Dead Skin

Chapter 2

I would say we flew out of that coffin, but I wouldn't want to confuse you with that imagery.

Yes, we're vampires. No, we don't fly.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked.

She whipped her head in my direction. "I said we got robbed. I didn't say anyone you care about got hurt."

Fucking Violet.

I could just feel her eyes roll. "I wanted an answer, not an attitude."

She was her usual creeping, bitchy self. I still didn't know her relationship with Reese, and at this point, it mattered. It was gnawing at my insides and nibbling on my heart. I did not want to— nor would I—share Reese with her or anyone else. I turned to Reese.

"I'll go check on them," he said, his voice calm, but protective.

I couldn't even get a "thank you" out before they disappeared in a blur of motion. But first things first. I had to pee.

I whizzed to the bathroom and sprung a leak then turned the faucet on to wash my face. When I looked up in the mirror, my black eyes stared back at me.

Thank god that yellow is gone.

The initial thirst was over. And Reese was right. It was a lot more bearable than it was before. The innate, intense blood lust was over, though it was never fully gone.

It lived in me now. In these bones. In this body. In this heart. In me. And I learned it would never fully go away.

I rushed downstairs to find out what the hell was going on.

Eloise was sitting at the front desk in the basement—our new factory as Sam called it—with her legs up on the desk, chewing bubble gum. Like a new-age, undead Marilyn Monroe, she blew a big pink bubble and it popped. The phone rang and she picked it up as usual. "Good evening, Comfy Coffins, what the hell can I help you with?" she said, with a forced smile in her voice. "Yeah, yeah. One minute." She put her hand over the receiver and played with the cord. "Zet, some crazy shit happened. Go talk to Sam. I'll be there in a sec." She picked the phone back up. "That's right, genius. Look, I'm busy here. Do you want the best coffin in the underworld or not?"

I left her there in a blur of lavender hair and walked through the basement where some of the men and women were at work, constructing and building the custom coffins we now sell— including Johnny.

He caught my eye and whizzed over. "Smells funny in here," he said.

"Like beside the usual smells of death and B.O.?" I asked.

"Like vengeance, if you ask me."

I nodded. Maxwell and Reina. He went back to work and I looked for Reese. He was across the room talking with Sam, so I made my way over. "Does anyone want to tell me what exactly happened?"

"Someone was here," Reese said. "They didn't take our money. They didn't take our tools." A pause and then, "They took our blood supply."

"Fuck, from the fridge? All of it?" I asked.

"Every last drop," Reese said.

"Ah Satan damn it," I said. "I'm thirsty."

"I know. And that's not all I meant by it," Reese said.

I just looked at him, waiting for a response.

"They stole the human girl running the register upstairs," Sam clarified. "Your blood supplier. Supplier, Reese. Simple faux pas, I forgive you, but Lizzie didn't quite get it. Say it with me, suh-ply-er."

We both ignored Sam, as per usual. "She was our live emergency stash," I whined. "Her and all her friends she convinced to donate blood."

"That's not all she is and you know it," Reese warned, the authority in his tone giving away the severity of this.

"Well, we better get back to work," Sam said, wearing his tool belt. He flung his hammer over his shoulder and started whistling as he walked away.

I grabbed his shoulder. "No, you ding dong. We need to find her, and you're gonna help." Dark purple hair. Nose ring. "Wait, did baldy see anything?"

Reese shook his head. "They conveniently snatched Maggie and the blood when he went to get food."

"Which means someone was watching," I deduced.

He nodded. "Which also means they either knew exactly where our blood supply was located, or they got it out of Maggie. And even more worrisome, they may know just who Maggie is to us."

To us.

Us.

I took this in.

What the actual fuck? Who would do this? And why?

I had learned some time ago that the girl upstairs I first encountered was Violet's sister. Which gave me my first clue: Violet wasn't all that old as a vampire. Which gave me my second clue: Her and Reese couldn't possibly have known each other all that long. Which gave me my third clue: I had to be nice to the bitch upstairs, who was almost as bitchy as her sister, Violet—the ultimate bitch lord, quite literally. Which gave me my last clue: Finding Maggie was going to be as important to Reese as it would be to Violet.

And by default, as his vampartner, that means it's important to me.

But, I never heard the story of how Violet magically got to keep her sister in her life, when the rest of us had to abandon our families as we thought was customary. Speaking of Violet, where was she? My eyes scanned the room.

"She's not here," Reese answered. "She's out looking for Maggie. And I'm gonna go help her."

"I'm coming with you," I said.

"No," Reese said. "I need you to stay here. In case whoever took her comes back. Sam, you stay too. I already have two of ours upstairs manning the coffee shop, but I want you both here in case something happens."

"Fine," I said. "Just, be careful. Okay?"

He bent his head down and stuck his forehead to mine. "I will. I love you. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

I closed my eyes and nodded my silent forgiveness. I'd always forgive him. Forever, as it'd been destined.

And then he was gone.

I watched the last of his blur disappear.

I love you, too.