We all sat on the front steps two days later, waiting for Derrick’s car to arrive. The night before, one of the staff had told us that he would be showing up, and I didn’t think I’d ever get used to having to say that. Staff. It felt weird to think that I could have them doing anything for me, just by asking.
What worried me the most, though, was that Landers hadn’t spoken to any of us in the last two days. He’d barely talked to me in the last four, and he had brought me into the house because he found me fascinating. A scary thought indeed. Landers had fixed that by deciding that we would all be having a family dinner every night, starting the day after Derrick arrived. It terrified me.
My friends, sister, and I had all managed to settle in. Mostly because we refused to spend time with any of the demons. We hid up in our rooms after school. We still went to the same school, so at least we had that. Making us go somewhere new for the remainder of one semester hadn’t been in anyone’s best interest. Not that any of us had friends outside this little circle. Yesterday didn’t have friends at all, because I certainly couldn’t count my friends among that list.
A black car turned into the driveway, looking nondescript as could be. My heart shot into my throat, and I started to rise, despite the nerves in my stomach telling me that doing so would be a bad idea. Lochlynn stood up with me but didn’t approach the car. He never did much talking around my friends, but now he actively hung back. Not the worst idea, since Derrick had spent the last six months suffering at demon hands. He had just been bought from the demon bitch that kept him locked up for most of that time, too. It couldn’t have felt good.
The car pulled around to the front of the house.
Seanan started to shift her feet. “Oh god, oh god, oh god,” she whispered. “What if I forget how to talk to him? What if he’s all different and stuff, and hates us? What if this was a mistake?”
Seamus, who hadn’t forgiven me for dating Lochlynn, but had decided to start talking to me again, put his hand on Seanan’s shoulder. “It’s all right. I’m sure there will still be some of the real Derrick in there, somewhere.”
Yesterday shook her head. “This is the real Derrick. No matter what you want to think, this is the real Derrick, and he isn’t going to be like you remember. He’ll be different, because how could he not be?”
Silence fell from my friends, but I agreed with my sister. I’d seen too much from the other human victims to think that we could hope for the Derrick that went away six months before. I just wanted him to look at me with something other than hatred. I wanted him to remember that we used to be friends.
The driver got out of the car first. A vampire, I thought. He had most of his body covered, to protect him from the sun. I’d learned that they could be out in the sun for short periods of time before their skin started to burn and blister. Sunblock only helped so much with that.
The vampire walked to the backdoor and opened it up. I saw the shadow of a person in that seat and knew that it had to be Derrick. That it had to be the only person that could make everything I had done worth it. Even if it felt like hell, and even if I wanted to scream in agony whenever I thought about what I’d done.
The person in the car didn’t move, and my stomach twisted around. What if he refused to talk to us?
Lochlynn’s hand continued to rub my back, though the motions began to come slower, smoother. Like he needed to keep me calm, or I’d break apart.
Then Derrick shifted his feet out into the open, and he started to climb out of the car, looking worried. He looked up at us, and my heart nearly pounded out of my chest. How could it not, when I saw Derrick standing down there, as alive as he could be. Everything that had happened this month, everything that I had gone through, it suddenly felt worth it when I could look at him. When I saw that he had survived and came back to us.
Even if he came back worse for wear.
His hair had been trimmed almost all the way to his skull, leaving only the barest shadow hint of what used to be there. I had been right when I thought his eyes looked paler. The video hadn’t done the new color justice. They looked like the oddest mix of brown and gray. On anything but eyes, the color would have been ugly. As it was, they looked so unique that they stood out from his face like shining beacons. His skin had lost some pigmentation, too. Anyone could tell his race by looking still, but he seemed like a washed-out version of the boy that I had known.
It hurt me, just to think about that.
The vampire closed the door behind him, and then stood still.
Derrick shuffled his feet watching us.
Seanan broke rank first, running down the steps so fast that I had visions of her tripped and breaking her neck. She made it all the way down safely and threw herself at Derrick. He put his arms around her, almost hesitantly. His brow furrowed, a frown pulling at the corners of his lips.
I took Lochlynn’s hand, forcing him to join me as I walked down the steps with the others.
“I’m so happy you’re not dead!” Seanan shouted, clearly not thinking that the statement might bother Derrick.
It didn’t seem to register, though, because he released her, and said, “Me too.”
Seanan had tears in her eyes that she kept wiping away with her hands. “Sorry I’m all blubbery, but…you have no idea how much we wanted this.” She danced in place, and then threw her arms around Derrick again.
