The Sharpest Kiss

by Elizabeth Myles

  “I’m not here just to gawk at you,” Frankie assured Nathan when he sat down, “or to try and thank you again for saving my life—although I do thank you. Like you wouldn’t believe.”

  Nathan was relieved. He had been worried this was all Frankie had wanted, and he was glad to hear it wasn’t the case. Glad and intrigued. “What can I do for you, Mr. Lam?”

  The young man’s eyes lit up. “It’s more about what I can do for you. See, my dad and brother are both on the force. I hear things now and again. Things the department sometimes keeps on the DL, if you know what I’m saying.”

  Nathan toyed with a pen on Kiefer’s desk. He tapped it absently against a ceramic coffee mug labeled, ironically enough, ‘Magic Potion.’ “Are you speaking of things which…might be of interest to Kiefer and myself?”

  “Vampires,” Frankie said bluntly. “I know those two I put in the ambulance the other night were okay, but Theo said a bunch of others had run off and…well, what if I can help you find them?” Over the next few minutes, he offered Nathan information he’d gleaned from a loose-lipped cop friend of his brother’s, who worked a beat not far from the Courtyard at Vintage Meadow Lake. A woman had been attacked in a park, it seemed, and taken to the hospital with bite wounds on her neck and most of her blood missing. The report had been kept out of the official files, which explained why Kiefer hadn’t picked up on it through his routine surveillance of the local police departments.

  “Thank you, Frankie,” Nathan said sincerely. “This is very helpful. I can assure you Kiefer and I will follow up on the lead.”

  Happy satisfaction animated the guard’s features. “Yeah, yeah, sure, glad I could help.” He stood up to go, and Nathan walked him to the door. The young man stopped, peering up at him from below a thick lock of straight, dark hair. “Hey, uh, listen,” he said. “I have…I have cancer. A tumor in my brain. Showed up when I was in middle school.” He pointed at his skull. “After what you did for me, I went to the doctor and had him look at it again. Just to see, you know? I wanted to know if it was still there, and…well, it is. I’ve had treatments before, and it hasn’t grown since I was a kid but it’s still hanging out in there, chilling until the day it decides to start swelling up and try to kill me again.” He grinned as though this were in any way funny.

  Nathan’s eyes widened. “That is terrible,” he said. “I have wondered in the past, just how powerful my…gift is. I have only ever had occasion to heal broken bones and lacerations, things of that nature. I do know, however, that my blood is useless against colds and other minor maladies, so it does not surprise me to learn it did nothing for your cancer. Nonetheless, I am sorry to hear that.”

  Frankie shrugged. “I didn’t really expect anything different. I just thought you might want to know. And it doesn’t matter, anyway. I still could have died the other night. You still saved my life—and made it so that my kid might actually grow up with his dad around.” He paused, glancing at his shoes. “I still feel like I’ve been given a second chance, and I want to use it for something good. I think maybe I was meant to, you know?”

  “Yes,” Nathan responded, “I think I might.” He reassured the guard he was welcome to get in touch anytime he had information he thought might be useful to him and Kiefer, and then saw him out.

  An hour later, Nathan was back at home, working on a project for work, when he received a phone call from Aaron Ames. He was calling on behalf of himself and Lucy, he said, to ask about the status of the stray vampire hunts. He wanted to know if there was anything the two of them might be able to do to help.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Man, I will never look at Halloween decorations the same way again,” Lucy mused.

  Jessica looked up from the table where she’d been stacking swag bags stuffed with free paperbacks and promotional bookmarks, and saw her best friend peering thoughtfully at the wall beside them. Lucy was bedecked in a black skirt and pumpkin-colored sweater set, with a blinking jack-o-lantern headband nestled in her blonde hair. Her gaze was focused on the paper bats, tombstones, vampires, and witches dangling from orange and black streamers strung between the light sconces.

