Soul to Keep Read online

  Dalhem released us from the link and we did our best to shake off the horrors of what we’d just seen. And felt. I wanted to vomit. Mary-Anne and Jessi had been through so much in just a few hours. They would do what they could for Jessi, but Mary-Anne would live with that pain forever.

  “Is that it?” Camila asked. “Jessi doesn’t remember who took her or how they got her there?”

  “That is all. My Jessi’s memory had been tampered with. Nearly wiped.”

  “So then a vampire helped,” Kina said.

  “That is not necessarily so. These…creatures share some of our capabilities.”

  “What do they know about the house?” Kina went on.

  “Abandoned many years now.”

  “Any clue how she was transported there?”

  “None.”

  “What about Jessi?” I asked. “Is she, like, okay?”

  “She is fine. I tried to pull traces of this entity’s presence from her memory, but her mind could not reconcile the experience of being taken over. I could only hear her terror and her pleas. But her mind has been wiped of the experience, save one small trigger. If she sees her abductors again, she will know.”

  “Hopefully, they are long gone and too scared to try again.” Natasha took the words out of my mouth.

  “So what do we do now? Do you think they will try again?” Faeth asked.

  “Yes, my angel. I believe they will. This incident appears as if it is a start to something more. My sister-borne has offered to inquire more. Do not worry. We will stop this. And in the meantime I only ask that you watch over our girls. Protect them as best you can.”

  “We will,” Ginger said.

  “You will.” Dalhem smiled with a calm finality and then he disappeared. The when and how would be up to us.

  “Uh, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. We’ll all stay close to the house. Be more vigilant.”

  “Should we tell the girls?” Faeth asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. I completely agreed with her. “How can the girls protect themselves if they have no idea there’s a threat?”

  “I think we should hold off on telling the girls. I don’t think they’ll really understand unless we show them Mary-Anne’s memories, and I’m not really trying to traumatize them,” Ginger said. “They need to be focused on school and their own lives. This is our problem. Let’s just keep our eyes open. Okay?”

  I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t like I could disagree. But at least I wasn’t on house arrest alone anymore. We’d all be bored out of our minds together.

  ❖

  Jill

  My relationship with my pretend girlfriend didn’t even make it through the morning. Our community service was fun. The kids were great, and it was nice to meet some of the parents. We got to put some faces to all the bake sale money we raised during the semester, but what got me through the morning was the anticipation of Tokyo’s texts. Texts that never came. I thought maybe she was just giving me some time, a little space before she started flooding my phone. Or maybe she was just being considerate of the fact that I was supposed to be playing with a group of young kids.

  But I didn’t hear from her by the time we got back on the limo buses to take us back to the football stadium. With James and Tim and a few other OBA boys on the team, we always went to their home games as a group. Still nothing from Tokyo as I sat through four quarters of rough play. I figured she’d forgotten about the conversation we’d had that morning. Or maybe she’d just forgotten about me.

  The girls talked about the usual things on the way back to the house. Boys, other girls, plans for the night. I’d planned to stay in and watch movies with James and maybe Van over at the OBA house, but then I thought maybe I’d just go to bed. Portia would be out all night, and I’d have the room to myself. It would be a good way to avoid Tokyo too. Even if she were doing her nightly stroll around the house, she wouldn’t wake me up. She wasn’t like that. When I spoke to her though, when I was ready, I’d tell her I’d changed my mind. A pretend girlfriend wasn’t what I wanted either. I wanted something real.

  When we got back to the house, there was a party set up for us. A pizza party. Ashley got to the note Ginger left first. “Enjoy. We’ll be up at dark.”

  “We’re still going to the Gamma Phi party though, right?” Hollis asked amongst the other girls’ muttering. Our sister-queens were always doing things for us, little and extravagant, but this seemed a little random. Our house mother, Florencia, usually had dinner taken care of, delivered, or prepared by the chefs she hired, and we had the option to eat on campus.

  And Saturday evening was usually spent getting ready for the night out, but this felt like an event. An out of place event. Most of the girls shrugged it off and either ran upstairs to change or dug into the pizzas stacked on the table. I headed for the pantry.

  Our sister-queens’ corridors were pretty quiet as I made my way down the winding halls to Ginger and Camila’s apartment. It was quiet until I rounded the corner and ran into Tokyo. She saw me right away so it was too late to run or turn and walk the other way.

  “Hey. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I thought we had come to some sort of agreement, but I’ve reconsidered.”

  “Jill, I’m sorry. Dalhem came today and we were tied up, but listen, I wanted to come talk to you. Ginger…I…”

  “Ginger what?”

  “I don’t think Ginger wants me around you.”

  “Did she say that?” I asked.

  “No, not in so many words, but I got an interrogation for helping with your project and being in your room last night. I just don’t know if this is a good time to—”

  “Do you want to be around me?”

  “Well, yeah, but—”

  I grabbed her hand. “Come with me.”

  I pulled her farther down the hall until we reached Ginger and Camila’s door. You could hear the sounds of sex in the hallway. It was a minute before Ginger answered the door. They did have an hour to kill before sundown, but my God, did they ever take a break?

