Wisdom: Updated Edition, page 9
“What?” She stopped and glared back over her shoulder at me.
I didn’t want to leave Violet on the streets, but I couldn’t take her home because I didn’t trust her that much. Fortunately, I knew of someone that would know exactly what to do with wayward teenage vampires.
“Come on. I know a place you can stay,” I said.
“Really?” Violet asked.
“Yeah, really?” Bobby raised a nervous eyebrow, probably afraid I would suggest our house.
“Yeah.” I motioned towards the entrance to V.
Violet scoffed. “It’s closed. They close at 7 am and kick everyone out. Trust me. I’ve tried staying in there.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t know the owner like I do.”
I walked over to the door, and even though they were dubious, both Violet and Bobby followed me. I pulled the keys out of my pocket. I often came over before Olivia got up, and she got sick of me calling and making her come down to let me in.
The door opened with a heavy push, and I held it so Violet and Bobby could walk past. The dim red light that normally lit the hallway was off. We had to go down a steep staircase in total darkness, and I knew Bobby would break his neck, so I gave him a piggyback.
When we got down to the tunnel in the basement, I set him down and grabbed his hand to lead him through. To go to the club, we’d turn off to our right, but I didn’t want to go to the club, so I kept walking. Violet got confused and asked if I knew where I was going, but I’d done this a hundred times before.
Eventually, after weaving through the basement labyrinth, we reached the elevator in the center. The elevator was lit by fluorescent bulbs, making both Violet and I squint, but Bobby was relieved to be able to see again.
“So, are your eyes really purple?” Bobby asked as we rode up to Olivia’s suite. “Or is that a vampire thing?”
Violet sighed. “No, it’s a me thing. One in ten million people have violet eyes or something. My name was going to be Mischa, but when my mom saw my eyes, she went with Violet.”
“Elizabeth Taylor had violet eyes, I heard,” Bobby said.
She nodded. “Yeah. I know.”
The elevator ride to the top of the building was rather long, and the awkward silence settled over us. Bobby started humming along with “The Girl From Ipanema” music that played through the speakers, and Violet stared up at the ceiling.
When the doors opened, I stepped out into Olivia’s luxurious penthouse. Bobby had been up here with me a few times before, but this was obviously all new to Violet. She whistled loudly and stepped over to the window to admire the view.
“This is a really nice place,” Violet commented, sounding awed.
“It’s nicer when it’s clean,” I said.
Olivia had a maid come up and clean twice a week, and today was clearly not her day. Pillows were all over, and one of them had been torn open, so white puffballs of stuffing littered the furniture. A few wine bottles were tossed about, meaning the party had been mostly the human persuasion, but that was the way Olivia liked it.
Two of her party guests were still passed out, sprawled out on her overstuffed furniture. One of them was a very pretty girl wearing only a black bra and leggings with blood dried on her neck. The other was a vampire with very high cheek bones.
“Olivia!” I said loudly, kicking an empty wine bottle.
The vampire lifted his head a bit, squinting in the light. All the windows were tinted to keep out UV rays, but they didn’t have any shades, and the sun hit the building straight on. I don’t know why the vampire hadn’t gone back to one of the rooms to sleep, but I didn’t really care either.
“Olivia owns the club?” Violet asked, sounding shocked.
She knew Olivia, as did most regulars at V, but Olivia kept her status under wraps. As a hunter, she’d gotten used to staying under the radar, and she preferred it when nobody knew what power she still held.
“Yep.” I walked over to Olivia’s bedroom door and knocked on it. “Olivia, wake up.”
“Olivia doesn’t like me very much,” Violet whispered.
“She just seems like she doesn’t like anybody, but she’s really a big softie,” Bobby said and sat down on the couch. He picked up a bottle of wine by his feet and swooshed it around. It still had some in, so he took a swig.
“Bobby, it’s nine in the morning,” I admonished him.
He scoffed. “Olivia always has really great wine, and I had one drink. It’s not like I’m blitzed.”
