Accidental Sire(39)

I had typed a grand total of four words when I finally slapped the computer shut and said, "So, are you going to just ignore me forever, or . . ."

"I'm not ignoring you," he insisted.

"Are you aware of the definition of ‘ignoring'? Because I'm pretty sure that on dictionary-dot-com there's a little picture of your face next to the term."

"Funny," he muttered.

"And in that picture, you're making that judgy face," I added.

He sighed.

"Just the cat-butt face of righteousness, all in this area," I said, waving at his head.

"Is there a clinical term for what's wrong with you?" he asked.

I shot back, "Is there a clinical term for permanent cat-butt face?"

He grinned, though I could tell that he didn't want to. "Cat-butt face of righteousness?"

"Trademark pending."

He sighed. "I know I've been a bit of a douche to you over the last few weeks."

I scoffed. "A bit? You passed ‘a bit' a while ago."

"I'm sorry. I know. I know it's been hard on you, adjusting to all of this, and I've made it harder. But it's hard enough, the idea that I'm dead and this is my life now."

"That sentence makes no sense."

"I'm aware. This is my life now," he continued. "And everything I hoped for, every plan I had, it's all gone. Through no fault of my own. It's like finding out you have a terminal disease, only the disease makes you live forever, while cutting you off from the world for most of the day. And there's no cure, no treatment, no end in sight. Add to that, we're some sort of weird new species of vampires that no one has ever seen. We're freaks in a society that's already pretty damn freaky. We're the only two people in the world-as far as we know-who are like this. So we could be stuck together for the rest of our lives because the Council could decide that we're too dangerous to let out into the world and put us in an underground cell together and throw away the key. Or they could just decide to stake us and be done with it. And you did this to me! You may not have meant to, but that doesn't change the fact that you did. So pardon the hell out of me for resenting you just a little bit."

"Has it occurred to you that I'm in the exact same situation?" I yelled back. "That all of my plans and goals just got shot to hell, too? I have no idea what I'm going to do with the rest of my eternal life. I don't even have a nice family to fall back on when times get rough. I have exactly two, maybe three people in the world I can trust, and I wouldn't want to put the burden of dealing with all of this newborn-vampire crap on them."


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"No, I guess it didn't," Ben murmured. "I've been a little wrapped up in myself."

"A little?" I growled.

"OK, I said I was a douche. I'm sorry."

I sighed and covered my face with my hands. This was getting us nowhere. "So what did you give up?" I asked. "Those plans of yours. What did you give up because of the vampire thing? Kids? A girlfriend? A career as a tanning model?"

"Tanning model? No. I don't look good in orange," he said. "Mine are a pasty people."

I snorted, and he continued. "Job plans? Yeah. After graduation, I was supposed to move to California to work at a start-up that just took off. It's an app that combines all social media into one stream, so instead of posting a photo to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram, you go to the app, which contains all of your accounts, make one post, and you're done. It's a great idea but a programming nightmare, so they need someone like me."

"California . . . where it's really sunny, most of the time," I said, grimacing.

"Yeah, but vampires live in California, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal. I just hope I can graduate on time. Get Jane's approval to move, which, considering all of our ‘anomalies,' seems unlikely."

And there was the guilt again. I had completely derailed Ben's life. He didn't know me. He didn't owe me anything. He was a sweet boy who had come to see me in my sickroom after knowing me for less than twenty-four hours. And it had bitten him on the ass. Or the wrist. I was literally the worst.

And Ben, who was oblivious to me mentally kicking my own ass, was still talking. "Kids? Yeah, maybe, I was thinking that kids would be something I would enjoy," he said. "I come from a good family. I had good parents, a happy childhood. There was no reason to think that I wouldn't be happy being a family guy, with a minivan in the garage and two-point-four kids."