by Audrey Storm
By the time Andrea managed to reach the shack, every one of her muscles were flaring with aches and pains. Panting, she all but threw herself up onto the shack and collapsed on the ground. Knowing there was one more guard following her, she tried to get to her feet as quickly as possible, but her movement was sluggish and awkward. Blindly—tiredly—she stumbled into the shack.
Her gaze darted about. It was much more spacious than she thought it would be. There were a few short tables pressed against the back walls, and there was a tall bookshelf beside her that was full of various books and items, but other than these items, there was nothing but rotting wood. In the center of the room, Fernando and a older gentleman stood. The guards stood off to the side, by one of the tables.
“You okay?” Fernando asked her quietly, his lips pressed tightly together.
Her lungs burned so much that she thought she would pass out. “Fine,” she wheezed, smiling. “I needed the exercise.” She turned her attention to the old man. “I’m sorry to interrupt—” She jumped when the guard behind her came to stand next to her, his hand on the sword at his belt. “—you guys.”
“Are we ready yet?” the older man asked, turning to Fernando. “I’ve waited many lifetimes to bring peace to your species. My first life cursed itself when it cursed the first bear-shifter and—”
“You’ve already explained yourself to me,” Fernando snapped, baring his teeth. “If you can do anything to end the curse, then do it. I’m tired of waiting, too.”
The old man—the alchemist—grumbled in irritation. His robes were torn, revealing bony and hairy limbs. He scratched at his arm and huffed. “Very well. Let’s begin.” He spun around and practically hopped to the other side of the shack. His hands skittered over the walls before sliding over a table that wobbled beneath his touch. He tapped it—did some other things—before turning around to face Fernando again. In the alchemist’s hands was wooden cup of some kind of steaming liquid.
Andrea’s eyes widened. She glanced between the alchemist and the table—the empty table. Dumbfounded, she pointed at it. “How did you—where did that stuff come from?”
“I’ve already explained myself,” the alchemist said mockingly, glaring pointedly at Fernando. “Unless you truly do want to understand the supernatural nature of my home and—”
“No,” Fernando snarled. “Just get this over with.”
Andrea gaped at Fernando—a man normally so paranoid and nosy. “I want to know.”
He shushed her.
The alchemist clucked, shaking his head. “Rude, rude. But if you insist on being dense, I’ll just get on with this delicate process.” He took a few steps forward until he was right in front of Fernando, who glared with obvious discomfort. The alchemist then raised the steaming bowl to Fernando’s face. “Breathe it in. This is the first step. We need the remedy to be breathed into your lungs.”
Fernando didn’t even hesitate. Lowering his nose to the concoction, he did as the alchemist instructed several times.
Andrea bit her lower lip, her arms encircling herself. So far, everything looked rather mundane—if not gross and swampy—but something around them was starting to shift. She wasn’t sure what was happening, but the air just felt…different. Worry churned within her as she watched Fernando.
“The next step,” the alchemist said, pushing the bowl closer to Fernando when Fernando started to straighten, “is a little bloody.”
“What?” Andrea croaked.
Neither Fernando nor the alchemist glanced at her, but she saw the guards stiffen.
“I need your essence to express remorse for your ancestor’s faults,” the alchemist continued, his tone scratchier yet gentler. He gave Fernando a weary frown. “It involves me slicing tear trails down your cheeks.”
Fernando didn’t flinch. “Do it.”
Andrea’s heart dropped. “Fernando, I don’t—”
“It’s worth it,” he said calmly, his gaze still focused on the alchemist. “Hurry and do it.”
The alchemist gave on jerky nod. Then, using one hand to hold the bowl up near Fernando’s face, he used his other hand to snake inside one of the many holes in his robes. He twisted his body as his hand searched for something, and when it found that something, he pulled it out.
Andrea clenched her teeth. The alchemist was holding a rough dagger. She desperately wanted to cry out—to argue against this again—but Fernando had spoken his wants, and a twisted part of her wanted to see what would happen.
The alchemist, with a great amount of caution, pressed the tip of the dagger below Fernando’s left eyelid. Then the alchemist pressed harder—Fernando wincing and hissing—until he drew blood. Once that occurred, he dragged the dagger down his cheek and to the edge of his jaw.
Red seeped out of the gash, pooling downward until it started to form one thick drop.
The alchemist was quick to move the bowl beneath the drop. The steam coming from the bowl helped moved and add weight to the blood, and it dropped from Fernando’s face in a matter of seconds.
Andrea released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Fernando seemed okay—a little impatient, a little weary, but okay.
The alchemist did the exact same process to Fernando’s other cheek and obtained a second drop of blood for the bowl. Neither he nor Fernando bothered to stop the gashes from continuing to bleed—to drip blood on the floor. It made Andrea queasy.
The alchemist twirled with the bowl in both of his hands and hurried over to one of the empty tables against the back wall. Placing the bowl in the center of one of these tables, his hands dashed out to the sides as if they were shuffling through shelves.
Andrea jumped when she heard the alchemist knock something over—a glass container? A vase? But there was nothing on the tables for him to knock over. How…?
