by R. E. Butler
“Would I be in charge of the vampires during my shift?”
“As the job foreman, yes. They’ll check in with you, like our people will. Connect with Parker, he’s the first shift supervisor. You can shadow him for a bit and get the lay of the land, and then take over second shift.”
“Sounds good.”
“Maybe a change of scenery will be just what your cat needs.”
“It’s possible.”
“It wears on males after a while.” Midas looked thoughtful.
Cyrus stood and looked at him. “What does?”
“Being alone. We either wait for our truemates or we move forward with someone we know isn’t the ‘one’ right person for us. It’s a crap shoot.”
He hummed in agreement. “It sure is.”
Cyrus said goodbye and walked home. The house was dark and quiet, which told him Gavin had gone to bed. He sent a text to Parker to let him know that Midas had assigned him as second shift supervisor, and he’d be at the club in the morning to get up to speed, then he climbed into bed.
He stared at the ceiling, his mind wandering. Midas wasn’t wrong. Cyrus had a choice – settle down with a female who wasn’t his truemate or wait for her. She was out there somewhere, he was certain. He just wished she was with him already. Perhaps a change of scenery was just what he needed and maybe in the process, he’d stumble across his truemate.
He certainly hoped he would.
Chapter Three
Cella smiled at Quaid as he set his duffel on the bed. He put his hands on his hips and looked around the cubicle.
“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“What isn’t?” she asked.
He frowned and gestured to the room. “It’s tiny. We don’t even have our own bathroom. I thought we were going to stay in your chamber under the club.”
“I was clear that this was a trial run,” she said. “I can’t bring you down into my chamber until I’ve officially taken you under-the-fang. Which I haven’t yet.”
“I know, I know.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I just thought we were going to have more privacy. I didn’t think we’d be living in a common room like kids at sleep away camp.”
Her stomach knotted. He hadn’t been with her more than a few minutes before he started complaining. This wasn’t exactly how she’d envisioned things going on their first night.
He sighed. “I guess it’s fine. How long until we can move to the chamber?”
Her frown deepened. “Why do you want to be in my chamber so badly?”
He moved to her, a smile on his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Baby, it’s just that I’d love to have privacy so we can really get to know each other.”
“It’ll be a while.” She cleared her throat and plastered a smile on her face. “How about we change the subject now?”
He shrugged. “Whatever. I’ve gotta get out to the floor.” He pulled a white t-shirt from the duffel and changed into it. The fabric hugged his muscles, highlighting his broad shoulders. After fixing a wide red ribbon on his right wrist, he pecked her on the cheek. “See you in a few hours for break.”
“Have fun,” she said.
He walked away, and she stared at the open door for several moments. She’d picked him because she’d fed from him in the club before and he seemed kind and sweet. She’d been attracted to him at first, but the instant complaining and the way he called her “baby” grated on her. Had she made a mistake in choosing a human male to take under-the-fang without really knowing him?
* * *
Cella spent the night in the food office. Until they found someone to run things, she was handling it, along with her other duties to the coven and family. She finished the report for Mishka, reviewed resumes for positions as food, and sent out several requests for interviews. Her mind flitted to Quaid. He was working tonight, but as paid food he was used to donating blood to more than one vampire in a night. She had been hoping to feed from him once their shifts were over, but she wouldn’t tax his body if he’d donated too much. She could wait a few days until they were both off for Christmas.
There was a knock on the door, and she looked up and saw Arissa. “How’s it going?” the red-headed wiccan asked as she sat in one of the straight-backed chairs across from the desk.
“Not bad. We’ve got a visiting coven coming by in a few days, so I’m securing food for them.”
“I meant with the human.”
She smiled. “Right. Okay so far, I guess. It’s only the first day, and he had to go to work right away.”
“What will he do when you bring him under-the-fang?”
“What do you mean?” Cella frowned.
“He’d be your permanent food, right? Brone said that when a vampire takes someone under-the-fang, that they don’t like them feeding anyone else.”
“I hadn’t really given it much thought.”
“I wonder if he has?”
Cella wondered that herself.
“Sorry, did I cross the line saying that?”
She shook her head at her friend. “No, not at all. I’m new to all this. I’ve never done it before.”
“Maybe you won’t mind that he feeds someone else. Vex and Rage don’t mind sharing Angie.”
“That’s true. But I don’t think it’s the same thing. Brone wouldn’t let you feed anyone.”
Arissa snorted so hard she coughed. “That’s the understatement of the century. But Brone is also a thousand years old and super possessive. Maybe you won’t mind.”
“Maybe.”
“I was going to head to the family room for a drink. Wanna come?”
Cella glanced at the clock. “Nah. I should find Quaid and see how his night’s going. Maybe tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
Arissa left and Cella closed up the office, then headed out to the club to find her…whatever she was going to call him. He wasn’t her boyfriend. Or her mate. She wasn’t sure what he was.
