Ruby was in the kitchen, half listening to her mother go on and on about everything and nothing out of excitement of seeing her only child after such a long time. Ruby hoped her dad wasn't challenging David to an arm wrestling match or giving him the third-degree. Finally she heard heavy boot steps coming down the hall and felt relief. David entered first followed closely by Charles.
"Have you kids eaten?" Ruth was looking in some of the cupboards.
"Yes mom. Don't worry about that. I just came to see you and dad!" Ruby shook her head. Her mom had been the "cool" mom, always with a house full of kids back when she and her brother were growing up. So used to fixing after school snacks, she'd probably lapsed to thinking Ruby had brought a school friend over.
"So, David," Charles leaned back against the counter edge, looking as though he was sizing up the other male in the room. "Do you work in the business too?"
"I did, but I've moved on to a real job, sir." David smiled charmingly. Ruby blinked, having no idea what David was talking about. "I work with clients in the diamond and gem business. Quite lucrative."
Ruby busied herself in a cupboard, looking for a glass. Right now would be a dangerous time to start laughing. If David considered seizing the jewelry off victims and pawning it as "lucrative"…
"You must see some lovely things!" Ruth smiled. "Such interesting things, gem stones!"
"Indeed, ma'am." David gave Ruth an even more charming smile. Charles moved towards David, slinging an arm around the vampire's shoulders.
"How about we go chat, leave the womenfolk to their girl talk?" he grinned at David and directed him through the doorway before David got a chance to answer. Ruth smiled after her husband and David.
"Such a polite young man!" Ruth smiled at Ruby, who nearly dropped her glass.
"Uh, oh yeah, he is." She managed, hurrying to open the fridge and find something to drink.
"Are you two seeing each other?" her mother smiled, and Ruby could almost sense the talk heading down the 'when do I get grandchildren?' path.
"Um, yeah." Ruby managed, gulping down some apple juice she'd found, forgoing the glass and drinking from the container.
Ruth patted her daughter's hand. "He's a nice young man, I'm sure. You've always been sensible about your choices, and I'm sure that extends into choices about the opposite sex." Ruby realized she hadn't needed to force a fake blush; she was blushing.
"Mom…"
"You're being careful, right? Protection? I won't be getting a surprise phone call telling me I'm going to be a grandmother?"
"Mom!" Ruby choked on the juice.
Ruth smiled wistfully. "It would be nice to hear the pitter patter of little feet running through the house again though…"
"I think I hear Dad calling me." Ruby shoved the juice bottle back in the fridge and fled the kitchen. She found David sitting uncomfortably on the couch, her father in his oversized recliner across from him. Charles was gesturing with his hands. Great, Ruby thought. God only knows what her dad had been saying. "Um Dad?"
"Yes sweetie?" Charles smiled lovingly at his daughter.
"I was thinking David might like to look around the house…" David was on his feet before the words escaped Ruby's lips. Charles shook his head and laughed.
Ruby gave her father a look.
"I'd love to see the house." David looked around for the nearest escape. Ruby tugged the elbow of his coat and led him in the direction of the stairs. David zoomed up them, leaning down mid-way. "Oh, thanks for the pep talk, sir! I'll think about your advice." Downstairs, Charles chuckled.
As they reached the second floor landing, David breathed a sigh of relief.
"What'd he say?" Ruby smirked.
"Various veiled threats to my person if I wasn't good to his daughter." David smirked back, stepping into Ruby's space and catching her mouth in a kiss. "How was your mom?"
"She wants to know when we're giving her grandchildren."
"She's in for a long wait." David kissed Ruby again, licking the taste of her off his lips as he leaned back. "So, where's my house tour?"
Ruby socked him in the upper arm. "See if I help you escape next time. Dad's got some really pointed lectures about dating. I remember my brother got the whole catalog." Ruby stopped. It was the first time she'd mentioned Jeremy in years. Unconsciously she stepped away from David and started down the carpeted hallway. Behind her, the blond vampire followed silently.
Gently, she twisted the well-worn doorknob. With a soft pop and a creak, the door opened on a room that hadn't changed in over a decade. Ruby stepped into her brother's bedroom and surveyed it. Her mom hadn't allowed them to take anything down or store any of Jeremy's belongings; they were still as they were when he'd died. David's boot falls were soft as he stepped into the room. He stopped at the desk, picking up a framed picture of Ruby and Jeremy as kids.