  The door swung open, and Ginger, clutching a robe together over her naked body, pretended to be happy to see me. I was almost too annoyed to ignore the momentary swoon that threatened my heart when I saw her. Her bright hello faded the second she saw who was with me.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “May we come in?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  I didn’t bother sitting down. I just got to the point. “Am I allowed to hang around with Tokyo or not?”

  “You are, but I’m just a little confused as to why.”

  “She’s helping me with my human sexuality presentation.”

  “Again. Why?”

  “Why not? You didn’t offer to help me.”

  Ginger might have been undead, but that didn’t stop her face from turning neon pink. She cleared her throat. “I’d be glad to help you.”

  “But you’re busy running the house and being with Camila. I understand, but I need an actual reason as to why my being around Tokyo is a problem. I have a partner now, but Brayley is a little too hands-off for my liking and Tokyo is here in the house. And she’s awake when I’m awake. Is it just her or is it all the sister-queens you don’t want me around?”

  “Did you put her up to this?” she asked Tokyo.

  “What? No!”

  Ginger was doing that thing I hate, treating me like I was a child and incapable of making decisions. I gritted my teeth and did my best not to say something I would regret.

  “I think you’re not used to your feeders wanting to be around other vampires, but I do. Tokyo has been nice to me when everyone else ignored me, and I’d like to be able to at least talk to her when I want without it causing a huge problem between the two of you. So am I allowed to be around her or not? If not, I’d at least like a reason.”

  I knew the reason; I just didn’t think Ginger would actually say it out loud. Ginger didn’t trust Tokyo, or maybe she didn�
�t trust that I was smart enough to handle a vampire who didn’t own my blood. But that seemed like a personal problem Ginger had to deal with. Tokyo was incapable of hurting any of us with anything other than an ill-timed overtly sexual comment, and in the short time I’d gotten to know her, I could tell that that version of Tokyo was all a front. I knew what I was doing with the real Tokyo. Ginger was just being paranoid or possessive or jealous. But she had her own relationship, and I was entitled to a personal life of my choosing. It was that simple.

  Ginger’s eyes narrowed for a moment, and I was positive she’d read my mind.

  “It’s not entirely…unusual for bound humans to hang out with other vampires. Benny hangs out with Mary and Omi all the time.”

  “And don’t forget Amy and Danni. You hang out with them all the time,” Tokyo added.

  “Right. Yes. It’s very nice of you to help her…Tokyo. With her homework. Thank you.”

  “Sounds great.”

  “Yes. Jill, will you give us a moment?”

  I hesitated a moment, but then decided they weren’t going to talk unless I did. Ginger was going to chew Tokyo out no matter what. Might as well let her get on with it. I headed back up to check out what was left of the pizza, texting James as I walked to the elevator.

  Changed my mind. Going out with the girls. You want to come?

  His response came before the elevator hit the main floor.

  Nah. Game kicked my ass. Gonna stay in. Not with Van or anything.

  Maybe going without them was for the best. They could have their time alone, and I could blow off some steam. And then maybe if I asked nicely, Portia would help me get ready for whatever the night had planned for me.

  Chapter Seven

  Tokyo

  The second Jill was gone, Ginger laid into me. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but if you hurt her—”

  “You’ll kill me. I got it.”

  “No, you don’t understand. I will kill you, and then Camila will kill you, and then I’ll have Dalhem resurrect you, and then I’ll kill you again. If Jill isn’t happy smiles and sunshine every single time she leaves your company, this is all over.”

  Probably sensing Ginger’s unjustified outrage, Camila poked her head out of the bedroom. “Everything okay?”

  “Can we not do the tag team hour?” I said with a groan. “You made your point.”

  Ginger turned around, her voice turning saccharin. “Yeah, babe. Everything’s fine. I’ll be right there.”

  I managed not to roll my eyes at the wink Camila threw Ginger’s way before she slipped back into the bedroom. Gross. “How about Natasha, Faeth, Kina, and I go out with the girls who want to go out?” I suggested. “And you, Camila, and Omi hold down the fort. That way we have all our bases nice and covered.”

  “Fine, sounds good.”

  “Great. I’ll see you later. Bye, Camila!”

  “Later!”

  “I meant what I said.”

  “I got it.”

  Done with a pissing contest I hadn’t signed up for, I took off to find my sister-queens. I had a little explaining to do if I wanted tonight to go well.

  ❖

  I found Faeth, Natasha, and Kina in Kina’s art studio. Faeth was sitting on the worn leather couch in the back corner messing with that damn guitar again. Kina was cleaning her brushes. She’d just finished another piece, a small painting of Benny and Cleo’s kid. Probably took her all of fifteen minutes.

  She did a double take when she saw me standing there, not saying anything. “Uh, what’s up?”

  “We’re gonna go with the first girls tonight.”

  Faeth tapped her temple. “Just got the memo from Ging.”

  “Good. Um, I’m going to stick with Jill for the night.”

  Kina stopped what she was doing then, and set down the brush she had in her hand. “Is she in some sort of trouble?”

