October rolled into Forks with the same intensity and density as every month up in this end of the Pacific Northwest; a whole lot more of gray on gray. It wasn’t all that bad, just the same fine committed drizzle that couldn’t pick a simple lane between drizzle, mist or storm. Instead, it downshifted between all three in a permanent gray sweat raining down the sturdy old windows of the Weatherell House.
The same as it had for the first day of the month, and now the second.Weather aside, Zander had barely noticed, too busy in his work as he’d clustered himself in front of his computer from Sunday to Monday, watching the numbers on his laptop dance like the stock tickers he’d also been tracking. With four windows open on the laptop and a fifth one in his head that wouldn't close, he was too focused to worry about the rain.
"Walter, get Wells on the phone. Need his people to double down on getting access to Facebook's private investors.” He scrolled without really reading, one finger tapping the trackpad's edge. “Those shares need to be mine by yesterday." “Indeed, Master Cray.”"That's where the smart money goes next."
“Very smart.” The tea service touched down on the desk corner, placed down with Walter’s gentle hand; saucer, cup and pot all landing in the same half-second, the manservant relishing in his restored and enhanced dexterity. “Aye, the smart money.” His other Renfield came around Walter’s shoulder with a cake plate balanced on one palm — crimson velvet three layers wet and thick with red running down the crumb with a depth and darkness food coloring could only hope to reach. The copper hit his nose before the sugar did, rich and no older than two days from the way his fangs throbbed with interest. She set it down beside the laptop, more force in her motion than Walter; both from strength and a lack of simple grace. "Smart money’s having your wee cake at half ten in the morning.”An eyebrow went high, Zander staring back at the blonde woman. “Why bake it if you’re gonna judge me for eating it?”“I baked the damn thing because ye’ve been living off pouches and spreadsheets for a week now.” Alexis Armstrong jabbed a fork into the top slice, the utensil upright like a flag. “Either this or watch ye turn into one of them Wall Street ghouls. Now eat. It’s got the good stuff in the sponge.”
The good stuff. Zander carved off a corner and brought it to his mouth, taste blooming the second it touched his tongue. Cocoa up front, iron running strong underneath; whoever the donor was, they'd been scared recently enough that it added a taste not too far off from sea salt through the whole crumb. Damn…
"Lex, this is beautiful.” He opened his eyes after only one bite, staring at the woman that could take a bag of A-Neg and the contents of a pantry to build a culinary cathedral. “This is art."
"That it is, master, and ye’re still about to talk stocks over it." She rolled her eyes hard enough to hear. "Money, money, money. Boy's seventeen going on Ebenezer bloody Scrooge."
He didn’t fault her for not getting it, not in the slightest.Not like she knew what was rolling downhill in a couple years. Not like he could just say — hey, so, funny story, everything crashes in '08. Well, he could, at least if he dressed it up; hey, being a vampire makes you a little psychic. Zander narrowed his eyes over another bite of blood-cake. …nah.
"Might I also mention, young master…" Walter poured the tea, steam threading up as the cup was filled. "Miss Stanley called twice this morning with concerns of your recent absence from school"
His scrolling finger stopped, eyebrow going high again. "Concerned how?"
"She expressed worry that your — 'biz stuff’ is the exact term, I believe — was becoming more important than your education."
"Walter, being real, I could pass senior year in my sleep." And that wasn’t even bragging, when you considered he already had. Twice.
"The concern, I believe, relates less to academic achievement and more to social presence."
Social presence. Zander took another forkful of cake and chewed on both. What’s that supposed to mean? The phone buzzed against the desk, Jessica’s name popping up on his phone with two messages one after another. Speak of the angel.
Were r u?
Its alrdy lunch.
Zander clicked his tongue, thumbs already going to work.
Work stuff. Dinner tonite?
The reply came back fast enough that he didn’t even have the chance to loosen his grip around his Blackberry.
k.
Jessica Stanley, a girl who put three exclamation points on a text about a pop quiz, had sent him a single lowercase ‘k’. "Fuck."
One palm slammed the laptop shut as Zander popped to his feet. "Make sure to call Wellston for me. I'm going to school."