“Who the hell are you people and why are you here?” the vampire with the cheek bones asked.
“We’re not here. It’s just a dream. Go back to sleep,” Bobby said.
“Olivia?” I knocked on her door again, and when she didn’t get up, I pushed it open.
“What?” Olivia grumbled, her face buried in a pillow.
She laid in a massive bed, curled up in silk sheets. A beautiful, topless girl was asleep beside her. I’d seen her a few times before, so she was quasi-dating Olivia, but I never learned her name. I didn’t want to. It made it easier to let Olivia feed on people if I didn’t actually think of them.
“I need you to come out here for a minute,” I said, and I waited in the doorway, because if I left, she’d just fall back to sleep.
As Olivia got up, she mumbled something under her breath and pulled on a satin housecoat. Her long hair shimmered down her back, completely smooth and silken, even though she’d just woken up.
“It’s too bright out there.” Olivia paused in the doorway and refused to step out further. “What do you need from me? I just went to bed.”
“I brought you a present.” I stepped back and gestured to Violet.
“Hi.” Violet forced a smile and wiggled her fingers meekly.
“Didn’t that girl try to kill you?” Olivia asked me.
I shrugged. “I say let bygones be bygones. But she doesn’t have a place to stay. Can she stay with you for awhile so she’s not out sleeping in alleys?”
“Fine, fine.” Olivia yawned and waved her hand at me. “The second bedroom is open.” She pointed at the room next to hers. “She can stay there. Just be quiet when I’m sleeping.”
“Thank you,” Violet said, but Olivia didn’t acknowledge her.
“Thanks,” I echoed, and Olivia nodded.
“Next time wait until later in the day.” She started shutting the door, then stopped. “Are you coming over tonight to train?”
“Sure.”
“See you tonight then.” Olivia yawned again and shut the door.
“There you go,” I told Violet and stepped away from the room. Olivia’s sleepiness was contagious, and I yawned myself.
“Thanks.” Violet looked unsure about everything, but she’d be fine here, and I’d done my part. Now the lack of sleep and stress of the day started to hit me.
“No problem,” I said and walked over to the elevator.
Violet just stood off to the side, almost as if she was afraid to move. When the elevator doors opened, I held them for Bobby.
“Why are you helping me?” Violet asked as Bobby hurried over.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly, and the doors slid shut.
“I thought of something,” Bobby said as we rode the elevator down. “After we met Violet, but I didn’t say something when she was around.”
“What’s that?” I asked and leaned back against the wall.
“You know how Jane’s crime scene had more blood than the others?” Bobby asked. “Maybe it’s not because the killer was more aggressive with her. Maybe the first two were bloodless because the victims were already drained of their blood when they died.”
“You mean by a vampire?” I asked, looking over at him.
He nodded. “Exactly.”
“But then why wouldn’t Jane be drained too?” I asked. “If it’s a vampire, why not drink her blood? And then why kill her at all?”
“Maybe they meant to kill her and drain her, but they couldn’t for some reason.”
“Why wouldn’t they be able to? It’s not like we get full easy or something.”
“After you bit me, Milo wouldn’t bite me,” Bobby remembered. “My blood was tainted, and it made him sick when he could even smell you on me. So maybe if someone else bit Jane, they wouldn’t bite her. Maybe that’s even why they killed her. Because she smelled like someone else.”
I shook my head. “She just got out of rehab, though. I talked to her. She’d been doing good. I don’t think she got out and just went straight back into it.”
“People caught up in addiction have done stranger things,” Bobby said gently, as we reached the ground floor. “And you don’t know who the last vampire was that bit her.”
“Actually,” I said as the doors slid open, “if she stayed clean, I was the last to bite her.”
Chapter Nine
Milo had taken to napping when he got home from school, since he had to be up all day, and he was getting home later and later. Last night was the debate team practice, and tonight it was something about tutoring a girl in calculus. He’d also started talking a lot in French, but since I’d barely passed the class the two years I’d taken it, he only ended up confusing me.
