Chapter Twenty-Two

Said and Unsaid

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“Regan.” My father’s sonorous, rumbling voice filled my ear. “You all right?”

“Peachy as pie,” I replied cheerfully. “A-okay, one hundred percent, and in no way departed from this world.”

“Glad to hear it,” my dad replied wryly. “Milly tells me you’ve had some trouble with vampires in town.”

Somehow restraining myself from giving her a dirty look, I said, “Yeah, this one chick and her friends. But it’s cool.”

“Milly sounded pretty worried.” He said it neutrally, no judgement one way or the other.

“I know.” I did my best to sound contrite. “We talked it out. She knows why I was out late.”

“I don’t imagine I have to ask?” The question was almost sardonic.

“Well,” I said slowly, switching the phone to my other shoulder. “You can ask if you want, but I’m sure you can guess.”

He laughed once. “I’m sure I can.” The amusement in his voice warmed me. Unlike Milly, Dad hadn’t been too worried about it. At least someone trusted my skills.

“How are the Parkers?” he asked.

“Oh, fine,” I said. “Kinda butthurt about last night, but no biggie.”

“Do I need to come talk to them about it?”

“No,” I said quickly. “You really, really don’t.”

There was silence for a long time, and then, finally, “I see. Well, I hope whoever it was is worth the fallout.”

I couldn’t even have begun to formulate a reply to that before he was saying, “Goodbye, son. See you in a few days.”

“Bye, Dad,” I said automatically.

The phone went dead and I flipped it closed.

“Dude,” I breathed. “I cannot believe you called my dad. That’s so not cool.”

Milly crossed her arms. “I thought you were in trouble, I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Even if I am in trouble,” I said, “calling my dad is the last thing you should ever do.”

“Wouldn’t you want me to call him if you were in legitimate danger?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “Not unless you want him down here all wrath-of-God. The man is scary, you don’t even know.”

“Maybe I wanna watch him lay the hurt on whatever it was that hurt you,” she said. I didn’t think she was just talking about my hypothetical danger.

“This conversation is not happening,” I stated.

I got up and moved to the door.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Need to shower,” I said. “Ira only had straight-guy shampoo.”

***
Once the vanilla-scented steam started to waft around me I felt better. Something about the scent just put me in a chill mood. I was still a little miffed that Milly had called Dad, but I suppose I could see where she was coming from. It was still an overreaction, though. She’d known I’d gone to see Ira, and should have figured out why I was late coming home. But whatever, it was done. No sense being mad about it, especially since I had talked Dad out of coming down here.

After my shower, dressed in my own clothes, I meandered down to the kitchen. They’d started without me, which was fine. I could take long showers when I was in the mood, so I didn’t blame them. Abby’s fluffy pancakes were unsurprising perfection. The bacon was just crispy enough.

Things were pretty quiet as we ate. I answered whatever questions were asked, but mostly kept to my own thoughts. Some of the things Milly had said to me were starting to jangle in my head. I realized I had some things to do today. When breakfast was over, Milly and I cleared the table and then retreated to her room.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” I said as soon as the door was closed.

“About what?” Milly asked, joining me in a sprawl across her bed.

“About Zo,” I said, then stopped.

“And?” Milly prompted.

“I think I have to step it up,” I began. “She knows who I am, and if she doesn’t she at least knows I’m a hunter. Almost every major vampire House in the country keeps some kind of tabs on us. She might have a way to find out more specific things about me.”

I stared at the ceiling, letting my thoughts wonder. “And the kicker is, I told her my last name myself. I had to have a snappy opening line, I couldn’t just keep my mouth shut.”

Milly chose not to say anything about that.

“Anyway,” I went on. “It’s time I took back the high ground. I need some more intensive intel about her.”

“You got all that stuff with her class schedule and whatever,” Milly said.

“I know, but I need more,” I said. “The nitty gritty.”

“If you’re going to dig into her past,” Milly said. “It must be for a reason.”

“She’s tried to kill me recently, and I don’t think she’s going to stop.” My fingers tapped against the bedspread, restless. “Ira has importance to her other than whatever fear of him she may have. It’s important enough to defy him over it, important enough to bring in back-up.”

I turned over on my side to look at Milly more directly. “She’s going to try to kill me again. I think it’s time I returned the favor.”

She tilted her head to look at me. “You’re going to hunt her?”

“I’m going to have to.”

There was silence in the room while the weight of my pronouncement settled over us.

Finally, she said, “That seems like quite a raise in stakes.”

“Zo raised them first,” I pointed out. “She brought on her goon squad first. I’m just taking defensive measures.”

Milly cast me a look. “Going on the offensive is a defensive measure?”

“Best defense is a good offense,” I said. “It’s the way my training works.”

“You know, Regan,” she said softly. “This means more than just that.”

“I know,” I sighed, looking away.

“What if he finds out you’ve known all along?” she asked. “If you do this and then tell him you’re a hunter, it’ll look like a set-up.”

Damn, but Milly asked good questions.

“I’ll have to take that that turn when I come to it,” I said. “But for now, first things first. I have a phone call to make.”