Page 61 of Twisted
CHAPTER25
Icross one arm over my chest and stretch, letting out a breath.I just finished a grueling workout, one I know I’m going to feel in the morning.It’s been several days since I’ve pushed myself like this, and it felt good to get back to it.Mentally, it was a good break, and gave me maybe an hour’s worth of peace from the thoughts running a million miles an hour in my head.So much has changed in such a short time, and I can’t wrap my head around half of it.
“I hardly ever come down here,” Mabel says, appearing in the doorway of the workout room.
“I guess you don’t really need to,” I reply, still a little out of breath.Mabel steps in, looking around curiously.She’s dressed like a 1950s housewife today, looking sweet and innocent.“You’re always in good shape.”I switch arms to stretch the other side.“Actually, being physically fit as a human before you were turned doesn’t really have much bearing on vampire strength, does it?”
“I don’t think so.”She shrugs and picks up a fifty pound weight with one hand as if it’s nothing.“Though whatever skills you were proficient in as a human tend to get magnified.”
“Makes sense.”I finish stretching my arms and move on to my legs.I hate stretching and have to force myself to do it at the end of each workout.“I would like a warning before I am turned.Like a good few months to grow out my hair and get to how I wanted to look physically.Because you can’t change your form once you’re a vampire.”I blink and shake my head.“Man, that’s really weird to think about.You’re literally stuck looking the exact same way forever.You can’t gain or lose weight.Or get a tattoo.What about piercings?”
“These heal every time I take them out,” she tells me, turning her head to show me her earrings.
“Ouch.”
“Beauty is pain.”
I shake my head.“That’s such an antiquated way of thinking.”
“I know.For a while there, I thought things were getting better, but now ‘rib remodeling’ is all the rage.”
“Rib remodeling?”I question.
She nods.“I see it all over my FYP.Humans are paying to have their ribs broken and reset just to have a smaller waist.”
“That’s insane.”
“Tell me about it.”She puts the weight down and moves in front of the large mirror, looking at herself.Her gaze is anything but vain, but rather, she’s looking at herself curiously.“I’ve only been on this earth for a century or so, but immortality makes you look at things differently.”
“I can only imagine.Which is hard to do, actually.Life feels so short and long and if I’m lucky, I’ll get eighty or so years here, and by the time I reach fifty, I hope to have things figured out.But I’m halfway there and I’m just as clueless as ever.”
“Everyone is.Even those of us who consider fifty years a blink of an eye.”Her eyes get sad.“Knowing you’ll only die if you’re murdered or walk into the sun…” She shakes her head.“It’s something I haven’t quite figured out yet either, if that makes you feel better.”
“It does a little.”
She turns, giving me a soft smile.“Haven’t we all been told howtime will tellor howtime heals all wounds.Knowing I have all the time in the world doesn’t solve anything.It makes things more complicated, really.”
“I’m sure.I think knowing that life is short and that it can be taken away at any moment gives a lot of people a reason to keep going, to get up every day, and to try and…I don’t know…have a fulfilling life.But having endless time.”I shake my head and look at her.“Now that’s a mindfuck that I never thought about before.”
“Right?But speaking of time,” she starts and the sadness melts away from her pretty face as she smiles.“Want to go out tonight?The boys have business to attend to and I’ve been hankering for a girls’ night!”
“Uh, sure.Where would we go?”
“There’s a new nightclub that just opened up a couple of weeks ago.I’ve been following them on social media and they invited me to the VIP lounge anytime I want.We could get all dolled up and fancy ourselves a night on the town!”
“That actually sounds pretty fun,” I tell her.“The last time I went to a nightclub, it was after we hunted these monsters in the Keys.”
“What kind of monsters?”
“Duppies,” I say, expecting her to know what I’m talking about.“It’s the spirit of an evil person, basically.”
“Oh, cool!Did you get it?”
“Of course.It had been wreaking havoc on this little island for like a year.Which is why we went out to celebrate.”
“We should find a demon to hunt,” she says seriously.“I never got to.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” I laugh.“Though it’s not that hard if you know what to look for.”