Jack was still gone with work, and the Gossip Girl marathon on the CW seemed like a good way to spend the evening. I sprawled out on the couch, still in my pajamas, but I’d only been awake for an hour or two, so it wasn’t that bad.
Ezra walked into the room, carrying two thick books in his hands. He looked better than he had lately, meaning his hair had been brushed and his shirt looked pressed. He’d never gone through a sweat-pants-and-no-shaving-or-bathing phase, thank god, but his grooming had gone down, and he’d appeared tired and forlorn for the better part of the last few months. But he had apparently turned a corner.
When he came over to the sofa, he glanced back at the TV and raised an eyebrow.
“What is this?” Ezra asked.
“That’s Chuck Bass.” I pointed at the screen.
“He’s wearing a bowtie. Is that a modern trend again?”
I shrugged. “Hell if I know. He’s Chuck Bass. He does what he wants.”
“Well, that’s enough of that.” Ezra grabbed the remote from off the couch next to me and clicked off the TV.
“What’d you do that for?” I asked, with feigned anger. “I was just about to find out if his womanizing ways would catch up with him.”
“Let’s just assume they will. You have reading to do.” With that, Ezra dropped the books on my stomach, and I made an oof sound.
I lifted up the books and rubbed my stomach, even though the pain had already disappeared. “What’d you do that for?”
“Because you were right. I need to stop moping about, and so do you.”
“I’m not moping about.” I sat up and read the covers of the books. “A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present and Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. I’m assuming this isn’t about the TV show, since its several thousand pages long.”
“No, it’s not,” Ezra said, and I looked up at him. “You do absolutely nothing.”
“I don’t do ‘nothing,” I protested. “I mean, I don’t do much, but it’s not cause I’m not trying. I’ve been cleaning the house, and I even feed Bobby sometimes.”
“You do realize Bobby isn’t a pet, don’t you?” He crossed his arms over his chest, as if he really wasn’t convinced that I knew the difference.
“Yes, I do.” I rolled my eyes. “But the point is that I am doing things. I’ve been training with Olivia, and I have to go over to her place later tonight.”
“Training with Olivia is good, but it’s not enough,” he said. “Having a mastery of your body and strength means nothing if you’re incompetent. You need a good education behind it, and since you dropped out of high school, I’ll have to see to it that you get one.”
“Look, I’m not against learning things. I just…” I stared down at the textbooks, running my hands over the glossy covers. “I don’t know that I understand the point of anything. I already have everything. What more is there?”
“Yes, life is terribly rough for you,” Ezra said dryly.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that.” I sighed. “I thought all I wanted was to be with Jack, and then my life would be complete. We could live happily ever after. And I do love Jack, and I want to be with him. But I’m realizing exactly how long happily ever after goes on for when you have eternity, and… I don’t know what to do.”
“You need a purpose,” Ezra said knowingly.
“Yeah, I do,” I agreed. “How do you do it? When you have forever, how do you… fill it? Endless games of solitaire?”
“Your concept of time will change.” He sat down on the sofa next to me. “Eventually, it moves faster, and it tends to blur together, so years feel like weeks.”
“And that’s how you make it through?”
“Sometimes.” His mahogany eyes went far away for a moment, but he took a deep breath and it vanished. “But you have to learn to enjoy the moments you’re in, to treasure the things around you. It’s the fleetingness of life that gives it its value, and even though we’re here forever, nothing else is.”
“So you’re saying that I should relish the things that will die?” I asked. “That death equates happiness?”
“Not exactly.” He leaned back and exhaled. “The problem with giving someone the choice to become a vampire is that it isn’t really a choice. You don’t really understand what you’re agreeing to. You can’t possibly fathom what eternity feels like.”
“I’m not seeing much in the way of advice in that sentiment.”
“Loving another person, even several people, will make your life fuller.” Ezra looked at me, resting his deep eyes on mine. “But it will not make it complete. You have to do that. You must decide what you live for.”