  “Yeah, what’s going on with the little half pint now? Did Ginger ask you to look after her or something?”

  “Not exactly.” I explained what Jill had asked me to do.

  “So you’re pretending to date Jill for her school project?” Kina asked.

  “Yes. I was trying to help her figure out what she wanted out of the survey, you know, the ones the girls took the other night, and this is what she said she wanted.”

  “And Ginger is okay with this?” Kina asked.

  “Not exactly. She doesn’t know the details, or doesn’t suspect them at least, but she did say it was okay for Jill and me to hang out. I just need you guys to kind of pretend I’m not there tonight. For Jill’s sake. And my girls. If they think I’m there, they won’t leave me alone, and if you guys are hanging around me and Jill, she won’t really feel like she’s getting to go to a party with her girlfriend, like it won’t be a normal thing.”

  “Uh…it isn’t,” Faeth said.

  “Come on. Are you saying you’ve never done anything kind of weird for a feeder before?”

  “No, I absolutely have, but it was my feeder. Not a girl who belonged to someone else,” Kina said.

  “Well, like I said, Ginger is okay with us being around each other, and this is what Jill wants. I mean, don’t we owe her a bit? We’ve been black-sheeping the girl for years. She’s just lonely. I mean think about it. She asked me to be her girlfriend.”

  “Yeah, all right.” Faeth agreed with some lingering hesitation.

  “You have a point.” And Kina as well.

  Natasha came over and touched my cheek. “I think it’s very sweet.” I knew she would understand. She and Rodrick had stood in as surrogate lovers for me whenever I needed them.

  “Thanks, guys. And I’ll be there, on watch. Just with Jill. Really, it’s the perfect cover.” When I explained it that way, the three of them were more agreeable. We went our separate ways then. Kina had two girls coming to feed and Faeth had to check something out for her primary real quick.

  Thanks to the sun setting earlier and earlier, I had plenty of time to vanish to the mall. Jill wanted to be with someone her height, but I had no clothes for anyone that short and little. I didn’t understand her true struggle until women in two different stores directed me to the kids’ section.

  When I got back to the house I changed then took a picture of what I was wearing. How does this look?

  It took a few minutes, but Jill texted back.

  Great.

  Text me when you’re ready to go.

  I’m ready. Just waiting for a few people to walk over with.

  K. I’ll meet you.

  I vanished to the front of the house and waited. The fact that I was actually nervous when I saw Jill walking down the front steps with Portia, Navaeh, and Hollis made no sense ’cause I wasn’t nervous about Navaeh noticing me or even Faeth and Kina giving me shit for my altered appearance. I was nervous about Jill and whether she would want to see me like this. I was worried I’d embarrass her, say or do something to make her street cred with the girls even less existent.

  When she looked at me, her eyes going a little wide and funny with shock, I made myself promise to get this right. I wasn’t Tokyo, centuries-old vampire. I was regular Bridgette (no last name, but we’d cross that moat when got to it) twentysomething college junior who thought Jill’s overbearing anal attention to everything made her the cutest thing in the world. I had my cover, just had to make sure I didn’t blow it.

  I waved and smiled, doing that lip bitey thing my girls did when they talked about people they like. Jill waved back. A few more girls came through the door behind them. They were all a-chatter until Jill stopped on the sidewalk in front of me. They all stopped too.

  “Hi,” I said brightly.

  “Uh, hi.” She wasn’t as confident.

  “My car was acting up, but I borrowed my dad’s.”

  “Jaws, who is this?” Hollis asked. I wasn’t really impressed with her tone or the way she used the nickname that Jill clearly hated, but I’d rat her out to Camila later. Or maybe I cou
ldn’t. I was the secret pretend human girlfriend, not a vampire informant.

  Jill introduced me around as Bridgette. “She’s in my Arabic class. She’s—”

  “I’m tagging along to the party with you guys. Thought it would be a good first date if Jill decided to ditch me. Easier to lose me in a crowd.” A playful nudge to Jill’s hip didn’t help her relax.

  “A first date?” Portia said. “No wonder you wanted help with your hair. Doesn’t it look nice?”

  Jill’s hair never looked bad. She usually wore her long mass of curls up in a ponytail or a bun, but she’d straightened it and wore it down.

  I reached up and lightly touched a strand on her shoulder. “Fuck yeah, it does.”

  “Can’t say shit about her outfit though,” Portia added. “I would have helped her out if I knew there was a booty getting situation involved.”

  “Her clothes look nice too.” I laughed, taking in her ABO letterman’s sweater and jeans. The other girls were in casual clothes too, all in different combos and swag configurations of red, white, and black. I was glad I hadn’t gone beyond a low-cut black shirt and a pair of jeans and sneakers myself. I added a crop hoodie ’cause it looked cute on the mannequin.

  “Let’s go. I told Marcus I’d meet him down there twenty minutes ago,” Portia said, leading the group down the street. I started to hang back a bit after a block or so. Jill got the idea and matched my pace.

  “How’m I doing?”

  “Good. Do you know any Arabic?”