Page 2 of Clarity

So…where the hell is it?

Thus began a much, much more desperate search.

“What's going on?” I jumped, startled at the sound of voices; my friends, Celeste and Ambrosia.

I’d been so consumed in wondering about the necklace I hadn’t heard knocking… So why were they in my home?

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked, hands full of the contents of the trunk I was searching.

“We were coming to see the antique dildo collection, but you're clearly occupied,” Celeste said. “What are you doing?”

“I'm looking for something.”

“Well duh,” Brosia said, her gaze darting around my bedroom, which I hadn’t realized I’d trashed until just now. “What though?”

“Uhhh… a necklace,” I said. “IknowI had it.”

“Did you know your front door was open?” Brosia asked, and my eyes went wide. In my excitement for the delivery, I must’ve dragged the box holding the trunk inside without ever bothering to go back and actually close the door. “Is the necklace like, an emergency?”

“It’s fine,” I brushed off the door thing, which also explained why they’d just walked into my house. “I've gotta find that necklace.”

“Okay, well… just tell us what it looks like?” Celeste suggested, already stepping further into the room.

“It’s a black stone, on a really dark cobalt chain. Really old.Reallyold. It'll be in a little black velvet box.”

Brosia nodded. “Okay… black on black… on black,” she murmured, then turned to Celeste. “Hey… you know that thing about not being able to enter a home without an invitation. You know… ’cause of our condition?”

Celeste looked up from where she had already started helping look for the necklace to nod at her. “Uh… Yeah. Why are you bringing that up… right now?”

They looked at each other, then looked at me.

“Because,” Brosia said, taking a step back. “She did not invite us in.”

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

“Well. This is quite awkward, isn’t it?” I laughed, attempting to tamp down the panic attack I was justbarelykeeping at bay.

I was an even-keeled type of bitch usually.

Usually.

Tonight?

I... didn’t have time for this shit.

I looked at my friends standing at the doorway of my bedroom, trying to figure out how they’d walked uninvited into my home, given that wholevampires can’t cross the threshold of a human’s home unless invitedof it all.

It wasn’t complicated.

There was an obvious reason.

I justcould notget into that right now.

Especially with recently turned vampires. Which, honestly, was a blaring red flag for how this was all unfolding, and somehow I’d missed it.

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