Free Fangs for Freaks by Serena Robar Page B

mom and grandma served Ileana’s mom and her grandmother?” Talk about a family business.
    Sophie stopped her folding actions and looked at me in speculation, then turned back to her task. “As I said, my family has served the Romanavs for centuries.”
    Well, okay then. I left her to her lady’s maid tasks and went in search of Carl.
    Carl and I began our relationship hating each other. Back when I was first changed, he thought I was mocking him when he asked to see my fangs and I showed him my stainless steel fang headgear. But over the last eight months, we’d become almost friends. Actually, I think he still had a thing for Piper but she hadn’t shown any romantic interest in him after he was her date for Homecoming. She liked him well enough but wasn’t willing to date a vampire, and I couldn’t blame her. Relationships were tough enough without adding the whole Undead thing into the mix. I worked with Carl and over time, I managed to grow on him. Much like a fungus, he was fond of saying.
    I figured he wouldn’t be too thrilled to hear how I left Thomas stuck in California. When I found Carl at the massive dining room table, poring over some paperwork from his briefcase, he smirked as I entered the room and commented, “Never a dull moment around you, is there?”
    “Ah, I see Thomas has filled you in.” I grabbed the chair across from him and sank into it.
    “Breaking rank and leaving your partner essentially locked in a safe house while you placed yourself in danger is grounds for an inquiry.”
    “I did not lock anyone in a safe house!” I hotly refuted. “I left him asleep in his room in the middle of the day! It’s not my fault he can’t go out in the sun. And, for your information, I am the Protector of the half-bloods and I shouldn’t have to wait for an Investigator to go talk to them.”
    Carl raised an eyebrow and replied, “Thomas is not any Investigator, he was the one assigned to you on this case and he’s your senior.”
    Before I could reply, a new voice added itself to the conversation.
    “And by ditching him and playing Wonder Vamp, you kind of rolled his face in the fact that you didn’t need him there and that he has no value. No value as an Investigator or as your boyfriend. Nice job.”
    I turned to glare at Piper. “I did not devalue my boyfriend. He knows how much I, uh, I value him.” Who uses “value” in a sentence that doesn’t include “shopping,” anyway? Not value Thomas? Sheesh, how could Piper say these things to me after I shared my pain with her?
    “I’m just saying …”
    “Well, don’t,” I said, cutting her off rudely. “Thomas and I are fine. He’ll be just fine. You just don’t get it. Our relationship is complex,” I added a little lamely, feeling myself sink into a shame spiral. Thomas was always doing whatever he could to help me and I had kind of slapped him down on this one. I shouldn’t have let my anger about our personal situation affect my job.
    It’s just he made me so mad, acting like he knew everything and I was a newbie loser who couldn’t even walk on the beach in the middle of the day without wreaking havoc. Well, I did just fine. And my success would be just the eye-opener he needed to see I could take care of myself.
    Piper threw her hands up and muttered, “Whatever,” and walked back into the living room. I stood up and glared at Carl, daring him to contradict me. He turned back to his paperwork, effectively dismissing me.
    Well excuse me for living, er, not living .
    I stomped away in a bit of a huff. Didn’t anybody see my side of this? I was doing the best I could do at this stupid job. A job which I never asked for, by the way, and no one seemed to appreciate how hard I’d been working at it. Not Piper, not Carl and especially not Thomas.
    I climbed the stairs to my bedroom and threw myself on the bed. I lay on my back, looking up at the ceiling, hugging my fluffy pink throw pillow to my chest. Would it ever get