He rocked back, staring down at her. He seemed to be only half there, like the rest of him had faded away in his time with Savannah. I hoped that he would recover from that, but I couldn’t have been sure. How much damage could a human soul take before they just broke apart? I didn’t know. I really didn’t know.
Seanan stepped back again, still blubbery as all hell.
Seamus stepped forward, clasping one of Derrick’s hands, and doing the bro hug that never made since to me. “Glad to see you again,” Seamus said. “I’m sure there’s a lot that you’re confused on, but we’ll figure it out.”
“Houston told me a lot,” Derrick said.
“Who?”
He gestured to the vampire standing behind him and shrugged. “Houston. He’s the one that picked me up from Arizona. He’s my guard.”
“Why do you need a bodyguard?” Seamus asked.
“He’s not protecting me,” Derrick responded. “He’s protecting everyone else.”
That left a wonderfully awkward moment that I broke my stepped forward. My eyes lifted to Derrick’s, taking in the ragged expression, the way he couldn’t seem to stand still, that curly hair that I had somehow missed. How one missed hair, I didn’t know, but I had. I missed his freaking hair. Even with it shorn off, I could still picture it the way that it used to be.
My mind shifted back into Landers’ office. I could picture myself standing in the middle of that room, staring at Derrick’s face on the phone as he told me to just leave him alone. I could picture it very clearly, actually.
He stared back at me, a frown on his face. “You should have left me,” Derrick said. “I knew what I was doing when I signed that contract.”
“I’ve seen those human cages,” I whispered back to him. “It’s hard to believe that anyone knows what they’re doing unless they see where they end up. And I don’t know Savannah, but I’m willing to bet that she was just as awful to you as she sounded. I couldn’t leave you there.”
“What did you to do get me out?” he threw back, the words squeezed through his throat.
My jaw tightened. “It doesn’t matter.”
“I think it does.”
“Please, even if you’re not grateful, even if you’d rather be dead right now, can you please just pretend. For tonight? They need it.” I looked over my shoulder, at our friends, standing with my sister. Yesterday scrutinized Derrick, her eyes crude. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and her head cocked slightly to the side. She saw more than I wanted her to see. Then again, my sister had a habit of doing that.
Derrick shook his head, looking away from me. “You should have left me. It’s going to spread now. This disease that is demons. They take everything that you are, and they twist it around until you aren’t sure anymore. Those morals that you cared about? Gone. Those hopes that you held onto? Meaningless. Everything is screwed up now.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I couldn’t leave you to die.”
“You should have,” Derrick said, tears starting to brim in his eyes. “I didn’t want this for you. For any of you, because you can’t know. There’s no way to know what they’re going to do, how they’re going to break you down and take you apart bit by bit. You can’t know…”
His chest pumped up and down. Derrick turned to look at me, his eyes haunted. He stepped forward, and despite all the hope I’d had in my heart, fear washed over me. It would’ve been easy for him to attack right then. No one else would’ve expected it, and I’d have been too surprised to stop him.
Derrick didn’t attack me, though. He hugged me instead, tightening his hold until I felt my ribs protesting. His body shook hard enough that I trembled with him. I hugged him back, my eyes squeezed close. “You should have left me. Everything will fall apart now. You should have left me.”
“I couldn’t,” I said.
“Thank you,” Derrick whispered, so low that I barely heard it. “Thank you so much.”
We didn’t need to say anything after that. Derrick continued to hold on for nearly a minute, and I didn’t let go either. I sensed that he needed his more than he wanted to let on. I could feel my friend trying to break apart, and I refused to let that happen, even if I had to hold him together with my bare hands.
When he released me, I rocked back on my feet. He had cleared his face of the tears, but now Derrick looked exhausted. I wanted to squeeze his hand and tell him that everything would be all right. I didn’t think that would help. Not after the crazy shit that I had seen. He could think that I didn’t know what I’d done by saving him, but Derrick would be wrong in doing so. I knew exactly what I had done.
I’d damned us all to a life with Landers, and we’d have to figure out how to escape him eventually. He would play his games, his insanely pleasant games, until the end of time. If I was careful, I could keep his attention on me and Lochlynn. Even if that thought terrified me, I had to keep everyone safe.
Rubbing his face, Derrick looked around at us. “I know that I can’t see them, but how’s my family?”
We all looked at each other. Someone would have to tell him that they left. I just didn’t know who.
Since I already had to introduce him to Lochlynn, I didn’t want to be that person. He would have enough trouble coming to terms with who I chose to date.
Yesterday took a deep breath and stepped forward.
