Life Eternal (Camren)

(2) The cottage

A/N: Sorry, for not updating sooner, was gonna do it on 25th but went out and got pretty drunk then proceeded to sit and smoke beside a canal all night talking about life...so I was tired. And then I realised that the website I get this from (cuz i cba to write this) lies and misses out shit, so I had to wait till I got home to make sure it was all in. Idk what the third book holds, but I doubt there's a sex scene, but if any of you want to, DM me lol. Cause tbh they could have one, and just not kiss. It's like those friends with benefits things, where the friends think 'kissing' will make it awkward. That's what they'd have to do anyways. Have fun.

I WOKE UP IN THE library, my face planted in the middle of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, to the sound of a horn honking. After my conversation with Dustin, time had seemed stretched out, as though the forty-eight hours had been one unbearably long moment. I had wandered in and out of the library in a daze, hoping the news of Miss LaBarge's death had been a nightmare, but it wasn't. The seventeen-item breakfast that Dustin had prepared for me had sat on the kitchen counter until one of the cooks scraped it into the garbage. Even though the staff was going about their normal work, knowing that Miss LaBarge was dead made the mansion feel drafty and deserted, as if everyone else had died along with her.

Miss LaBarge had an accident while hunting an Undead. That's what Dustin kept telling me. But the more I thought about it, the less sense it made. Why had she been there alone, when I knew that Monitors always worked in pairs? Or more importantly, why had she been hunting at all? The little I'd gleaned from my mother's Monitoring books had taught me that all Monitors eventually specialized—burying, researching, judging, teaching, coffin building....There was an order to tracking and hunting the Undead; we didn't just go out and bury them. Especially not professors, like Miss LaBarge, who had dedicated their lives to teaching the Undead and Monitors how to coexist. So why would she have travelled across several states to hunt one?

"Why?" I'd begged Dustin, when he couldn't give me an explanation. As if finding out the answer would somehow erase her mistakes.

Leaning over, I pushed the curtains aside and peered out the window. It was a crisp, blue day, so bright it made me wince. My grandfather's car was parked at the end of the crescent driveway, the doors open as Dustin struggled to carry in two stacks of papers, a briefcase, and a traveling bag.

I went into the hall just as my grandfather thrust himself into the foyer, his coattails swooping in behind him. His wrinkled face was tanned, like his old leather briefcase.

"Did you hear that Miss LaBarge—" I started to say, but my grandfather waved his hand to quieten me.

"I'm aware of what happened." He took off his coat and draped it over the pile of things Dustin was balancing in his arms.

"Do they know who—"

"I don't know, Camila," he said, his face softening while he studied me. "I'm sorry." He took off his hat and dropped it on top of his coat. Dustin gave him a perfunctory nod before whisking everything away.

"Where were you?" I persisted, walking behind him.

"I'll explain later," he said, without turning around. "There are things I need to attend now."

I stood in the doorway of his study while he sifted through the papers on his desk until he found the one he was looking for. Ignoring me, he picked up the phone and dialled a number written on the page.

"Yes, hello. Is this the LaBarge residence?" With one hand he loosened his tie.

"Who is that?" I mouthed.

"Yes, thank you," my grandfather continued, and, leaning over the desk, he shooed me out into the hall. As his office door closed, I could hear him say, "Jeffrey, hello. This is Brownell Cabello speaking. I'm so sorry for your loss...."