Page 29 of Resurrecting His Soul
Ricardo groaned into her hair. “As much as I’d love that. I think we need to make sure you’re both out of harm’s way. I think we should all stay in the main house until I know Melina isn’t a threat.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Allison said, shaking her head.
Ricardo wasn’t surprised. In a short time he had learned that Allison was used to being the protector, and not the protected. Despite the fact that she was no match for Melina, he’d seen her stand up to his progeny multiple times.
Lisandra walked over to Allison and placed her hand on her shoulder. “Allison, please. If he’s suggesting this, then he has a good reason.” She turned her head to look at him. “Right?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Honestly, I just have this bad gut feeling. Melina has been snooping on my computer. Normally I wouldn’t think much of it, but she took the time to try to clear the history so I couldn’t see what she was up to. I can’t imagine she would be worried about covering her tracks if she wasn’t planning something bad.”
“So, now you’re worried about her being a threat?” Allison rolled her eyes.
Lisandra cut her eyes at her. “He sent her away. Give him a break.”
“No,” he interrupted. “She’s right. I gave Melina more chances than she deserved just because I was trying to ease my own guilt. I didn’t want to accept she might be irredeemable. That I’d created someone who might enjoy the monster I taught her to be.”
“You were trying to give her a better life,” Lisandra said. “You didn’t want to just define her as a monster like what was done to you. There is nothing wrong with having hope that someone will choose a better path.”
Allison stared at him for a minute that felt like forever, then she finally said, “Fine. I’ll stay in the main house, but I’m not sleeping in a room with the two of you, so don’t get any ideas.”
“Damn,” Ricardo said. “I really thought this would be the thing that got you both in my bed.”
Lisandra started laughing and Allison leaned over, picked a pillow up from the couch and threw it at his head. He ducked, and the pillow missed him, and Allison huffed. “Keep it in your pants, funny man. Y’all can walk to the house together. I’m going to throw some stuff in a bag and I’ll be over.”
“We’ll both stay in my room tonight,” Lisandra said.
Allison narrowed her eyes at her. “You can stay with him,” she nodded towards Ricardo. “You’re really fast now, right? So you will be able to get to me if you need to, but I’m telling you. You’ll probably just wind up having to pull me off Melina’s ass if that bitch tries coming after me.” She winked, and Ricardo chuckled at her bravado. He could see why Lisandra had chosen her as her best friend.
Lisandra walked to the kitchen and grabbed a roll of aluminum foil and began covering a glass dish of food sitting on the island. “I’ll carry the rest of the casserole over to the main house for you in case you get hungry later. I’m pretty sure there’s no regular food in the kitchen over there.”
Allison just nodded, and Ricardo held the door open for Lisandra to walk out carrying the pan.
“I tried to eat some of this earlier,” Lisandra said, tilting her chin down towards the dish in her hands. Ricardo grinned. He could still remember the retched taste from the only time he tried to eat regular food after he was turned.
“How was that?” he asked.
“Disgusting. It smelled so good, but tasted like garbage.”
“Yeah. It’s one of the many downsides to being a vampire. Even your favorite foods from when you were human taste horrible.”
When they got back to the house, Lisandra went straight to the kitchen and opened the fridge, then paused. “I didn’t think this through. I don’t think Allison will find this very appetizing kept in a fridge full of blood bags.”
“We can move the blood to the refrigerator in the garage,” he suggested. “That way she can use the kitchen however she wants.”
“Makes sense,” Lisandra agreed. “Not like we will be doing much cooking in here.”
There was a thud, and they both turned to see Allison. She dropped two bags on the floor just inside the kitchen. “You say that like you would be cooking if you weren’t a vampire.”
Lisandra rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up. I can cook if I have to.”
“Well, I guess we’re all lucky you don’t have to anymore.” Allison made a show of looking around the room. “It would be a shame if you burned down this beautiful house trying to make your famous burnt lasagna.”
Lisandra grabbed a dish towel and threw it at Allison, hitting her in the face, and Ricardo laughed. “It’s good to see the two of you haven’t lost your sense of humor,” he said.
“Humor is what keeps life moving forward, even in the worst of times,” Allison said. “Seriously, though. I do appreciate you not keeping my food in the same place as yours, but before you contaminate my casserole, where are your cleaning supplies? I’ve got to clean the fridge out once you move the blood bags before you put my food in there.”
Ricardo held up a hand. “I’ll take care of this. You can go get settled in your new room.”
“My temporary room,” Allison said. “As soon as we find a way to run off Melina for good, I am back out of here.”
