Page 35 of The Rising Dark
“Well, I fed, and that’s the end of it,” Lavinia said.She glanced at Michelle, whose colour was still high.She didn’t question the squeezing feeling in her chest whenever she saw the bite on Michelle’s neck.The protective, possessive voice within her whispered,she is mine.The bite hadn’t been a claiming—it had been a gift freely given.She tried to hold this thought firmly in her mind.“Let’s talk about anything else.”
Michelle cleared her throat, putting her fork down.“Actually, there was something I wanted to talk about.”
“Yeah?”Lavinia said.
“It’s my mum’s birthday on Saturday.I’m very grateful to you all for letting me stay here so far, but I would like to go.She’s really worried about me, and showing her I’m fine would help a lot, I think.”
Lavinia chewed on a bite of roast pork, the tender meat deliciously savoury, considering Michelle’s words.Usually, she would have dismissed the idea outright.Michelle was safest here, so here she should stay.But they had gone to the animal rescue, hadn’t they?
“It’s during the day,” Michelle added.“Just coffee and cake.”
“You can’t go alone,” Lavinia warned.She wasn’t ready to let Michelle out of her sight.Not when there were still so many unknown threats to her life.
“I was hoping maybe you could come with me?As my guest, I mean.”
Lavinia glanced at Luce at the head of the table.Luce was bent towards Vesta, who whispered in her ear.“I’m not sure,” she hedged.
“I think you should go,” Pina said, gingerly nibbling on a green bean.
“Really?”Lavinia turned towards her.She would have expected caution from Pina, especially after her warning on the first night she’d brought Michelle here.
“You’ll have to take it easy, right?And no demon will be busting through the doors while the sun is up.”
“But what about the rogue?”It wasn’t just the threat of a demon that worried Lavinia.If the warlock killed alongside a rogue, who could say whether or not he considered Michelle a target, too?And while rogues, like all vampires, were weaker during the day and usually hunted at night, there was nothing to stop them from wreaking havoc among a bunch of humans.With her injuries, she wouldn’t be able to protect them as well as she usually could.
“Maybe take some backup?”Messalina offered.Lavinia considered the possibility, but it didn’t seem particularly viable.Would Luce allow so many resources to be taken away at a time when they were on high alert?For a human to attend a party?It seemed unlikely.
“I’ll go,” Quintia grumbled from the other side of the table.“If Luce agrees, of course.”
Lucretia, apparently having followed their conversation somehow even while listening to Vesta, proclaimed her permission across the table.“Fine.We are grateful for your help tonight, Michelle.We will make sure you can visit your mother for a day.”She turned to Quintia and mumbled.“Get you out of my hair for a damn second.”
“You’ll miss me.”
Lucretia sighed.“Probably.”
“There you go,” Messalina said.“Official stamp of approval and all.”The Sisters and Michelle all turned back to Lavinia, waiting for her answer.
“Alright,” she said.“We’ll go to your mother’s birthday party.”It would make Michelle happy, and although a small voice within her said it was an unnecessary risk, a larger part of her wanted to give Michelle whatever she wanted.
Michelle smiled warmly, and seeing her glow of pleasure set off a cascade of tender feelings in Lavinia.Stars, she would do anything to make her smile like that.Even more pleasing, however, was seeing her here, at the table, talking easily to Messalina and the others.
She hadn’t quite realised how isolated Michelle had been since she’d come here.The others had, by and large, avoided her.Perhaps unconsciously, there had been a strong separation betweenusandher.Michelle had been on the other side of a divide that had seemed impossible to bridge.Now, though, they were warming to her.Perhaps the distance between their lives wasn’t so insurmountable as it had seemed at first.
“Lavinia,” Michelle whispered to her as they left the dining room after puddings had been eaten with relish.“I’m really glad we’re going to my mum’s birthday and all, but there is just one thing.”
“What is it?”Lavinia leaned close, enjoying the tickle of Michelle’s hair on her cheek.
“I don’t know how I’m going to explain bringing two women to my mum’s birthday.If it were just you, I would pretend that we were dating, and it would be no big deal, but…” Lavinia finished Michelle’s thought: but it would look very odd if Michelle showed up with what was effectively a vampire bodyguard detail.
“Quintia can guard the perimeter,” Lavinia said reassuringly.“She won’t mind.But I do think someone should always be within sight of you, just in case.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Michelle said, taking a deep breath of relief.“That’s okay.Will you be my date?”she said, a teasing hint in her words.
“Of course,” Lavinia answered, her heart constricting.It wasn’t real—they weren’t actually dating, but her heart didn’t understand the difference.Still, even if they were only pretending to avoid any prying questions, Lavinia would try to be the best fake date she could be.
Chapter Nineteen
Michelle slept deeply into the afternoon of the following day.The ecstasy of letting Lavinia drink her blood had worn off, but the memory filled her with a delicious shiver of satisfaction.She caught herself running a fingertip along the raised scabs where Lavinia’s fangs had pierced her skin.It was odd, how right it had felt.She’d thought it would be disturbing, having someone drink your blood.But now, she felt like she understood.Thinking of Lavinia drinking from anyone else, though… That created a pang of envy that was difficult to rationalise.