***
“I feel like my lungs are going to forcibly eject themselves from my body,” I said, standing in the middle of the bedroom. I didn’t quite feel comfortable calling it mine, since Lochlynn technically owned it. All of his stuff occupied the space still. All of my things had been left in boxes in the living room. He kept telling me to bring them in and make myself at home. I just didn’t know if I could. It felt weird, to be sharing a room with a boy that I barely knew.
Lochlynn came out of the bathroom, rubbing his hair. “It’ll be okay. Llewellyn was told to be on his best behavior, and I think my mother gave Danielle a sedative. They will be on their best behavior, I promise.”
I looked at Lochlynn, still unsure of myself. “He could change his mind at any moment and make our lives a living hell.”
“Yes.”
“Then how is anything okay?” I shouted, throwing my hands into the air. I paced away, to plop down on the couch.
Lochlynn came over to me and put his arm around my shoulders. His chin rested on the top of my head, and I closed my eyes. I had to open my mouth get more air into my body. No matter how much I sucked down, it never felt like enough. Soon the room would start spinning.
“It’ll be fine,” Lochlynn said. “Because I say so.”
I looked up at him. “Why, though?”
“Because Dad can’t play his games if he starts off going full blast. He’ll need to pace himself, to make you and me really nervous, and lure everyone else into thinking he’s not so bad.”
“You’re saying it’ll be fine, because later it will be terrible?” I asked.
“Basically.”
“Is it messed up that that actually calms me down?” I asked, slumped against him.
Lochlynn rubbed a hand down my back. “It’s only messed up when you’ve been doing it for fourteen years,” he responded.
I couldn’t argue with that.
His phone dinged, indicating that we had to head down to dinner now. Which meant that I had to collect all my friends. I stood up and looked down at the clothing that I had chosen. Landers hadn’t been joking when he said he wanted this to be a formal dinner. We all had to get dolled up and everything.
I’d picked out a black top and a green skirt, because I knew that Danette would like that. Lochlynn had on dress pants and a dress shirt. So much easier for a guy to get ready than a girl. I almost envied him.
Once we left, I collected all the others. Yesterday had chosen to wear a plain black dress that did nothing to make her look more feminine. I figured that she wanted to wage her own kind of war and didn’t complain. Hard to, when I saw what Linda and Seanan had chosen.
My guardian had on a dress that showed off every asset that she had to the fullest extent. She had curled her hair, put her makeup on as precisely as she could, and gave everything bedroom eyes. I wanted to vomit when she smiled at Lochlynn like he was something special.
Seanan wore a pink dress.
All the boys looked plain next to them.
We went downstairs together, with Linda ushering us on. “Come on, come on,” she said. “We don’t want to be late for the first meal that we’re going to have as a family, now do we?”
“I’d rather slit my own throat, so I wouldn’t mind,” Yesterday said.
“Day!” Linda admonished.
My sister rolled her eyes.
The table had been set for all of us, and the demons had already arrived. Danette and Llewellyn had their seats next to Landers, while Danielle took the one beside her mother, just like when I had been forced to dine with them. Danielle looked a little dazed, so I wondered if Lochlynn’s comment hadn’t been a joke earlier. He took the seat next to his brother, and I lowered myself into the one beside him.
Everyone else took their seats, and Landers grinned. “I’m glad that we finally get to put this table to use, darling.”
Danette smiled. “If you wanted more children, you didn’t have to go buy them. You could have just asked me.”
Landers waved his hand. “I saw no reason to make more, when we’ve already perfected the result.”
What a wonderful way to talk about your children.
Danette smiled as the waiters brought in glasses.
“Now, it’s my understanding that you humans have an issue with letting teenagers drink. Do you all feel that way?” Landers asked, looking around at all the teenagers that he had collected.
Everyone nodded, Seamus doing so stiffly. He had his jaw cranked tight, clearly trying to keep whatever thoughts he had to himself. I prayed that he kept doing that, because he really had no idea what Landers could do. I’d told them all about the things that happened to me, but that only did so much. That could only warn them so much about the man’s character.
“That’s what I thought,” Landers said, sighing. “Luckily for all of you, I came prepared.” He waved at the waiters behind us. They all set down glasses. The demons all had demon water, the smell of it filling the air. I noted that Linda also got a glass, and that she thanked Landers profusely for giving it to her.
Us kids all got water, and I couldn’t be happier about that.
The first course came, and it felt weird to be sitting at that table again. I hated being served. It felt awkward, and I didn’t know if I should’ve thanked the waiters or not. They barely gave me time to look at my food before walking away, so I’d have to shout it for them to hear. I didn’t want to think what Landers would feel about that.
