Page 80 of Love Lives
"This plan is not going to help your chances with him," Talon said.
"He'll forgive me eventually," Aldrich said, leaning back onto the tiles. "I'm way too loveable for anyone to stay mad at me forever."
"Mortals don't have forever."
"Fair point." Aldrich felt the corners of his lips tug down. If he didn't do something soon, he wouldn't have to worry about Remy not having forever. He'd have to worry about Remy not having next week. Which was exactly why it didn't matter if Remy would forgive him or not.
It was all a matter of priorities, really.
"You know where you need to go?" Talon asked.
"I found the address on Google," Aldrich said. "It was almost too easy. Dude owns a pizza place, can you believe it?"
"I think I used to enjoy pizza," Talon mused. "Back when I was mortal."
Aldrich gave the other vampire a sideways glance. "Do those memories make you regret that you can't have it anymore?"
Talon thought about this for a moment. "Occasionally, but if I weren't a vampire... I would miss other things."
Aldrich grinned. "Like the taste of Collin's blood?"
Talon didn't say it, but Aldrich knew he was right. His partner was head over heels for that man. "It's good that you're happy," Aldrich said, straightening. "You know I'm just messing with you, right?"
"Of course."
"Just wanted to make sure in case we're all dead soon." Aldrich looked out over the horizon, in the direction of the city. He should probably get going. Remy was still inside the house, still trying his hand at a séance that was never going to work.Vampires would be perfect, Caspar had said. Something that still gave Aldrich chills when he thought back to it.
No,hisplan was better.
"I still don't think you should do it," Talon said.
"But you're still coming with me, right?"
"Someone has to watch your back."
Aldrich appreciated that, he really did. He knew he didn't have to say it, though. It was understood. Twenty years of working as a team had that effect on people. Even vampires.
"Let's go," Aldrich said. "The faster we get this over with, the better."
Chapter Thirty-One
The sun had sethours ago and we still weren't making any headway. Slowly but surely, I was starting to lose faith. And I was getting exhausted too.
"This isn't going to work," Caspar said.Helooked exhausted too, which made me feel even worse. He should be recovering from his run-in with Vlad, not assisting me in a séance that was doomed to fail.
At least there'd been no weird light show this time, and I hadn't blacked out again either. All that had happened was a big fat load of nothing.
"We can try again in the morning," I relented. Morning wasn't very far away anymore, in any case. My eyes were starting to feel crusty. "Or we can try something else." I stared at the black marble in my hand. If I focused really hard, I thought I could sense magic in it. It wasn’t dead, and neither was the secret it held. If only I knew a way to unleash it, to return it to the vampire it had been taken from...
If only I could believe that would solve all my problems.
No, I had to find another way.
First though, I was going to need some sleep.
Luke and Collin, who had been watching us, had already nodded off on the couch, laying half on top of each other. Any other day, I might have snapped a picture, just to tease them with it later. Elle sat curled up in one of the armchairs. She'd claimed she only needed a quick break, but her lids were drooping too. In her lap, our nephew was sleeping like the baby he was. Jared and Silas had peeked into the room earlier, but hadn't stayed for long. Jared was getting more and more uncomfortable as his pregnancy progressed, so I didn't blame them. I hadn't seen Aldrich or Talon, but they were probably off doing some kind of vampire-thing.
The only one in the house who seemed to be truly awake was Puck. "Are we going to give the gem another try then?"
