Blackjack (A Tale Of Vegas Vampires)

Chapter 6

Gwenna felt terrible, both physically and emotionally. Reliving her daughter's birth and her own death had been hard enough, learning that she probably traumatized a beautiful young woman by making her see it was just as bad. She didn't need the reminder that her daughter was now a rotten body and she didn't want anyone to have the terrible image that she had been one once.

Nate came back with a cup of blood for her and she took small sips, crossing her legs together. He had taken the whole vampire thing rather well, and in a matter of days, his life had started to roll normally again, with her moving in with him and start her people searching business. Ethan still sent her too much money to have it be considered financial support but when she tried to talk about it, he didn't want to hear it. Gwenna had focused her attention on Nate, supporting him during the cleaning and emptying of Kyra's old room(1) and even beyond that. Like on pretty much everyone else, Roberto's absence had brought joy into his life and his return a cloud of gloom. He was worried, as was pretty much everyone else, that Roberto might retaliate and hurt either him, Gwenna or both of them.

Ethan, overprotective worrywart that he was, paced in the living room of Nate's modest house. He had felt the need to check on his sister, to see if she was okay, to see if she needed anything, before going to check on AJ's sister. Seeing Gwenna bleeding on the floor, still and cold, had hit too close to home. It was a reminder that he wasn't as lucky as other vampires to have family — living family. Some were alone for all eternity, grasping at pieces of memories getting older and older and older until they were void of significance. Some were haunted by the past and all they had lost, by the ghosts of scents, tastes and voices. Ethan knew how lucky he was and he would never say otherwise.

"It happened to two other people, Gwen," he said. "Seamus and some random guy a few years ago."

Gwenna nodded, looking incredibly fragile in Nate's shirt and a pair of yoga pants. She looked healthier than when she had 'died' the day before, but her body language betrayed that she was still weak and tired. Her computer laid at her feet and once in a while she was idly looking at the screen. The way she'd type at the screen was slow and delicate. Alexis liked to compare Gwenna to a hummingbird.

"How is Seamus?" Nate asked Ethan, sitting next to Gwenna and putting a hand on her knee. He had gotten a scare when Alexis had brought Gwenna home yesterday. He was still a very young vampire and six pm was too early for him to wake up. It felt like waking up at four in the morning.

"He's fine. Cara's taking care of him. Probably not how he had wanted to spend his visit to Vegas." Ethan grinned.

Cara had been the one to drag Seamus back when his state had gotten worse, with him staring at the wall for hours and skipping feeding and sleep. She had also wanted to work at the twenty-four hours pet hospital that had opened in Vegas, and be present when her grandmother passed away. Seamus was doing much better since he was in Vegas; it was busy, and there were things to do, and he could catch up with politics.

"He's positive Savannah saw his death," Ethan added. "And he thinks she saw yours."

"She must be scared…" And that probably wasn't enough to describe Savannah's freak out. "I should pay her a visit and tell her I am alright, that she has no reason to fear me or us," Gwenna said.

Nate saw no objection to that; he thought it was very sensitive and kind, but Ethan saw a thousand objections and still counting. Gwenna had proven she was smart and independent, but he still wanted to be the big brother between them. He couldn't tell her what to do, but he sure as hell could tell her what not to do in a million years.

"No. You're not," he told her. Nate saw the way Gwenna frowned. She hated being given orders; she had spent nine hundred years being given them after all; she had the right to spend the next nine hundred years free of rules with her boyfriend.