Utilizing her excellent sense of smell thanks to her vampire nature, she quickly picked out Quaid’s scent among the humans and vampires dancing and milling about. He wore a musky cologne that she easily identified and followed it to a corner where he sat in a booth with several human males, all with drinks in front of them.
“There she is,” Quaid said, motioning to the males with him to move out of his way as he scooted from the booth.
She accepted his cheek kiss but frowned when she didn’t scent fresh blood. “You haven’t fed anyone? The night’s almost over.”
“No one asked me.” He shrugged. “I think they smelled you on me and stayed away.”
She couldn’t deny that was a possibility, although she felt it was pretty far-fetched. “Did you spend the whole night in the booth? You’re supposed to be out on the floor.”
He gave her a disgruntled look. “Are you accusing me of something?”
“I’m just curious why I found you in the booth. I’m the food manager. It can’t appear that you’re taking advantage of my position.”
His eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t, Cella, and I’m a bit offended that you’d even suggest it. I was tired from being on the floor and sat with some of my friends. I’d only been there a few minutes when you showed up, it was a coincidence.”
She wanted to believe him, but something in her gut told her she couldn’t and shouldn’t. Disentangling herself from his embrace, she said, “I’ll see you when your shift is over.”
Her stomach in knots, she walked away, leaving the noise of the club behind.
While she waited for Quaid in their cubicle, she’d decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. It wasn’t as if she’d seen him slacking off, and prior to her asking him for a trial as her permanent food, she hadn’t heard anything bad about his performance. She heard his footsteps and smiled at him when he opened the door and stepped inside.
“Listen,” he said, shoving his hands inside his jeans and leaning against the dresser. “I’m sorry if it loo
ked bad that I was sitting in the booth. I know it’s against the rules for food to be seated in the bar unless they’ve been asked to join someone prior to a feeding. I didn’t mean to make you look bad, or myself, so I apologize.”
“Let’s just start over, okay? Clean slate.”
He visibly relaxed and gave her an easy smile. “That would be great.” He straightened, rocking back on his heels. “I never fed anyone tonight, so would you like to feed?”
Her fangs throbbed as her gaze latched onto his neck. She needed real blood once a week. The rest of the time she drank manufactured blood called SyBl, which tasted about as much like blood as a veggie burger tasted like filet mignon. But it did the trick. The benefit of taking a person under-the-fang was that she’d have access to fresh blood weekly without having to choose food or use bagged blood they kept in storage.
“That would be great, thank you.”
“Hey, no need to thank me, it’s what I’m here for.”
He joined her on the bed, and for the first time since she’d had to learn how to feed when she was a newly-turned vampire, she felt incredibly awkward.
He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. Then he tipped his head and exposed his throat. Her fangs throbbed hard once more, and she leaned forward, inhaling the scent of his skin. She could pick up the cologne and soap he used and made a mental note to ask him to not put on anything for her benefit since it generally just irritated her senses. Sinking her fangs into his neck, she took a slow draw, filling her mouth with his blood and then swallowing. It warmed her all the way to her stomach.
He tilted his head a little further and kissed her neck, his teeth scraping against her throat. Instantly she was on alert, disengaging her fangs from his neck and swiping her tongue along the wound to help it heal.
“What were you doing?” she asked, leaning back and eyeing him.
He shrugged and gave her a self-deprecating smile. “I was just thinking how nice it would be if I were like you.”
She blinked several times, wondering if she’d heard wrong. “What do you mean?”
“I’d like to be turned. I figure that’s the inevitable end of what we’re doing here.” He gestured around the cubicle. “So why wait?”
She rose to her feet, the glow of the feeding wearing off quickly in the wake of his revelation. “It’s not inevitable at all, Quaid. This is a trial to see if you are a good fit for me as permanent food. I’ve made you no promises.”
“Calm down. We can talk about it another time.”
“No, it’s off the table entirely. I’m not planning to turn you.”
“All right, sorry I mentioned it. I didn’t know it was such a big deal.”
She stared at him, and the way he smiled so easily. “I’m going to clean up.”
“Okay,” he said.
She grabbed her things and headed to the bathroom. She showered and spent time drying her hair before she returned to her cubicle. The light was off and Quaid was in bed, rolled away from the door and facing the wall. She walked into the room, hoping that they could put the earlier conversation in the past and move forward. She didn’t want to think that she’d made a bad choice, wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt.
* * *
Although she didn’t consider herself a pushover, Cella stuck it out with Quaid for several weeks. She saw warning signs that his behavior wasn’t entirely on the up and up, but she ignored them. And she couldn’t even really give a reason to herself for why she persevered with Quaid for so long aside from feeling like a glutton for punishment.
Then she’d finally had enough. After all she’d done for him – the many times she looked the other way when he wasn’t working like he should on the floor or when he was caught socializing with friends and not offering his wrist for vampires – he’d crossed the line in a way that she couldn’t ignore.
