Chapter 100 - Preparations

The next morning, just as promised, Alexandra sent me the shopping list of things for my camping trip, and now I had two sets of things to hunt for (besides, you know, the mad vampire after my head and JJ's male equipment). With how my furniture hunt progressed, I doubted I will find what Avarice wanted until Ivana-Kupala. Whether I will find it before the end of the month was yet to be seen.

As always, Alexandra was extensive in her instructions, giving me clear recommendations on how to pick this or that. I didn't put off buying my camping supplies, and by Sunday afternoon I had a rucksack and, together with it, but not IN it, a mountain of camping supplies I had to fit inside somehow. That included a tent, sleeping back, rolling mat, utensils, gas-cooker, small cooking pot, mosquito repellent, swimming suit, and everything else a camper needed (according to Alexandra). The only things missing were food and hygienic supplies that I would put in at the last possible moment. Somewhere.

"Do you need help, ma chèrie?" JJ asked over my shoulder. 

He stood close enough that his chest brushed my back, and I was acutely aware of it even when most of my attention was on the dreadful camping trip. I told him about my concerns about Christina on my trip. In return, he responded with the same things I had said myself—I will be safe from her, surrounded by all the witches. From his lips, though, the words calmed me much more.

"Maybe," I said. Alexandra gave instructions on that too, but practice was a different thing. "The sleeping bag should go on the bottom, then the heavy things closer to the back…"

I shoved the compressed sleeping bag into the rucksack as I said this, but the next was more complicated. The heaviest thing around was the tent, so after some consideration, I began to push it there, but JJ's hand on my wrist stopped me.

"Ah, I can't just watch you fumbling and do nothing about it. Now, watch." 

With these words, he crouched next to me and began swiftly sift through the piled equipment. In a matter of minutes everything was put inside according to Alexandra's instructions: heaviest stuff closer to my back, less heavy stuff next to it, the lightest stuff on top, the space for the most useful stuff—like food—on top for that, free for now. The rolling mat went in the straps on the outside. As for the tent, JJ took it out of the cover and put heavy support rods in the middle of the rucksack, and the lighter canvas on the top.

I looked in wonder at the rucksack and the amount of space left. "Wow, this was amazing. Thank you, JJ. Now I don't want to ever unpack it, because I know I won't be able to stuff it back in again."

He let out a bout of rich laughter. "I know you will find a way, ma chèrie. Look at all the free space. It will be free on your way back, too, after you eat all the food."

"And if worse comes to worst, I can jump on it a little or something," I mumbled, smiling, only to frown in the next moment and sigh. "Damn, I wish Alexandra had it in mind to warn me earlier. All my plans are thrown off. And you will have to watch the store while I'm away." I sized JJ up.

His hair continued to grow almost by a centimetre each day. By now, he had enough for it to curl and to fall into his eyes, though still not enough to frame his face as perfectly as it did before. An amused curve of his soft lips invited me for a kiss. His shirt was slightly ruffled with all the shoving of items he did, and he had a button open, showing just a hint of his chest muscles, just enough for me to wonder if he had a hairy chest, or just some hair, or nothing at all.

I realised I was looking for anything BUT a proof of professionalism and snapped my eyes back to his. I think I saw a speckle of red in there.

"But I'm sure you will manage," I finished lamely.

"I will, but it will be two very grim days without your humour to brighten them." JJ grinned at me and pulled me to his side by my arm. "We should take what time we have until then to drink in each other's company."

I melted into his side without protest. JJ's grip on my arm was gentle yet strong, just like the muscles I felt under my side felt like steel hidden under a layer of velvet. I wondered if they came from his occupation in life or from whatever preparations his sire put him through before turning as I ran my hand over them.

"I hope you aren't being literal here," I said, grinning back. Truly, with the search for Christina and for the damn furniture set, we spent less time simply chilling and cuddling together than I'd like. And making out, of course. Either way, I still didn't even show him my carefully planned list of vampire movies.

"Ah, I wish," JJ's eyes darkened with more than just red, and his eyes dropped to my neck—only for a moment, but I noticed, and I couldn't help but shiver. He must've caught my reaction, because he ran his fingers through my hair in a calming gesture. "But it's not healthy to give out blood often, and it has barely been a week since your last time. I'd prefer to wait a full month to be sure."

A full month! I felt relieved to hear this, even though I knew JJ wouldn't drink from me without my permission, because there was another part… Another part of me that longed for the thrill of it. The naked hunger, the desire…

Too much, too fast, and yet I craved it. Sometimes—like now—I couldn't understand myself, and the avoidance of the problem was the only way I knew how to deal with that.