Page 87 of Envious Of Fire
When the doors open, they enter a nicely furnished foyer lined with potted cactuses in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Elias walks past all of them without paying a single one mind, comes up to a set of double doors, then lets himself in. The doors open to a similarly furnished office, the walls lined with shelves of books, sculptures, and various trophies and awards. The back of the office boasts floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the city, bright afternoon sunlight pouring in over a large desk.
And at that desk sits a woman with a soft, round face and black hair swept stylishly in a large wave to the side, buzzed short underneath, with diamond stud earrings. Her business suit, always violet or maroon, is adorned with her signature Scarlet Sands pin on the collar. She is typing away at a tablet, not even bothering to lift her head when she asks, “Whatever happened to knocking first?” in her cold and mild tone.
Elias stops. “Thought you hated when your son knocked.”
She looks up at once.
Then she rises, which doesn’t add much more height to all five-foot-nothing of her. “Elias?” She doesn’t seem to trust whoshe sees. Or what. For a moment, there is only fear in her eyes. Then they slowly warm as she appears to remember her son, as if the fear is suddenly secondary, nothing else mattering but the fact that her son is here to see her, Elias, who she might have recently believed she would never see again.
“Mother,” he greets her back coolly.
Just as fast, the worry returns. She comes around her desk. “Is something wrong?” She stops. “Why are you here? Who are these people?” she adds, spotting the three others behind him.
“I need into the vault,” says Elias, getting to the point.
Her thick eyebrows twist, lips puckering. “Excuse me?”
“I need to see what you put in there, what you would not let out of your sight … the weapon.” Elias says the words to her silver choker necklace, not quite looking her in the eye.
Slowly, she turns to ice, all the concern in her face replaced with businesslike indifference. “I should’ve known better than to think this was a surprise visit for dinner with my only son.”
“A bit early for dinner, don’t you think?”
“I take them early, get heartburn otherwise.” Her eyes flick back to the unfamiliar faces.
Cade takes that glance for a cue. “Ma’am,” she greets her. “Hi, hello, I’m Cadence Fludd. I’m from Nowhere, a town in Arizona. That’s not its actual name,” she amends, “but … well, it doesn’t matter. My daughter Layna, here, her boyfriend Jeremy.”
Elias’s mother reflects very little on her face. “Rosemarie Trujillo. You can call me Rose.”
The name appears to ring a bell—a big bell. “Wait.” Cade glances back and forth between Elias and his mother. “You … You mean Trujillo as in …Madame RoseTrujillo …?”
Elias ignores the reaction, takes another step forward. “We need what’s in that vault, Mom. My friends will make use of it.”
Rose bristles. “Elias …”
“A hell of a lot more use than it’s getting collecting dust in a silver closet.”
She lets out a sigh that turns into half a laugh. “So this is … this is our relationship now? Marching into my office out of the blue, not even a phone call, and making demands like this? I don’t even know what you’re talking about, all of this nonsense. And what’s your plan anyway? I’m supposed to just let you and your new friends into one of our family vaults? Are you high?”
Elias studies the look on his mother’s face. It reminds him of all the times she would criticize him harshly, remind him of every poor choice he ever made, then send him to his room to think about his life. It reminds him of conversations she sat him down to have, “big boy” talks, planning out his life, setting out her expectations of him, even when he was as young as ten. She had his life figured out, which schools he would attend, even what grades he would achieve. It didn’t matter his actual skills or talents; she decided what he would become. And what he is today is a far cry from that. No matter her efforts to hide it, the disappointment is as obvious as fire in her eyes every time she looks upon her son. All those dreams she had for him crumbled over the recent years. And as of last week, they’ve all but turned into dust in the desert wind.
He isn’t sure where he stands with his mother now. “No, I’m not high. I’m in danger.”
Her face remains skeptical, cold. “What kind of danger?”
“Vampires.”
The power in a single word. Her crossed arms loosen, as if the word just struck her somewhere sensitive with a needle. She peers past Elias at the others, a flicker of outrage in her eyes, the way one looks at someone who has just eavesdropped on a conversation not meant for their ears.
“Vampires,” he repeats, driving the nail in deeper. “You heard me right. In fact, I was just visited by a freakishly tall onein my bedroom while I was having an intimate moment with my boyfriend Kyle. He was a real swell guy, should’ve met him. Took a couple tastes of me, even complimented my blood, like leaving a comment card on the way out of a restaurant. Likely would’ve drained me had Kyle not played the hero.”
Rose reveals nothing further on her face. Her arms crossed over her chest, she just stares at Elias, listening to every word, her eyes like weapons of their own ready to strike.
“And now Kyle’s out trying to find them,” he goes on. “I have no clue if he succeeded, failed, alive or dead … I can’t just sit around anymore, Mom. I need what’s in that vault.”
Still, she says nothing. Shows nothing. As silent as stone.
Just then, a bird appears at the window. Then another. Then ten more, each of them finding perch on some narrow outer ledge, lining up along the glass. Only Elias, Cade, Layna, and Jeremy seem to notice, staring ahead as the birds appear. Rose continues to stare at her son, jaw tightened, silent.
