don't blame me

Classes were already wrapping up for Christmas. Nothing until Wednesday, thank God, and even then it was likely to be easy. They didn’t like to torture their students right up until the last minute – although, Phoebe thought smugly – some were already anticipating when it would kick back in. The poor little things.

She strolled past the lounge area in the dorms where everybody was gathering. ’One last study session, come on Phoebe.’ The whine followed her down the hallway as she tossed up a hand in farewell. Nope. She was not about to spend a free afternoon chained to a stack of books a foot high. Another whine, a toss of her hair back at them. Not today. Not until after the break. This was the first Christmas she was going to have with Lawrence in the better part of a century, you could bet she was going to make the most of it.

Phoebe made a beeline for her car, tossing her bag into the passenger seat before she started out. He’d likely not have left the club until the wee hours of the morning – last night had been one of the only ones she hadn’t trailed into town after her last class to keep Lawrence company. Trailing home, hopefully not with the blonde from the club clinging onto him, although the brief glimpses she’d had of her there gave the impression that she never swaggered out of the place. Not a vamp without a ring, no frigid air around her that would’ve spoke of that but sus as hell.

A punch of a button had music flooding the car on the way through the woods. Whiskey eyes sweeping those trees like the big bad wolf himself was likely to drift out with the explanation she didn’t really want about Hannya. Did that make her Little Red Riding Hood? Ugh. The thought left Phoebe shuddering. Tiny she might’ve been but the wolf wouldn’t have stood a chance against her, thank you very much. She’d learned enough about watching out for herself since her sire had knocked out the door and snatched away the coven’s second choice future leader. Vampires, wolves, psychics – irritating when they tried picking their way through her pretty head and pouted over failing miserably. Magical folk she already knew plenty about – more than she cared to now. All those warnings their parents had given more like a guidebook to a town that seemed to draw them all in now.

Lawrence, innocent and naïve as he’d always been – in her eyes, anyway – right in the middle of it all. Vulnerable in a way that left the pit of her stomach pitching and it wasn’t from thirst either. A blood bag had taken care of it first thing this morning, as she’d stood at the tiny window in her room, studying the slowly waking campus beyond. It was worry, the fear that all of this was going to be snatched away again.

Not on her watch.

Horns blared, earning them the middle finger flipped in a friendly wave, as Phoebe gunned her car into a space outside Lawrence’s building. Phoebe shot a prune faced woman coming out of the building a sweet smile, she even held the door for the old dear before she strode inside. Not entirely without manners, just patience. The tap of heeled boots on the tile as she waited for the elevator to tick back down. She was already ready to go again by the time she reached Lawrence’s floor.

Could’ve knocked she supposed but the key she’d been given for emergencies was just as handy. Phoebe stepped in, slipping it bag into her bag as Lawrence cursed at her. She stared at him deadpan as she bumped the door shut behind her, one brow only lifting once she glanced at him. ”Stopped again, you mean?” she asked, tickled at her own joke. Grinning, she didn’t even bother dumping her bag down on his couch, she just plucked his coat up and tossed it in his direction. ”Worried I’m going to find you up to something? I thought you used the club for all of that. Come on.” Tipping her head in the direction of the door she went to open it again. ”We’re going shopping. You got my presents yet? Doesn’t matter, we’ll pick a few out. For me. From you. Why are you still standing there? Scoot.” She didn’t go as far as clapping her hands at him like he was a stubborn toddler but Phoebe stopped, narrowing her eyes at him. Why so antsy? Hmm.

Tagged: LAWRENCE MURPHY * Word Count: 764

It wasn’t exactly the same as when they’d been kids but it hadn’t taken long for her to slip back into Lawrence’s life. A pint sized pain in his ass muscling in through the established pillars of an existence that had been without her for the better part of a century. Maybe he hadn’t wanted her that deep into everything but Phoebe wasn’t about to sit on the side lines and let it all drift by her like she hadn’t desperately tried to dig up where her brother had gone for years. Sharp elbows, a sharper tongue and an absolute refusal to take no for an answer, if there’d been any chance Lawrence would’ve said it anyway.

He hadn’t even grumped too hard when she’d walked in now and had found him jumping like the little fish that would get caught in the pools amongst the rocks at the edge of the lake after a heavy rain. Acceptance, that was what it had been, and they were all the better for it. The coven was gone, their parents probably already dust, the only had each other to lean on. Well … Phoebe tilted her head slightly, tossing the idea back and forth in her head like she was holding a mental conversation all of her own.

Hazel eyes snapped narrow, amusement pulling at her mouth as she lobbed the final shot in that silent conversation – even if he did have half a town of ‘connections’ out there, it didn’t matter, this was the most meaningful one, a bond that went through blood and beyond. Phoebe tucked the keys back into her purse and shouldered it. ”I always have been. You just weren’t around to appreciate it.” The grin puckered at he teased back, the lack of detail – thank god – in his explanation, not enough to stop the silent ewww that rolled out. Her hand went up, fingers splaying. That was one story she didn’t want out of him, probably a dozen stories if his coworkers were anything to go by.

