I messed up really, really badly. And I’m lucky Andrew has a sense of humor or I would be out of a job today. I don’t think many bosses would be all right with being turned into six years old kids.
It all started with those stupid glasses. I’ve always had 20/20 vision, and part of me was proud of that. It’s a stupid thing to be proud about, but there you go. Lately I’ve had trouble reading the small print in one of my oldest magic books. Every time he sees me squinting, Craig says I look cute like that. Subtlety is not my husband’s strong point.
I finally went to the optometrist and got glasses. I hate, hate, HATE them. But they do help me read the small print, and the not so small print, too, so I guess I did need them.
Next thing I knew, Craig was hurt. It’s not the first time, far from it. I’ve lost count of how many times demons spilled his blood or broke his bones in the past fifteen years. It’ll never, ever stop feeling like I get stabbed in the gut whenever the phone rings and someone – usually Andrew – tells me my husband is in the hospital. And it’s getting worse, because Craig isn’t as young as he used to be. Not as fast, not as strong, and not as quick to get back on his feet after he gets hurt.
He’s been on bed rest for a week, and it’s driving him crazy. Three days ago, he made a joke about how he’s starting to see the attraction of being a vamp and never growing any older. I know he’d never really consider it, not any more than I would – I know it because we talked about it, long ago – but just the same it started me thinking.
Why don’t vampires grow any older? Why do they heal faster? It has to be magic, but what kind of magic? And would it be possible to replicate it?
I’m good at magic. Very good. Something else I pride myself upon. So I started researching the question. Books didn’t give me much, so I came up with a couple of experiments. I asked Andrew and Nicholas if they could give me a few drops of blood each for research, and they trust me so much that they didn’t hesitate before agreeing, didn’t even ask what I was researching exactly. Good thing, too. I would have felt like a complete idiot admitting I was looking for a way to slow down or reverse aging so I wouldn’t need glasses anymore – and so Craig wouldn’t get hurt so often.
But I did feel like a lot worse than an idiot when something went terribly wrong, and my experiment on their blood samples affected them – and turned them into little kids.
Cute kids. Adorable kids, even. They'd have been even more adorable if they could have spent more than two minutes together without arguing. They lost their memories, but they argued just as much as they do as grown ups. Without the making up, thankfully. That would have been too disturbing for words.
No harm done in the end, I suppose. They had a fun day out from what I’ve heard, and even though Jacob wasn’t thrilled at first, by the end of the day he was ready to give his fathers a second chance at being human by raising them himself. He’s a great kid, but I doubt he realized what he was offering to take on.
After all this, I think I’ll be leaving that bit of magic alone. Craig will heal on his own, and one of these days, he’ll have to stop fighting. And as for me, I guess I’ll need to get used to those damn glasses.
