Page 32 of Sunsets & Other Dangerous Things

“You’re kind of wet.”Oh wow. Ashley needed to slow down with this drink. Char laughed it off though. What a good person.

“Do you want a change of clothes?” She looked Ashley over, and Ashley did a twirl for her, earning another squeak of laughter as water flew from her skirt. “You’re a bit taller than me, but I have an extra pair of pajamas inside.”

“Cool cool.” She wasn’t sure if that was the right answer.Decisions are hard.

“Let’s go in.” Char guided her through a fancy white-and-chrome kitchen, over some empty beer boxes, and into the nearest available bathroom. “Here.”

Ashley wasn’t sure when, or if, Char had left. Maybe she fell asleep. But it felt like time had passed because now she was sitting on a closed toilet seat as Char pulled a matching set of fluffy kitty-and-rainbow pajamas out of a duffel bag. A wave of love for all of womankind washed over her, and her eyes watered. Char barely knew her, and these pajamas were super cute.

“You can keep them.” Char said. “They’re getting a little short for me. Do you have someone I can call to come get you?”

Oh god. She felt an actual tear sliding down her cheek now. She pressed the pajamas to her face to hide it before answering. Or she would have answered if there was anyone shecouldcall.Instead, she was left pinching her eyes shut to focus as she ran through an embarrassingly short list of names followed by why she very much couldn’t call them.

Hannah or John, obviously not.

Cynthia was out of the country by now and hardly answered her phone anyway.

Claribel didn’t even have a phone—apparently, Dr. Bell said something at a dinner party once, for which she still hadn’t forgiven him.

“I’m fine,” Ashley said with a smile. She just needed a minute to sober up. Then she could walk home on her own. The house was only a mile from here.

She peeled off her spankies and slipped a foot into the kitty pajama pants. Char jumped up and passed her a towel before backing out of the bathroom, apologizing and insisting she would give her some privacy. Ashley shrugged and peeled off her top while Char closed the door. There were no words for the feeling of being soft and fluffy after being cold and wet. She did a little shimmy before deciding this bathroom was too small and wrestled the door open.

The living room was huge. Open floor plan and two floors high at least. She made a popping sound with her mouth to check for an echo, but the music from outside was too loud to tell. Her super hearing was crap when there were too many sounds. She did catch an indecipherable grumble from the pile of blankets on a nearby couch.

“Can I get you a drink?” A guy in a ripped and dirty shirt with the word Brian written in sharpie across it appeared out of thin air. Well, probably not actually out of thin air, but Ashley was fairly confident he hadn’t been there five blinks ago. Or seven. Who counts blinks? What was she doing again?

“Oh. No, I got this.” Ashley lifted her much lighter red cup, which was still miraculously in her hand. How had she put onthese pajamas? They were so fuzzy. Maybe she could turn the bottoms into capris and keep them forever. Would her body always be the same size? Did this mean she never had to buy new clothes again because they would always fit her? Being a vampire was sweet.

Brian lifted a bottle of rum that also appeared out of nowhere. “I’ll just top you off then.”

He filled her cup back up to the top.

“Wow, that’s a lot,” said Ashley, watching him pour into her cup like it was someone else’s. How irresponsible of them to have that much. Who knew what it was mixed with? She sniffed it curiously, and her eyes watered. That was strong all right.

“You’re a lot.” He put his free hand on her waist, and his thumb tucked into the hem of her pajama bottoms.

“Wow.” She backed up to move out of his reach. “That’s not okay.”

But he stepped forward with her.

Okay then, Brian. This was where the night was going.

An idea slowly formed. She sipped her drink, contemplating, before coughing because she forgot it was mostly pure rum now. That settled it. She needed to practice drinking without draining—and she didn’t mean rum. She was forming a brilliant plan with no flaws whatsoever. She could even practice memorizing! Mesmerizing? Glamouring? Hypnosis. What was that vampire trick called again? Didn’t matter. She was confident tonight was the night she could accomplish both, and then Hannah and the rest of the vampires would be so proud of her and welcome her into their home with open arms.

“All right, Brian.” She poked his chest and swayed a little.

“It’s Jeff, actually.”

“Jeff?” She stepped back and looked at his shirt again. “But your shirt says Brian.”

“My shirt says Brains.” He pulled down the hem to straighten out the wrinkles. “I’m a zombie. Obviously.”

“Okay, cool.” She set down her drink on a nearby surface—her mother’s voice asked about coasters, but she ignored it—and grasped Not-Brian’s face with both hands so she could focus on his eyes. Focusing her mesmerizing muscles that she was sure existed, she intoned, “You want to go somewhere private with me.”

“Heck yeah, I do.”

Hmm. It was unclear if that had worked or not.She decided to say yes it did, and now they were walking down the hall to find an open bedroom, or that was what he was hoping for at least. But it turned out there weren’t any bedrooms on the first floor, and she didn’t want to go upstairs because that was more of a commitment to the house than she wanted, and she liked that it was easier to exit on the first floor. So, they settled on an office-looking room instead.

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