"So?" Asked Audrey when Jenny walked into her bedroom, where she would sleep that night - safety in numbers. Staring at the girl in her designer nightgown and the strange question she'd asked, Jenny shook her head.
"So what?" She asked as she slipped into her own nightdress, an oversized t-shirt her parents had brought her back from one of their faraway holidays. Shivering in the cool air, she climbed in between the sheets that lay on Audrey's futon for her. A auburn head popped over the side of the bed, propped up on elbows, and rose her brows.
"So, what happened?"
Jenny smiled at her friend. Audrey always wanted to know the gossip, specially about guys. At least the question meant she was starting to think about Julian as a boy, rather than the monster he had been. Sitting up, pulling the blankets up around her, Jenny gave her the details she wanted to know.
"And then we kissed," she finished, and grinned up at her friend. "And Julian is a Universe class kisser," she added, knowing Audrey's pride of Micheal's world-class kissing.
"He's had more time to practise," she muttered, then continued to press Jenny for information as she surveyed her shiny, painted nails. "And what do you plan to do with him? And what will Dee do if she sees him on your arm? Even more importantly, what will Tom do?" She looked at Jenny, a cold gleam in her eye. "Tom deserves everything he gets, cherie, remember that. And so do you - if you're happy with Julian, I'm counting on you to flaunt it."
Jenny waved a hand at Audrey, shaking her head at her ideas of hurting Tom. In a way, she wanted desperately to do it, to show how happy she would be with Julian, how very much happier than she had been with Tom. But she didn't want to use him like that. And, if she knew Julian, he was likely to punch Tom, and as a half vampire he was strong. "I am happy with him." She looked around the room, and sighed. "I'll be even happier when we can leave here," she muttered.
"I'll choose not to take that as an insult, and instead as a symptom of cabin fever," Audrey smiled. "And I also wish we could get out of here. I need to shop." Standing, she walked over to her walk in wardrobe, and shook her head. "You realise, I don't have a thing to wear for these finals."
Jenny walked over to her. "You are joking, right?"
Audrey was looking at various outfits, and shook her head. "No, I'm not. I mean, these are our finals. One of the most important things to ever happen to us. People get special outfits to get married in, I'm going to buy something to do my finals in." Picking up a short, green, silky dress, she held it up to Jenny. "Oh, you must wear this tomorrow. Those lovely blue eyes of his will drop out of his head," Audrey smiled, almost wolf-like. Boys were playthings as far as Audrey Myers was concerned - Michael aside - and she loved to make them squirm. Jenny had a very different view of boys, and this one in particualar.
"Audrey-"
"Try it on," her friend commanded, with a look that brooked no argument. Sighing, Jenny did as she was asked, and, even with her messy hair and no make-up, the dress did wonders for her, making her legs miles long, waist slim and lovely, accentuating her curves to make her sexy and seductive. Audrey silently put a thin, jade chiffon shirt over her shoulders, and smiled, a job well done. "Perfect," she decided, smoothing Jenny's hair for her. "That should make him look at you."
"Audrey, he'd look at me if I was wearing sack-cloth."
Tutting, Audrey handed the nightdress back to Jenny and walked into the room as Jenny changed, putting the no-doubt expensive dress back on it's hanger. "That isn't the point, Jenny. Though I hear sack-cloth is in this year." Jenny wondered if she was joking, never sure about the more extreme catwalk fashions. "You have to tempt him, tease him. Be more than he expects, give him less than he wants. And that," boy expert Audrey finished, "is how to hook them."
Climbing back into bed, Jenny smiled. "I hooked him a long time ago, whether I liked it or not. But I don't want to be less than his expectations, do I?
"That's it, cherie. You have it now!"
The two girls laughed as they turned the light out, settling down for a good nights sleep before an eventful tomorrow.
He glanced up as his cousin sat nxt to him, sat for a moment surveying the beauty of the landscape before him, then looking at the stars with a sad smile on his face.
"When are you going to see her?" Asked Julian, gently, knowing Ash's soulmate, Mary-Lynette, was a sore spot for him. She had asked him to let her grow up, finish school, and he had gone to fight dragons for her, to make up for the sins of his past.
"Soon. As soon as the exams are over," Ash answered, staring at a particular spot of the sky. Julian stared at it, knowing it to be the Orion Nebula, knowing it's beauty from photographs, but not seeing it for itself as well as Ash's vampire eyes with their nine-millimetre pupils. Julian knew the pain Ash was feeling. He knew what it was like having to live without your soulmate. He had done so all his life, remembered her with painful clarity for the last four. The pain was soul-shattering, enough to sink someone into deep depression if they didn't have something to occupy their mind. Something else the cousins had in common. Making up for the mistakes of the past. If Julian hadn't remembered his past life, he had no doubt he would have slipped into the same patterns in this life, too, worse by far than Ash. His mother had tried to control him, but he had been curious about his father, not knowing how his birth had come about, not having been told so as not to hurt him. And he was in awe of his father. Hunter Redfern's grandson, a powerful lamia who lived in grand mansions with glamourous people, Julian had wanted to stay with him for some time, wanted to be a part of the Night World that his mother had not let him see - the darkness of his soul tempting him back to his old ways. Then he had remembered. Sighing, Julian shook off the memories. Ash looked over at him, a smile on his lips, mischievous look in his golden eyes.
"So, what happened? What'd she say?"
Grinning over at him, Julian stretched his arms high, letting the stress out of his back. "She wants to be with me," he smiled. "I can't wait 'til this is over, 'til finals are over, so that I can start something with her."
"Something?"
"Like the rest of my life. Like what you want with Mary-Lynette?"
It was Ash's turn to sigh, looking at the star-scape again with pale eyes. "It's what I want. But what does she want?"
Squeezing his arm, Julian let Ash know he was there for him. When Julian had joined Circle Daybreak, Ash hadn't understood why, but hadn't abandoned him, either. They were like brothers, were family, and more. They were friends. For a few long minutes, they sat there, looking at the gardens, then Ash stood.
"I'm meant to be doing the rounds," he explained. "But I'll be back soon, buddy. Then you can tell me exactle what happened." Walking off, he gave a little wave, Julian's mouth shutting as he realised there was no point in arguing with Ash. Instead, he looked out of the window, watched a shooting star fall to earth, a gift from the goddess. He didn't bother to wish, knowing he had everything he wanted from her.