Shock zapped through her. “Are those things invisible?”
The alchemist ignored her and threw something—nothing—into his left palm. A white powder exploded in his hand, and then he rubbed his hands together before running his hands over empty air. Every bit of space he touched, parts of vials and containers were painted into view.
Andrea gasped. “How—?”
“Hush!” the alchemist snapped, grabbing one blue vial and pouring it into the steaming bowl. “I’m working!”
Andrea was too fascinated to be offended. She didn’t dare move or speak again, and instead focused on every little movement the alchemist made as he mixed various chemicals and potions in the bowl. Once it was overflowing, the alchemist grabbed it and spun around until he was facing Fernando again.
“The last step,” the alchemist said, walking up to Fernando, “involves you drinking the remedy as I chant the spell of existence’s apology. You must drink this slowly—give your body time to adjust to what it is absorbing—as I chant the spell. Understand?”
“Yes,” Fernando said. He offered his hands, and the alchemist carefully placed the bowl in them. Then Fernando brought the bowl to his lips. “Ready?”
“Yes,” the alchemist said. “Drink.”
Fernando moved with such slowness that, at first, Andrea thought he was only soaking his upper lip into the concoction. But as the alchemist chanted out gibberish—gibberish, as far as she was concerned—Andrea saw the liquid level in the bowl lower just slightly.
Fernando didn’t wince, didn’t twitch—did nothing but kept his expression blank. Andrea stared at him to see if he was being poisoned or not, but he never gave any indignation if such a thing was happening to him. Andrea’s nails dug into her arms as she tightened her hold on herself.
Within a minute, the alchemist chant’s had grown louder—to the point where he was practically screaming nonsense at Fernando. And Andrea almost believed that this was a joke being played on her. The ridiculous of the sight before her—a billionaire being shrieked at by an older man in rags—if she hadn’t seen a bear-shifter transform before her own eyes, she would have laughed in that moment.
The
n, in the next second, the liquid shot up from the bowl and entered through every one of Fernando’s facial orifices. He reeled back, unable to gasp as the liquid overtook his mouth.
“Fernando!” Andrea gasped, stepping forward but hesitating when Fernando began to glow.
The alchemist screamed louder, and Fernando shook—began to transform—stopped in mid-transformation—
Then he screamed.
Andrea darted forward out of some kind of protective instinct. She reached for him just as a black spirit shot out of his pores and crashed against the shack’s roof. The spirit shattered on impact, and Andrea and Fernando collapsed to the floor, her hand on his arm.
“It is done,” the alchemist said from somewhere behind her. “It is finally done.”
Andrea didn’t care about the alchemist. Scrambling on her knees, she patted Fernando everywhere. “Fernando?! Fernando?!” Shakily, she turned him over and pressed her fingers against his neck.
He gasped, his body jolting violently before going lax.
Andrea jumped back, bafflement and panic overwhelming her. She immediately returned to patting Fernando—she didn’t know what else to do, how else to make sure he was alive and whole. “Fernando?”
His wide eyes snapped to her. It seemed to take him a few seconds to register her, but when he did, he smiled the widest smile she had ever seen on him. “I’m better.”
“What?”
“I’m human.”
Before Andrea could think of a decent question to ask him, he shot up and captured her lips with his.
Epilogue
Months Later…
“You’ll have to come over some time,” Andrea said over the phone, sitting on the couch beside her favorite window. Its massive size revealed hers and Fernando’s large and beautiful property, and she smiled at the flowerbeds near the side of the mansion. “It’s actually smaller than Fernando’s previous home.”
Her mother laughed. “I’m not sure what ‘small’ means to you fancy rich folk.”
Andrea frowned. “Mom—”
“I’m just teasing, sweetheart. We’d love to come over whenever you’re able to have us.”
Relaxing, Andrea’s eyes scanned over the land outside. Inside the mansion, she could hear Fernando cooking the two of them lunch. Occasionally, he would hiss and curse; he had gotten too used to a chef cooking his meals for him.
She smirked and turned toward the direction of the kitchen. “How about this weekend? I don’t think we’re doing anything.”
“That sounds great, dear. I’ll see you then.”
“Alright. Bye.”
“Andrea.”
Andrea jolted, having nearly hung up. “Yeah?”
Her mother paused. After Andrea had reconciled her differences with her family several weeks ago, her mother often did this—the dramatic pauses before saying something menial. She did it at Andrea’s and Fernando’s wedding, and she did it when she found out that Andrea had quit Monumental Press. However, as annoying as it was, Andrea found herself willing to tolerate it. After everything she went through—after everything she had done—she could no longer bring herself to be frustrated by others’ irritating behavior without hating herself.
“I’m glad we’re speaking again,” her mom said softly. “We missed you so much. Your father won’t admit that, but we did. I love you.”
Fernando hissed again, cursing loudly in Spanish.
Andrea barely restrained a laugh, warmth of all kinds flooding through her. “Thanks, mom. I love you, too.” She waited an extra few seconds before hanging up the phone. Tilting her head back, she called out, “You okay there, bear-man?”
