The Sons of Satrina: A Sons of Satrina Novel (7 page)

Chapter Nine.

“Oh
mygodIreallycan’tbelievethatthisishappeningyou’resoluckyIwishthatitwasmeyou‘regoingtohavesuchagreattimewhattimeishepickingyouupwhereareyougoingwhatareyougoingtowear?”

Lana had gone out of her way to come here to Aisline’s work to gush over her good fortune at landing a date with the one and only Jordan Battilier. 
Yay, me
, Ash thought to herself glumly.  At least one of them was excited about her date - Lana hadn’t even come up for air yet, she was that excited.  Well, as far as Ash was concerned, she could have him.  If only it was that easy to get out of it, then she’d happily trade places.

Honestly, though.  Coming in here, to where she worked (albeit part-time, but hey) and basically skipping around the diner, clapping her hands together like a little girl was a tad too much for Aisline to bear.  Sometimes, Lana could be so bloody immature and it really grated on her nerves.  Right now, it was taking all her self-control and restraint not to smack her one straight in the gob.  Sure, she was genuinely excited for her, but she was also too blind to see that Ash really wasn’t into this date, and Lana rubbing it in was only making it worse.

It was still only early evening, with the sun’s lingering rays still reaching their spidery fingers out over the horizon, the day cooling rapidly around them.  When she’d made her way in to work for the late shift, she always took the late shift since there wasn’t much choice for her really, there had been a definite chill in the air.  You know how it feels when the sky is threatening snow?  Yeah, it was like that.  Perhaps she’d get snowed in here at the diner and they’d have to cancel their date?  She could only wish.

“Why are you not more excited?  I can’t believe it. I wish it were me.” Lana clutched her hands at her chest in an overly wistful manner before giggling.  The girl could be so dramatic on occasion and Ash wished that she’d hidden in the back.  Hey, they were best friends and had been for a really long time, but she really could do without all this giggling annoyance right now. 

“Yeah, I kind of wish it was you, too.” she muttered, too quietly for Lana to hear. 

Aisline couldn’t honestly believe it either.  At first, she had thought that maybe it was some kind of warped joke.  All of a sudden, Jordan had started popping in for a coffee on his way into work, or when he was passing by, or just using any excuse that he could think of.  Sure, he was one of the sexiest Matris guys that she had ever laid eyes on, but really? Seriously?  He hadn’t looked twice at her back when they had gone to school together, so what changed?

He’d dropped by the diner for the sixth night in a row, casually trying to draw her into conversation, before dropping the bombshell of the date invitation.  Ash had been so taken aback that she had agreed to go out with him before she even realised what she was doing.  After agreeing a day and time, she’d watched his fine ass saunter out of the diner, and the second he’d exited, the doubts had kicked in.  He was nice enough to look at, but Jordan had not been at the front of the queue when personalities were being handed out.  Looks were all he really had going for him, and for Aisline, that wasn’t enough.  He was as dull as dish water. He was the kind of guy who traded only on his looks because he had nothing else to offer, no depth to him at all.  No sense of humour.

“Yeah, sure.  So lucky.”  Ash replied, a little louder as she checked out her reflection in the stainless steel backing that was behind the counter.  At least she wouldn’t have to get dressed up or anything like that. 

Lana had come into the diner and tried her damnedest to get Aisline to change and make a bit of an effort before Jordan was due to show up, but she wasn’t having any of it.  He knew that he was picking her up as soon as he shift finished, and anyway, she didn’t want to give him the wrong impression. There was no point in going to any effort when she deeply regretted agreeing to it.

Plus, she wasn’t so much in the mood to dress up or go out at
the moment.  With the grief that had been rolling through her body for the last few days, she just didn’t have it in her. The death of their leader had hit her family hard. She’d hoped that Jordan would have had the decency to call her and check that she was okay for tonight, then she would have been able to lay it on thick and back out of this nightmare.  But, no such luck.  He hadn’t even shown his face back in the diner since the night she had agreed to go out with him, and she didn’t have his number, so she was stuck.