  “Right? All these years we thought this stuff was all made up, just fun and games, and now…” Jessica didn’t finish her sentence, but she didn’t need to. She knew Lucy understood what she was getting at. The world looked very different to them both these days—now that they’d seen what lay hidden beneath the veneer of everyday normality. It turned out there were dangers lurking in the shadows of the suburbs neither of them would’ve ever believed possible just over a week ago. Their experiences had been eye-opening and terrifying, but there was no denying some good had come out of learning the supernatural was real, too.

  Jessica, for one, wouldn’t have traded finally meeting Nathan for anything.

  Thinking of the vampire brought a blush to her cheeks, and she turned away before Lucy could see it. She focused on rearranging the gift bags, fluffing the tissue inside and patting the sides to make them stand up straighter.

  Lucy put a hand on Jessica’s back and chuckled. “I think those bags are just about perfect, Jess. You can stop fussing with them now.” She crossed to the refreshment table and returned with two glasses of champagne. “Here, take a break. I think it’s time for a little drink to celebrate all your hard work, don’t you?”

  Jessica frowned at the drink. “Those are for the guests,” she chided.

  “I’m a guest, aren’t I?”

  “I’m not,” Jessica reminded her. “This is my shindig. I’ve got to keep my wits about me, to make sure everything goes off just the way it’s supposed to. If it doesn’t, it could mean bad business for the store. Or no business.”

  “Yeah, but you’ve worked your butt off these past few days, taking care of every little detail. Everything’s going to be perfect. You’ll see.”

  Jessica glanced around the ballroom of the Vintage Holmwood Hotel, reassuring herself that every decoration was in place, that every table had a centerpiece, and that the buffet was fully stocked with drinks, crudités, and desserts. And not just any desserts, either, but specially decorated crullers, jelly donuts, and maple bars from Endless Donuts. Each pastry had been painstakingly adorned with fangs or bats or some other vampire-inspired motif. Except for the heart-shaped jellies, which had been stabbed through with tiny fondant stakes, so that the strawberry jelly inside dribbled out like blood. The results were nothing short of adorable, and Jessica was sure everyone was going to love them. She’d decided that, from now on, she would stock a few dozen of Endless Donuts’ masterpieces in a display case at her front counter, so that the Book of Love customers could savor them with their complementary tea or coffee.

  Turning around, Jessica double-checked that her assistant, Megan, had stuck the Prince Ion standee (a little scuffed after his ordeal, but still presentable) right by the door, and that there were plenty of boxes of A Prince at Midnight stocked behind the sales table. Her final order of business was to look down at herself and ensure she still looked presentable, too, in her short black dress, bat-print stockings, and high heels. To her relief, she realized Lucy was right. Everything did appear to be perfectly in place. There was no reason for the party not to go off without a hitch. Letting out a small sigh, Jessica accepted the champagne from her friend and took a grateful sip.

  “I still can’t believe Aaron managed to book this place for me on such short notice,” she said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done otherwise.”

  Jessica had called a clean-up brigade into the bookstore as soon as possible (it was amazing, the debris removers had noted with awe, just how much damage tweakers could do when they put their minds to it), but Book of Love was still basically in shambles. Megan and the other employees—even Mrs. Davis, who’d been surprisingly supportive in the wake of the disaster—had been working extra hours to try and help Jessica whip everything back into shape. Even so, it would be another few weeks, maybe even a month, before s
he could resume business there as usual. She’d been dejected when she’d realized she’d have to cancel the release party. But then Lucy’s boss had dropped by Jessica’s office one afternoon and laid out his rescue plan.

  Aaron “knew people,” he’d told her. He could “pull a few strings” and secure one of the smaller ballrooms at the Vintage Holmwood for Jessica, so that she could have the party there, instead. Jessica had demurred at first, worried that even if Aaron could pull off such an incredible feat in only a few days, she’d never be able to afford it. The Holmwood was a brand-new four-star hotel. The waiting list to book an event there was months long, and renting even half a ballroom cost hundreds of dollars. She’d been astonished when Aaron had told her he’d handle all the negotiations himself, as well as cover all the expenses—and that there would be no hurry for her to pay him back.

