Ben gaped at us. "All of..." His mouth dropped open further as more lights clicked on. "Oh god, they're all...the whole family?"
Teren shook his head, still chuckling. "No...my dad is human."
Ben looked pale, and I released Teren to help him sit on the bed, sitting beside him and stroking his broad back soothingly. Ben ran his hands through his hair repeatedly, before slumping his head in his hands over his knees. "All of them..." He looked up at Teren. "It's all a lie?" His face looked incredulous, and a little hurt.
Teren sat on the other side of him, careful to keep his distance. "Yes. But you can understand why we have to, right?"
Ben nodded woodenly, still looking lost in thought. He stared at his knees for a moment before looking over at Teren again. "Then, Alanna...?"
Teren smiled widely for the first time since this little fiasco. "Is my mother, my birth mother."
Ben looked incredulous again. "Vampires can have children?" I giggled, my hand going to my stomach reflexively. Ben caught the movement and blushed, realizing that of course they can, since I was expecting. It wasn't that simple, but Ben didn't need to know all the gory details. "Oh," he muttered, looking between my stomach and Teren.
Teren beamed at me, not feeling the need to explain all the facts to Ben either. Ben watched our little love fest for a minute, and then turned to me. "Aren't you worried that they'll," he flung his hands at my stomach and shrugged, "you know?"
I cocked my head, completely confused. "That they'll what?"
Ben flushed and shrugged again. "Eat you...from the inside."
His face grimaced at the thought. Mine did too, and at the same time that my hand came around and smacked him harshly in the chest. "God, Ben! Ew!" I smacked him again as he cringed away from me and Teren chuckled.
Trying to defend himself, Ben muttered, "Hey, I'm just saying, there has to be blood and stuff in there and what if they get hungry and you know..."
I smacked him again, really putting my comparatively frail human strength behind it. Ben made pained noises as he tried to block my hits. "God! No! They are just babies. There will be no blood swilling in the womb. Ew!" I smacked him again as Teren full on laughed.
Ben finally managed to stop me from clobbering him and apologized, throwing a, "she's worse than you," to Teren, which made him laugh even harder. As I watched the exchange, I thought about what he'd just said and whispered to Teren, "That won't happen, right?"
Hot Ben was busy rubbing his arm from where I'd fisted him and hadn't heard me, but Teren had, and gave me a 'really' face before rolling his eyes and shaking his head, no. I smiled and relaxed. That's what I'd thought anyway.
When the laughter died down, Ben looked back at Teren and silently stared at him, like he was seeing him for the first time. Finally, he shook his head and muttered, "I still can't believe it. I mean, we've hung out during the day...we went camping for God's sake." He scrunched his brow. "I've seen you eat...lots of times. Are you sure you're a vampire?"
Teren chuckled and then sighed, knowing he'd have to explain his special brand of vampirism. Taking a few minutes he went over his family line. When he was done, Ben looked even more confused. "So...you can eat, and be in the sun, and you were born, not created, so...you're mainly human?"
Teren sighed. "No, not...anymore."
Ben scrunched his face, his perfect features looking so puzzled, it was charming. "He died recently. Side effect of vampirism," I said while Teren gave me a loving glance.
Ben's mouth opened and he looked from me back to Teren. "Oh, sorry, man." He gave Teren an odd, friendly pat on the arm, like I'd just said Teren's dog had died, and not him.
Teren laughed at the move and shrugged his shoulders. "It's not so bad." I laughed at his causal answer to being a member of the walking dead, and Hot Ben shook his head, still stunned. I patted Ben's back, hoping he'd choose to remember this conversation, for Teren's sake.
As he was still piecing the puzzle together, he looked between the two of us and shook his head, yet again. "But...you ate last night?"
I stopped laughing as I thought of that. Teren did too, as his eyes locked to mine. A moment of shared sympathy passed between us and then Teren answered Ben's question. "I...paid the price for that."
Ben brought a hand to his chin, making a connection. "Oh, that's why you were sick." Teren nodded and Ben looked amazed. "You willingly got sick, to pass as human?"
I nodded, my eyes watering. "Yes, he did." My hand stretched across Hot Ben to grab Teren's knee and he laid his cool hand over mine, squeezing gently before releasing it.
As I pulled back, Ben watched our connection break, his face still speculative. "The club...the drinks?" He looked over at a suddenly sheepish Teren.
"I switched my full ones for your empty ones." Teren shook his head, his eyes apologetic. "You never noticed."
Ben suddenly laughed, his face relaxing. "God, I thought I'd suddenly become a lightweight." Teren laughed with him and then, still studying his odd friend, Ben's face turned serious again. "So, that's your whole life? Playing a role, living a lie?"
Teren sighed, looking past him to me. "It feels like that sometimes." He shrugged. "I wouldn't if I had a choice. But this...isn't a choice for me. It never was." Ben sighed and put a hand on Teren's shoulder. I nearly cried at the contact, so did Teren. His eyes watered a bit, as he watched Ben's reaction carefully. "So, like I said, we have ways to make you forget, if you don't want to remember this." That last part came out in a whisper, and the moisture in his eyes got dangerously heavy.
