Growing Wildflowers | WLW

Daisy

John's eyes are on me when I push through the door into the kitchen. He's trying to read my face, but I keep my stare on the ground as I make my way to the living room and sit on the edge of the couch.

The four of them talk in the kitchen but I'm not listening. I'm too busy going over the details of our agreement in my head. Finally, Aurora escorts the elders from her home and I sink into the overstuffed cushions on the couch. Vampire blood doesn't make my stomach twist into a knot, but the physical distance makes breathing easier regardless.

John's heavy footsteps sound against the hardwood floors, down the hall until he's standing in front of me.

"Are you okay, Gwen?" He takes a knee, so his eyes are level with mine.

I nod, but I can't speak.

"Did they hurt you?" Aurora is standing behind him, resting her hands on his shoulder.

I shake my head.

John lets out a sigh and stands. "She's shuttin' down. Let's give her some space," he says only to Aurora.

She nods and takes my hand in hers. "Let me show you your room. You should get some sleep."

John's head snaps her direction. "At night?"

She smiles. "There's no threat at night if everyone thinks you're human."

He makes a dissatisfied grumble in the back of his throat. "Your lifestyle still confuses me."

"Some of us miss being normal." This piques my attention. I've never heard another blood sucker admit they miss human life.

John makes another dad noise signaling his disapproval but waves us off anyway.

Aurora leads me down the hall to the bedroom tucked in the front left corner of the house.

"I'm trying to give you some space," she explains. "The owner's suite is on the other side of the house, past the kitchen. But if you ever need me during the day I'll probably be in the garden or my art studio out back."

The room is mostly empty, not like the rest of the house. It's painted a dark shade of gray-green. A queen-sized bed is in the middle with an overflowing comforter and too many decorative pillows. It's the exact opposite of what I've been living in the past year. It's clean and smells like fresh laundry. Gunner isn't here to make my life hell but Bri isn't here to share a room with me either.

I want to hug Aurora. I barely know her, but I trust her... I never trust vampires.

She squeezes my shoulder and gives me one of her warm smiles. "Try to get some sleep." She turns to leave but stops at the end of the hallway. "Don't let John get in your head. I've been safe in this house for twenty-five years. You can sleep at night."

I nod and she taps her fingertips against the wall before she disappears into the living room.

I find myself in the attached bathroom first, taking the hottest shower I can manage, trying to get the interrogation out of my head. It wasn't bad. They didn't hurt me, only asked me what happened and how a skilled vampire such as John let a human go in the middle of a hunt. I told them the truth; told them it was my fault and they nodded understandingly but that's not what makes my skin crawl. It's the way they looked at me. The way it looked like the woman wanted to rip my head off, like she was waiting for me to misspeak so she could lunge across the pop-up table and kill me in Aurora's basement.

There's a note on my bed when I come back. I take the paper in one hand while scrunching my wet hair into a towel with the other. It's John's messy handwriting.