Page 59 of As Darkness Fall
Like you don’t know what you were doing, I thought, letting my gaze do the talking.
Then, I pulled Jo away, heading for the kitchen. She was my friend, and I wasn’t about to expose her to an ancient vampire who might just eat her. Besides, he wasmyancient vampire until I decided otherwise, and I wasn’t interested in sharing.
Sharing? Since when have I claimed him? Wait. Oh, no.
I licked my lips nervously, glancing over my shoulder, only to see Aaron staring after us. My confused brain couldn’t decide who he was staring at.
Am I jealous?
Was that it, then? Could I possibly be jealous that Aaron’s attentions were no longer solely directed at me? It wasn’t like I could blame him. I hadn’t given him or Vir the opportunity to get close to me. Why shouldn’t they seek company elsewhere? I didn’t own them.
“How are you doing?” I asked Jo as we rounded the corner, leaving the immobile vampire and my confused emotions behind. Now wasnotthe time for that. Jo needed my focus. “Seriously, I mean.”
Jo sighed, unlinking her arm from mine and resting back against the counter, a troubling twist to her face.
“Not good,” she said, tilting her head to look up at me.
Whereas I was tall and long-limbed, Jo was short and compact. She got the womanly curves while I got the “makes men uncomfortable when she puts on heels” height. On the flip side, men seemed to treat me with a bit more respect than Jo, simply because I could look many of them in the eye with ease.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner,” I said. “I had no idea Lars had gone that far off the deep end that he would kidnap anyone.”
“Oh, Dan,” she said, using the short form of my name that only she could somehow make sound feminine. I didn’t tolerate anyone else using it. Only Jo could get away with that. “I’m not upset with you. I’m just so grateful you came at all.”
“Of course,” I said. “As soon as Johnathan told me what had happened, we mounted up and came to get you.”
Jo smiled, but there was no joy in the look. “So, he really is on our side now?”
I nodded. “Yes. His father basically disowned him, left him to die, which let him begin to see things clearly, to the point that he turned on him.”
“That’s good, I guess.”
I nodded, not sure what else to say.
“What are you guys planning now? That’s a lot of guns out there, Dan...”
“We’re going after my parents,” I said, deciding not to tell Jo the whole truth. “I can’t let Lars have them as well. Not for a single day longer than necessary.”
I wanted to tell Jo everything. To tell her about the Idol and Vir and Hades. Everything I’d discovered, I wanted to tell her, but I didn’t. The reason I wanted to tell her was for my own benefit. I longed for someone I could talk to, to foist my problems upon.
But it couldn’t be Jo. Not now, at least. Maybe later, if she recovered properly from her rescue, but now, it was too soon. I didn’t want to risk overwhelming her. Which meant concealing lots of the truth, and probably having to lie, before it was all said and done, which didn’t feel good at all.
“You’ve changed, Dan.” It wasn’t an accusation. Just an observation.
“I—I know,” I said.
“In a good way,” Jo added, looking anxious that I’d gotten upset at her. “Stronger. More confident.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m still trying to figure it all out myself, to be honest.”
“You always did take forever to learn to trust yourself,” Jo said with a laugh. “Probably because the oxygen up there is so much thinner, your brain works slower.”
I stared at my best friend, then threw my head back and howled with laughter. Jo joined me. I heard someone poke their head into the kitchen at one point, but they didn’t stay. They left us as we went from laughter to tears, embracing one another as our emotions flooded over for a brief moment.
“Does that explain why you’re so dense, then?” I asked. “Trying to breathe all that concentrated bullshit down there?”
Jo laughed some more. Eventually, we subsided, breathing heavily, neither sure of what to say next as the mood passed. We grew somber once more as we listened to the sounds of guns and other items being assembled and packed in the next room, a constant reminder of the state of our worlds.
“How can I help?” Jo asked. “I can’t let you go after your parents while I sit here and do nothing.”
