Page 54 of The Second Sight
I made my way out of Seven’s bedroom. The hallway stretched dark and endless before me. Using my phone’s flashlight, I took a right and walked down the hall lined with closed doors that concealed God knows what vampire secrets. I’d been too distracted by Seven to pay attention to much of anything.
I descended the grand staircase. The massive entrance hall was right before me. The moonlight filtering through the stained-glass windows casted colored patterns across the floor. The huge front door was only a few steps away.
What if it was locked? What if some vampire security system alerted him the moment I touched the handle? Would he be angry that I’d left? There was no time to worry about that now. Brooklyn was waiting, and my father’s patience was running thin. I grasped the heavy handle and pulled. The door swung open with surprising ease.
Brooklyn’s Honda waited at the bottom of the stone steps, looking out of place against the Gothic grandeur of Crackstone Manor. I dashed down the steps and yanked open the passenger door, sliding into her car.
“Holy shit, Kasi!” Brooklyn’s eyes were wide. “This is Seven’s house? It looks like a vampire’s mansion.”
I froze halfway into the seat. “What did you just say?”
“Girl, this place is like a castle! How rich is this dude?”
I exhaled slowly. She didn’t know. Of course, she didn’t know. The vampire part was just random.
“Here.” She thrust a shopping bag at me. “I brought you a nice little modest fit to cover your thottin’ ass. But first, explain why you’re wearing just a man’s shirt and why your dad is ready to empty the clip.”
I pulled the bag onto my lap as she shifted into drive and started down the long driveway. Inside were jeans, a t-shirt, underwear, and a pair of flip-flops. I began changing awkwardly in the passenger seat, struggling with buttons and zippers in the limited space.
“I lost my virginity,” I blurted out as I pulled the t-shirt over my head.
Brooklyn nearly drove off the road. “What? For real? Oh no, hoe.”
I nodded, tugging on the jeans now. “I did. Last night.”
“Damn, girl. Was it at least good? Was palm-colored worth all this drama?”
Brooklyn’s expression hovered between shock and delight at this juicy development in my boring life. The familiar smell of her vanilla air freshener as she cranked up the air. I stuffed Seven’s shirt into the shopping bag.
“It was...” How could I possibly describe it? Mind-blowing? Life-changing? Supernatural? “It was incredible. But Brooke, there’s more. So much more.”
My hands clumsily zipped and buttoned the jeans. How much should I tell her? Would she even believe me?
“Like what? Don’t leave me hanging!”
“Like...” I took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to tell you this. It’s unbelievable, and all I can say is you know I’m not a liar.”
She took her eyes off the road to stare me dead in my eyes. “Girl, just spill the tea.”
“Vampires are real. And my mother was a fairy. And I’m half fairy with magical abilities.” I inhaled. “And Seven is a vampire who drinks blood and lives in that mansion with his sister.”
Brooklyn’s foot eased off the gas as she turned to stare at me. The car slowed to a stop at a red light.
“Kasi, what the fuck? Did he drug you? Are you high right now?”
I shook my head, pulling the grimoire from my purse. “I know how it sounds. I wouldn’t believe it either. But it’s all true, Brooke. Every word. I can prove it.”
She looked from me to the ancient book and back again, her expression shifting from concern to uncertainty.
“You’re serious.”
“Dead ass. I’ll tell you everything, I promise. But right now, we need to get to my dad’s before he calls the cops. We will talk, but I have to figure out what to say to my daddy.”
Brooklyn hesitated, then nodded slowly. “Fine. But you’re telling me everything. And I mean every-damn-thing. I’m trying to be cool, but I’m thinking about stopping by CVS and getting you a drug test.”
“And I would gladly take a drug test to prove it to you.”
“Damn,” Brooklyn said as she turned onto the expressway. “And here I thought losing my virginity to Fred Reynolds in his mom’s basement was wild.”
