If Need Be
It was an innocent enough question, but it plagued her to no end after Howleen asked it. "Hey, how come you guys weren't around when...you know."
Truthfully, Gory knew exactly why they hadn't been involved in a blow up since the Farnum incident. Three life-threatening experiences in a year were enough. It was purely sense that they wouldn't actively try to get themselves killed, even in the name of saving their friends. Vampires functioned a bit differently than most other monsters. After the first few centuries, other people became replaceable. Sacrifices could be made in the name of survival. Sometimes, she wondered why Bram bothered trying to keep her out of trouble at all. But honestly, leaving Belfry Prep had been hard enough. Dealing with Van Hellscream, one of the most successful hunters in history, that felt like dumb luck. After Farnum came and went, they went out of their way not to get involved. Someone had to survive to tell the story, didn't they?
"I don't know," she replied. "Good timing, I suppose."
She lied through her teeth, but it appeased the wolf cub, and Howleen turned back to her siblings eagerly. Frankie glanced up from her smoothie to meet the vampiress' eyes, but Gory simply shrugged. After a year and a half of potentially the most insanity inhumanly possible, the distance between the groups had finally begun to close. When Draculaura invited her to sit with the group of friends for the first time, she changed her Frightbook status from "Belfry Prep transfer at Monster High" to simply "Monster High." Vampires, especially like her, were the notoriously pretentious type, but in honesty, it was an attempt to cling to the sanity they left behind. At least both schools had libraries that rivaled the one in Alexandria. The small things had the ability to make any transition smoother.
Bram slid into his place at her side, drawing the attention of the other girls. He brushed his uncut bangs from his face and addressed her directly, "If I had to listen to one more sports report, I was going to put a staple gun to my forehead and hope it did temporary damage."
She smiled. "It's hardly better here. We're just talking about that new Hunter's Game picture. If they think the message to that is terrible, they should have Jackson show them Sharknado."
Frankie broke into a sheepish grin and lowered her eyes, "I don't know, I liked it."
"It was so bad it was good," Gory laughed, "Either way, we've stumbled onto an instant classic."
"What about the new Veronica Von Vamp?" Clawdeen asked, drawing attention back to their original topic.
"Ugh. But that's as bad as the sparkly vampire flicks," Cleo replied.
Draculaura shot Clawdeen a look. Clawdeen went pink. Gory, in an attempt to hold conversation, said, "We all had that shameful phase, sweetie."
"Oh no, her cousin Thad is sparkly," Frankie replied. Draculaura flushed too, and Bram chuckled, "Some people make questionable life choices."
"Like your eyeshadow?" Clawdeen snapped in reply.
He grinned, "The last time I checked, sweetheart, my siblings didn't chew on my shoes. Just because I own it while your boyfriend is still doing rental..."
The gender tension evaporated in a heartbeat. Howleen flicked a terror tot over at his tray, "I do not chew her shoes!"
"No, but Clawdia did!" Clawdeen laughed. The bell surprised the whole group, and the youngest wolf shoved food into her mouth before racing off to discard her tray on the way to class. The couple took their time gathering their belongings to go, lingering at the table until they were left behind with Frankie Stein for company.
"Where are you headed?" Gory asked the animation conversationally.
"Home Ick," Frankie replied, "You?"
"The library. Study Howl is the best free time I get all day."
"She's working on competition pieces," Bram boasted for them both. Her cheeks flushed lightly and she waved her hand in his direction. He twitched a shoulder in a shrug, abandoning their trays together and doubling back to take her hand as she and her friend stepped out into the clustered hallways.
"You guys know it's not a bad thing that you ducked out when that stuff with Whisp happened, right?"
Both halted, leaving Frankie to turn in surprise.
"Valentine wasn't our problem," Bram said, "and we weren't invited to Scaris. When Whisp came about..."
"We had to," Gory continued for him. "After Farnum, and Van Hellscream...you were asking too much of us to put ourselves in danger again. It's not that we don't love you, because you're a genuine friend, Frankie, but...we have to think of ourselves."
"I know," Frankie replied. She gave them both a small, friendly smile. "You really were very brave when they came around. And I know you'd rather observe than go to war. You don't have to. Nobody asked anybody else to fight for them. I wouldn't expect Manny to, why would I expect you?" She paused and glanced at the clock, "Do you know what I'm trying to say?"
"You don't value our friendship any less because we haven't exactly...been a part of the community."