"Mom wouldn't put anything away. They don't come up here much anymore. A year after he died, she just stopped. I think it finally sunk in he wasn't coming home." Ruby's voice was soft. She continued to stand just inside the doorway as David made his way slowly around the room. Everything he touched he put back in its place.
"They never knew really what happened?"
Ruby shook her head. "It was chalked up to a botched robbery." Her eyes glided about the room and its contents. As her eyes hit the small bronze crucifix nailed to the wall, the room shifted and her knees gave out. Ruby dropped to all fours, coughing as though she'd been sucker punched in the stomach.
"Everything all right up there?" Charles called from the family room.
"Yeah! Just dropped a book!" David replied through the doorway as he tried to help Ruby up. She shook her head, staying on her hands and knees, keeping her eyes adverted.
"What the hell was that?" she hissed under her breath at David. The other vampire quickly scanned the room.
"What did you look at?"
"The cross, over there on the wall."
David tipped his head, looking at the same crucifix. Nothing happened to him. He was silent for a minute then frowned. "Ut oh."
"Ut oh? What do you mean 'ut oh'?" Ruby tried a quick glance at the cross but the room shifted yet again and she was forced to drop her head once more.
David crossed the room in three steps, his gloved hand removing the crucifix off the wall. "I was wondering, admittedly, what yours would be."
Ruby tried to calm her thoughts and make some sense out of the situation. It suddenly dawned on her. "My weakness is crosses?"
"Apparently." David opened a drawer and stuck the cross in. He returned to her side, helping Ruby back to her feet. "Your family doesn't seem that religious…"
"They're not. Jeremy was. He'd spent a couple of summers at the youth camp the local church hosted… got himself saved around twelve." Ruby rubbed her forehead to try and stop the pounding.
David nodded. "Well. Is that the only one he had?" Ruby thought for a moment.
"Try the dresser. He had a little silver cross on a chain he'd wear." David fetched it, keeping it in his gloved fist as he crossed the room back to Ruby.
"Let me know if this hurts." He opened his hand and held the small silver crucifix necklace up in the line of Ruby's sight.
Ruby braced herself but nothing happened. She frowned, looking at David. He too frowned. "Let me try this." He pressed the silver cross to her forehead. Nothing.
"What the hell?" Ruby scowled. David shrugged and put the necklace back on the dresser. He opened the drawer and pulled out the bronze cross and held it up. Ruby crashed to her knees once more. "Ow!"
"No rough housing in the house!" Ruth reminded in a motherly-tone.
"Put it away!" Ruby hissed loudly at David, her fangs descending rapidly. It was horribly painful and made her want to tear everything apart in the room just to make it stop. David shoved it back in the drawer.
"What's the difference in the crosses?" David asked her.
"What?"
"There's obviously a difference in them. One cross causes you pain, the other does nothing. What's the difference?"
Ruby wracked her brain trying to think. "The bronze one… mom and dad got him that as a present for his confirmation. I remember that day. They were happy about his choice. Mom's a lapsed Catholic anyway. We went to the little Catholic church and saw the Mass and stuff…"
"The cross, Ruby." David directed her thoughts back to problem at hand. "Was it blessed?"
"Yeah, by the Pope. Mom got it from Rome…what about it?"
David pursed his lips and nodded shortly. "There we go."
"So because it's blessed? That's what makes it hurt?"
"Yeah." David helped her to her feet once again. "Touched by the divine as it were. The real McCoy. Obviously the necklace wasn't blessed."
Ruby's head was swimming. Every vampire had a weakness: Marko's had been running water. David's was garlic. She was 'allergic' to real religious artifacts. Some trip home this had been.
"But what does that mean?"
"Means you're repelled by religious artifacts that are the real deal. It shouldn't be too much of a problem. You could probably step foot in a church, but any of the crucifixes, if they'd been properly blessed and touched by the divine, well you'd be up shit creek without a paddle."
"Touched by the divine… you mean by God?" Ruby blinked at David.
"Yes."
"But that means…?"
"Yeah, he's up there." David gently guided her out of Jeremy's room. "I'll put it back up on the wall, so your parents won't notice." He turned and went back, leaving Ruby in the hall. She wanted to tell David her parents would never notice, but her mouth was dry and words wouldn't form on her tongue. David returned and softly closed the door.
