots of locks, stop people from coming in. Second, you could make yourself an office, a storage room, a changing room—and mirror room, and maybe a second office for Angela or something if you guys are working together."

I blinked at Tara, surprised, then looked at the space around me. A floor plan passed through my mind at the speed of light, changing each time I ran into a problem. I plotted out where what room could go, how big it would be, the logistics of doing all this without anybody knowing—and the morals of keeping it all to myself when it was done. But no matter how bad I felt about taking the whole space for myself, I couldn't stop picturing it. It would be dark and mysterious and beautiful. It'd put Colby's bed to shame... not really, that was impossible. But it would have the same gothic appeal as Colby's bed.

"I love that idea, Tara," I finally said. "Maybe I'll take Angela's friend up on his discount and get all this shit done. It couldn't hurt." I looked at Jax with a smile and he smiled back. We were both excited about our futures as designers. Whilst it'd simply been the norm for me during my existence, it was his passion, and I felt as though I'd helped give him a chance to build upon that passion.

As I stood up to mark the flooring the way I imagined the plan would be, I heard vampires coming near the building. I wasn't panicked right away, but cast a glance at the three other people with me. No one could catch their scent while they were outside, and they were headed right for us.

Tara and I automatically, acting on the deep-rooted need to protect people from danger, ran for the front door to meet the threat before it reached the inside. For some reason I felt like Katrina was here and I needed to protect her. But when we got to the door, we suddenly came face to face with Sam and Colby.

"Guys, a phone call would have been nice," I snapped as I withdrew my fangs. Colby didn't give me the same smile he usually did when he saw me, nor did he respond or come closer. I frowned. "Something wrong?"

Sam cleared his throat. "I need Tara and anyone else in this building to vacate immediately, except you, Rebecca. You need to stay in there."

"What? Why?" I looked between Sam and Colby, but neither of them answered. Jax and Stephanie showed up on the stairs behind us having heard what was said. "I don't understand what's happening."

"Colby will explain," Sam said, "but it is something that should be discussed in private."

"But is everything okay?" Jax asked hesitantly.

"We think," Sam nodded. He gave the vampires beside me a look, so they finally zipped out of the studio—not before Tara have me a swift side hug. I noticed Colby flinch at our contact, but he waited outside until everyone had joined him. Then he, without another word to Sam, grabbed my arm and dragged me down to the basement. I heard Sam leaving along with the others, and I sat down on the couch with a frown prominent on my face.