All The Queen's Horses {Myrnin, Morganville Vampires}

Panty Circus

Chapter 43 – Panty Circus

I stared up at the familiar brightly-lit sign, signaling our arrival to the last place on Earth I had ever expected to visit with two ancient vampires – Walmart.

Surprisingly, there were quite a few cars in the parking lot. I cringed. I had hoped the store would be sparsely populated with people, given the very late hour. No such luck, apparently. I slid effortlessly out of the backseat and stood in my bare feet on the icy pavement, wearing nothing but Myrnin's shirt while the wintry night blew brisk gusts of air around us.

Of course I wasn't cold.

I would never be cold again, I realized with a start. My mind briefly panicked at the extremely foreign physical response of my body. I breathed deeply, hoping the unnecessary act would somehow force my brain to acclimate sooner to my new reality. And as hard as it was to force my own mind into understanding, I knew it would be impossible for the humans around us, to comprehend my abnormal arctic imperviousness.

A sweet little old couple threw several worried glances my way, as they walked toward the store. Their concern grew into full blown alarm when Myrnin exited the vehicle behind me, shirtless. I tried to smile slightly in an attempt to calm their fears and reassure them that I was fine, so hopefully they would not take it upon themselves to do something civically minded – like call the police.

That kind of thing would not bode well. Particularly when we were sporting a speared vampire in the trunk. I glanced over my shoulder, looking for Gwion, and found him checking said body, to make sure Ciro remained safely tucked away while we shopped. The absurdity of my life was once again in flagrant display – how many people shopped at Walmart with a body stored in the truck?! Well, now I did, apparently.

As we walked toward the entrance, I shot a quick glance to my left at Myrnin, and inhaled sharply in surprise. Mischievous anticipation practically radiated out of him.

Shit! I could not afford for him to lose control right now. I snapped my head to the other side, to see if Gwion had noticed. And was shocked to find – he wore a matching expression! Practically giddy with eagerness.

WTF?! It's Walmart! Hardly worth their matching Cheshire Cat grins. I was almost certain that neither of them had ever stepped foot inside a Wally World, so what had them so damned excited?! And if they had frequented the store before, I couldn't imagine what they found inside to make them so eager to return. My brain spun, trying to find some cue or signal I had missed, that brought about such a similar response from both of them.

Nothing came to mind.

"Stop!" I abruptly spread my arms out in front of them, halting their progress. Both looked at me in confusion, while I turned to face them, with my hands on my hips.

I narrowed my eyes.

"Why do you appear so... Excited?" I struggled to find an appropriate adjective.

Both of them looked at me with wide, overly innocent eyes. I raised an eyebrow. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought they choreographed that response. I suddenly remembered they had spent centuries of time together – by choice. Which obviously meant, they had to get along on some level. They clearly had differences, but as I stared at their identical expressions of unexplained anticipation, I strongly suspected their penchant for mischievousness was a common bond. And neither one of them really gave a shit about etiquette or boundaries.

I groaned silently. What the hell was I getting myself into?

"You!" I pointed my finger at Myrnin.