Midnight Kiss

by Sarra Cannon

  My hand flew to my mouth as the entire group shifted to look at me, each of them no longer having a human face.

  What had been on that witch’s finger? It was the only thought spiraling through my head. She had to have drugged me with something seriously trippy for me to be seeing this shit.

  Dropping my stare to the sidewalk and slowing my speed, I waited three breaths before shifting my gaze back to them. Their eyes were still trained on me, but they were no longer wolves. The golden brown still hung suspended in the air around them. Smug, knowing smiles plastered on their faces as they each gave me a slight wave as I passed them into the café. It was the type of gesture bikers gave one another on the road in passing, the signal of acknowledgement that you’re one and the same. An eerie sensation slithered along my spine as panic laced my every thought. Was I becoming something like them?

  Bree leaned into me. “Well those hotties sure did notice you,” she whispered.

  I attempted a smile, but it fell flat. Bree’s brows pulled together, and she looped her arm through mine. “Let’s get something to eat, and then we can go back to the hotel and relax.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  Maybe that’s what I needed, to relax. If I ate something and then took a nap, this craziness might go away.

  “This is one of my favorite places to grab a quick bite to eat,” Delvin said from behind us, oblivious to the crazy moment I’d just had and the conversation Bree and I shared. “They’ve got soups, salads, and sandwiches. My favorite is the French Dip.”

  “Sounds good.” Bree nodded. “I think after we eat we’re heading back up to our room to relax for the afternoon.”

  “Oh, all right.” There was a slight amount of disappointment etched his words that caused me to shift my gaze to him for a split-second. The moment my eyes landed on him, I noticed the shimmering yellow that had surrounded him earlier was now dotted with tiny flecks of gray. “Are you still wanting to get costumes for tonight?”

  In all of this hoopla, I’d completely forgotten about it being Halloween. Bree paused to stand behind a couple waiting to place an order. I got the impression she was waiting for me to answer him this time.

  “Sure.” I shrugged.

  I didn’t want to disappoint Bree by staying in all night on our final night in New Orleans. The Halloween experience here had been the reason I agreed to come in the first place. Also, I was still holding onto the idea that food and rest would make these colors and strange visions of people shifting into creatures vanish.

  * * * *

  The soft sounds of Bree snoring on the bed beside me filled our room. After the three of us ate at the café, Delvin drove us back to our hotel. I couldn’t have been happier to see the inside of our room. It was free of any males, as well as any strange people who would turn into wolves as I stared at them.

  With the TV volume on low, I lay in bed beside Bree, browsing the internet for “causes of seeing colors around people.” So far, I had found a list of various scary things for a probable cause—stroke, seizure, or a migraine. After ruling each of those horrendous possible causes for my creepy color seeing out, due to lack of other symptoms mentioned, I decided to head in a new direction with my search.

  I’d just typed in “shimmering colors around people,” when something popped up that caught my attention—“observing aura color.”

  My breath left me, as everything inside my body seemed to freeze, while I read through the search engine findings. Each of them pointed to someone being able to see another’s aura.

  While I had heard of such a thing before, I’d never come across a person who claimed to actually do it in real life.

  Clicking on one of the links, I waited for my browser to refresh. Skimming down the page, I took note to the area where each “aura color” was described. While none of them were depicted as being shimmery or like little flecks of glitter floating around the person, which was what I had seen, the colors descriptions seemed plausible. Once I came to the meaning of yellow—and read how it generally meant the person was healthy, upbeat, and vibrant with life—I instantly believed auras were what I had been seeing. Yellow was the primary color around Delvin, and even in the short time I’d known him, I could tell this description fit him perfectly.

  Next, I typed in “seeing aura color around men only” and waited for what it would bring up. I frowned when it brought up the same things—various color breakdowns and how tos.

  Pursing my lips together, I set my cell aside and lay back against the overstuffed hotel pillow. Bree stirred beside me, but didn’t wake. Thinking of everything I’d just learned, I closed my eyes and drifted off into that place between being asleep and awake. My breathing grew easy and shallow as my mind drifted from one thought to another. Then, as though a bolt of lightning had stuck me, an idea woke me completely. It wasn’t anything on the witch’s finger or some sort of a spell; the ring was causing this.

  CHAPTER TEN

  I lunged from the bed and scurried into the bathroom in search of a bar of soap. Quickly unwrapping the one beside the sink, I turned on the water and soaked my finger while rubbing the edges of the soap around. Lathering up my hands, I gripped the ring and tugged, praying it would slip off and stop all of this craziness. The damn thing didn’t budge.

  Spraying more cool water over my hand, and lathering on even more soap this time, I tried again. It was the same result though. The ring was fused to my finger. My muscles tensed as my heart raced in my chest. I had to get this ring off. Had to.

  Wiping my hands vigorously, I nearly jogged to my suitcase. Unzipping it, I dug through like a mad woman in search of my bottle of lotion. Bree woke during my rampage. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head as I squeezed way too much raspberry-scented lotion onto my fingers. Tugging at the ring with slippery fingers, I sighed in frustration.

  “I take it you didn’t sleep well,” Bree mumbled through a yawn.