“Har-har,” Fernando called back. “I’m fine. It’s the stupid stove that has the problem.”
She laughed. “I’m sure.”
Her mother’s words remained in her head—the tone of the older woman’s voice, the sincerity…Andrea couldn’t stop herself from smiling. It didn’t matter that her family would never fully accept her—didn’t matter that they would always criticize her—didn’t matter that they didn’t know Fernando was once a bear-shifter, let alone that the world had been full of them. It just mattered that she loved them, and she had them back.
“I invited my family over for this weekend,” she called into the kitchen. “Are you up for that?”
“Sure,” Fernando called. “But I think Reed is coming over, too. He said he wanted to celebrate the continuation of world peace amongst our community or something.”
“Of former bear-people?”
“I believe so.”
She shook her head, still smiling. It was all so maddening every time she thought about it—the alchemist, the broken curse, the lack of an uproar from the former bear-shifters. And Reed, sweet Reed, being such a good friend even after Fernando revealed his feelings for Andrea.
It was too good to be true. And yet—
“Sounds great,” she called back, relaxing on the couch and staring out the window again. “It’s really, really great.”
THE END
Bonus Catalogue of Sample Books
(Limited Time only)
Two for the Blood
Two for the Blood
My name is Andrea. You could say I live a normal life; at least that’s the way it looks on the outside. But things are not always as they seem. My husband is Alvah. I love him—I really do—but things have changed over the years.
When I met Alvah, I instantly fell in love. He treated me like his queen, always spending time with me and buying me anything I could ever wanted. I wish it could have stayed like that forever, but it didn’t take long—about two years into our marriage, really—before he began to focus more on earning money and less on our relationship.
It is not like we need the money; in fact, we have more than enough to support several families for several lifetimes. But that did not matter to Alvah. He wanted more. I find myself wondering what I did wrong, what changed, and the only thing I can think of is my weight. When I met Alvah, I was what you would call extremely thin. I never ate and worked out all of the time, but as the years went by, I found other things to occupy myself with.
I am not what most people would call obese, but I am a very curvy, full-figured woman. I have large breasts, thick thighs, and my hips are round. I never thought that gaining a little weight would take my husband so far away from me. These days I never see him. He leaves for work before the sun comes up and comes home long after I have gone to bed. I have wondered if he is having an affair, and I have cried myself to sleep because I felt so alone.
I ached to feel his touch and yet I get nothing from him. I stayed up late one night last week, as I wanted to surprise him. That day, I had gone shopping and purchased the sexiest nightie that I could find. It was light pink and looked beautiful against my skin tone. It had feathers around the bust line and around the bottom. The rest was completely see through.
I lit candles and waited for him to come home. When he walked into the bedroom that night, the look on his face was one of disgust. He walked around the room blowing out the candles and slid into bed. When I reached over to touch him he just said that he was too tired and had to work in the morning.
He will never know how much he hurt me that night. I lay there and thought about when we met, how he could not keep his hands off of me. Our relationship started off in a way that many would call weird, but to me it was perfect. When I met Alvah, he seemed to be the type of man who did not approach many women. He was shy and quiet. I actually had to make the first move, but once I did it was an amazing adventure.
A few weeks into our relationship, I asked Alvah why he had not stayed the night with me yet, and I could tell something was off. He told me that he had a secret that no one knew, and that he would tell me but if I ever left him I would have to die.
I thought he was joking so I told him to tell me. Alvah said he was a vampire and he had to go out at night to hunt. He needed the blood to live. I remember sitting there, w
ondering if he had some sort of mental instability that would make him think he was a vampire. I could not believe how I always seemed to attract the craziest men, but then he told me that if I would let him feed off of me, he would not have to hunt.
I decided that this was some type of sexual game and agreed. We went back to my place and I found out that he was not lying. I allowed Alvah to feed each night and when he was done, he would always make love to me. It was unlike anything I had ever imagined, and I felt that I was lucky to have found him.
When he stopped feeding is when I really started to gain weight. Did he not know that if he would only feed again, things could go back to the way they were? I often thought about who or what he was feeding on when he came home late at night. I wondered if he had found someone else, someone who he desired more than me, but I didn’t understand why or how that would happen.
I had given him everything, including life through my blood, and he was too worried about money to even spend time with me. I could not blame him, he was going to live forever and would need the money to sustain himself, but he only had me for a short time and he knew that. Alvah had told me about past loves and how he had watched them grow old, how he had to tell people that his wife was his mother so that they would not get suspicious of him. How he had buried previous wives as well as children, and I could see the pain in his eyes when he talked about it.
I could never imagine my life without Alvah, but I felt so alone, so unloved, and so lost. That was how it all started. One of my friends came over to my house. Her name was Alissa, she was the one friend that I could tell anything to and not have to worry about anyone else finding out. I also knew that she was willing to help me and give me advice because she had done it so many times.
As I told Alissa about how hard it was to be alone all the time and how much I resented the money that Alvah was bringing home, she began telling me a story of her own.
She told me that she had been in the same situation (which I doubted, because she did not know Alvah was a vampire) and she told me that when her husband would not pay attention to her, she simply found someone who would.