“No, I really can’t,” I repeated. “Not until Jack comes back. It doesn’t feel right. I just have to stay up and wait for him.”
“What if he never comes back?” Milo asked, and I shot him a glare. “Sorry. But you know, what if it’s a really long time?”
“Then I’ll just wait forever if I have to,” I decided. “I’ll be like Snow White, and you can just put me in one of those glass cases until Jack comes and gives me true love’s kiss.”
“Oh, Snow White, that’s a good costume for you!” Milo touched my hair gently. “With your pale skin and dark hair, we could totally make that work.”
“Milo!” I groaned.
“Is she coming with?” Bobby asked, appearing in the doorway behind Milo. He was wearing a white shirt, unbuttoned down his chest, with a black vest hanging over and tight pants. I was about to guess for some kind of pirate, and then I saw the laser blaster in his belt.
“Are you Han Solo?” I raised my eyebrow at him.
“Yeah, I wanted him to be Lea, but he wouldn’t go for it,” Bobby gave Milo a pouty look, and I realized I was momentarily relieved that Jack wasn’t around so he couldn’t try out that exact idea on me. Then I realized that Jack wasn’t here, and I got sad again.
“I am not going to wear a gold bikini!” Milo lamented. “Even I’m not gay enough for that!”
“So you’re like half a costume?” I asked Bobby.
“Yeah, I was gonna be Andy Warhol, but I looked really terrible with the white wig. My complexion is all wrong for it,” Bobby gestured to his skin, then an idea dawned on him and smiled wickedly at me. “Hey, if you don’t have a costume, you could always go as Princess Lea!”
“No! No way! No how!” I shook my head emphatically. “Even if I wasn’t too busy being suicidal, there is no way you can talk me into that. No gold bikini’s or cinnamon bun hair-do’s.”
“Fine. Costume or not, you really should come out with us,” Milo said, looking at me with concern.
“It’s not good for you to just lay in bed all the time like this. You’re not even watching TV or listening to music. You’re just laying in the dark. It’s not healthy.”
“I don’t care. Nothing feels right without Jack.” I smiled wanly at my brother. “I’m okay, though.
Honest. I’ll get up and do something tonight. I just… I can’t go out. But thanks for inviting me. I really appreciate it.”
“Okay,” Milo relented. “But you better be out of this bed when I get back. Or else.”
Milo smiled sadly at me before leaving with Bobby. On the sheets next to me, he left behind a trail of glitter and black feathers. I did not want to get out of bed, but I didn’t really want Jack coming back to me being a big, stinky mess, so I decided that if nothing else, I should keep up my hygiene, so he doesn’t break up with me for that. I showered, styled my hair, put on make up, and got dressed. For the sake of Halloween, I even painted my nails green. I don’t know why I went through all that trouble, but it felt like something to do.
Matilda needed to go to the bathroom, so I went downstairs to let her outside. She was the only real consolation I had. As mad as Jack might be at me and everyone else, he would never leave her behind. Not for good. While she was outside doing her thing, I glanced down the hall. The door to the den was open, and Ezra was just sitting on the computer, the screen glowing blue on his face. He was probably still sleeping on the couch in there, and I wondered if he and Mae were ever going to make up. And if they weren’t, I wondered why neither of them left.
My cell phone started ringing, and my heart skipped a beat until I realized it was Milo’s ringer and not Jack’s “Time Warp.” I briefly considered not answering it. He probably just wanted to try and talk me into coming out with him. But then again, he might be in trouble or something, so I figured I should take it.
“Hello?” I answered, and I had to hold the phone away from my ear because the music was so loud.
“Hello?” Milo shouted over the music. “Hello?”
“Milo?” I had to yell back, so he could hear me. “Milo? Where are you?”
“I’m at V!” Milo shouted, and I could barely hear Bobby saying something in the background. He was probably yelling right in Milo’s ear, but all I could make out was something about a girl going somewhere.
“You’ve got to come down here!”
“No, I already told you I’m not going,” I sighed. Matilda started barking at the French doors off the kitchen, so I went and let her in. “Thanks anyway.”
“No, I mean you really have to come down!” Milo insisted.