"Very good, sir." There was a whole speech ready and waiting inside the pause before very good, but the old man let him keep his dignity as he stepped up with the car keys.
"Take the cake!" Alexis was already hollering from the hallway, her blonde head sticking around the doorframe. "Ye'll not waste it!”
"Pack the cake, Lex!"
– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –
Zander crossed the parking lot as fast as humanly possible, the lunch bell still a dying echo in the walls. He had barely shaken the rain off his shoulders as he came through the cafeteria doors, fryer grease strong under the smell of floor cleaner and body spray funk.
The usual table sat where the usual table sat; Mike mid-story with his arms wide as he had the floor and half the table laughing on-cue — Tyler barking loud, Eric riding the wave, Lauren with a courtesy giggle before examining her nails with Ben and Angela half in the story, and half in their own quiet zone.Jessica sat in the middle of it all, fork pushing her tots around the tray in slow circles with no destination. …alright. Zander crossed the room with no hurry and dropped into the empty seat beside Jessica, shoulder-to-shoulder, close enough he could hear her heart jump in her chest as she heard his voice. “Miss me?”
Her head came up and her whole face brightened with it before she could remember she was in a mood. "You came back."
"Had to.” Zander snorted. “Now you don’t have to pretend to laugh at Mike’s jokes anymore."
Now, that got more than just half the table laughing.
"Oh, okay,” Mike’s protest arrived pre-grinned, story abandoned halfway. “So nobody at this table respects the craft, got it, cool!"
"So, we’re calling the raccoon story the craft now?" Tyler snorted back at him. “Cause I don’t think so.”
"You laughed at the raccoon one!"
"I laughed near the raccoon one.” Tyler punctuated his comeback with another bark, Eric jumping in with another laugh as he slapped the other boy’s back. All at once, the table folded back into noise, Zander’s arrival absorbed like the weather outside. Meaning not as smooth as it looked, especially given the way Lauren’s eyes gave him another slow lap. “Sooo nice of you to grace us.”Jessica’s knee found his under the table, Zander shrugging back. “I’m a graceful guy.”Fish-green eyes slid to Jessica’s narrowed blues — “...obviously.” — before returning back to a set of freshly done nails.“Seriouly, though, Zan…” Zander blinked up at Tyler. “Huh?”“How’d you get to skip so many days like it’s nothing?”Tyler’s question was simpler than it sounded but harder to answer than he’d like, and unfortunately it had a layered answer and was barely as supernatural as he’d like. While hypnosis was a part of it, a big chunk of the fact was much more mundane. “Well, thing is, they give you time off to handle stuff related to death in the family, y’know?” While that was true, it wasn’t really the bullshit part. “My great-grandpa’s business stuff is all related to his estate, so that technically counts…”
The lunch bell caught his layered lie halfway before he was forced to elaborate on it any further than that, the whole cafeteria rising to their feet in one grinding shuffle. Zander walked Jessica toward the double doors, her arm hooked through his like usual, and — across the room — he spotted the shuffling form of Bella Swan.Like the last time he’d seen her, she was barely moving, just trudging through the crowd as no one seemed to push back on her or even bump her. Moving around her like furniture, huh.“You see it too, right?”Zander blinked down at Jessica, the question forcing his attention. “She’s even worse than last week.” His girl’s voice dropped, all the performance draining out of it. "Angela tried including her in the study group yesterday, and Bella just… She just blinked and walked away? Didn't say anything, just left. It’s like talking to a zombie, I don’t know?”
"Maybe she needs professional help."
"Maybe she needs her friends to not give up on her."
That one had a spin to it and more than a little heat. Zander looked down again to see a pair of blue eyes dead on him, the girl’s chin set tight as her stare.
"...You're right." A breath he didn't need slid free of his lips. "I've been a shitty friend lately."
"Not shitty. Just... absent.” Jessica folded her arms. “There's a difference."
His own eyes narrowed for a moment. "...we still talking about Bella?"
"Of course we are, silly Zanny." The smile she hit him with was way too cute, even as it didn’t fully meet her eyes.
