The Lost Girls || Bbangsaz

IX

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We spent the next few days poring over Dani's research, looking for a way out of losing our memories, when a knock at the door made all three of us jump. We weren't expecting company, let alone in the early hours before dawn. Haerin put a finger to her lips and motioned for us to get behind her. While she'd been confident Frankie wouldn't go to Elton with information about what we were up to, I didn't trust anyone in his coven.

Dani gripped my wrist, and I bent my knees, ready to spring, but Haerin's posture visibly relaxed once she looked through the peephole. "It's just Hanni."

Haerin opened the door, where Hanni stood in the dark, her shoulders slumped. She looked sadder than a wet box of free kittens. "I'm sorry to bother you."

Dani gave her a warm and welcoming smile. The same smile the wolf probably gave Little Red Riding Hood when he was dressed up like grandma. "You're not bothering us."

"Yes, you are." Haerin crossed her arms, and Dani swatted her.

I just stood there staring. I told her she could come over anytime, but I hadn't expected her to actually take me up on it. "Why are you here?"

"Oh." Her cheeks pinked. "I guess I should explain myself. My mom's still at work, third shift, but she gave her ex-boyfriend the key, and he decided to use it. When he stumbled into my room, drunk off his ass, I left." She shook her head as I widened my eyes. "Nothing happened. He didn't know it was my room, I don't think he even knew it was his ex-girlfriends apartment. He was pretty wasted." She lifted her hands and let them fall at her side. "I don't know anyone else in town."

"You know Elton," Haerin said.

"I dont know where he lives, and I didn't want to see him right now, because he doesn't—" She swallowed. "It's okay. I can go."

"No. Stay." I took half a step toward her, rethought that idea, and took a step back, so I ended up in some kind of weird shuffle dance. Because, apparently, I was going to be forever awkward around this girl. "You can hang out on the couch for now. Or we can go somewhere?"

"Haerin." Dani jerked her chin toward her bedroom. Shaking her head, Haerin followed Dani out to the balcony, leaving me alone with Hanni in the living room.

I shifted my stance, not entirely sure what I was supposed to do. It had been a long time since I'd entertained the notion of "having company." We didn't even have anything to offer her to drink. Thankfully. "Should you call your mom or something?"

"I'm eighteen. I don't need her permission to be out," Hanni said.

"I was just suggesting it so she doesn't think you got murdered, but okay."

"Do you like breakfast?" Hanni blurted out the words in a rush, like she'd psyched herself up to ask and had to push it out all at once before she lost her nerve. "Because there's a little diner I passed on the way over here, and I could go for some pancakes."

I didn't know how to respond to that. I didn't eat, but I had a feeling that wouldn't be a good lead in, especially because she looked about two seconds away from combusting. "I could go with you?" I phrased it more like a question, giving her an out if she'd only said that so she'd have a handy excuse to leave. "I like the smell of pancakes."

I like the smell of pancakes? For fuck's sake. I wished I still ate food, so I'd have something handy to stuff into my mouth to stop the talking. Just because my body was dead, didn't mean my brain was too.

"That would be great." She gave me a relieved smile, and oh, no. It was a good thing vampires couldn't be killed by sunlight, because that smile had the power to ruin me.