  “No. I didn’t sleep at all.” My frustration from the moment was present in my words.

  Bree shifted to the edge of the bed, and stared at me. “What are you doing?”

  Gritting my teeth together, I forced myself to take in a deep breath before I spoke. “I’m trying to get this damn ring off, but it won’t budge,” I insisted.

  Slipping off the bed and onto the floor in front of me, Bree folded her legs. “Have you tried soap and water?”

  “That was the first thing I tried.” I tipped my head back and let out another loud breath of frustration. “Then I went for my lotion, but it’s not working either. Nothing works. This thing is fused to my fucking finger!”

  “Oh my God, chill. There has to be someplace around here we can pick up a bottle of baby oil. I bet that stuff would work.”

  “If it doesn’t, then I’m going to freak out.” My voice wavered when I spoke, clearing any doubt she might have been harboring regarding my level of seriousness or anxiety.

  “Is it too tight or something?”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Of course it’s too tight. If it weren’t, then it would have come off on the first try.”

  “I meant, is it hurting you? If not, then you can wait until we get home and head to a jeweler to see if they can cut it off or something.”

  Cutting it off was probably what would have to happen.

  “No, it’s not hurting me,” I muttered.

  I needed to calm down. Freaking out wasn’t helping me. If it was the ring causing me to see those crazy shimmers—and at this point I was pretty damn sure that was exactly what was happening—then at least in a few days everything would be back to normal. A few more days. I could do that.

  “Here’s the bright side. It could have been butt ugly.” Bree reached up and freed her hair from the tie constricting it. After running her fingers through her blond mess of hair, she piled it back up on top of her head. “So, how are you feeling? Still want to go costume shopping?”

  “Better.” At least I would be, once I got this ring of
f. “Want me to send Delvin a text and see if he’s still up for taking us to that place he was talking about so we can get costumes?”

  Bree stretched her arms above her head. “Sure.”

  I snatched my phone off the table beside the bed and sent him a quick text.

  * * * *

  Thirty minutes later, Bree and I were riding in Delvin’s car, headed toward the costume shop. I was sitting in the passenger seat—via Bree insisting—looking out the window, desperately trying to avoid staring at Delvin. The same glittering crap from earlier still hung around him, and just like before, it was the same vibrant shade of yellow.

  Biting my bottom lip, I continued to refrain from staring at him like some creeper while I tried to wrap my head around how this ring could cause such crazy effects. Monday morning, I would be at my local jewelers, hand outreached, and waiting for them to snip this sucker off. Until then though, I was planning on ignoring the weirdness and having the time of my life, even if that meant getting shitfaced drunk in order to do so.

  “You are not choosing one of your usual costumes,” Bree informed me once we stepped through the threshold of the store. “That means no cat, devil, vampire, or witch costume. Understand?”

  I chuckled. She knew me too well. “But those are always the cheapest, easiest ones to pick.”

  For the last three years in a row, I had been a cat, using the same costume. In fact, the ones she’d just rattled off were the only costumes I ever purchased…even as a child. They were easy, and for whatever reason, I never had any desire to be a princess like every other little girl. I had chose witch or vampire hands down every single time.

  “No. Not happening this year,” Bree insisted, waving her index finger at me. “This place has so much more to offer than that.”

  Delvin placed his arm over my shoulder, and pulled me into his side. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you in a cat costume…as long as the body of the thing was some tight black leather.”

  I narrowed my eyes, and shifted free from his arm so I could utter a witty comeback while making eye contact, but the words never made it past my lips. The second my eyes landed on him, I fell silent. The yellow I’d seen shimmering around him before had become tinted with flecks of deep red at some point.

  “What?” Delvin tossed his hands up in front of him in surrender, obviously misinterpreting my expression for something else. “I’m just saying.”

  “Yeah well, it’s not happening. Kenna is going as something else this year, even if I have to use physical force,” Bree said, nudging me with her elbow.

  Snapping out of my trance-like stare, I locked eyes with her. A small smile, one I knew she would be expecting, twisted the corners of my lips. “Fine, I’ll look for something other than those four. Promise.”

  As we strolled through the shop, I allowed my eyes to drift back to Delvin occasionally. The flecks of red splattered through his usual yellow were fading. I kicked myself mentally for not reading what each of those aura colors had meant the moment I decided it seemed like the best possible answer for what I was seeing.

  Seeing.

  The first message from my mother flashed through my mind. What had her exact words been? I followed Bree down an aisle filled with various slutty costumes while thinking. “The time has come, my sweet girl, for you to find out who you really are. The Kiss of Awakening is upon you.” That had been it. My eyes studied the ring glued to my finger as Bree paused to flip through some French maid costumes. “To find out who you really are,” the words passed through my head again. Maybe I was a physic or something? Could that run in my family? What about seeing auras? The only part that truly stumped me was where she had said, “The Kiss of Awakening is upon you.” I wasn’t sure how to tie that in anywhere. No one had kissed me.

  “Oh, look!” Bree spun around to face me, holding a long flowing red dress out. “We could both be devil girls.”

  “I thought you said I wasn’t allowed to be a devil again,” I countered with a smug smile twisting my lips.

