I don’t know what’s creepier: that Mom is agreeing to help with so little fuss, or that she seems legit psyched that I’m clearly not trusting her. But there’s no point in dragging this out. I remove the watch from my pocket and place it in her hand.
“Oh,” she says, breathless, her eyes wide as saucers. She turns it over and over in her hand. “Oh,yes.”
“So, you know what it is…”
“I do.” She looks up at me, practically shining. “It’s the key to makingallour dreams come true, baby cheeks.”
Uh-huh.
“And you also knew this was something I could get?How?”
She sniffs and shoots me a chiding smirk. The message is clear: I’m not going to get any information for free.
I quickly take the watch out of her hand. “Fine. Whatever. You said you’d help me, remember?” I slip it back into my pocket and Collin reappears back where he was. He looks relieved.
She rises and goes to the refrigerator, unknowingly forcing Collin to move. “I did. And I will,” she says,calmly, her back toward me. “But tell me first: Are you able to use it?”
Collin shakes his head, but clearly I’m going to need to pick my battles, so I say, “Yes. I can.”
After an almost imperceptible beat, she opens the fridge door, removes eggs, onions, cheddar cheese, and chicken-apple sausage, and places them on the countertop. All my favorite ingredients in a scramble. “Well, that’s good, sweetheart. And it’s clearly had a positive effect already. I imagine you rehearsed this conversation with the Avatar. Did it help you escape from the elf, too? Of course it did! I promise, anything you’ve done so far is merely scratching the surface of its potential. And withmyloving guidance?—”
Right.Thatgreedy little fantasy needs to be nipped in the bud!
“We’re not keeping it, Mom,” I say. “I’m going to free the spirit inside it.”
She freezes. But just for a second, before she fluidly continues making my all-time favorite breakfast food. Even the whole wheat toast cut into circles without the crusts.
“I see. Is that so?” She keeps her back toward me. “Then it sounds like it’s time for you to tell me thewholestory.”
And so I do.
Or a lot of it, anyway. I leave out the sexy parts. And the part about me using any incubus powers. Andeverythingabout Emma—the last thing I want to do is put that poor girl on my mother’s radar. But she gets all the major events.
I wasn’t sure what part of my little tale of woe she’d latch onto first, but apparently it’s the encounter with my fellow creatures of the night that spins her gears the most.
“Tch. Alvin! You needed a Monster Hunter to save you fromvampires?”
“Vampires are legit dangerous, Mom!”
Her eyelids lower with long-suffering disappointment. “Vampires are human. And infected. Anddead. If you fed, they’d be running from you.”
“Well, sorry, Mom. You know I’ve always been a little squeamish about eating people. Just one of my little quirks, I guess.” I know I shouldn’t rise to the bait, but there is heat in my chest and I can’t keep the edge out of my voice.
“How many times do I have to tell you? You don’t need to kill them. And it’s not like ithurts…”
She smirks her high-school-cheerleader mouth salaciously, probably thinking she’s making a joke. Or maybe just enjoying my reaction. But rather than getting into another drawn-out convo about why I’ll never be the incubus son she’s always wanted, I grit my teeth and try to get us back on track.
“Can you help free me from the Obligation or not?”
She frowns, pensive, and twirls a chunk of pancake in a puddle of honey-hued syrup with her fork. (She took over my original plate when I got the scramble. The eggs and toast were incredible, by the way. Almost worth being here.) “And you aredeterminednot to use this literal gift from Heaven for the benefit of either of us?”
“I told you. I’m going to free the spirit inside. That’snon-negotiable.” I glance over at Collin, who looks back at me warmly. But he’s also shaking his head like I’m a fool.
She chuckles. It’s not kind. “I swear, I don’t know where I went wrong that’s made you so soft. You always were a weak little thing, but I did everything I could think of to toughen you up!”
I really was truly determined not to let her get to me this time. But then she says stuff like that! I feel the Obligation take a step back as my blood pressure rises up another notch. “Right. You never said you loved me. Not once. You used your powers on me, all the time. You made me your personal slave, cooking and cleaning up after you, seven days a week.”
The doe eyes return, made all the more infuriating since it’s on the face of a seventeen-year-old. “All things I would argue taught you important life skills, as any good parent should.”