  “Why would you possibly do that?” she’d wondered, laughing.

  “You’re Lucy’s best friend,” he’d said. “And you helped her save my humanity. That’s kind of a huge deal, don’t you think? Compared to that, this is nothing.”

  Jessica, having never been given to excessive pride, nor prone to look a gift horse in the mouth, had finally relented, knowing she would eventually pay Aaron back, anyway—especially if the party went well and she managed to snag a ballroom full of new loyal customers for Book of Love.

  Now here she was, on the night of the party, and everything seemed set to go swimmingly. There was nothing left to do now but wait for the guests to start arriving. And there was, of course, one guest in particular Jessica was hoping would show. Someone she hadn’t laid eyes on since the night he’d delivered her to her apartment and left her sleeping in her own bed with the covers pulled up to her chin.

  Thanks to the spell Kiefer had cast over her, Jessica hadn’t awakened for hours that day. She assumed the sorcerer had also used magic to lock her door after Nathan had left her there. It was annoying to be manipulated like that but, given what she owed them both, she’d decided to overlook it. A few days later, she’d slipped a note into the vampire’s mailbox, thanking him again for everything he’d done, and letting him know where the party had been moved. She’d been sure to note how much it would mean to her if he came.

  She glanced over and saw Lucy watching her now, no doubt wondering what was on her mind. Jessica, superstitiously afraid to jinx Nathan’s appearance by talking about it, decided to change the subject.

  “How was dinner?” she asked, knowing Aaron had whisked Lucy away to his favorite pizza parlor before bringing her here. Jessica recognized the restaurant from its name, knew it as a dimly lit joint with sticky rings on the tables, but judging by Lucy’s dazzled expression, her boss may as well have taken her to the Four Seasons.

  “Great,” she sighed, and her eyes acquired a new glow. “Aaron’s really awesome, isn’t he?”

  “Well, you know I’ve got no complaints about him,” Jessica laughed. “Although I think maybe he’s been holding out on you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Jessica waved around the ballroom. “The way he hooked up this place for me so fast. And how all I’ve had to do since then is mention his name, and the people who work here fall all over themselves to give me whatever I want. It’s been like something out of Goodfellas. You know that Copacabana scene?”

  Lucy’s mouth twitched with amusement. “So, what, you’re saying you think Aaron’s some kind of gangster or something?”

  “I think he might be, yeah.”

  Laughter erupted from Lucy’s lips. “Well, I’ll be sure and ask him about that sometime.” She glanced across the ballroom to where Aaron had just appeared in the doorway, looking dapper as ever in his dress shirt, tie, and slacks. Although tonight’s tie had miniature jack-o-lanterns printed all over it. He zeroed in on Lucy and raised his hand, flashing a grin. “Speak of the devil,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me?” She started toward him, and Jessica smiled happily as she watched her go—but she couldn’t help feeling a pang of envy, too. Where was Nathan? she wondered. Would he even be here tonight?

  ◆◆◆

  It was half past midnight before Jessica got another break. A few hours had zoomed by in a blink, and she found herself happily exhausted. She had been smiling so much and for so long that her face hurt. Tons of people had shown up for the party—including the Donovans, even though Dara was no fan of big social events—and they’d all seemed to have a wonderful time. Business had been brisk, too. Megan had broken away from the sales table for a minute to inform Jessica that she and the other cashiers had already blown way past their projected sales goal for A Prince at Midnight, and that they’d moved dozens of other titles, too. And that was before R.Q. Vander Gries had even made her appearance.

  Dara, God bless her, had come through with her library connections last week, and provided Jessica with an email address for the author’s manager. Jessica had written Vander Gries a short message, explaining Book of Love’s plight and inviting her to the party. Vander Gries had responded personally. She’d been effusively condoling about the store in her return email, and while she hadn’t been able to attend the party on such short notice, she’d overnighted a stack of autographed merchandise for Jessica to raffle off as door prizes in a fundraising raffle. She’d also agreed to an exclusive virtual Q and A session with Jessica’s customers on the night of the party.