“So… you brought me textbooks?” I held them up, and he gave an amused chuckle.
“No, I gave you textbooks because I want you to have all the tools you need to do whatever it is you decide to do, and knowledge truly is the most powerful tool.”
“What are you doing?” Milo asked as he walked into the living room.
I laughed. “Oh my god, you’re like the Pavlov’s dog of nerds. I say the word textbooks, and you come running.”
“Are you going to school?” Milo’s eyes widened with excitement.
“Well, Ezra’s tutoring me, I guess, if that counts,” I said.
“Oh that’s fantastic!” Milo clapped his hands together and rushed over to the couch. “Let me see!” He snatched the books from my hands, not that I really put up a fight.
“Read the first three chapters in both books,” Ezra told me as Milo flipped through the pages. “We’ll talk about them tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” I asked. “I have to train with Olivia tonight. I won’t have time.”
“Make time.” Ezra used that tone he did when he meant business. It wasn’t loud or gruff, but it was firm enough where I knew not to argue with it.
“Oh come on, Alice, it’ll be fun!” Milo said with far too much glee. “This’ll be so good for you. And you don’t even have to get up early. It’s way better than what I’m doing.”
“Good luck.” Ezra stood up and smiled down at me.
“Hey, wait. Why did you pick these books?” I asked. “I mean, the history I kinda understand. But why an anatomy text?”
“You mentioned you wanted to be a doctor once.” Ezra shrugged. “I thought it might pique your interest.”
He left me alone with Milo, who immediately launched into the history book. Shock of all shocks, he happened to be a history buff. He especially liked the really old stuff, like about Mesopotamia and early civilization, but all history fascinated him.
“If we don’t learn from our mistakes, we’ll be doomed to repeat them,” Milo said when he noticed my interest waning. “You need to know what other people did so you don’t do it.”
“That’s really good advice, but it’s not like I plan on ever leading a revolution or anything,” I said.
“You might,” Milo said. “We’re gonna be around for a long time. Who knows what you’ll end up doing.”
I studied with Milo for two more hours, but thankfully, Bobby came home and rescued me. He’d been working on some dramatic arts piece, and it ended up running late.
At first, I was relieved to see Bobby. I tried to engage him in real conversation, since Milo’s incessant talk of history turned my mind to mush. But almost immediately after Bobby got home, they started making out.
It was just as well, since I had to get ready to go over to Olivia’s. I showered and dressed, and when I left, Milo and Bobby were still in the living room, whispering sweet nothings to each other.
As I sped downtown in the Audi, I thought about how weird it was that I’d been so nervous about driving. Speeding through the lanes of traffic on the highway with Metric blasting out the car stereo had to be in my top ten favorite activities.
My joy ride stopped when I caught sight of a billboard. It showed a gorgeous guy in black and white, his shirt open to reveal the perfect muscles of his abs. He looked bored in that off-handedly sexy way all models seemed to. The ad mostly featured his torso, with only the waistband of his pants showing above the bottom of the billboard, so naturally, it was advertising jeans.
That’s not what made me sneer or stop singing along with the radio. The guy in the ad was Jonathan, Jane’s “ex-boyfriend,” for lack of a better term. The last time I’d seen him, he’d been gnawing out her throat.
I pressed on the pedal harder so I could speed past it. I didn’t want to think about Jane anymore. At least not tonight. I needed some time off from the constant guilt.
When I arrived at V, I took the tunnel behind it so I wouldn’t have to deal with the crowd, but I peeked out onto the dance floor. Even though it was after midnight, the club looked to be down about a third of its normal capacity. That was still a lot of people, but Violet hadn’t been kidding. The serial killer scare really had people staying in and locking their doors at night.
That didn’t stop Olivia from finding guests. Even though she’d said she’d been cutting down on her blood intake, and for a while, she really seemed to be, the party was in full swing in the penthouse when I got off the elevator.