Phoebe wriggled fingers at him as he failed to put the coat right on. It wasn’t like they had all day to sit around and grumble, they were burning daylight here. She huffed a breath out as he put his coat on. ”Don’t be ridiculous. The early bird gets the worm when it comes to costumes. Do you really want to spend Halloween dressed as Elmo because all the best stuff’s gone?” He was already lifting a hand though, fingers bare like he was a bride-to-be who’d been dumped. ”How do you kind of lose the ring that stops you from going up like a candle?” Phoebe asked sharply. She set her bag aside almost absently, not paying any attention as it dropped onto the couch. Reaching for Lawrence’s hand, she held it up again, studying it like the ring would suddenly appear back.

Of course it wouldn’t though. He’d let some girl … the sigh felt like it came from somewhere around the last inch of her three inch heels as she looked up at her brother. Phoebe’s brows rose, her own fingers wiggling in demonstration that she’d kept hers – shocker – while his own remained bare as she stepped back. A cluck of her tongue, disappointment rolling from her. ”So…” she drawled. ”You got suckered in by a pretty face and ended up letting her walk away with the ring off your finger. How did you…” Oh no. The disappointment had her pressing her fingers to her brow as she peered at Lawrence through them. He hadn’t needed to get home dodging sun rays. He’d probably brought her back here without even noticing.

A shudder rolled through her as he smirked back at her. Phoebe had her hand peeled off her eyes and up in an instant like she could ward off the story she definitely could do without hearing. She let it drop slowly, frowning as he smirked before one brow ticked up. ”You think I know every supernatural in town?” She tilted her head. Maybe she knew half, it wasn’t her fault that Lawrence barely poked his head out of that place. Warlocks were a dime a dozen in this town they … oh!. Instantly she was letting her face go blank. Hazel eyes going large and innocent. ”Teddy? Like the bear, I can’t say I have. So you think this Teddy is gonna be able to…” Phoebe fluttered her fingers in the air like she was conjuring up a rabbit, or a ring. ”You’re just gonna let the girl scurry off with yours? Nope. We’ll track her down and I’ll get it back if you won’t. Who was she?” If he said some woman he met in a bar, one who’d caught his eye with that buttery slick of innocent charm that was so human that you couldn’t resist, she was calling bullshit on the whole thing.

Tagged: LAWRENCE MURPHY * Word Count: 821

Patience had never been one of her many, many virtues. Their parents had tried to instil it in her, lessons met with a rolling of eyes and a hasty escape the moment she could slip the bonds of another lecture. They’d failed miserably. She’d found trouble almost daily in her lack of it. Slipping from bed in the middle of the night, pushing every boundary they’d put up for her, especially after they’d lost Lawrence, she’d wanted out, she’d wanted it all now. Charging straight ahead into all those minefields. Maybe if she’d been able to look before she leaped she wouldn’t have opened the door of the house to the vampires. Phoebe had questioned that move a thousand times in the intervening decades but had always come around to the realisation that if they hadn’t gotten her that way they would have found another. Damned by her own actions the night the vampires had come slinking into the valley.

It wasn’t all bad though, was it? An eternity of being continually charging in to things she shouldn’t, an eternity in exchange for the hunger – which was manageable. A blood bag before she’d set out that morning, taken from the little fridge under her desk – locked to keep prying hands and eyes out. She’d been set to drag Lawrence out of here and into something non-embarrassing for Halloween at the Ruby Slipper. Their first Halloween together since she’d practically a child. It wasn’t much to ask was it? Yet Lawrence had been standing there in the apartment like he was ready to clutch at the door frames with his nails.

Phoebe rolled her eyes at him, a finger ready to rise in that universal gesture of ’no’, like he was toddler being warned not to jam a finger into an outlet. No, Elmo wasn’t for him and he knew it. Hazel eyes narrowed, a pinched smile below them. ”Only if you want everybody in the club to tickle you. Unless that’s your thing now?” There was an innocent to her tone that rapidly turned to exasperation.

Gone? He’d let someone take the ring their parents had made for him, that last little sign of any love they might have once had for their children. The ’no’ wanted to slip out again but what would be the point, he’d already let someone get the ring off of him and was now cowering away in the apartment in case he got a little toasty. Phoebe inched back, eyeing her brother with a combination of pride and exasperation. Tickling wasn’t his thing then. ”She did that and then you let her slip away,” she said, no question to his voice. She let out a sigh and shook her head, more disappointment now. ”You sure she didn’t take your brain with her too? Lawrence. You don’t let women slip away like that.” Especially not with the ring that was your one protection against the sun and those shrewd eyes that would soon notice you were only out after dark.

Hand pressed to her brow to block out any more mental images – thankfully the worst of them was set aside after Lawrence had assured her the ring had come off his finger at the club, she could sit on the couch without being squicked out at least – she’d been ready to toss the lecture at him the way their parents would’ve done. Lawrence lobbed his own hand grenade though. Of course he did. Take the attention off of his own mistakes to dangle her own adventures – no mis thank you very much – at her.

