Page 146 of Envious Of Fire
Kyle lifts his eyebrows. “May you what?”
Your bowtie.
“Oh.” Kyle nearly forgot about it. “I was trying, but …”
Tristan approaches, takes the bowtie from the counter. He faces Kyle, then seems unsure whether he ought to proceed.I’ll do it from the back, he decides.Face the mirror, will you? This can become a lesson.The next time, you will be able to do it yourself.
“Thanks, Dad,” says Kyle.
An unnecessary but welcomed jab at my literal age, says Tristan with a smile. With Kyle facing the mirror, Tristan approaches from behind, brings the bowtie to his neck, and begins calmly tying it.Like this…and then around like this. With each gentle instruction, Kyle pays little attention in truth, his gaze lost on Tristan’s face and the memories just being in his presence calls back. It isn’t easy to resist them.Around this way.See? Simple.
When the bowtie is finished, the two remain in place for some time, quiet, watching each other’s reflections.
Kyle meets Tristan’s eyes in the mirror. “Why am I here?”
Tristan lingers by the mirror a moment, then steps away.I have been worried about you.For a while.Since your departure from this very place, actually.
“So you invite me back?” Kyle turns. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense. Last time you said … what did you say? … ‘This is a place of endings’ … that I should never come back here.”
You have excellent memory.10 out of 10, no notes.
“That’s kinda hard to forget, the way you worded it.”
Tristan stops at the archway leading back into the room.I was somewhat forced to invite you here tonight, admittedly.Lord Marky has had…well…something we will call a change of heart.Oh, and you’ll recognize some of the other faces tonight, too.Thirsty Cindy from the Dallasade domain, for one…
“Why don’t you guys just call it Dallas? What’s with all of these stupid names?”
Never given it much thought.Perhaps it’s our way of taking back the world.Like children who rename their toys.I once knew a little girl who called her barbie doll “Candy Boobs”…
Kyle moves to Tristan. “And what do you mean Markadian had a change of heart, exactly?”
He wants to replace the deal we made before.
“The deal? You mean where you ‘laid down your immortal life’ or whatever?”
Yes, that one, no big deal, just my existence.I suppose he is tired of dangling my life over the fire pit that is yours.He has other plans.I have never been one to be…dangled. Tristan continues back into the bedroom, fetches the jacket off the rack, stops.Maybe this is why it’s important to remain in charge ofour own destinies.We must remain smarter than the thirst…always resist the blood, stay as we are in our natural state…oh, how vital it is, especially now…
Kyle averts his gaze.
If Tristan only knew that mere hours ago, he and another named Drake were taking turns feeding off of Elias’s neck.
That Kyle spent a day in a den of full-bloodedThem.
That Kyle has drank more blood in the past month than he has in the past twenty-seven years.
Would Tristan still be able to look him in the eyes? Still be able to respect him? Sweetly tie his bowtie and fetch his jacket?
Or does he already know?
“Why are you saying all of this about blood and destiny?”
Tristan stands there holding the jacket, thinking.I want you to remember that I always cared about you.Even when I…pretended to die…and left you.That I only did it because I wanted you to be safe.
“I know.”
And I am certain that it is the blood that differentiates us from monsters. Tristan lifts the suit jacket, as if to smell it.Well, that and our fashion choices.
“Tristan?”
