Dead Skin

Chapter 3

I spotted Patrick and Jack across the room, with Steph lying inside one of the coffins to test it out. I only knew she was in there once the lid flung open and her head of wild blonde hair popped out, covering one of her blue eyes.

She ran her hand through the strands and tossed it all back over her shoulder. "Man, this bed is cozier than the bed I had as a human," she said. "Ah, the perks of the afterlife." Then she turned to me. "Who would've thought you'd come up with such a good idea, Lizette?" she said, smirking. "I still think we should start a new business. Humans on wheels."

"Like, on roller skates?" Patrick asked.

"No, dummy. Like alive and strapped down on carts," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Where's the fun in that?" Jack asked.

"It's for the lazy vampire," Steph said. "These comfy coffins are gonna make a lotttttt of vampires lazy, I bet."

"Whatever, just get out of there," Patrick said. "We need to finish this up. The customer wants it by midnight."

"Spooky," Steph said, wiggling her eyebrows before climbing out.

Not up for Steph's antics at the moment, I went back over to the front desk where Eloise still had her feet propped up on the table.

Now, she was smoking a cigarette. I just hoped she spit her gum out before lighting it. The last thing I needed was for her to choke on her gum and really die.

The phone rang and again, she picked it up. "Good mourning, Comfy Coffins, how may I assist you with your undead needs?" A pause came, and then her face twisted into anger. "Fuck you, man! If you so much as try to steal our idea, I'll rip your fucking head off! And don't think I can't with this super-human strength and shit!"

She hung up the phone too loudly then looked at me. "That's the second time just this month one of these thieves threatened to steal our idea. Fucking vamp holes," she said, rolling her eyes. She ashed her cigarette on the ground then handed it to me, and I took it and inhaled without a second thot (yes, that spelling is intentional).

Once you've been best friends with someone long enough you reach a point where you don't have to thank them for such minor things. You both already just know you don't need to. And if you did, it'd get really annoying. You'd be thanking each other an obnoxious amount of times a week.

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for being there.

Thanks for helping me get impaired enough to forget what made me sad.

Thanks for telling me about the bitch who talked shit.

Thanks for the punch in the face when I almost called my ex when I was drunk.

It just, it was expected.

Know your role as a best friend. You just do what you need to do to make sure the other one is good. Have their back and be willing to kill for them at all times—even if you're not a fighter by nature. Sometimes, you need to nurture yourself into not being such a pussy anymore.

"What's up with Maggie?" Eloise asked.

"No idea."

"Does Reese have a clue?"

I shook my head. "Nope. And from what I can tell, neither does Violet."

"Great. This better not end with another vampire brawl. Because this time, I'm not losing my man." She shot me a warning look, and it was all I could do to receive it with grace.

Okay, I deserve that.

RIP Michael and his hung—

"Sam will be fine," I said, remembering her new—and hopefully permanent—manses. "We don't even know who took her."

She cocked her head to the side and said, "Lizette August," voice low.

Like my mother used to do, Eloise only used my full name when she was either mad at me, disappointed, or serious.

I braced myself.

"Do you really think this has nothing to do with our little stunt we pulled with Maxwell and Reina and their entire fucking cold dead gang? Come on. I know you're not stupid."

FUUUUCCCCCKKKK.

I was hoping I wasn't right. "That definitely crossed my mind, but..."

"But what?!" she cried. "You don't just murder a shit load of vampires and walk away scot-free—especially during a mother fucking toilet paper shortage. Did no one here think there would be any repercussions? I, for one, have just been waiting for the day we'd have to answer for what we did."

"I know, Eloise. So have I. Trust me. We've talked about this. I just was kind of hoping we'd all ride off before sunrise and live happily ever after..."

"This isn't a fucking movie or book or something, Zet. This is real life. We slaughtered them." Then, her voice darkened and sounded hollow. "Plus, we're vampires. We don't get a happily ever after, remember? Not anymore."

Not anymore.

Maybe if we were humans, we'd have that chance. But not anymore. She was right. "Hey, perk up, Eloise. At least you found your mate."

"Yeah," she said, smiling to herself more than me as she looked across the room at Sam, who was in the middle of some theatrical performance with a hammer. "I found him all right."

"What were you arguing about this time?" I asked her, breaking her out of her love-struck spell with the moron of the millennium.

"Same shit. He still wants to get married. And then we have the same fight, over and over and over again. He won't let it go."

"You're just as stubborn, you know," I said. "Why don't you just put on the white dress for the man?"

"You know how I feel about it, Zet. I don't want to have the same conversation on repeat with you, too."

At her warning tone, I nodded.

She shrugged, and her dark eyes somehow looked emptier. "There's just no point. You know it as well as I do."

"The point is to make him happy because you love him," I argued.

"I'm going to take a walk." And with that, she was gone in a blur of motion.

Eloise had been fighting with Sam about this since they got together. He loved her almost instantly. He knew she was the one. He wanted to see her in the gown, as his bride. He wanted to say the words. He wanted the promise. He wanted the commitment. But Eloise felt like getting married was pointless. She said there was no point in any of it.

Their families couldn't come.

Their friends were merely memories.

There was no one left from her old life to vow her new undying love before.

For her, and maybe for all of us, there would be no happily ever after.

The realization zapped at my core, right where my heart used to beat.