  “Yeah, but this one is different from what you normally wear,” she protested. “It’s not the $5.97 headband and tail with that stupid little pitchfork wand you always get. This one looks hot!”

  Taking in the costume she was holding, I nodded. It was a hot number. Flowing red and black fabric made up the dress. A pair of black elbow gloves and a headband with two little red devil horns attached to the front completed the costume.

  “And look.” Bree spun the outfit around to show me the back. “There’s even a pair of black angel wings.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “A dark angel enchantress.” She read the tag. “So there, it’s not even marketed as a devil costume. Boom, you’re done. Now let’s find something for me.”

  I took it from her, and draped it over my arm. It wasn’t a bad costume. In fact, I was positive it would make me feel sexy, especially with the high slit along the side.

  “A dark angel, huh?” Delvin uttered from behind me. I turned to face him, a smile on my face. “Yeah, I guess so…”

  My voice broke off. The flecks of red were back in his aura. Either I was growing used to seeing such things now, or else I had flipped off the deep end at some point, because the sight of them didn’t frighten me this time. In fact, all I wanted to do was pinpoint which emotion he was feeling that had caused the sudden change.

  “Nice.” He folded his arms over his chest, and stroked the scruff along his chin with one hand. “Hopefully, I’ll get to take the two of you out on the town tonight. That way I’ll see this sexy costume on you. I’m betting it will look even hotter than the black leather I fantasized about earlier.”

  The flecks of red swelled as he continued to stare at me, and I knew in an instant red meant lustful.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  After spending nearly two hours in the costume shop, Bree finally decided on being my opposite and going as a slutty-looking, good angel. Once we left there, Delvin showed us a few of the amazing things New Orleans had to offer during Halloween. We went to the Voodoo Music Experience in the city park, and listened to different types of music playing while getting to experience some authentic New Orleans culture. There were various shops we stopped at, along with some type of street fair. The best place by far, though, was the Hermann-Grima House Mourning Tour. It might have just been a place to see how the Creoles lived, but because it was Halloween, the place had been draped in black, and one room had also been set up to look like a funeral was occurring. The entire place was gothic creepy, which suited my mood for the night fine.

  Somehow, I had managed to keep my cool the entire time while seeing various-colored auras surrounding men around every corner. When it came to the creepy flashes of people morphing into wolves—or at times what I thought were vampires—before my eyes, I attributed it to keeping with the Halloween theme and continued doing my best at pretending to appear normal.

  By seven o’clock, Bree and I parted ways with Delvin so we could all change into our costumes and meet back up in an hour or so. I couldn’t have been happier for the break.

  “So…do I need to leave the two of you alone for a while tonight?” Bree walked to where I stood in front of the bathroom mirror reapplying my eyeliner, and adjusted my wings. “I’m not opposed to it, you know.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I mean, do I need to head downstairs to that stuffy bar and give you two an hour or so alone so you can finally get laid?”

  I gawked at her. “Are you serious? You know I don’t do the whole one-night stand thing.”

  “Please.” She waved a hand at me. “I think you would more often if you’d give it a shot. Guys are always falling all over you. You’re hot. This guy happens to be sweet and sexy all tied together with a perfect little bow. You’d better have a one-nighter with him.”

  “Oh my God, would you listen to yourself?” I attempted to go for a serious tone and expression, but my lips betrayed me as they twisted into a
smirk. “If it happens, then it happens, but I’m not looking for it. Okay?”

  Bree’s eyes widened. “Ha! I knew it. You are so into him.”

  I was, but now that he had some creepy yellow shimmer shit floating around him, it was sort of hard to focus on him anymore.

  Once we finished making ourselves up, I shot Delvin a text, letting him know we would met him at the front of the hotel in about twenty if he was ready. He instantly sent back a text, telling me he was heading out the door. Turning out the lights and gathering our stuff, Bree and I headed downstairs to meet him.

  Foolishly, I had assumed I would feel stupid walking through the fancy hotel wearing devil horns and black wings, but surprisingly, I felt incredibly hot. The guy who worked the front desk seemed to be drooling as the two of us walked past him toward the double doors, which boosted my confidence even more.

  “I love Halloween.” Bree smiled wide. “It’s the one night of the year I can dress as slutty as I want and get away with it.”

  “You know, Kellen would die to see you in this outfit right now.”

  “Oh, I know.” She winked. “That’s why I just blew up his phone with pictures of me in it before we headed down here. I should be getting a response back from him any minute now.”

  I laughed as we pushed through the doors and out onto the sidewalk. Her phone chimed with an incoming text the moment the door closed behind us, and I knew it was Kellen. Her giddy giggles confirmed my theory. Taking in the night sky and early nightlife scene of the city, I realized Bree and I weren’t the only ones decked out in full costume already. There were numerous people dressed up walking the street and popping in and out of shops. A guy in a giant pea costume—his yellow aura adding to his look—drove past us in a small red car, and I nearly died laughing.

  “What’s so funny? I don’t look that bad.” Delvin breathed against my ear. I flinched at his close proximity, having not heard him walk up. “Do I?”