RV and you know the others have gone to see Gabriel’s warlock friend.”
“Dru has left us,” Ethan said. “She didn’t want to live in exile anymore, so she’s going to start again in a new city.”
“You let her go?” Finn asked in surprise.
Ethan cut him a sharp look. “Of course I did. I’m not entirely morally bankrupt. I don’t hold people prisoner. If they want to leave, they can leave.”
His eyes landed on me, as though reminding me of the night I left Tribane. He hadn’t wanted me to leave back then, but he hadn’t forced me to stay either when he probably could have.
“So, now you’re just two vamps and one dhamp,” Finn said with a hint of humour. “Things could be worse. Turn that frown upside down. A big fella like you shouldn’t be getting all upset because his friend doesn’t want to play with him anymore.”
He was taunting Ethan. I shot him a warning look that told him not to push it. Ethan was clearly upset and angry at Dru’s departure. There was no sense poking the bear.
“You need to learn when to be silent, slayer,” Ethan said, his voice low and threatening.
“I don’t need to learn anything from you, leech,” Finn retorted, putting the same emphasis on the word ‘leech’ as Ethan did on ‘slayer’.
Both of them despised what the other one stood for, that much was clear. They eyed one another, and the tension was palpable. The moment dragged out, only interrupted when someone noisily opened and shut the front door. Rita sauntered into the room, holding several empty spray bottles in her arms, oblivious to the tense atmosphere.
“Um, am I interrupting something?” she asked.
“No, you’re not,” Delilah announced, rising from her seat. She let her eyes travel between me, Ethan, and Finn. “I think you three should avoid interacting as much as possible. It only ever ends in drama.”
Nobody said anything in response, and a moment of quiet ensued before Rita spoke. “Sooo, I was going to show them how to make the mixture,” Rita said to Finn before gesturing to Ethan, Lucas, and Delilah.
“Yeah, good idea,” Finn grunted before stalking out of the room. A moment later, I heard him slam shut the bathroom door and turn on the shower.
“Don’t mind him, he’s had a rough day,” Rita said, excusing Finn’s grouchiness. “Come on into the kitchen, and I’ll show you how to kill the mist. Tegan and I discovered a formula during our research this morning.”
Intrigued, they filed out after Rita. Ethan cast me a single, indecipherable look before leaving, and I flopped back into the couch, exhaling heavily. About fifteen minutes later, I heard them all going into the back garden, probably to test out the spray on the clouds of mist captured inside the shed.
The look Ethan gave me wouldn’t get out of my head. It made me feel like I’d done something wrong. Remembering his words from last night, about how it killed him that I shared a house with Finn, I thought maybe that was the problem. Maybe he was jealous and it was eating away at him. But at the same time, he still hated me, so even though he might be jealous, he still didn’t want anything to do with me.
I went upstairs, changed into some clean clothes, and went to knock on Finn’s door.
“Who is it?” he called.
“Tegan,” I answered softly.
A pause. “Come in.”
Inside the room I found Finn stretched out on his bed in a clean T-shirt and lounge pants with a movie playing on his laptop. “Inception,” he said when I leaned forward to see what he was watching.
“Oh. I haven’t seen that one.”
He grinned, patting the space beside him on the bed. “Watch it with me then. It’s only a few minutes in.”
I grabbed one of his pillows, fluffed it up, and lay down, making sure to keep a bit of space between us.
“I was terrified you were going to die today,” I whispered, a swell of emotion clogging my throat.
Finn reached out and patted my hand, his voice soft, “It’ll take a lot more than a knifing to get rid of me, Missy.”
I swallowed, hoping he was right. Finn was my rock. Somehow, in all this, he’d become my best friend. I needed him around, but I felt guilty about it because I suspected he might have some burgeoning feelings for me. He went out of his way to gift me that fancy barber’s blade, not to mention I was certain