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“He’s out,” Wolf says. “But he’ll be back for the dinner.”
“The dinner?”
“The dinner!” Yvonne exclaims, clapping her hands together. “We’re all having dinner together tonight.” She notes the concerned expression on my face. “And by dinner, I mean actual food. I’ve got some rare steaks and everything you could want with them.”
At the mention of steak my stomach growls. The two weeks I spent in Shelter Cove I barely ate anything. But I did feast on Solon every other day, so that’s been more than enough to keep me going.
“Odin!” Wolf suddenly cries out, dropping to his knees as Odin comes barrelling inside the house after us. Odin goes straight to Wolf, jumping up on him, licking him all over. Of course, with Odin giving Solon his stamp of approval about me, we brought him back into the city. It was the right thing to do, with Odin acting like he owns the place more than Solon does, and the groundskeeper Angelo looked relieved to not have to dog-sit anymore.
“Come on,” Solon says, grabbing my hand. “Let’s get you settled.”
We go up the stairs and I glance down over my shoulder at Yvonne, Amethyst and Wolf, the three of them now doting over the dog, feeling a rush of protectiveness over them all.
Several flights later, Solon brings me up to my level, but we don’t stop there, going straight up the stairs to his bedroom.
“What are you doing?” I ask him as he lets go of my hand and opens the door. He then quickly scoops me up in his arms and carries me in through the door, all the way over to the bed before he places me back on the floor.
“What was that?” I ask, though I have to say it did tick off a few romantic bucket list items.
“I thought we should do this properly,” he says to me, grabbing my hands. “It means something to carry someone in over the threshold. You know how the myths speak of inviting vampires into your house? Well, those myths are more or less true. But for us, if I carry you in through the door…you’re living here now.”
“I already live in the house,” I tell him. “You mean…in your room?”
“That’s exactly what I mean, Lenore,” he says with tried patience, but he still kisses the back of my hand.
“Do I get a say in this?” I tease.
“No.”
I’m smiling. Honestly, this feels right. My bedroom on the lower floors was nice and all, but it made no sense after a while, when I was spending every night in his bed anyway.
“Fine,” I tell him, placing my hand at his chest. “I’ll move in with you. But I do think I should choose what side of the bed I get.”
His jaw almost drops, nose flaring. “I have spent eight hundred years on the left side of the bed, and I am not switching now.”
I laugh. “Okay, fine. You win. But you will have to owe me something for this sacrifice.”
He rolls his eyes to the ceiling.
It was just a quick action, but my eyes are drawn up there.
To the ladder that leads to the trap door in the ceiling.
“And what you owe me is taking me up there for once,” I say, pointing up.
He looks at me for a moment, thinking, then shrugs. “Alright.”
He turns and then heads to the ladder, his long, large body climbing up with ease.
I follow, placing hands and feet on the rungs and going up until he’s reaching through and pulling me up by my arms.
I’m finally up here.
I look around. “Wow.”
The tower is nothing like I expected. It’s a smaller space than I thought, just a small square room, the wallpaper dark blue and peppered with stars. There’s a couple of black beanbag chairs in the corner, an overflowing stack of vinyl records and a record player.
“What is this place?” I ask.
“This is where I come to think,” he says, settling down on one of the beanbag chairs. The sight of his big, well-dressed frame in it tickles me. He pats the space next to him. “Come here.”
I go over to him and sit down. The bean bag chair moves under me, tipping me on my back, and I’m laughing, helpless, looking up at him and the top of the tower behind his head. The boards in the tower have been removed, so all you see are the rafters going up and up and up. Except on the left side, there looks to be a mummified animal staring at us from over the edge.
I squint my eyes. “Uh, is that a bat?” I ask. I look back at Solon and he’s grinning at me. “Well, is it?”
“I didn’t put it there,” he protests. “Let’s just say the people who used to live here with us were into a lot of acid.”