  Such overwhelming largesse had made Jessica’s head spin. She wondered if Vander Gries would have been more or less sympathetic had she known the bookstore was destroyed by an actual vampire. And that the vampire had, in turn, been beheaded by a weapon hatched straight out of Vander Gries’ own fevered imagination.

  Jessica shook her head in mild amusement over the whole thing, and then turned and watched as a giant flat screen monitor was wheeled into the room. Megan, dressed in a reproduction of Duchess Horatia’s ballgown, complete with billowing hoop skirt and corseted, ruffled bodice, followed right behind it, ready to moderate the discussion. She plucked up a microphone, chattered excitedly through a brief introductory speech, and then opened the floor for customer questions. Before long, the genial, white-haired novelist responsible for the evening’s festivities was onscreen, fielding breathless inquiries from an eager audience, many of them also elaborately costumed as their favorite Sharpest Kiss characters. Everyone seemed enthralled with Vander Gries, and Jessica had no doubt that as soon as the session was over, even more people would stream to the checkout station to buy books. Which meant Jessica would be able to pay Aaron back even sooner than she’d hoped, and she’d probably rake in a nifty profit to boot. It was wonderful news.

  Even so, Jessica’s heart ached as she finally sat down at a table in a dim corner at the very back of the room, with a jelly donut and a fresh glass of champagne in front of her. The night was almost over, and Nathan wasn’t at her side. He hadn’t shown up. A part of her wasn’t all that surprised. He’d told her, hadn’t he, that he couldn’t forge relationships with anyone? He was too afraid it would lead to disaster. But after everything they had been through together…

  Jessica felt her eyes sting and her chin tremble, and she silently scolded herself for being such a ninny. Her friends were safe, and the night was a success. The store was going to bounce back from the vampire attack. These were the important things, the issues she ought to be focusing on.

  And there would be other men.

  Not like him, she thought, and tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. She felt a tear slip past her lashes and slide rapidly down her cheek. Angrily, she moved to dash it away, but another hand got there before hers did.

  “What has happened? Why are you crying?”

  A gasp escaped Jessica’s lips as she jerked up her head. She blinked to clear her vision of tears, and to reassure herself she was really seeing what she thought she was: Nathan in his usual jeans and t-shirt, lowering himself into the chair next to hers. A muscle in his jaw ticked, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes—
she had the feeling he was questioning who he might need to murder for making her sad.

  Jessica sniffled. “I…I thought you weren’t coming.” Then she realized how pathetic that sounded, and she forced a smile, trying to laugh at herself. Another tear slipped from her eye, and Nathan’s hand came up again, gently swiping it away.

  He looked devastated. “Is that why you are upset? Because of me?”

  Jessica hurriedly shook her head. “Pssh. No, of course not. That would be dumb, wouldn’t it? When everything else has gone so well tonight?” She grabbed her champagne flute and gulped down a hearty swallow.

  Nathan’s expression cleared a bit. His lips curved in a placid smile. “Yes. I ran into the Donovans on my way in. They said the evening had been a resounding success for you.”

  Jessica’s smile became more genuine. “It did seem to rock everyone’s socks off. We sold a ton of books, and lots of people said they couldn’t wait for the store to reopen so they can start shopping there again.”

  “I am happy for you,” he said with sincerity.

  “Thanks,” she said. “And thanks for coming.”

  He continued to smile, but she saw uncertainty flicker in his eyes. “I debated whether or not I should,” he admitted.

  Her heart sank. “Because you don’t want to be with me, do you? I knew it. That’s why you had Kiefer put me to sleep that night, so you wouldn’t even have to say goodbye to me.” So you wouldn’t have to kiss me, she added silently.