Page 135 of Envious Of Fire
Kyle opens his eyes at the sound of Elias’s voice. Elias looks alert, but his eyes are tired and strained. He’s wearing a tight, ribbed black tank top and jeans, which pull on Kyle’s eyes. He looks so damned good in those jeans.
Kyle peels his eyes off of them, looks up. “Elias?”
Elias looks at him. “Got any shuteye yet?”
Kyle shrugs, then is reminded of the extra weight on his shoulder that is Drake’s head, rolls his eyes. “Not really.”
Cade sighs, wipes her forehead irritably. “I’m about up to here with this stupid book. Half of it doesn’t make any sense, even perfectly legible to me as it is … Anything Layna or I try doesn’t work. I’m so afraid if somethingdoeswork, it could go Freaky-Friday wrong. Do you realize there are spells in here that require the heart of a newborn baby? A newborn fuckingbaby. Some really messed-up stuff. One spell says it makes your sworn enemy go mad every time they look into a mirror.”
“Are all the spells so evil like that?” asks Kyle.
“There’s no order to them, either,” Cade goes on, “and not everything in here’s a spell. Mirror madness magic one page, a skincare regimen ritual the next, then a recipe for apple pie.” Shespreads her hands, exasperated. “What the fuck?”
“You need to rest,” says Elias.
“How am I supposed to rest??” she asks, turning on Elias. “I’ve got all this responsibility on my shoulders to figure out how to use this ridiculous book to somehow protect this town or ward away vampires, whatever, and with every passing hour, we’re closer to not knowing a damned thing. Not to mention Jeremy still can’t speak and has a boner I can’t do fuck-all about because how am I—look, look here, over a thousand pages—how am I supposed to find an anti-Viagra spell?? And even if I do, how can I trust it won’t make Jeremy impotent for life or turn his penis into an earthworm??” Elias starts rubbing Cade’s back and shoulders. She lets out another long sigh, closes her eyes. “Sorry,” she mumbles, shaking her head, “sorry, sorry, I just have to get it out, I’m so tired, I’m losing my mind.”
“It’s okay,” says Elias, then glances over at Kyle again.
More specifically, Kyle and Drake, who look like they were caught cuddling in the corner of the room. Kyle smiles at Elias with sympathy, or empathy, or something that conveys a joint relation of suffering they’re all going through. Elias’s emotional makeup is surprisingly calm, his waters gently rippling in the breeze. He doesn’t quite smile back, but his eyes seem to try.
Then Drake says, “Really, I wish you all could know Laz.”
Kyle fidgets, glances to the side where Drake’s head rests. Elias stops rubbing Cade’s shoulders, staring their way. Even Cade looks up from the book, squints at Drake questioningly.
Drake, head still on Kyle’s shoulder, glances back at them. “I think it would help you understand.”
“What’s there to understand?” asks Elias bitterly. “He’s a vampire. His sole purpose is drinking blood.”
“But that’s too simple an understanding,” Drake complains, his voice nearly a pout. “You rob him of his human complexity. Never forget that,” he then adds, lifting a finger. “All of us, nomatter what degree of vampire we are, all of us were once tiny, fragile, squishy human beings. All of us had lives. All of us have memories and wishes and dreams we never achieved. We aren’t ethereal beings dropped out of Heaven, or risen out of Hell, or conjured by demon magic. No offense,” he then says to Cade, who makes a face and spreads her hands, at a loss as to how that was in any way offensive to her. “Remembering that we were all human, that’s your biggest shield against us. We’re all the same deep down. The only thing vampires have against you is time.”
“Are you arriving at a point soon?” asks Elias. “Is this about to lead to a solution for how we keep them the fuck away?”
Drake picks at his fingernails as he stares ahead at nothing in particular, his mind wandering. “Before we first transformed, Laz and I, we looked a lot more alike. Most would say he was the more handsome brother. He got all the girls. Was popular. Never short a date to the dances. I was the quiet, weird, loner younger brother, overlooked in every way. But not to him. He always included me. He was a good big bro, looking out for his little bro.” His eyes drop to the floor. “When we became what we are and had to go into hiding … well, can you imagine what that might do to someone who was just a moment ago on top of the world? The only way he could cope was drinking as much blood as he could get his hands on. Or rather: as many necks as he could get histeethon. And the more he drank, the stronger he became … and more formidable in the vampire world … and isn’t that just another popularity game in his eyes? I was the one who practiced restraint. I stayed more human. He … didn’t. It’s been difficult, watching the handsome brother I once knew slip more and more away … replaced with this freaky, tall man with long teeth and long unbreakable hair and … and long arms …” Drake closes his eyes. “I miss my old brother sometimes.”
Silence falls over the room, no one seeming to know what to say. Cade pats Elias’s hand, as Elias apparently got caught upin Drake’s story and forgot he was rubbing Cade’s back, having stopped. She rises from the chair, stretches, says to Elias, “I’m gonna go check on Layna,” then closes the book and tucks it under an arm. She faces Drake. “I hope whatever connection you have with your brother, that he hears you, that you can remind him of his humanity, his life, something, because I don’t think I have any kind of answer in this convoluted wad of pages here.” She nods at Kyle, smiling at him in the form of a wince, then sees her way up to the church hall.
After a moment, Elias apparently decides to go, too. “Get some rest, babe,” he says to Kyle, eyes lingering on the pair of them, then heads for the stairs.
And Kyle’s eyes can’t help but drop to Elias’s ass in those jeans as he walks away. Seriously, he looks so delicious in them.
Kyle sighs at himself. This basement is driving him nuts.
“I don’t want to get between you two,” says Drake.
Elias stops at the foot of the stairs, turns. “Huh?”
“I’m not into that, into breaking people up. The tug-of-war jealousy thing. Your boyfriend is just cute and attentive. And is the first humanlike vampire I’ve met in a long time, like me.”
“He’s not a vampire,” says Elias.
“A demipire. Semipire. Halfy-halfy. Whatever you want to call it. I’m more of a poly guy who doesn’t really adhere to the label, it’s just the most fitting for how I feel.”
“I’m not the jealous type.” Elias smirks. “I don’t own Kyle. He’s free to spend time with whomever he pleases.”
Despite not sensing any jealousy or sarcasm via the Reach, Kyle frowns at the way that’s worded. “Elias …”
“Can I say,” Drake goes on, “while I have your attention—and also I’ve been holding this back—that ever since I met you, Elias, I can see the attraction? It’s crazy deep.Soul-deep.”
