Page 75 of Foes & Cons
I look around again, then back at the line drawing of me in full Juliana cosplay, my cape billowing out behind me as I lean on my sword. I hold my breath and blink at Charlie Chamberlain’s drawing and read the two words scribbled under it.
Good luck.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
BUD LEROY
It’s giving you the warm and fuzzies, isn’t it?
JULIANA THE DEMON HUNTRESS
I feel neither this heat you speak of, nor this strange texture.
Vampire Falls. Season five, episode twelve – “Blood’s Thicker Than Disorder”
I tell you what, if you’re having trouble sleeping, I highly recommend spending a few hours panicking about a cosplay competition, followed by a performance channelled by sheer adrenaline, then getting hammered so your best friend has to carry you fireman’s-lift style up to your room afterwards.
I slept like an Undead Corpser from the moment my head hit the pillow, after the hair-grip removal and micellar-soaked cotton pads and moisturiser, lest my skin not rejuvenate after the heavy make-up, thank you, Roxy.
The bedroom door closes behind Roxy with a soft thud as she returns from breakfast laden with coffee and every pastry she could stuff in her onesie pockets. I close my pen inside my notebook, still tucked up in bed, and beam at her.
“I had thebestdream last night,” I say, stretching my limbs out like a Penumbra Hellcat waking up from its death sleep.
“The Damon Van Schwartz appearing in the common room in full Viggo costume one?” she says, popping the coffee on the bedside table.
I nod and she gasps.
“What’s wrong?” I say.
“Your notebook, babe!” She puts her hands to her cheeks. “I haven’t seen you write in it in for ever.”
“I’m not reallywriting,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Just like, sparking, maybe.”
“Sparking is good. Is itNever Leave?” I look at her, and she takes my non-response as the change of subject request I’d meant it as. “OK, I’ll shut up, but it’s good to see that creased little treasure of your warped imagination again, babe.”
I roll my eyes again, but it does feel good just having it on my lap.
“How you feeling?” she asks.
A hangover looms, but my soul is the most buoyant it’s felt since we arrived here.
“Goood,” I say, wiping a crust of drool from my cheek. She sits on the edge of her bed and sips her coffee, smiling down at me. “Amazing. Knackered.”
“I’m not surprised, babe.” Her eyebrows lift and she nods her head a fraction. Classic Roxy seal of approval. “You were incredible.”
“Wewere,” I say. “No way I could have pulled any of that off without you.”
“Awesome Team Awesome,” she says.
“Awesome Team Awesome,” I repeat. I cross my legs, thinking about the routine from last night. “Fake McKinley showed up with his sword skills. Wasn’t expecting that.”
“Right?” Roxy lifts an eyebrow and fans herself. “I asked if he would help because, well, I was desperate, and he agreed, no worries. I showed him my original plan which was just you with the swords. Cool, but probably wouldn’t have stood up to Vivian’s thing. We talked it through whenever we got a moment, but he made all the other suggestions. The drums, the water. Even Dorothy and the fire, I mean, what the fuck?”
“What the fuck indeed.”
“It was all him,” she says, sipping her coffee. “My song suggestion though.”
“Obviously.”
