her mother, but because he liked how it fit in his. “No. You’re not that bitter. That takes time, and long, dark nights spent raging against life instead of living it. You have plenty of hope left in you, Quinn. I promise.”
She sagged against him. “My mother drives me crazy, but I hate hearing she was in such a dark place. If there’s one thing I want, almost more than I want a family and all the stupid things people razz me for wanting, I want her to find some measure of happiness.”
“She can find her way out of that dark place if she tries.” And she could. If she’d just open up to Quinn.
“I like your mother’s dark place. Nay. I fucking love it. It’s balls-to-the-wall stunning shit,” Nina interjected, her hand at Quinn’s back.
“But it’s not healthy,” Quinn reminded Nina. “I know you love all her sarcasm, but you also know complete happiness. I know you do. I see it with Carl and when you talk about your little girl Charlie. My mother doesn’t have that, and it hurts my heart.”
Nina’s face changed in the blink of an eye. “You know what, you’re right, Mini-Goddess. I lost my mother to drugs when I was a kid. I hate thinking she left this earth so fucking unhappy.”
Quinn shot the vampire a look of pure sympathy. “I’m sorry, Nina.”
Nina’s look was far away. Khristos knew well the pain losing her mother had wrought in her life, but her grandmother, Lou, had helped ease that hurt since she was a teenager.
Nina nodded. “Me too. She had some serious problems. But I’ve got my Nana Lou, and she’s pretty righteous.”
Quinn sighed with a forlorn shrug. “The problem with my mother is, I don’t know what to do about her unhappiness.”
Nina strolled beside her, her long legs eating up the pavement. “It ain’t up to you to do anything about it, kiddo. You can’t be responsible for her happiness. She has to be.”
Quinn appeared to give that some thought before she patted the vampire’s arm. “Sage vampire is sage. But let’s not talk about my mother anymore. There’ll be plenty to talk about when we get back to my place. Tell me about that couple back there. How do you know so much about these people and why don’t I know anything?”
Khristos dug out his phone from his pocket and held it up. “I get their information from the gods.”
Her eyes grew wide and round when she clapped her hands. “Oh! Can I see?”
“Uh, no. You’re not ready for the forums just yet.”
“The gods have forums?”
“We’re very twenty-first century, complete with wifi and everything.”
Quinn let her head fall back on her shoulders when she laughed. “If you have apps, I’ll just die.”
“Don’t start digging your grave just yet, but yep. With apps, too.”
This time she laughed harder, hearty and rich with texture.
He really shouldn’t like watching her laugh. He shouldn’t like the sound of it in his ears. It shouldn’t do that weird shift thing in his heart.
But it did.
Careful, Khristos. Be very careful.
* * * *
“Quinn! So glad you’re home!” Marty greeted her at the door, but it sounded more like, “Thank Jesus and all twelve you’re back. Here. Take your mother.” Her voice was tight and her eyes were bleary.
Ingrid sat between them, a consoling hand on each of their laps. She mouthed “help” to Quinn.
Aw, hell.
Wanda’s face was weary when she looked up from her spot on the couch, a cold pack on her head. “Hi, honey. How was your day?”
Quinn rushed to the couch, ignoring the residual dull tremors still coursing through her body.
Her mother had struck. No one knew that look of total physical and mental exhaustion better than Quinn. “Don’t worry about me. How are you two?” She motioned for Ingrid to make room on the couch then grabbed Wanda’s hand and patted the space beside her for Marty to sit.
Wanda blew out a tired breath. “It would be a falsehood to say your mother is crazy hard to please.”
“I’m so sorry. I knew she’d wear even you two down. She’s difficult and critical and I shouldn’t have let you offer to take her to the other room, let alone a day of shopping and the bird sanctuary.”
Marty shook her head, tucking her mussed hair behind her ear and stretching her legs with a groan. “How did you do it, Quinn? That’s what I wanna know. Nothing satisfies her. From where we chose to take her to