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Given how often she replayed reminders in her head, torturing herself with her worst mistake, it was embarrassing how long it took — okay, only a few weeks, but still… — for Cal to figure out that Juliette was a vampire.
It was that smile. That dorky, adorable, sweet — okay, that getting side-tracked was why it took so long for her to realise, if she was being honest — smile that Juliette got on her face whenever she locked eyes with Cal. That and the fact that, even though it had been drilled into Cal since she was three that monsters could easily mimic the behaviours and appearances of humans, she couldn’t help but think that she got a bit of leeway when the vampire in question had once managed to trip over her own feet walking down the corridor.
Honestly.
How in the hell — she winced, her mom even had her apologising for cussing in her head — could you be a vampire and be that awkward? How could you be best friends with Ben Wheeler and be that awkward was probably just as valid of a question.
Cal noticed the migraines Juliette kept getting first and, sure, maybe a more experienced hunter would have known to put that with Juliette’s age and become suspicious, but it wasn’t as though she looked like a monster.
But that was the point, wasn’t it?
That no matter how adorable a monster looked, it was only mimicking a person. It wasn’t really a person; not deep down. Not in the way that being human mattered.
So, when Cal followed Juliette into that pantry, she knew she was going to kill her and rid the world of one more monster. The kissing was just so she could get close…
Yeah, telling herself that lasted all of about three seconds, then she let go of the stake and fell into the embrace. Juliette didn’t feel any more like a monster than she looked and for a few, blissful moments, Cal convinced herself that maybe she was wrong.
Maybe there was another explanation.
For the blood capsules.
For the aversion to silver.
Yeah… right…
Just as well she never tried to make that argument out loud, since it sounded pathetic just inside her head.
When Juliette bit her and broke the illusion they had been allowed to float in, it took longer than Cal would ever admit for her to react. She should have responded at the graze of teeth, before any skin was broken or any blood was taken.
But she didn’t, and didn’t like to think of why that was.
Nor did she want to think about why she slammed the stake into Juliette’s chest with hurt and indignant fury, the taste of betrayal so strong and bitter on her tongue.
How dare she?
How dare Juliette mimic someone that Cal could fall for, be coaxed by, disarmed by…
Now, the facade was broken and there sure as hell was no going back for either of them.