Page 5 of Blood from the Marrow
Despite the drama and the ridiculous topic, Elena’s insistence had been about giving. All Elena did was give of herself to her and Zuri. Every time Marisol asked for something, usually emotional, Elena tried her very best to provide.
In six months, Zuri and Elena had given Marisol more than Clara had in thirty-two years. What did she expect Marisol to do? Turn her back on the people who’d been there for her through some terrible times just so she could wander off, chasing a stranger?
Marisol closed her eyes. Zuri and Elena had proven their character with actions, not words. She remembered the vampire attack in the hospital. How Elena dragged her broken body across the bed to protect her. How Zuri had been crushed against the gravel outside the market and fought like a wild animal to get to her.
And not just that, they’d cared for her. Even if they hadn’t said it out loud yet, they’d shown her they loved her. How could Clara ever expect her to abandon the only people apart from her grandmother who’d ever made her feel safe and loved andwanted? Had she really expected that Marisol would run into her arms because she was the only family she had left? If Elena’s love for her progeny had shown her anything, it was that family was a choice, not a DNA match.
Turning the car off, Marisol headed for the stairwell that led to the penthouse. As soon as she walked through the service entrance, she took a deep, cleansing breath. Her lungs and heart expanded with the clean scent of home combined with the aroma of browning butter and the sound of Zuri and Elena in conversation.
She was home with the people who’d never abandoned her even before they cared for her. From the moment the three of them had been in the same room together, they’d never left each other behind. Marisol hurried down the long corridor where the laundry room, storage, and butler’s pantry were.
“Finally,” Elena said when Marisol entered the open living space.
Marisol smiled at the sight of Elena watching Zuri standing at the stove. Even without seeing what was in the sauté pan, she was sure it was something vegetarian. A change she’d never asked her to make. That Zuri had stopped preparing meat dishes showed how she’d accommodate Marisol without making it a production.
“What the hell took you so long, Bambi?” Zuri glanced over her shoulder while stirring.
“What’s this?” Marisol pointed at the red box on the counter instead of answering the question. She didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want to talk about Clara either. Not when she still hadn’t made sense of it for herself. She didn’t want to look like the mess she felt.
“An invitation to a big vampire soiree,” Zuri replied, spooning squash over a bowl of bowtie pasta.
The aroma of Zuri’s cooking usually made Marisol’s stomach growl, but all she could think about was her conversation with Clara. She desperately needed to think about something else, get rid of the splinter jammed under her skin.
“What constitutes a soiree?” She looked into the box to find a creepy glass skull half-full of what she hoped was red food coloring. “This is giving someEyes Wide Shutvibes,” she joked in a way that almost didn’t feel forced.
“In this case, it’s a hundred vampires and their nearest and dearest having a lovely time on a Georgia estate for a few days,” Elena replied before sipping from her wine glass. It only took half a second for Marisol to register that she was drinking the invitation. Not food coloring then.
The prospect of getting out of Miami and soaking in a completely new experience pushed the discomfort out of Marisol’s queasy stomach. She wasn’t running, she just needed time to absorb the shock.
“When are we leaving?” Marisol asked.
Elena’s dark honey eyes widened in surprise. She set her glass down without hiding the amused smirk on her red lips.
“To swim in a sea of vampires?” Zuri laughed. “Fucking never.”
“It’s a lot of pomp and so much circumstance,” Elena added, but her energy wasn’t saying no.
“But could it be fun?” Marisol pushed, certain that she wanted to go.
Zuri splashed organic milk into the pan she’d been using. “Fun, but at what cost?”
Elena chuckled and gave a little shrug. “Sayah knows how to throw a hell of a party. I’m pretty sure she was a hedonist even in her first life.”
“Three days of ridiculous overindulgence?” Zuri guessed before sprinkling in flour.
“Is there any other party?” Elena teased.
Zuri smirked. “Even debauchery must get boring after a few hundred years.”
Elena bit her bottom lip. “I haven’t lost my taste for sin.”
“So we’re going?” Marisol’s gaze jumped from Zuri to Elena and back.
“Do you really want to?” Elena asked, eyes searching hers like she’d suddenly noticed there was something different about her.
Afraid that Elena would guess what had happened by some micro-movement she didn’t know how to suppress, Marisol took a few steps toward Elena and threw her arms around her neck. Elena tilted her head up to maintain eye contact, but Marisol pulled her in closer.
“Maybe you’ll finally get the nerve to bite me at your big vampire party,” she whispered against her mouth.
