So I'm a Vampire... Now What? - Book 2 (Original Version)

Chapter 3.3 Under New Management (pt3)

"We found a place!"

Benjamin's triumphant grin as he delivered the news was infectious. It was the kind of grin that made me want to smile back, and I did smile, even if it was a little cautious.

"Wow, that was fast," I said. I glanced around at the others, away from Benjamin's enthusiasm. Frankie wasn't making eye contact, paying way too much attention to the quickly disappearing mountain of fries on his plate.

"I just got lucky," Benjamin said way too humbly. I was accustomed to Benjamin being humble, that's just who he is, but this was something different.

Stanley hooked a thumb at Benjamin and smirked. "Listen to this guy. We were all making calls and sending emails, and all of a sudden Benny is all excited and bouncing off the walls. You shoulda seen him."

Benjamin looked embarrassed.

"It just popped up. Best offer ever. Apparently, the place is huge, we'd have most of the place to ourselves, and most importantly, it's free."

"Free? With all of that?" I was skeptical. "What's the catch?"

"Why do you have to assume there's a catch?"

I held up a finger much more aggressively than I had intended.

"One: it's free!"

I looked around at all of them, wondering why they were all being so obtuse about it. The whole situation was stupid. "Oh come on you guys! Nothing in this city is free. Even if it were all the way in Newmarket, it still wouldn't be free."

"Aren't you being just a little bit paranoid?" Stanley asked, and I almost lost it.

I gave them all a flat look. "Seriously? Me? Paranoid? Have you not met me? Bad things happen all around me, and usually to me. I have a whole ton of reasons to be paranoid, since not only have people been out to kill me, they've actually been successful. I'd like to avoid a repeat performance of that, so I'm going to pour a whole bottle of premium skepticism all over the top of this so-called good news and wait for the moment life decides to kick me in the nuts once again. Probably with a jackhammer."

Ever have that moment when you realize that your friends think that you're losing your mind? You don't know it until you experience it, but you'll know it instantly, I guarantee. It was like something just clicked in my head. Sure the guys and I had made up, and we were gaining some sense of normal again, but there was this tension where they were all waiting for me to explode in a fit of rage. Or paranoia.

I had been going more for a laugh with my ridiculous but factual statement, but no laughs were forthcoming. Some people just can't handle the truth, I guess.

I dumped my coat into the empty booth behind and pulled up a stool to sit at the end of the table. It was one of the raised booths, so the stool was the perfect height.

"You okay man?" Frankie asked, and I tried to grin, anything to break the sudden tension.

"It's the snow, man," I lied. "I fucking hate snow." That part was at least true. I looked around for the waitress, wondering why she hadn't shown up yet. I really needed a drink.

"It's a reminder of why they call here the Great White North," Natalie said and slid a basket of fried wings over to me. "To soothe your frozen and mangled soul: have some wings. Lime and salt, no pepper. I'd offer you some fries, but these fuckers are on carb loading like nothing right now."

"The fries here are good," Benjamin said. "We should order some more. You want some fries, dude?"

"You guys think I'm paranoid."

Natalie held up her fingers to her face, thumb and forefinger held up to indicate a distance of a couple of millimetres.

"Teeny, tiny, teensy bit?"

"Look, dude, the least we could do is go and take a look," Stanley said. "Nobody is committing to anything."

"He's right," Frankie agreed and met my gaze. "If anybody tries anything, at least there's five of us."

"Five of us vampires." Natalie chimed in.

"Damn skippy!" Stanley said, and I shot him a look.

"Didn't you guys just get your asses kicked by a geriatric Chuck Norris?"

"I'm really regretting telling you about that..." Benjamin groaned.

"Told you," Natalie said and sipped her beer.

"You guys already know who owns this place, don't you?" I said the words without really realizing what I was saying, but I felt it was true the instant I said it. From the way Natalie choked on her beer and went into an instant coughing fit, I knew my intuition was working.

Frankie shoved his plate away from him, clearly fed up.

"I'm telling him," he said.

"Don't you dare!" Stanley glared at him.

"Ignore him. Tell me!"

"Do you actually expect to take him to the space tomorrow and have him go all ga-ga over it and then he'll just shrug when you tell him who owns it?"

"Who owns it? Tell me!"

"It's a great space! It's perfect—"

"It's Harry isn't it?" I said, but then rejected that. There was no way Harry was going to offer us anything for free, especially not after he had the guys trapped the way he had them.

"NO!" Everybody yelled, and that put that one to rest.

Then it hit me, and it was so obvious. So fucking obvious. I breathed the name, and from the looks on their faces, I was one hundred percent correct, and for me, it was worse than Harry. It was worse than having to relive my death in my dreams, just when it seemed like it was actually going to be a nice dream. It was worse than the small ball of anger, and tension, and panic that I seemed to be carrying around in my gut for the past couple of weeks and just couldn't shake.

For me, it was the worst thing in the world.

"Beatrice."