And she was surprised that her parents were letting her out at a time like this.  Hell, they were positively encouraging her.
They were as excited about this as Lana was. Shame Ash wasn’t feeling the same.

Her
family and the entire community were in deep mourning after the announcement that their leader had passed away under suspiciously violent circumstances.  But, no. Not even that monumental incident could get her out of this evening.  She’d tried to lay it on as thick as she could get away with, despite the fact that she had truly felt horrendous, but her mother simply gave her a hug and said that an evening out with such a ‘nice’ boy would take her mind off of the grief.

Terrific.

Rolling her eyes at her reflection, she knew that her mother would throw a complete fit if she saw how she looked.  With her wrinkled uniform and hair that looked like it could use a good brush, her mother’s old-school style and grace would have been shocked to the very core.  Lana had come around before sunset to straighten and style her hair, but that was all she let her loose on.  If Lana had had her way, she’d have been turning up for her shift at the diner in a floor length ball gown.  Not a cat in hells chance of that.  And anyway, her hair didn’t look too bad.  She’d just run her hands through it one too many times.

She had conceded and wore minimal make up, which was quite a move for her.  Aisline was naturally pretty and didn’t need cosmetic enhancements, but she’d done the whole mascara and lip gloss thing. 
But, that was where she drew the line.

With a sigh, she turned to look at Jean, who nodded eagerly.  Her heart gave a nervous leap.  It was time.

Jean was one of the owners of the diner.  Things had gotten better in recent years for the Matris race.  Now that the human world was developing at a faster rate, everywhere seemed to be opening up twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.  That made the lives of the vampires who ventured out into the human world so much easier.  At least they had a variety of places that they could go no, rather than just the Matris owned establishments.

This diner was, in fact, a Matris owned business.  This little diner had been open since way before
Ash had even been born. Her father had been bringing her here for more years than she cared to remember.  They served the best strawberry milkshakes on the planet, and they were not a habit that she’d kicked as she’d gotten older.  It was part of the reason she had managed to land a part time job here - Jean had known her since she was ‘knee high to a grasshopper’.  Although, they did have to limit the amount of free milkshake that she could consume…..

The place was warm and familiar to her, almost like a second home.  Hell, Jean and her husband, David, were often a hell of a lot warmer than her own parents.  Her mother was strictly old school, keeping to the Matris traditions
and shunning the human world. She wouldn’t even admit that she loved TV and Aisline had caught her many times watching her favourite soaps, sitting on the edge of the sofa with a tissue in her hand. Her parents hadn’t even wanted her to work. They believed that a woman’s place was in the home, but Ash had put her foot down.  She’d needed a bit of independence while she worked through her studies, and had been here for the last year or so.

Jean and Lana were grinning at each other like demented Cheshire cats.  She didn’t need Je
an to tell her that it was time. Lana dancing around the diner like a complete idiot kind of gave it away.  Aisline was tempted to ask her again if she fancied taking her place on the date, but she couldn’t get Lana to stand still long enough to talk coherently.

Aisline ran a hand through her hair as she watched her friend and her boss chatting animatedly.  The girls were as different as night and day.  Both of their families were old, of good lineage and aristocratic, and
Lana happily filled all of her parents expectations of the perfect daughter - feminine, quiet, agreeable.  To be totally honest Ash was, well, none of those things.  Sure, she had the attractive thing going on, but those looks were always hidden in clothing that her mother deemed ‘inappropriate’.  Honestly? Are jeans really that bad?  So what if her favourite pair had a few more holes and rips in them than the designer had intended?  Her mother despaired of her.  They were just different people, living in different times.  Ash knew that they would probably never see eye to eye on most things in life.