Innocence slammed down immediately. All wide whiskey eyes and fluttering lashes. That little pucker between her brow as she feigned complete ignorance of Teddy, as though chances of there being more than one in a town like this were slimmer than slim. Warlock? Oh, of course he was. The widest eyed warlock to ever walk the planet. It explained the absolute lack of experience and why he and Lawrence were obviously bosom buddies.

Phoebe stayed silent as Lawrence shook his head. Oh there was that protective big brother she’d pictured the morning after, although it wasn’t Teddy getting the warning. That was a twist. She propped herself against the counter, folding her arms mulishly over her chest, eyeing her own ring pointedly, as though she were comparing their two slips. ”Blown him off? I told him to call me,” she said sweetly. ”It wasn’t as though I said nights. I promised a night, singular. I didn’t know you and him had pinky promised to be best friends. What other stories has he told you? Or were you the shoulder he cried on about me?” Didn’t that put a shudder down her spine. How many details had sweet little Teddy babbled about before Lawrence had realised who he was talking about and had put a block on anything more? Ugh. Too many, since she was now being lectured about breaking her one night stand’s heart.

Tagged: LAWRENCE MURPHY * Word Count: 833

Phoebe’s sigh was heavy enough to leave her feeling deflated. Sheltered. Their parents, hell, the entire coven, had kept them isolated in their little valley. No other supernaturals there to distract them, no partying, no temptation. Just good little witches and warlocks preparing to produce the next generation and become productive little elders who would keep their own children sealed up in their tiny corner of the world. A vicious cycle it seemed Lawrence hadn’t entirely broken away from. Maybe if he’d been a little more worldly, jaded, he wouldn’t have lost his ring to a woman indulging her kleptomania with her mouth. It wasn’t like she’d seen the world but even she knew better than to trust so blindly.

The sound broke off with a tut of disgust. One hand coming up to wave any more description back. Phoebe’s mouth pursed as she looked at her brother. No amount of shaking him for his idiocy was going to rattle the ring free. By now it was probably in the window of some cheap pawn shop a half dozen towns over. ”And you didn’t know because she distracted you.” The laugh well up in her throat as she shook her head at him, wondering just what happened in men’s brains to leave them so clueless. ”You want to go into that meeting completely naked, who knows what else she might steal otherwise. Do you honestly think you’re going to find her again when you can’t even leave the apartment til dark?” She closed her hand into a fist, her thumb rubbing over her daylight ring. It’s not like either one of them had gone years without protection to know how to deal with it.

Phoebe rolled her eyes back to her brotherly, that smile narrowing her whiskey coloured eyes further. Nope, she still wasn’t going near it, not until that thing had been scrubbed down and she’d used a blacklight to prove it. ”You’re the one associating with dubious women,” she lobbed back. Her own forays had been far less salubrious, crowned off with the entirely innocent Teddy.

Of Lawrence’s tiny circle of friends.

God. If it wouldn’t have made it obvious she’d have pressed a hand to her brow again. She’d not exactly kicked him out of her room the next morning. He’d asked, quiet sweetly she supposed, and she’d told him to call her as she’d swept out of the room – alright, perhaps she hadn’t left her number behind but she hadn’t promised happy ever after with a chick from a bar as one of his firsts.

Chin held high like she was on the moral high road here, Phoebe reached for her bag. She fished in it, had just a little smug in her eyes as she unlocked her phone and held it out to her brother. ”Find his missed calls on there and I’ll say mea culpa.” And she had no intention of that of course. Who the hell would’ve thought that of all naïve little beans in Mystic Falls she’d come across Lawrence’s favourite.

It was worse than that. She resisted the urge to turn around and thump her head on the counter-top. Teddy had saved Lawrence’s behind and Lawrence had turned around and repaid the favour but obviously it had gone from a mutual ass saving to little finger locking besties … who had probably discussed exactly what she’d gotten up to with Teddy before she’d swaggered out and left him in her bed. ”It’s a shame we can’t find someone to make him forget.” Phoebe growled in her throat, turning away from Lawrence to dig through his cupboards for something to drink. If they weren’t going out and she had to listen to a lecture on just how she’d broken Teddy’s heart she was going to need a bottle, or six. ”We did get on pretty well, even if he’s even more sheltered than you. Did you know he’d never eaten fries? How do you go your entire life without having fries?” Turning back with a bottle vodka in her hands, Phoebe shook her head. Mystified.

Twisting the top off, she hopped up onto the counter and took a swig. Phoebe swiped the back of her hand over her mouth, careful to blot her lips rather than smear streaks of ‘Cupid’s Arrow’ across her face. ”You want me to phone him and tell him he was amazing for a night but I’m sorry, I’m not interested? You really don’t know how to let people down easily, do you? Was that how you spoke to your … lady friend? If it was, I’m not surprised she stole your ring and disappeared into the night.” The bee was in Lawrence’s bonnet about Teddy. There wasn’t going to be any letting it out unless she either did as he asked or promised convincingly enough that she was going to.

Tagged: LAWRENCE MURPHY * Word Count: 813