“Hah, that’s true.”
“I lived for myself,” Lucas goes on, casting his gaze to the table. “It wasn’t until I met you I realized how much more I could live when life wasn’t just about me.”
“I’m a good influence,” I say with a smile.
“Very much so.”
We talk as I finish breakfast, and then Lucas goes into the office to handle his business affairs. I go outside with my familiars and Scarlet, enjoying what could be one of the last warm and sunny days before the weather turns.
I’m behind on so much right now, from house work to mowing the lawn. It’s overgrown, but Scarlet seems to be enjoying leaping through the tall grass. And in the grand scheme of things, my grass being too tall doesn’t fucking matter. At all. I move to the bench on the back porch and stretch out my legs, mentally debating if I should change into my bikini and attempt to tan one last time or not.
I stay outside for a while and then go in, begrudgingly doing the housework that’s been put off for far too long. Once that’s done, I retreat to the couch, watching TV while Lucas works. I end up drifting off, waking two hours later because I’m hungry.
Lucas is still in the office, talking to someone in what I think is Italian, when I start heating up a pizza pocket for dinner. I eat it in the living room, watching TV. The sun is starting to set, and Kristy calls not long after that, saying she’ll be over soon.
Lucas comes out of the office and sits next to me on the couch.
“Business is good?” I ask.
“Yes, though that anti-assimilation group is giving other businesses hell across the city.”
“Do they really think they can scare people into following them?”
“Yes,” Lucas answers seriously. “It’s not easy being in business when you are a vampire. It’s much harder to get the licenses needed to operate anything when you’re undead. To have that threatened…I can see how it will get others to follow.”
“That sucks,” I sigh. “But I still don’t get it. Don’t a lot of those businesses depend on humans to stay in said business?”
“They do.” Lucas takes my hand in his. “I think it’s not so much as refusing to serve humans as it is making vampires publicly acknowledge that they are better than humans.” He turns to me. “Not that they agree with it, but that’s the message I feel this group wants to put out. They don’t want us to follow the VC’s laws, which were drawn in agreement with the current human government.”
“Why can’t we all just get along?” I roll my eyes. “It’s not too much to ask or anything, right?”
“Throughout history, differences have been singled out and chastised. I doubt even I will live to see a time when the vast majority of people, dead or alive, see eye to eye on this earth.”
“Unless we have an alien invasion.”
Lucas shakes his head. “They’d take one look at the mess Earth is and move on.”
I laugh. “You’re probably right.”
“Probably? Why do you think it hasn’t happened yet?”
Laughing again, I rest my head against him and hand Lucas the remote, letting him pick something to watch while we wait for Kristy to come over.
About an hour later, Lucas hears her pull into the driveway. Night has fallen by now, and we both go onto the porch to wait for her.
“I need to mow the lawn,” I say, wrinkling my nose as I toss a ball in the yard for Scarlet. I keep the area around my house as neat and tidy as I can, but I let the field by the woods in the backyard stay wild. It’s just too much work.
“We could hire back the landscapers who mowed it for you while we were in California.”
“I guess. But what if they’re here when a demon attacks?”
“Offer them up as a distraction so you can either get away or get what you need to fight.”
“You’re not joking, are you?” I look over my shoulder at Lucas.
“I’m not. You’re more important.”
“To you,” I add and bend down to get the ball from Scarlet. I throw it again, and Kristy’s car rolls to a stop. Scarlet halts halfway to the ball to run toward Kristy’s car.
“Wait,” I tell her, and the little puppy stops dead in her tracks. “Good girl.”
“I’ve gotten good at being able to pick up languages,” Lucas starts, leaning on the porch railing. “But Enochian is vastly different.”
“It’s so weird. Oh, you should record me so I can hear myself talking! I want to know what it sounds like.”
“That’s an interesting idea, actually.”
“I have them from time to time.”
Kristy parks behind the Jeep and gets out. “Hey!” she shouts with a wave and goes to the backseat to get the book.