That wasn’t to say that her parents weren’t proud of her.  They were, just for different reasons.  She was strong, independent and determined.  Plus, they had her sister to fulfil the role of the prim and proper daughter that Aisline would never be, so they basically just let her get on with it. They had given up the battle.  She knew that didn’t mean that her whole family didn’t wish that she would have a sudden change of heart, but they were ready to bide their time with her, hoping that she was just sewing her wild oats and would see reason one day soon.  Not that that was likely though.  Aisline’s stubborn streak was legendary.

Her mother, bless her cotton socks, had always tried her damnedest to educate her daughter in the ways of feminine pursuits.  She had always been encouraging her to take up more genteel pursuits, such as knitting.  Knitting?  Really?  Seriously?  All that had happened was that Ash had ended up poking a huge hole in one of her mother’s leather arm chairs with one of the big, awkward needles.  Needless to say, her mother didn’t encourage that sort of activity after that.

Any sort of physical activity, like martial arts, or any sport that required physical contact were strictly forbidden.  Talk about stunting her growth!  She was ol
d enough to do as she pleased. However, while she was still living under their roof, she had to abide by their rules. Blah, blah, blah…  Well, she was seventeen and working her way toward a future for herself.  That was part of the reason she got this job. Independence.

On the whole, though, they’d learned to accept her for who she was.
She was a modern girl living in a modern world. Not that it didn’t stop them wishing or her mother giving her ‘helpful suggestions’, but these days, it was like water off a ducks back. She was a goddamn adult.  Well, kind of. She could still act as immature as the next girl, but she had her head screwed on, even if it wasn’t quite the way that her parents wanted.  She was stubborn and she knew what she wanted out of life.  Tonight had been a momentary lapse in her sane judgement, not that her mother saw it that way.

Aisline hadn’t told her.
She never mentioned anything about her love life to her parents. It wasn’t worth the lecture.  No, it had been Lana that had spilled the beans on this one. Her mother had been unbearable ever since.  They were always giving her grief for hanging around with the ‘wrong boys’.  They didn’t understand that there was actually nothing wrong with the guys she chose to date or hang out with; they just weren’t of the pedigree that her parents strived for her to have.  Well, if Jordan was the ‘right kind of boy’ for her, her parents were going to be sorely disappointed.

Slowly taking her hands out of her pocket, Ash wondered if she could make a run for it and lock herself in the ladies toilets.  Surely being stuck would be a good enough excuse to get out of this date?

Pushing her way through the back doors, she heard Lana shout, “Don’t be long!” in her annoying sing-song voice and Ash felt like growling.  There would be no escape.

T
en minutes later, they were all still sat around the Formica counter, sipping on glasses of Pepsi and Jean and Lana nibbling daintily at a shared plate of orange cheesecake.  Ash didn’t think that she could stand anything to eat right now.

She had made up her mind that she didn’t real
ly want to go now, anyway, so Jordan being late was not helping matters in the least.   It was just dragging out the inevitable.   Jean and Lana were both so concerned that she might have been stood up and were throwing her sympathetic looks, which Ash just thought were highly amusing.  This was the best thing that could have happened.  Another five minutes and she would be able to get the hell out of here and thank her lucky stars.

“Um, I th
ink maybe I’ll get off now.” she said, looking at them hesitantly.

T
hen the bell over the main door jingled to announce the arrival of another customer.  Ash didn’t really want to look. She knew who it was before she even turned around. She couldn’t help but hope that it was some stranger dropping by for a coffee.

Oh, crap.

There was no getting out of it now.  Jean was already making her way around the counter, gushing over Jordan and making a ridiculous fuss.  On the subject of Aisline’s date, unfortunately Jean was in total agreement with Ash’s mother.  In their old school way of thinking, Aisline was finally courting someone who they deemed worthy. Not the usual riff raff she slummed it with. 

His stuffy shirt was tucked into his neatly pressed jeans and gaudy tie screamed good breeding to Jean, but it made Aisline want to puke.  This wasn’t her kind of man, nowhere close.
Give her a dude with muscles and plenty of ink any day.  She cringed to think of the kind of conversations that her mother, Jean and Lana would have the moment her back was turned.  They were all sure to start in with wedding plans.