Paranormal Bromance (10 page)
Because I could apparently still make friends. I could still have a life. That made me happy.
We managed to get the place cleaned up in a couple of weeks, with Rick and the Family’s help. Windows replaced—and new grates put over them. Door and locks replaced, carpets cleaned, furniture replaced. Aaron even managed to sell the dented lunch box. So that was where we stood, with the living room still impressively cluttered, cardboard boxes waiting to go out for morning pickup, a table full of action figures waiting to be packaged up. Jack was out at Psalm 23, Aaron was in his room at his computer, and I was sitting on the sofa, playing video games. Ginny was on the sofa with me. All completely normal.
An entire fantasy world bridge on the TV screen exploded, sending a swarm of orcs—and Ginny’s avatar, unfortunately—plunging to their doom in an electronic abyss.
“I think your vampire reflexes give you an unfair advantage,” she said, frowning.
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The response time on this game is awful. You can’t tell because you move the controls so fast.”
“No I don’t—do I?”
“The other alternative is that I’m a shitty player. Are you calling me a shitty player?”
“I’d never do that.”
“Good.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Reset that bad boy, I’ll get you this time.”
“You say you will. Hey, aren’t we supposed to be working together on this one?”
“I thought so, until you blew me up.”
“That was an accident. Won’t happen again.”
She smirked.
Aaron came out of the room then. He didn’t even blink anymore at Ginny being here. “Hey, anyone want pizza?”
We did.
Carrie Vaughn is the New York Times Bestselling author of a series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty who hosts a talk radio advice show for supernatural beings. She’s also written the Golden Age superhero novels, the contemporary fantasy
Discord’s Apple
, and the young adult novels
Steel
and
Voices of Dragons
. She’s a contributor to George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards series, and has written upward of 70 short stories for various anthologies and magazines. She attended the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop in 1998, and was nominated for a Hugo Award in 2011. Carrie had the nomadic childhood of a typical Air Force brat, but managed to put down roots in Colorado. She collects hobbies and entertains a fluffy attack dog named Lily.
Paranormal Bromance
by Carrie Vaughn
Copyright © 2014 by Carrie Vaughn, LLC.
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, locations, and events portrayed in this book are fictional or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover Design:
Tiger Bright Studios
Copy Editing: Molly Tanzer
Formatted by:
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