A sadness wafted over me. Yeah, they’d never know, because they’d be dead to the world in coffins. “Does it bother you to get in those things?”
“No.” He blinked as if the question surprised him. “Not at all. Does it bother you to think of us inside them?”
“Seeing you go into them was the worst day of my life. Every minute knowing you were dying was an hour to me. It went on and on. I imagine it’s nothing in comparison to what you went through. Anyway, my feelings on the subject don’t really matter. I… Never mind. We don’t have to stop; I can keep driving for a long stretch until you guys wake up. I can gas this thing up, and…”
He shook his head. “That’s too much. You have to rest, and you have to eat. Otherwise, we’ll likely drain you too much when we need to feed. Granted, for me, my needs seem to be very minimal currently. Still,no. You can’t drive all day while we can’t help you.”
I supposed it made sense. “Okay.”
“Good. Thanks for not arguing.”
“Tanner has lost his voice. Griffin called out from the front again and both Caesar and I turned to look at him. “You know that, right? Not that you’re going to see him, but did you know?”
It took me a long moment to answer him.Was he still on my comment from before?About him not being able to use his voice?
“I did know, yes. I think that’s particularly awful considering he sang and played music.” He asked me to remember their birthday week, too. I had, in my own head, the year before, though it had been hard to really care about anything when it felt like death greeted me personally every day.Okay, this year I’ll do better. I’d light a candle or something. Maybe these two would actually like to celebrate?
The whole thing confused me.
“Maci, if I hurt your feelings because I was quiet, I’m sorry. I’m trying to sort things out in my head. It’s how I work on problems,” Griffin said.
I swallowed. “Not speaking to a person right after you have sex with them is harsh and feels like a rejection. Going forward with me, or with anyone else you have sex with after I’m dead or gone from your life, just know it’s really best if you communicate afterward for at least a period of time.”
Caesar frowned and squeezed my hand again. “That won’t be any time soon, Maci. Our entire focus at this point is on keeping you alive and well.”
“Right, so you can figure all of this out. I get it.” I rubbed my eyes. “How long do you have until you get into the coffins?”
“Maci…” He didn’t continue until I made eye contact with him. “It’s more than figuring things out. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it’s not that.” He dropped my hand and rose. “In a few more minutes, we’ll trade, and you can drive. We’ll get in once you’re on the road. It’s best to be settled before the need for it pulls you under. Otherwise, we stumble around and eventually we can even fall over. Early Vampire issues—happened to me once in the very beginning.”
Griffin snorted. “Once?”
“Maybe more than once, actually. But he shouldn’t be laughing at me. I remember it happening to Griffin, too.”
“All right, me, too. Yes,” Griffin confirmed. “All of us. Except for Ace. Never happened to Ace, which always confused me. How does hedothat? He’s just so constantly in control. Even Rowan struggled with the daytime problem. Not Ace. Why was that?”
Caesar rose and walked back to the front to sit in the passenger seat. “It’s just one of those things. We’ll never understand it.”
“Seems like you all get unique abilities. Caesar, you said you can tell when a woman is ovulating. Can anyone else do that?”
Griffin shook his head. “Not me. I can see farther than others can. If I focus, it’s like my eyes are binoculars. I don’t think others can do that. Rowan can strategize six steps ahead of everyone else in an instant. He holds hundreds of pieces of information in his head at once. Ace is brutal, but I don’t know his particular talent. Tanner can’t talk, so if he can do one thing or another, I don’t know about it.”
“Maybe Ace’s gift is not being stumbly before he has to go to sleep.” I didn’t really know anything, but it could fit into what they described. “I used to stare at the cabin you were in, trying to catch sight of you. I saw you once, Caesar. You and Rowan.”
He rubbed his eyes. “I’m glad I didn’t know. It was hard enough to keep me in there.”
“It really was.” Griffin laughed. “You were like the nightmare scenario. Rabidly hungry, strong, and determined to get out the fucking door every day. Yeah… better you didn’t know.”
Eventually, it was time to let me drive. I hadn’t worried about the mechanics of handling the vehicle—driving is driving right?Well… it wasn’t quite so simple. There were things to consider that I never had before, like spacing. With no past experiences to draw from, I held on tight as the sun rose. I found myself so preoccupied with trying to handle the driving that I didn’t give them a second thought as they got into their coffins and presumably went to sleep for the day.
Somehow, I managed to find the destination from the navigation. Parking was tricky, and I twice almost ended up on the curb, but the street was wide. Fortunately, that width also meant we didn’t stick out too far onto the street for anyone to complain. The plan hinged on no one finding me remarkable or being interested in the vehicle, so no one noticed the coffins inside.
After I parked, and before I went inside the rented house, I did look back into the motor home. Goosebumps broke out on my arms, so I rubbed them.Caesar and Griffin are inside of those boxes. I’d seen them there before. I walked over to them slowly and touched the wood on the tops.Okay, I have to get control of myself. They aren’t dead this time. They are already vampires.
What is done is done.
With shaking hands, I locked the vehicle behind me then walked toward the front door. I had to look really strange on the cameras I was sure were watching me. Homeowners would be silly not to have devices recording their properties while they had guests. The code worked, so I stepped inside the empty home. Once I closed and locked it behind me, I took a deep breath.
The house, which I hadn’t focused on when I’d gone inside, was pretty nondescript. Two bedrooms, one bath, and a wide-open space that served as both kitchen and living room—basically, a mansion compared to my apartment. I forgot all the food back in the motorhome, but I would have to go out for it later.