The first course appeared to be some kind of fritter or croquet, if someone wanted to get unnecessarily fancy with their food.
“No fish this time. I promise,” Landers said.
Yesterday glanced at me. She cut into her fritter first and examined the inside of it. Then she took a bite. I knew that she did that, so that if fish had been mixed in, she would suffer first and save me. I wanted to hit her upside the head.
We all started to eat, no one really talking while we chowed down.
After the first course had been taken away, Landers sipped from his glass of demon water. His eyes traveled around the table, the smallest smile on his face. I thought about Lochlynn had said, that his father would be on his best behavior to lure us into a false sense of comfort.
“How are you all settling in?” Dad asked.
Llewellyn snorted. “I’m sure they’re doing just fine. This is more money than they probably could’ve imagined.”
“Hush,” Danette hissed. “We talked about this before dinner. If you don’t have anything nice to say, then keep your mouth closed or I will stitch it closed.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean any offense,” Linda said, batting her bedroom eyes at Llewellyn. I’d have to talk to her about leaving him the hell alone. It would only get her in trouble if she didn’t.
Llewellyn smirked at his mother. “See? They know I meant nothing.”
Danette raised on delicate eyebrow. “I’m sure.”
Landers shook his head. “Children can be so hard to control. I’m impressed that you managed to keep Tomorrow and Yesterday in line for as long as you did.”
Linda blushed like he had given her the best compliment. “They are spirited girls, who will do something great with their life one day.”
“I’m sure,” Danette said, dismissively.
Lander shook his head. “Where are my manners? I forgot that I asked you all a question before my son interrupted me. How are you settling in?”
I reached under the table, taking Lochlynn’s hand. I squeezed until it had to have hurt, but he didn’t complain. His fingers laced with mine, holding on as carefully and tightly as he could.
Linda jumped to answer for all of us. “Oh, your house is lovely. I went for a walk around the gardens earlier, and I’m impressed that you’ve managed to keep them flourishing, even in winter. And whoever decorated this house, they did a fabulous job. I’m sure that you’re quite proud of it.”
Landers smiled. “Yes, my home is decent. More importantly, how is everyone else settling in?” He turned his eyes to my mostly silent friends. They landed on Seamus, and some cruel light entered his eyes. “Is everything to your satisfaction, Seamus? Need anything?”
My friend looked up from his glass, his jaw still cranked tight. I pictured him mouthing off and getting blasted across the room. He didn’t know what he would be doing in pissing Landers off. He didn’t know the pain that could come with it.
Seamus forced a smile onto his face. “Everything is fine. The rooms you’ve provided are nice.”
“Good, good,” Landers boomed, that smile still radiating from his face. “And what about you, Seanan?”
Her eyes widened as she turned to stare at him. “I don’t need anything,” she said so fast that her words barely made sense.
“I’m glad, but are you satisfied with your living quarters?”
“Absolutely!”
I winced.
Landers’ grin just got wider as he turned to my sister. “And you, Yesterday?”
My sister didn’t have a problem meeting his eyes, hers looking almost bored. “There aren’t enough bookshelves in my room. I need more.”
Cocking his head, Landers examined her. “That’s good to know. I’ll make sure to have someone bring you what you need. I wouldn’t want a single one of you to go without. Which just leave you, Derrick. Do you need anything in your rooms, anything at all? Are you…comfortable?”
Derrick lifted his head, staring at the demon across the table. My friend only looked half there, but he met Landers’ eyes without flinching. “I’m very comfortable,” he said, voice dead.
“Are you settling in nicely?”
“Yes.”
“Because if not, I could always make arrangements to move you somewhere…more comfortable.”
“I’m happy with the space you have given me,” Derrick said.
Landers nodded. “Good, good. I’m happy that my son is making sure you all have what you need.” He turned those bright eyes to Lochlynn, who didn’t respond to his father. He just squeezed my hand back, until I could almost feel my bones shifting under his grip. I didn’t care, though. I’d done the same thing to him.
“Now that we have that business settled, we can have our next course!” Landers grinned at the doors.
Waiters started to bring in the trays of food. They set those plates down in front of us one by one. I looked down to see a steak with potatoes next to it. The exact same meal that Landers had eaten when he’d been visiting me in that cell. I looked from my plate, up at the man sitting down the table from me.
He smiled when our gazes met. “Something wrong, Tomorrow?”
I forced a smile onto my face. “Not at all. I love steak.”
“I do too,” he said.
I picked up my fork and knife and hoped this night would end.