Of Blood and Downfall

Chapter 18.

Mavis's POV:

    I brush the crumbs off the table and hurry to put the clean dishes away. The house still smells like the dinner I cooked but I can't do much but have the window open to air it out.

    Inviting Issy over will help kill my time here and get to know her more. She sounded pleased when I called her earlier today and was looking forward to hanging out with me.

    Without realizing the time, I hear the front door knock right on eight o'clock. Getting all flustered, I take a deep breath and brush my hair over my shoulders. Opening the door, Issy holds a large smile on her face with a bakery box in her hands.

    "I got pastries!" She cheers, pulling me into a hug. A grunt escapes my parted lips from the force of her arm wringing my neck. "Oops, sorry." Her arm drops and I take the box wedged between us and place it on the table.

    Issy's nose wrinkles and I glance at the chicken on the stovetop.

    "Sorry, I burned the chicken a little." Her eyes turn back to me and she laughs, closing the door behind her.

    "No, no, it smells delicious." I can't see her face but from the tone in her voice, she's lying. I brush it off and open the box to find variety of pastries. Shoving one in my mouth, I groan in delight.

    "This is so good." I say with a full mouth of chocolate and cream. Issy walks into the living room in silence and looks around the area with a smile on her lips.

    After a drink of water, I ask, "Would you like anything? Um..." I trail off because I'm not sure what I can offer. Issy sits on the couch as though she owns the place and shakes her head.

    "I'm okay, thank you." I awkwardly smile from offering and place the box of pastries on the table. Plopping on the other end of the couch, I bring my legs up on the couch.

    We both sit in silence and Issy stares at me with a tight smile on her lips.

I fiddle with the hem of my shirt and ask, "So, are you in school?"

Issy begins to giggle and I glance up at her.

She covers her mouth and replies, "Sorry, sorry I've never really had a conversation like that before."

I gnaw at my bottom lip and try to keep my composure when my cheeks burn red. "I'm assuming that's a no?"

She shrugs, her eyes disassociating. "I've tried it a few times but it's not my thing to enroll every time I'm bored with myself."

I raise a brow. "How old are you?"

    She grins at the question. "Twenty."

"Gotcha, so when you say you've tried it a few times, I'm assuming you have been twenty for a really long time." It sounds scary to say but as I keep continuing with my sentence, her smile twitches nervously.

"Yep, we age slowly. Only turned vampires stay immortal." I rub my palms together when I think of the word immortal. There's a difference between the two...well between Issy and her family and immortal vampires.

"How old are your brothers?" I question and she scratches the back of her neck.

"Aiden is twenty-two, Karden is twenty-seven and Damien is twenty-eight. I'm the baby in the group."

"It's okay, I'm the only child." I tell her, trying to make her feel better about being the youngest sibling.

"Nothing wrong with that. You get to travel without a sibling fee." Issy tries to joke but I only stifle a laugh.