“She’s going in with the room with him!” Bobby shouted plaintively at Milo. “Tell her to hurry and get down here! We’ve gotta do something!”
“I’m not leaving you alone to deal with her,” Milo told Bobby, and I really wished I understood what was going on or the music behind them was quieter.
“What is going on?” I demanded.
“Jane is down here, and she looks like a corpse! For real! Not like a zombie Halloween costume or anything,” Milo said. “She looks really, really terrible, and she just went into the backrooms with that Jonathan guy she was with before. I can’t go after her and leave Bobby alone, so you need to get down here. If she doesn’t get out of her tonight, she’s probably never getting out of here.”
“This better not be some trick to get me to come out!” I said, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t. Both Milo and Bobby sounded genuinely frazzled. Besides that, I knew she was in trouble, and I hadn’t been doing enough to get to stop being a bloodwhore.
“I would never lie about something like this!” Milo yelled, and he wouldn’t. I don’t think he ever really even lied about anything.
“Fine! I’ll be there as soon as I can! Wait for me by the dance floor!” I told him, then hung up the phone. Immediately after doing so, I realized a giant flaw in my plan: I didn’t know how to drive. Then I realized that there was somebody here that always fixed everything and knew how to drive.
“Ezra!”
“Yes?” Ezra answered, and I walked to the end of the hall so I could see him. He had looked up from his computer and was staring at me. “Something is the matter?”
“Milo’s at a club, and Jane’s there. She’s a bloodwhore, and he says she’s in really bad shape.
I need to get her before something bad happens,” I looked at him hopefully. “Would you be willing drive me down there?”
“Absolutely,” Ezra hit a button on the computer and then stood up. “Milo told me that he and Bobby were going out to the clubs tonight, and Bobby was looking quite well, so I told them to have fun.”
“I think they’re having fun,” I said sourly as he met me in the hall
“At least I get to go out on Halloween,” Ezra smiled at me, and we walked towards the garage. “I haven’t done that in years.” He noticed his teasing falling flat on me, and he nodded solemnly. “We’ll get your friend out of there.” I nodded and followed him out to his Lexus. “And Jack will come home. He does love you very much.”
“I know,” I lied. “I just wish I knew where he was.”
“He’ll turn up soon,” Ezra assured me. “He’s not the kind to stray very far.”
Ezra said very little else on the car ride to V. Since we were in a hurry, he sped crazily, and I wondered if all vampires had problems with speed limits, or just these ones. Downtown was a madhouse. There were people everywhere, dressed in all sorts of wacky garments. Most of the girls’ outfits could barely count as
“clothing,” and it seemed like everyone was drunk or high or just certifiably insane.
I had to jog to keep with Ezra, and I felt weird going to the clubs with him. He was probably dressed more fashionably and appropriate for a club situation than I was, but it was weird thinking of him going clubbing. Even as attractive and as young as he looked, he never seemed like the kind of person that would frequent a place like this, and as far as I knew, he never had. Mae and Peter had used to go to V years ago, and Jack did somewhat, but nobody ever mentioned Ezra going. I was a little surprised that even knew where it was, but he probably knew where everything in the whole world was.
In the block before the club, he had to fend off several very drunk girls. I mean he literally had to push them off of him, and by the looks of the last one, she wasn’t exactly drunk. The fading pink marks on her neck made me think that was just leaving the club we were going to. A couple guys made a pass at me, and I didn’t really care, except for the fact that I was starting to get hungry. I hadn’t even really felt until we were in a crow d of people, and I wondered if this is what it would be like always.
Ezra held the door open to V for me, and the two giant bouncers were still manning their post. They nodded at Ezra and exchanged some kind of look with him. It made me wonder if he was actually acquainted with him, but I didn’t really have time to ask. Jane was in trouble, and it didn’t really matter who Ezra did or didn’t know.
The dance floor was completely packed. Michael Jackson’s hit song “Thriller” was blasting out over the stereo, and at least half of the floor was doing in the dance that went along with it. It would’ve been a sight to behold, but Milo and Bobby were waiting by the doors for us, reminding me of the business at hand.