Vampire Bride

Chapter Twenty Five - Part One

Charlie

Five minutes to four o clock my cell phone rings. "Hello?"

"Put your papers away and get those rubber gloves on, because I'm out. Well, not until you pick me up. I'll be waiting for you in my room," Juliet chimes. She sounds like she's back to her old self again and I can't be any happier.

Goodbyes are exchanged and I do what I was told. I gather all the scrambled papers on my desk into a neat pile and head out.

"Leaving already?" Morgan asks me when I come into view. "I love all these different scarves you're always wearing, by the way," she adds as she leans over the front desk.

I adjust the pink plaid scarf tighter around my neck. It's becoming a habit to wear a scarf when leaving the house now. "I love to accessorize. I have to go pick Juliet up at the hospital and then I turn housemaid. Oh how I wish I could stay here for a few more hours and be done for the night. I'll see you tomorrow...right?"

"Yup. I'll be leaving early, though, to get things packed, if that's okay."

"Do what you got to do. Make sure to lock up before you leave and have fun on your trip." I look back one last time before I get too far away and I swear I can see her with her cell phone already up to her ear. I begin to wonder if that's what she does after I leave early or when I'm not present, sit there and talk on the phone. I shrug it off as her calling James to tell him everything is set for her absence at work.

When I reach Juliet's hospital room door, I see her changed out of her gown and fully clothed in yoga pants and a tank top. Seeing her arm in its cast makes dread form in the pit of my stomach yet again. She's an innocent bystander in this chaos and yet she's the only one who looks like she has been fighting in this fight...well, as of yet. My turn is soon to come, unfortunately.

The nurse helps her to her feet and accompanies us to the front of the hospital. She waits with her while I bring the car up. At a slow and steady pace, she makes her way to the passenger seat.

As soon as we leave the hospital behind, I can't stop myself from joking. "So...you're incredibly lucky that it's summer or you would have a major problem finding clothes."

"Very funny, Charlie, very funny. Soon I'll be the one laughing when I'm sitting on my couch with my feet up watching you clean my house." Her phony laugh causes me to laugh in response.

Juliet examines her cast the whole way to her house. She sings along to the radio until she takes in a sharp breath. I nearly swerve off the road from panic. Juliet clenches the dashboard with her good arm in fear. "Jesus, woman, stay on the road," she yells at me.

"Me...you. You scared the crap out me. What the hell's wrong?" My heart slowly thumps against my chest.

"I just thought of something. I should go over to Chadwick's and have him draw a really awesome picture on my cast."

Chadwick is a friend of Harlow's boyfriend. He's a tattoo artist who happened to give Juliet her first and only tattoo, because she's a crybaby.

"That's all...that's what was so important that happened to scare the crap out of me?" I bicker.

"Uh...yeah."

We erupt in laughter and after a few minutes we arrive at her house with sore cheeks and tender bellies from laughing so hard. I notice the brand new door that Janessa replaced. After a few minutes waiting for Juliet to dig her keys out, I finally get to see the inside. Dropping our purses off in the entryway, I begin to look at the tasks I have ahead of me.

Janessa didn't do much. The floor is littered with wooden scraps and after walking into the kitchen, I see the blood. Juliet made it sound as if it was just a few droplets, but this is anything but. A brown puddle covers a large portion of the kitchen floor.