I still couldn’t believe he fought off his own friend to protect me. His friend, who I wasn’t exactly at ease around anymore. I bet Dana wasn’t comfortable around me, either. After that wonderful moment where she nearly killed me, she couldn’t maintain eye contact with me for more than a few seconds at a time. I think I intimidated her.
It was obvious she felt bad and wanted to apologize, which, if I’m being honest, made me cringe. Saying sorry and forgiving people was awkward, and I preferred to just pretend it never happened. Save the mushy stuff for people like Cora who ate that shit up.
Tap, tap, tap.
Fucking hell. I was ready to get on the roof and rip that stupid satellite off its stand and throw it in the dumpster. I hated being fidgety. It made me feel like Cora.
We were all quiet for a minute as they roasted their marshmallows, when Dana suddenly spoke up and mumbled, “I hate the dark.” It was a random comment, but I got the impression she was going for a story. “Even with the candlelight, I still hate it.”
“Why?” I asked.
Dana looked me dead in the eyes like she was surprised I cared enough to ask. “Nothing good happens in the dark,” she answered.
I chuckled to myself. “I can think of a few good things that have.”
“Don’t give us the visual,” Melanie said with an eye roll. Any time I even uttered a word to Dana, she was ready to claw my eyes out. I’d swear they were fucking.
“The darkness tends to hide the ugliest, scariest parts of life,” Dana said reflectively. “It’s when the werewolves change and the vampires are allowed to roam freely. Who knows what else is out there right now?”
Melanie softly giggled. “Remember our conversation, Cora? The night I…well, that night in Lunar City. We talked about what else might exist. Even UFOs.”
Cora was trying to stay quiet, so she gently laughed. “I do. We were so clueless then.”
“I still feel clueless.”
“Remember how you were the one that wondered if vampires were real?”
Melanie’s smile slowly faded. “Yeah.” She lowered her head in thought. “God, that really does feel like a whole different person. It’s like I’m looking back at myself from a different perspective, and I don’t even recognize the person I was anymore.”
“That’s how I feel when I see myself in the mirror from a bad angle,” I said.
The three of them turned and looked at me with an expression of disdain for ruining their bonding moment. But suddenly, all at once, they cracked a smile and erupted into fits of laughter.
“Relatable,” Melanie replied through tears, and then leaned against Dana as they laughed together.
I didn’t think it was that funny, but I welcome any ego-stroking.
CRASH.
An explosive noise set off behind me, and before I could even turn to look, I felt chunks and clusters of glass and snow thrown against my backside. A dark figure lunged into the apartment through the window and leaped onto Melanie’s shoulders. The curtains flapped in the howling, winter breeze so chaotically that I didn’t even see what had happened until I rose to my feet.
Melanie was in the center of the living room with a woman on her shoulders, and they were fighting. Shit, it was that cousin fucker, Tiffany!
Tiffany screamed and clawed at Melanie as they spun in circles. Every time Cora or Dana stepped forward to intervene, Tiffany swatted her hands at them like a rabies-infected cat. I don’t think either of them knew what could happen to them if they got clawed, so they kept retreating every time Tiffany threatened them. I know I didn’t want any part of that.
“I found you, I found you!” Tiffany excitedly shouted as her hands wrapped around Melanie’s head and squeezed. Even though she was technically dead, Melanie’s face bloated and turned red from the pressure. Shit, how strong was Tiffany? “Master’s gonna be so happy. I knew I’d find you first! I knew it!”
“Get her off of me!” Melanie yelled.
“What do we do? What do we do?” Cora yelled back as she hopped around the room. She looked like a distraught old lady looking for a fire extinguisher because her muffins were burning in the oven. Then, Cora stopped and said, “Hold on!” She went running into the kitchen for, what I guessed, was a weapon. But when the doofus came back, she was holding that stupid-ass rolling pin instead of a knife.
“What are you gonna do, bake her?!” I shouted.
Cora gave me that not now look, and then began beating against the side of Tiffany’s head with the pin. It seemed stupid at first, but it was kind of working. After a couple hits to the skull, Tiffany looked rocked, and Dana was able to pull her off of Melanie and launch her across the room. She fell against the coffee table we were sitting at and then sat down on the carpet where the glass from the broken window had accumulated.
She sort of slouched there for a minute, not unconscious, not thinking, not even looking like she was going to attack us. The snow from outside was blowing in and pouring down on her like there was a sky in the apartment. The