"Exactly," Frankie beamed. "Oh, I gotta run. I'll see you guys later!" Despite the bound in the reanimated girl's step, when Gory glanced at her boyfriend, it held a bit of guilt.
"At least she didn't bring up New Salem," he offered.
She dropped his hand with a sigh, "She didn't ask us to be a part of the community but she values our friendship. There's either something vastly wrong with her, or vastly wrong with us."
"We're pretty normal compared to her," he replied. He tried not to smile, but it was incredibly difficult with a put-out girlfriend walking down the hall a pace ahead of him. "She's a kid, Gory. She doesn't understand that we're doing this for the good of everyone involved."
"Bull," she muttered.
He caught up to her and stopped in front of her, blocking the library doors from her path. "Would you rather have gotten locked up in New Salem with those idiots than be at home watching Netfrights with me?"
Her delicate red lips pursed and she became a mist to slip past him through the crack between doors. He turned and followed her in as she reformed at the base of the stairs at the entryway. "Gory. Sweetheart. Be reasonable."
"I am reasonable," she replied. "We were going to go to war with some teenage lycans over dominating this school. If we did, don't you think you'd fight a little harder for them? But no, Frankie Stein held her position as top dog, so you sat back and waited for the coup to overthrow her so we could get back what we had at Belfry, didn't you? Jackson is my friend; you don't think I wasn't terrified of losing him when those humans were going to kill Holt? You don't think I wasn't going to do something myself if they didn't get their shit together and do it for me?"
He leaned on the pillar and watched her with his arms crossed over his chest. "No, we stopped because Van Hellscream wanted us to kill each other. I stopped getting involved because I didn't want you to think it was okay to put your life at risk for people who aren't going to live forever. I was in Monster Lit when you were in the assembly with Farnum. Do you even remember that? He had a fucking sun beam, Gory. If it was larger, more powerful, you would've been ash. You want to ask me why we're not getting involved? Take that kid apart, put her back together, you plug her in like a fucking cellphone battery and she's fine. The werewolves have metabolisms beyond an Olympian's fucking wildest dreams, you don't think they'd heal on their own? Trolls hide, ghosts and demons are intangible except when they want to fight back, and even then you can't kill them. We're almost immortal. You have no reason to play Russian Roulette with the only mortal part of you."
Despite her flaring temper, her shoulders relaxed. He looked away from her as she smiled. "Of everyone that actually needs worrying about in this place, you're actually worried about me."
"Of course I'm worried about you, I love you. We've been together three and a half centuries, woman, I've seen everything we know change with you. I'm going to spend the rest of my existence with you, and there's no way in hell I'm going to let a group of children get in the way of that."
Her eyes glinted and she set down her bag against his shoes to slip her arms around his neck, "Remember fourteen sixty? Dracula's court? What did you say when the Turks tried to invade?"
He released his breath and uncrossed his arms from his chest. "'Grab a sword and follow me.'"
"Exactly," she whispered. She nuzzled her nose to his softly and murmured against his lips, "I haven't changed, Bram. Neither has the rest of the world. You're right, most of them are stupid children. They think they're invincible when they're not, but we are. We've lived this long, side by side, you and I. I'm not asking if you want to get involved in every little dispute. I'm telling you that if anything else happens, any other life and death situations arise, I'm going to step up to the task like we did back then. And you can either grab a sword and follow me, or you can put a ribbon on my sleeve and watch your champion from the sidelines. They're kids. They need someone with experience to teach them how to keep their enemies at bay."
"Because we all get arrogant and wonderful when we get old," he teased, nudging his nose to hers.
She kissed him softly. "We do. I can't say anything for the rest of them, but give it a few more decades. They'll grow tired with their little parties and petty wars and kick the humans into coexistence at the very least."
A small, wicked smile crossed his lips. "You're a horrible influence. I wonder what my mother would say."
"Your mother would be proud you found a woman like me, don't you dare lie to me." She swatted his shoulder playfully and he laughed. She picked up her bag, situated it on her shoulder and stepped away from him. "Now, sweetheart, let's not fight. Jackson said something about a book in here that established how different lifestyles influenced the taste of the blood types. It might actually be useful."
"Would Frankie be happy if you decided to go hunting again?" he teased. She started walking down the isle of bookshelves and he followed, as loyal and amused as a domesticated lion.
"What Frankie doesn't know won't hurt her."
"But it certainly will hurt someone else."
"See, you're thinking like a leader already."