Page 101 of Cruel Destinies

She turned and regarded me hopefully. “That would actually be wonderful.”

I stood and walked to my baby grand piano. Its typical black sheen was muted by a layer of dust; I’d fallen behind on the upkeep I usually had plenty of time for in the past. Ever since rejoining the vampires at Heritage Prep, my apartment had fallen into disarray.

The accumulation of not one but two cats hadn’t helped with the cleanliness of the place, either. From the closet near the door came their melodious meowing, and I wondered if they weretryingto harmonize.

Shrugging it off and stretching my fingers as I sat, I said, “Name your favorite Christmas song.”

“Okay, but don’t laugh,” Piper replied.

I chuckled as my fingers began to playChristmastime is Here, skating across the keys like ice skaters on a frozen pond.

“I like that one,” Piper said, getting to her feet and moving next to me, leaning against the piano. “My favorites are the jazzy ones, though. You know, likeJingle Bell RockandRockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

I nodded as I continued to play. “Those are great ones.”

I finished playing the first verse of my song, then moved intoRockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

Piper began to sway her hips and bob her head back and forth as she closed her eyes. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes,” she said. “This is more like it. Now, if only we had a Christmas tree to rock around.”

“Can’t help you there.” I had no desire to put one up, especially on Christmas Eve.

She paused for a moment and held up a finger as I continued playing. “Do you hear that?”

I played a little softer and listened for what she had heard. From the closet where my vampire cats were stowed away, I could still hear the mewing—but not just any mewing. The two cats were harmonizing perfectly to the song I played.

I stopped playing and laughed.

“Julian, you can’t tell me that’s normal behavior for cats,” Piper said.

“You’re right,” I agreed as I stood and walked toward the closet. “Rainbow and Goldie are far from normal, but they’re one of a kind.”

“Twoof a kind, you mean,” she corrected.

I ignored her as I reached for the door handle. “I used to hate cats, but these two... Well, I can’t help but feel like I’m a part of them.”

“They’re crazy,” she commented. “I don’t know why you’ve taken a liking to them. Did you know their eyes have turned completely red? I think it’s from the amount of blood they’ve been drinking. But they don’t glow like the eyes of hungry vampires do.”

The catshadbeen consuming a fair portion of my blood bag stash, but that was normal for newer vampires.

“How does a cat even become a vampire in the first place?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

I ignored her question. I hadn’t taken the time to explain to my Initiate that—using my own life force and with the help of a witch—Rainbow had been brought back from the dead. Opening that particular door would lead to a conversation about Alice, and I wasn’t ready to talk to Piper about my deceased soulmate—or the witch I was growing more and more obsessed with.

When I opened the closet door, the gray-and-white shorthair and the tabby sprang out and rubbed the lengths of their bodies against my legs. Rainbow purred at his typical middle-C pitch, and Goldie harmonized a fifth up.

Crouching low, I petted my furry friends, one with each hand. It sounded like they were ready to burst into song. Seriously,what wasn’t there to love about these cats? They were far better than the typical feline.

Indeed, their eyes looked blood-red, but I didn’t feel as if that made them appear demonic. They were different in an endearing way.

“They give me the creeps,” Piper muttered as she folded her arms.

To this, the ears of both cats pointed backward, and they hissed at the Initiate. I kept a hand on each of their backs, noticing their fur rising.

“How about wedon’tinsult the kitties?” I suggested softly.

Before I could react, Goldie bolted like a lion sprinting to an antelope. Except an antelope would have at least tried to get away. Piper stood frozen in place by the piano, her eyes and mouth widening in perfect synchronicity.

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