Quaid had gone to shower after his shift was over and she’d heard his cell phone buzz with a text. A gut feeling had her walking to the dresser and turning the phone over. She’d seen him unlock his phone enough to know what his passcode was, and after entering it, she’d read a text conversation from one of his friends discussing how long it would be until Cella turned him, so he could turn his friends. He called her a sucker, lamenting the length of time it was taking for him to convince her to turn him.
He was using her. He didn’t care about her, he cared about what she could do for him.
Shaking with fury and disappointment, she turned his phone back over on the dresser, changed quickly, and left the cubicle. She knocked on Mishka’s office door, and waited for him to call her in. She sat in one of the chairs across from his desk and clasped her hands in her lap, her mind a jumble.
“You look troubled. What’s on your mind?”
“I made a grave mistake.”
“With the human?” Mishka folded his hands on his desk and gave her an encouraging smile.
“Yes. To say the trial was a bust is an understatement.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry to hear, but it’s best you learned it now as opposed to when you brought him down into your chamber.”
“Yeah.” She told him about the issues she’d been purposely ignoring for the sake of her ego, and the final straw of the text messages.
“It’s pretty clear he went along with the trial because he assumed you’d turn him despite the many times you told him otherwise. My past is not so different, you know.”
She nodded. Many years before Mishka and Harmony had found each other, he’d taken a wiccan named Elizabeth under-the-fang. But she wasn’t looking for anything permanent, and even fed Brone from time to time. She well remembered how devastated Mishka had been when Elizabeth mated two bear shifters, ending their relationship without any forewarning.
“I guess we all do foolish things from time to time in the name of finding our beloveds. If I even get one.”
“I believe that there’s a beloved out there for every vampire, Cella, and I know you’ll find him when the time is right. They’re worth the wait.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course. Now, where is this – as my sweetheart would say – ‘wannabe’?”
She smiled at his youthful term. “He was taking a shower, but at this point he’s probably out on the floor for his shift.”
“You’re firing him, of course.”
“I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to.”
“Why on earth wouldn’t I want you to cut all ties with him? Up to and including his service as food?”
She fiddled with the hem of her skirt. “It was my error. This is his livelihood.”
“Meh.” Mishka waved his hand. “He’s toast here. There’s no way he should have access to you in any form or receive a regular salary when it’s clear that he was using you. He burned his bridge by being a greedy asshole.”
Her eyes widened. “I’ve never heard you swear much.”
He chuckled. “Harmony’s bandmates are wearing off on me, I suspect.”
She blew out a relieved breath and stood. “Thank you.”
“Prepare his paperwork and take along a few males as backup when you give him the news.”
“I will.”
He rapped his knuckles on the desktop. “We look out for each other, Cella, you know that. A male insults you, it’s as if he spit in my face.”
Her eyes stung and she smiled at the male who had turned her so many years ago. She left his office and headed to her own, locating the necessary files to fire Quaid. An hour later, she’d prepared the termination paperwork, gathered his things, and arranged for him to be brought out to the sidewalk in front of the club by Ven and Temple.
While she waited, she looked up at the streetlight that illuminated the falling snow. The light caught the points and curves of the snowflakes, making them glitter like diamonds as they fell. Even with the muted noise of the club through the closed doors, and the hum of conversation from the humans waiting to get inside, she felt at peace wi
th her decision. Yes, she’d waited too long to end things with Quaid, but the whole point of the trial was that she was lonely. Once she’d realized that he was using her, she’d felt utterly betrayed, cursing her ego for keeping things going too long.
Too damn long.
She was a vampire – immortal, with curves for days, a wicked sense of humor, and a penchant for crossword puzzles. She’d been around for three hundred years. A human looking for an easy way to become a vampire wasn’t worth a single second more of her time.
She was just glad she’d never had sex with him. At least some part of her brain had been working right in that respect.
The club doors opened and she finished watching a swirl of flakes as they made their way to the sidewalk. She lowered her head and looked at Quaid as he stood between Ven and Temple. Quaid licked his lips, his eyes darting around. “What’s going on, baby?”
She made a face and pushed the box of his things toward him with the tip of her shoe. “It’s over. You’re fired. You’re no longer food for anyone in the coven, especially me. This box contains your things. A deposit has been made into your bank account for six weeks’ severance pay. You’re forbidden from stepping foot inside the club under any circumstances, including as a patron. If you do, the police will be called to arrest you for trespassing.”
Temple cracked his knuckles. “If they get here in time.”
Quaid frowned and picked up the paperwork on top of the box. “I don’t understand. We were having so much fun.”
“You were having fun shirking your duties and hounding me about turning you. This conversation is over. We’re done. Goodbye.”
She stepped around him. Ven and Temple flanked her, leaving Quaid on the sidewalk. When they reached the doors where two coven members worked as bouncers, she asked, “Did you hear that?”
“We’ll kick his ass if he shows up here again,” Barton said.
She chuckled. “Thanks.”
Quaid called her name, but she ignored him, striding into the club with her head held high. She felt like a fool, but at least it was over.