"...uh-huh." He looked at her a second longer, the smile stretched one size too tight on the girl that had sent him a simple ‘k’ just a half hour ago. Alright. It didn’t take long for the decision to finish making itself. Big gesture time.
Another sigh slid its way loose. "...you know my birthday, right?"
An eyebrow went up. “I know of it.”
"Haha-haaaaaa." His eyes rolled with their whole strength, fake laugh trailing off. "Well, tell Mike he's getting his wish. I'm throwing a party this week. For the birthday."
"You are?” She stopped mid-step, nearly dislocating her own shoulder if Zander hadn’t made sure to match her pace. “Since when?"
“Since right now.” Zander grinned back. “Big enough for the whole school and then some. At my place, of course.” He tipped his chin at her. "You just let everyone know."
She already had the phone up, thumbs blurring. "Already done."
"...Since when."
She leaned in on her tippy-toes, a kiss dusting his nose. "Since right now."
Before he could ask anything else, Jessica was already gone; hair bouncing as she bounded down the hallway, phone still out.
– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –
“Cray, Swan, station six.”The pair of names were read off the clipboard like bingo, the decision as obvious as any. He honestly hadn’t expected anything different as soon as he realized today was lab day for Biology. With Bella’s usual partner gone and him almost never being partnered in the first place with an odd-numbered class, it was a given.With a sigh, he slid onto the stool next to Bella barely a few seconds after Banner’s mouth shaped his surname, backpack set down smooth. “How’s senior year treating you, Swan?”
A full second went by before she even acknowledged his presence, her attention on aligning the microscope with hands that were more slow than they were careful; a half-second of lag between deciding and doing.
"Earth to Isabella…”
Another two seconds passed before her head turned, eyes blinking at him just as slow. Jesus Christ, Jessica was right. Maybe vampires aren’t the only undead.
"It's fine."
"Cool." He nodded at that like her words were actionable. "Jessica mentioned you guys haven't been hanging out much lately. Really tearing my girl up. What’s going on?"
"Everything's fine."
Second verse, same as the first.
Zander wasn’t new to checked-out teenagers, considering seventeen long years in the South Florida childcare system. Foster homes ran the whole spectrum of kids long-gone quiet behind the eyes, to the point he could sort the flavors of it blind.
This, though?Thisn was the deep-end version, the type that usually got you sent for a stay in the grippy-sock house before you did something bad to yourself.
"You know…” He gave one more run at it, clean and casual as he fed a slide under the clip. "If you ever want to talk about anything, I'm a pretty good listener. Hard to tell under the hair, but my ears are fuck-huge."
The pencil in her hand stopped moving.
"Where..." A small breath caught somewhere in the middle of her throat, Bella Swan finally turning to face him properly; the girl finally focused and present for the first time in almost three weeks."Where are they?"
He blinked at the question. "I know about as much as you do, snack-pack."
Something flicked across her face, before the shutters came back down over it. Her attention slid back to the microscope sitting in front of her. “Why…”
"You lost me."
A flinch went through her, her own unfinished sentence seemingly fighting her before she forced it out. "Why... why didn't you leave with them?"
"Oh well, that's an easy one, Bee. I'm just another fanged freak. Doesn't make me family. I knew ‘em about as long as you did." True on every count. “I only really liked Emmett and his mom anyway.”
Her hands had gone still on the focus knob as somebody barely fought off a swore two stations up, their slide dropped to the ground. "If he... was so worried about me getting hurt, why'd he leave you around? You could hurt me."
"Wow, Bella. Racist much?"
Her eyes went wide, the flatness knocked clean off her face in one single scramble. "What? Nonono-"
"I'm just pulling your leg, Bells." He waved it off, grin as bright and as white as usual. "Of course I could hurt you. But, being honest, despite what Bram Stoker would have you believe, teenage girls don't taste all that good."
She slumped an inch over the counter. "...Oh."
"That's a lie. The real reason is you — and I mean, you in particular — smell like wet dog.
"Oh."
"Nah, that's just me being racist. You smell fine to me, but you're no Jessica."
She stared back at him, three weeks of zombie life cracking for a second as something else flickered over that face. Not a smile, nowhere near a smile, but at least a twitch. "...You're mean."
"...Well, I eat people, so."