Ben looked him over and then looked back at me. "I just...I need a minute to process this." He looked back at Teren. "Do I have a minute?"
Teren nodded, smiling slightly. "Of course."
Ben looked at each of us again and stood shakily. "I need to go lie down," he muttered.
Teren nodded and stood with him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Ben looked back at him, not flinching at the contact. I took that as a promising sign. "You can't tell Tracey, you can't tell anyone." He gave him a pointed look. "We're trusting you."
Ben swallowed and nodded. He took a step to the door then turned to look at me. "You've know about him from the beginning, Emma?" I smiled and nodded. Ben shook his head, amazement in his face. "Wow, you're a strong person. I don't think I could..." He let that trail off, as he looked back at Teren. My earlier hope that he'd be okay with it, faded a bit.
As he took a step towards the door, Teren called out to him. "Ben." As he looked back, Teren continued. "Halina will make the choice for you, if she knows that you know. You can't let her see that you know the truth." Ben swallowed, looking a bit frightened again. He took another step towards the door when it seemed that Teren was finished. As he got to the handle, Teren spoke again. "I would really rather you make this choice for yourself, so please, be careful what you say...even alone. We have exceptionally good hearing."
With his hand still clasping the metal lever of the door, he turned his bleach-blonde highlighted head back to Teren, a perfect brow cocked. "How good?"
Teren smirked and took a step towards the door. Lowering his voice, he said, "Good enough to know that last night, Tracey asked you if you would..." Teren looked over at me and then took a step to Ben, whispering something in his ear.
Ben paled, his mouth dropping. "Jesus, Teren! We weren't even in the same building as you."
Teren raised an eyebrow. "I know..."
Ben paled more, his blue eyes as wide as lakes. "Oh, that means they all..."
Teren grinned and nodded and Ben shut his mouth, flushing with color as he said, "God, I wish I'd known that earlier." He cringed and shrugged. "Sorry."
Teren laughed and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, I've heard worse." Then Teren cringed and Ben let out a nervous laugh. Sighing at the both of us, Hot Ben shook his head and finally opened the door to leave. I was happy that he was at least not screaming at the top of his lungs. Muttering goodbye, he practically fled the room that had probably just changed his entire view on life.
I sighed and walked up to Teren, clasping his hand. He sighed and looked down on me. Not knowing what about that to comment on, I playfully said, "So...what did Tracey ask him?" I grinned and Teren grinned with me.
"You don't want to know," he whispered in my ear as he leaned down to kiss my cheek.
I sighed and rested my head against his shoulder. "Now what do we do, Teren?"
He sighed and rested his head against mine. "Now...we get married."
Chapter 7 I Now Pronounce You...
There are a lot of things that happen when you get married. The first of which, is having your friends and family dress you like you're suddenly incapable of doing it yourself. After Teren escorted me from that fateful guest room, he took me back to Ashley's room, where even I could hear the ruckus laughter emanating. The two girls inside were sipping on glasses of champagne, and doing last minute adjustments to their hair and makeup when we opened the door.
Tracey squealed when she saw Teren standing beside me, both giving him congratulations for the upcoming nuptials, and admonishing him for confiscating me for a quickie before the ceremony. Neither one of us wanting to explain what had just happened, we let her think that. Plus, Teren was shirtless, since I was wearing his t-shirt (I couldn't have walked into that room with a blood-soaked boob now, could I? Not without squeals of a different kind). And as Teren had felt the need to escort me all of the way into Ashley's room, claiming he was worried I'd get sick again, when really, I think he just needed the comfort of my presence, after the tension with Ben, sex was really our only cover story.
Teren took the commotion (and Tracey's relentless teasing about the absence of my shirt) with an embarrassed grace. His eyes betraying the true worry he felt over recent events, he kissed me softly on the head and told me he'd see me at the altar. Those words passing his lips had a way of making me forget that a friend had discovered our secret. That was, until he left and I was attacked by Tracey. Having her fuss over me, while I discreetly slipped on a bra of Ashley's (thank goodness we were nearly identical in more ways than one), reminded me that Hot Ben was no longer clueless Hot Ben. As Tracey stripped off my clothes, I hoped Ben wouldn't break Teren's heart.
The second thing about getting married, besides no one letting you do anything for yourself, is that you're not allowed any freedom. Once I was in my white gown, I may as well have secured myself in heavy manacles, down in the deepest dungeon. True, it was the nicest dungeon on earth, but still, I wasn't allowed to leave Ashley's room. A prisoner in white satin and a crystal tiara. Only bathroom breaks were being allowed, and even those were monitored and supervised, the hallway cleared of outsiders like my friends were the secret service and I was some foreign dignitary.
I was allowed a few visitors to help me pass the time, mainly family, so really, just Mom and Alanna, so I had to watch the growing festivities through the window. Through my peephole into the real world, I could see one of the pastures near the front of the house, where Jack and Jack's trusted hired hand, Peter Alton, were having guests park their cars. Some of the more uppity looking people did not looked pleased about walking through the mud to get to the house. I smiled, knowing their view of the ranch would change dramatically, once they got inside.