Page 9 of Little Wing
I nodded, lifting the poster above us to hang against one of the stone columns in the middle of the store. “You know you can alwaysask me for help. Not like I have anything going on aside from work and the occasional drink.”
“You’re right,” Reina smirked. “I think once this event is over and our regular store traffic resumes, we’ll get back to brainstorming how to get you out of your house more often.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I will hope for more frequent events here.”
“Oh, come on!” she groaned, shoving me playfully. “No hunky vampires you have your eye on?”
I paused before flattening out the poster. My silence earning another poke from my friend.
“No.”
Helping Reina was no trouble for me. If I wasn’t at the bookstore or at Kait’s bar, then I would be at home. My two most frequented places did not attract more attention to me than was needed, so I preferred not to test my boundaries. Plus, all these extra hours were keeping my mind clear from thinking about the dark-haired man who stared at me as if I were an anomaly. He was clearly a vampire trying to figure me out. His eyes casting out the question of “What are you?”, without the words needing to leave his lips.
That information was not anything he was entitled to, and yet as I fought to clear my mind of him, I couldn’t help thinking of the way his lips curled as I rushed to close out my tab before retreating home.
As the thought of him danced around my mind, I shook my head and reached into the box Reina was rummaging in to pull out the next poster to hang up.
Just a few more days and all this would settle.
Just a few more days…
When I signed on to teach night classes at the Fairhaven community college, I expected to have low attendance and students who were barely awake. Well, I was wrong. And I could not wait to get out of teaching as a side gig. Little Wing was always meant to be my priority. But while we waited for things to fall into place, we still had bills to pay.
I planted myself on the couch in our living room and groaned loudly before opening my laptop to continue my work. You’d think being an immortal would have some super energy benefits, but no such luck. In between working on the real estate junk, teaching, and just trying to remain somewhat social for the sake of our business, I was spent.
The fatigue would be worth it, I continued to tell myself.
Little Wing was coming along nicely. The location was still a debacle, but we were holding out hope that something reasonable would turn up eventually. But the dream, the vision—that was blossoming. Nearly three hundred years ago, Mateo and I were living overseas under the protection of our maker, Elias, and his partner Camille. We were in a nest with ten others. We were the eldest, so we had plenty of knowledge passed down to us on how to behave if we ever had to bearound humans. We had our bloodlust under control, something that didn’t come easily to young vampires.
When the treaties were signed, many nests broke apart. Makers left their spawn to fend for themselves, calling this freedom a “gift”.
Sure. Go and be free! Enjoy the gift of living among humans while you also have no experience navigating “life” as a vampire. It was a recipe for disaster.
I ran my hand through my hair at the memory flooding my consciousness. The names of our four siblings who lost their way echoed in my mind.
Eliza, Riley, Javi, Roselyn…
Our sibling’s existence now lived in our memory. We cemented it into the foundation of what we wanted this community center to become. Our youngest siblings didn’t stand a chance in this new world. Young vampires, when given too much freedom at once, could not control their urges. Not when their drive for self-preservation overpowered everything else.
If it wasn’t starvation that ended them, then it was other vampires who had no tolerance for younglings with no discipline. They didn’t want anyone jeopardizing the treaties that would force us back into hiding.
Mateo and I were matured. But we were forced to watch our family torn apart.
Had Elias extended the same care to them as he did us, then maybe things would be different. Maybe we wouldn’t have the need for a place like Little Wing, but our siblings weren’t the only vampires who suffered. Any time I felt my drive for this project begin to waver, I thought of them. Their faces always flashed behind closed eyes.
Little Wing could become a nest for those who didn’t have one—a found family for those who needed guidance in their new life.
“Your dick broken or something?” Mateo asked. He was finishing buttoning up his shirt. Clearly, he had no intention of spending the night in with me.
I wheezed a laugh before lowering my laptop screen. “What?”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to stare at that screen all night?”
I watched as Mateo wandered to the other side of the couch before plopping down with a grunt.
“Maybe I’ll switch to the TV,” I said with a quick shrug.
“Friday night, brother. It’s okay to take a breather. Quinn and I are done with work, so you better be, too. Pretty sure no kid is going to be waiting for your comments on their essay tonight.”
