Page 60 of Slayer Mom
I took a shaky breath. The way Hazen was looking at me was so raw and honest, so full of pain. I turned to Wat. “Why did Hazen marry me in the first place?” I couldn’t exactly trust Hazen after fifteen years of lies, particularly when I wanted to. Of course I wanted to. No one wants to wake up to the reality that the man they married and absolutely loved was nothing more than a monster.
He shrugged. “How should I know?”
“Can’t you read his mind?”
“No, I can just control it. Lock can read minds. I can make people think things. I guess I can read whenI’m controlling, but it’s not passive, not like dad and Lock.”
“Okay. That sounds like a really useful thing to have in our defeat the zombie queen tool kit. This is a good start. What else do we have? Any ideas?” I sounded like one of those hyper moms at the PTA meeting, or the last time we’d planned a family vacation, brainstorming destinations and activities. I’d been so good at that. I let go of Wat and sat up, smoothing down my robe and trying not to notice the way vampire Hazen was still staring at me. I liked it better when he blinked, but he wasn’t trying to be human.
Soundlessly, he sank down on the couch next to me, not touching, but still closer than I was sure I was ready to be. “You want to talk strategy? You smell of werewolf. Were you really outside chatting with Joe?”
“That’s right. He brought me a really good pumpkin spice decaf latte. He’s been monitoring our calls, you know, like the glass guys that I killed with your golf club. Now I feel bad about it, but at the time, I thought they were trying to kill me. Why would they want to kidnap me if they’re your allies? Is his name really Joe? Never mind. Let’s stick to the important topics. He said she was coming with nightfall. Where will she come? How can we fight her off?”
“I’m not fighting with you,” Wat said, glaring at his father from my other side. When I say he glared, I could feel the psychic push of his rage, see the air shimmer with heat, and feel that heat against my cheeks.
Hazen looked past me to frown at Wat. “If you don’t calm down, I’ll have to remove your mother so that you don’t damage her.”
Wat’s glare immediately eased, and he frowned down at his hands instead.
I took his hand and squeezed it. “It’s okay, Wat. Ifyou don’t want to fight the zombie queen, that’s fine. In fact, I’d prefer you didn’t. I have no idea what kind of battle it will be, but I want you to stay safe above all things.”
He looked up at me, still frowning, but more concerned. “You can’t fight her. What if you die, or if she turns you?”
I rubbed my arm and shrugged. “It’s worth the chance to get her to remove the marking and maybe convince her to leave humans alone.”
He shook his head. “No. You shouldn’t stay here. Dad has so many enemies. Everyone who hates him will try to kill you, or worse, kidnap you and torture you. I can’t believe that you talked to werewolves.”
“I can’t believe she killed them,” Lock said, looking confused and slightly impressed.
Wat continued, “There are werewolves, witches, and all kinds of monsters you do not want to know about. I’ve been learning all about them at our new school. The world is a mess. Dad is the last person in the world you should be with.” His voice was persuasive, sweet, concerned, and there was only a hint of red in his eyes.
I put my hands over those eyes. “We aren’t dealing with that right now. We are focusing on defeating the zombie queen. Your father may be a vampire liar jerk, but he is your father, and you are an amazing person. Both of my boys are. Part of that is because of your father, his genetics, and his upbringing. I mean, you shouldn’t have lit that boy on fire, but—”
He pushed my hand down. “It wasn’t real fire. I just made him think he was on fire. I wouldn’t play with fire in a packed auditorium where it could spread and do more damage than I intended. Obviously. I’m not an idiot.”
I stared at him. “Right. Psychological fire, notactual fire. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse. Anyway, Hazen has always tried to be a good father and husband, even if he lied about everything and stole my memories, so I don’t know exactly what he did to me. Hazen,” I said, turning to face him.
He was staring at me. He looked so strange, like the Grand Master and human Hazen’s mother had an emo love child together. He was so pale, his eyes so dark. His mouth was the same as it had always been, though. Would he taste the same? Feel the same? Did I want to find out? If he’d been looking like human Hazen for fifteen years, he could probably go on like that indefinitely, but it wasn’t who he really was. I didn’t marry him for how he looked, but for who he was, how much he knew about the constellations, but he was so much more than that.
“He can hear your thoughts,” Wat said.
I jumped a little bit and frowned at Hazen. “Can you hear my thoughts?”
He kept staring at me. “Sometimes. I don’t notice a lot of your thoughts if you’re very emotional. I feel the anger too much to be able to sparse particulars, but when you’re thinking about me, it’s difficult to not hear it.”
I’d wanted honesty, right? Right, but this was too much. No. It was fine. It had to be fine, because we didn’t have time for anything else. My heart was pounding, and I felt slightly nauseous, maybe from all that pumpkin spice decaf latte. He could hear my thoughts. He could hear every time I thought angry words I didn’t say, or that night, when I’d made meatloaf, he’d heard how much I needed him, all my stupid plans seducing my husband because I was stupid enough to think that he was human.
“You should eat,” Hazen said, still staring at me. “You’ll feel better. Having my blood, fighting theQueen, it burns a lot of calories. Can I get you something?”
What was I supposed to say? “Okay?”
He got up and walked into the kitchen, leaving me with Wat and Lock.
I took a shuddering breath and patted the couch next to me for Lock.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to bite you as much if I’m over here. I hate wanting to drink your blood, but I do. It makes sense for you to turn into a vampire. It’s much better than zombie, and that’s how you’re going. Your flesh is still infected, even after dad used his blood on you. It’ll take a few weeks at that rate, but you will turn unless he does something else to it.”
“Which he can,” Wat put in, putting his arm around me protectively. “He has a million different potions. Everyone says that he’s a genius at everything. He can keep you human.”
