Relentless (Vampire Awakenings #11) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,50
they don’t still love those people, but they’re scared of losing them too,” Cassidy said.
“Yeah,” Paris muttered. “I get that, but I’m still mad at her for it. Then she started in with all the vampire crap.”
“Missy told me she got involved with people who believe vampires are real,” Dante said.
“Not only that,” Paris said as she leaned closer. “But some of them made themselves look like vampires. They wore red contacts, sharpened their teeth, dressed in black, and put on makeup to make themselves paler. Thankfully, Julie didn’t get that crazy with it, but those people are nuts. I mean, who really believes in vampires?”
“It is a little crazy,” Cassidy agreed and somehow managed to keep a straight face. Why did people think vampires would walk around looking like Dracula? If that were the case, they wouldn’t exactly be incognito, and people would have known about their existence thousands of years ago.
“Right? But when I tried to tell Julie that she got pissed at me. She was convinced they were real, and I was an idiot for not believing in them.”
“Julie was hanging out at bars with these people?” Dante asked.
Paris started to speak again but stopped when the waiter returned with her coffee. Dante was amazed to discover it was a drink.
“Thank you,” Paris said as she took a sip. She waited for the waiter to leave before speaking again. “Yeah. She got a fake ID and thought it was the greatest thing ever that she could get into those weird clubs. She also went to a lot of house parties.
“All I pictured was a crack house every time she talked about them, but she said they were nice. After a while, I started to get the impression these “houses”—” she held up her fingers to make air quotes around the word houses— “were people’s homes and not some abandoned building. And then I started to realize that while their mommy and daddy were out, these big bad vamp wannabes were throwing parties on their parents’ dime.”
Paris’s tone dripped venom with each of her words. “Does that sound like what a bunch of bloodthirsty vamps do with their weekends? No, it does not.”
Cassidy studied the girl with a raised eyebrow. She’d gone from crying over her friend to being so mad her eyes glittered with fury.
“Of course, I couldn’t tell Julie that either; it made me an idiot. I mean, I understand she lost her dad, and she’s looking for something permanent to grab onto, and these freaks gave it to her, but we were friends for eleven years, and not just friends; she was my best friend. She knew everything about me, and I knew everything about her. And then she tossed me aside for those lunatics.”
Tears glistened in Paris’s eyes again as she focused on her cup and sniffled. Dante was beginning to understand her reluctance to talk to him; someone she loved had tossed her aside, and this conversation was picking at her scab.
“Did you ever go to any of these parties with her?” Dante asked.
“One,” Paris muttered. “She got mad at me because I made fun of everyone there. At the time, I thought it was still a joke, even to her, but that night I realized she was buying into it. I was a little afraid of her afterward. I mean, it’s kind of impossible not to be afraid of someone who’s living in fantasy land, am I right?”
“I imagine it was a little frightening,” Cassidy agreed, and Paris gave her a grateful smile.
“Do you know someone named Preston?” Dante asked.
Paris’s lips flattened into a thin line. He hit a nerve with that question.
“He’s not going to know I’m talking to you, is he?” she asked and glanced nervously around the coffee shop.
“Absolutely not,” Dante said. “Why does he bother you so much?”
“The guy is a freak. I mean a full-on, freak. If it weren’t for him, Julie wouldn’t have gotten mixed up in all this. But she thinks he’s the greatest thing ever.”
“Are they dating?” Dante asked.
“Oh, God, I hope not!” Paris blurted. “But with as weird as Julie is now, maybe she is banging her brother.” Paris clasped her hands over her mouth and looked guiltily between the two of them before lowering her hands. “I shouldn’t have said that. It was mean and weird or not, Julie would never do such a thing.”
Dante wasn’t concerned about Paris’s words so much as what she revealed. “Preston is Julie’s brother?”