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“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” She flicked my nose and narrowed her eyes. “Go at the pace that makes you comfortable. I just thought since, you know…” She hooked her pinky into thebracelet Ren bought me for Valentine's Day and I bit my lip. I’d hardly taken it off to shower since she gave it to me. “If you’d made it official with Ren, that?—”

“Is that a no on the coffee then?” Kaylee whined from the living room.

“Woman! Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“What I see is you bogarting the caffeine, Vi. Now give Momma some go juice and I’ll leave you to your canoodling. Some of us actually have to go to work today.”

Elsie slipped out of my hold with her enhanced speed and brought a cup over to Kaylee, pausing to turn back and wink at me.

I ran a hand through my hair, utterly bemused, thoroughly mussing my bangs before flattening them back down. I’d have to ask Elsie another time which date exactly she thought was the one I became her girlfriend.

It was pretty difficult to buy flowers for an anniversary you didn’t know about.

ren

. . .

The seatsI’d bought for Vi and Danny were close enough to the field that I hardly looked at the big screens hanging around the stadium, using my own heightened vision to watch the players as they ran around the diamond.

When I was younger, I’d become enamored with baseball. The games were long, the tickets fairly cheap, and there was a seemingly never-ending supply of bodies to use as a top-up.

Now, I favoured the inhuman league. The sports themselves were more interesting—the players faster and stronger, the stakes slightly higher as vampires’ heightened constitution gave way to more options for full contact.

Danny and I sat on either side of Vi, the three of us passing around a bag of overly salted popcorn.

Vi threw up a piece and caught it in her mouth, showing off her blue-dyed tongue from her violently coloured slush before shooting me a little grin. “Cool, right?”

“Vi is the champ; she can catch almost anything if she tries,” Danny said, reaching across my girlfriend’s lap to grab a handful of popcorn. “I threw her a skittle from the balcony of ourmom’s place, and she caught it like it was nothing. First try and everything!”

“You left out that we were rancidly drunk and throwing a house party we absolutely got grounded for six months over,” Vi added, cringing with embarrassment. “So not worth it.”

“Aw, come on, it was fine!” Danny chided. “We didn’t have a ton of money, so we made do with what we had to keep ourselves occupied. Popcorn throwing was always a big hit. What’s your family like?”

I handed the popcorn to Danny, collecting Vi’s hand to rest in my lap, playing with her fingers as her bracelet glinted in the bright lights above. She leaned into my side, prompting me to slide an arm around the back of her chair with a definitive puff to my chest.

Not even talking to talk about my family would ruin this moment for me, not with Vi so close.

“My parents are… intense,” I offered, thoughtfully. Trying to think about how to convey a relationship with people who had infinite years to find new reasons why you’ve disappointed them. “Vampires who are born instead of made, like Elsie, often have large families. I have lots of siblings, but we aren’t close. Once you find your coven, they become the most important relationships in your life. More like family than the one you were born into, you know?”

Vi nodded sagely. “I get it; found family.”

“Exactly. It’s why we’re all so close,” Ren said with a shrug. “We understand each other. Share everything, emotional and physical.” I grinned, casting Vi a little wink that made her cheeks pink.

“I could get behind that. Dad isn’t worth shit any—LET’S FUCKING GO!” Danny shouted, their thought interrupted as they leapt from their seat to cheer as our second baseman put the opposing team’s runner out with a tap of the ball.

“Do you ever see your siblings?” Vi asked curiously.

I laughed and brought the back of her hand to my lips, kissing the soft skin. “I see my younger sister a couple of times a year and my older siblings when it's convenient for them.”

“Danny would shrivel up into a raisin if I didn’t call five times a day.”

Their chest puffed proudly. I found their unapologetic codependence charming. It sort of made me wonder if I was missing out with my own family.

“I hope you like being a third wheel,” they joked. “Honestly, I’m just stoked I finally get to meet someone she’s dating.”

“They have to be worth meeting you,” Vi quipped.