Page 112 of My Vampire Plus-One

Text messages between Reginald Cleaves and Frederick J. Fitzwilliam

REGINALD:How is Cassie?

FREDERICK:Better. She’s still sleeping for large portions of the day, but she’s up and around for longer stretches and eating regular meals of O positive.

FREDERICK:“What to Expect” and The Annals say she should be more or less herself again in a week

REGINALD:Glad to hear it

REGINALD:Also hey

REGINALD:I’m not asking this for any particular reason at all

REGINALD:Other than because I’m curious, and as always am extremely invested in the minutiae of your life

REGINALD:But how long were you and Cassie together before you started talking about “forever”??

REGINALD:You know, in the vampiric sense

FREDERICK:You’re only asking because you’re curious?

REGINALD:Yes

REGINALD:And because I care about you, my oldest friend, and want to know more about your life

FREDERICK:You are NEVER curious about my life

REGINALD:That’s not true. Remember that time at that one party in Madrid when I asked about that beautiful woman you were talking to?

FREDERICK:You asked about her because you wanted to sleep with and then eat her, not because you cared about my life

REGINALD:I’m hurt

REGINALD:But okay, that’s fair

FREDERICK:Be honest. Are you thinking of asking Amelia to think about turning?

REGINALD:No!

REGINALD:Absolutely not

REGINALD:Whatever gave you that idea

FREDERICK:Oh you silly fool.

Amelia

Walking into my building’s elevatorwith Reggie on one side of me and Frederick on the other was among the more surreal experiences of my life. At least, until we got off the elevator and made our way to the conference room where we’d be meeting with John Richardson. Then that experience became number one.

I was grateful for the awkwardness of the situation, though. It distracted me from the nerves roiling in the pit of my stomach. I was so anxious about this meeting I hadn’t even been able to eat breakfast, no matter how much Reggie nudged me to take a few bites of cereal.

If all went well, we’d be getting rid of the worst client I’d ever hadandthe weirdo vampires who’d been after Reggie for years in one fell swoop. It was the most extreme example of killing twobirds with one stone I’d ever experienced. And it would largely be up to me to pull it off.

The pressure on me was enormous.

“Don’t you think you should have dressed up more for this?” Frederick asked Reggie with obvious disdain, keeping his voice low enough that we weren’t at risk of being overheard.

“No,” Reggie said, at full volume. “I wanted to dress exactly as I liked for this meeting. I’m done hiding.”Exactly as he likedturned out to be a brown gingham skirt paired with a T-shirt that said,Don’t Blame Me, I’m Todd!and black combat boots. He honestly looked hotter in that combo than anyone had a right to look, though I wasn’t certain whether that was something I should admit out loud.