I invited my closest friends to our housewarming party today. I told them about the pool and Jacuzzi so they’d bring their swim suits. I told them I was very, very much in love and very, very happy. I told them that Anando is amazing and treats me like a queen, and even hinted that our bed life is beyond words. And while I was at it, I told them about Anando being a vampire.

I had been very nervous about sharing that one piece of information with anyone. I’m not ashamed in any way of my relationship with Anando, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me being in love with a vampire. But I know not everybody feels that way: for a lot of people, vampires are scary predators, and whoever associates with them must be deranged or suicidal. I’d never talked about vampires with my friends before, so I didn’t know how they would react.

I guess the one thing I did expect was that they’d be surprised. And I was wrong about that.

“We’ve been waiting for you to ‘fess up for months,” Lea said with a roll of her eyes.

“Honestly, we’d have needed to be blind not to notice your neck,” Jane added. “And that you’ve been distracted and smiling like a loon for no reason. Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

Why indeed is the question, and I have no good answer for it. I didn’t know what their reaction would be, but I wasn’t afraid of it either, so why not just tell them and get it out of the way?

As I think about it, I keep coming back to the same thing. I liked that Anando was my little secret, my forbidden pleasure, the one aspect of my life that was mine and mine only.

All of that changed at the moment he suggested having this party. It was his way of publicly making me a part of his life, of saying to everyone he knows, “This is the woman and live with and love.” And if he was going to shout it for all to hear, I suddenly wanted to do the same thing and have everyone who is close to me know about him.

Well… everyone except my parents, that is. I am not ready for that conversation.