by Nora Ash
“There is no such thing as a harmless witch,” he spat, the anger still plain on his face, but at least he’d calmed down with the growling.
I snorted, feeling mildly better now the snarly sound was out of his voice again. “You clearly haven’t been to Dark Dreams before. Pretty sure our clientele is just hippies, pagans, and general weirdos.”
“You work at Dark Dreams?” Warin narrowed his eyes again.
“Yeah? What, is that extra offensive?”
He shook his head at me, as if I were a particularly slow child. “You sell magic supplies.”
“In my defense, there’s a pretty awesome range of herbal teas there as well.” My attempt at lightening the mood didn’t change his tense expression, and I sighed. “All right, obviously I’m not getting what the big whoop is. Could you please tell me why you’re so worked up about the prospect of me selling a candle to an actual witch?”
He sighed too, running a hand through his dark, tousled hair. “Witches have always been our enemies, as far back as anyone can remember. They seek to destroy us, and due to their powers, they are a far greater threat than any regular human. Some who master necromancy have even been known to possess our bodies.”
For someone who was still wrapping her head around the fact that magic was apparently real, the idea of necromancy made me shudder. “Does that mean zombies are real too?”
“Yes,” he said. “But witches who are strong enough to control the dead are thankfully rare.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” I frowned as I took in what he’d told me. “Okay, I guess I can see why you’d be a bit antsy around witches, but… no offense or anything, I don’t see how they’re all evil because they’ve got beef with vampires. So do humans; we just lack the skills to actually win, most of the time. And not all humans are evil, so I doubt all witches are. Just like not all vampires want to tear the throat out of any human they pass by.” I gave him a gentle smile, but he just sighed and shook his head.
“You cannot understand the darkness of the supernatural because your humanity is so pure.” When he looked at me this time, there was no anger left on his pale features. Only gentle regret. “I fear if I do not separate our connection soon, your innocence will be tainted, Liv.”
I did my best to fight back the blush at the images his talk of “tainted innocence” brought to the forefront of my mind. Forcing a smile, I said, “Maybe my humanity will taint your gloom. Have you thought about that? You might end up all happy, losing your broodiness, and then what will all the other vampires think? It’d be a scandal!”
The rumble of Warin’s laugh sent warmth radiating from my chest into my arms and down my torso. When I looked at him, he was watching me with a mix of amusement and wonder that had my blush returning despite my best efforts to keep it at bay.
“You are truly a unique soul.”
I grimaced, trying to take the edge off the flutter in my belly at his words. “You mean ‘special,’ don’t you? Just trying to be nice about it.”
He just smiled softly, not confirming one way or the other. Then, the curve of his lips hiked up higher and he cocked his head as he looked at me. “There’s something… I would like you to experience with me. Are you afraid of heights?”
10
“Heights?” I asked, frowning at the change of subject. “Not particularly. Why?”
“I’d like to take you flying with me,” he said.
I blinked, quickly pushing away the barrage of Fifty Shades scenes involving fancy helicopter rides followed by some light spanking that filled my brain. “Uh, now?”
“Yes. If that’s all right with you?”
“Yes, of course it is!” I shot him a wide grin and got to my feet faster than I’d moved all day. “You didn’t really expect me to be all ‘let me just check my calendar,’ did you?”
Warin chuckled at my obvious eagerness and stood up too, albeit at a much more dignified pace. “Dress warm. I don’t want you to freeze.”
I sprinted into my bedroom, pulled out a thick sweater, and was back in the living room in three seconds flat. Once I’d donned my winter coat, scarf, gloves, and wooly hat, I turned back to Warin. “Good enough? I feel like a kid experiencing her first snow, here.”
“I think so.” He held out an arm, indicating my front door. “Shall we?”
I led the way outside and stopped on the sidewalk in front of my building. “Are we taking your car, or mine?”
Warin shook his head. “Neither,” he said as he stepped onto the road, clearly expecting me to follow.
I did, frowning in confusion—which turned to downright incredulity when he continued into the alleyway meant for garbage bins on the other side. My dreams of romantic helicopter trips to Seattle withered and died. “Er, Warin…?”
“Come,” he called from the depths.
Maybe I should have been hesitant of following a vampire into an abandoned alley at night, but my curiosity was much too strong for such contemplations.
I found him at the very end of the alley, squashed between two apartment buildings. “Now what?” I asked.
He shot me a downright mischievous grin, making him look like the young man his face would have me believe he truly was, turned his back, and crouched down. “Climb up.”
I blinked. “Excuse me? You want me to piggyback you? Why…?”
Warin looked at me over his shoulder, eyes sparkling in the low light making its way into the darkened alleyway. “You said you wanted to fly. So jump on.”
It took me a full second before what he was saying finally set in. “Shut up! You can fly? No way! You’re bullshitting me!”
“I promise you I’m not.”
“What? What! How is that even possible? No, that’s… Oh my goddess, Warin, how have you never told me?” I was aware my voice was reaching notes only dogs could hear, but I couldn’t contain my disbelief at this new development. Super speed, sure, I’d heard of vampires being ridiculously fast. But flying?
“It never came up,” he said, the grin still on his face. Judging from his expression, he was enjoying my frazzled meltdown of excitement. “Have you changed your mind about flying with me?”
“Fuck, no!” I hurried to his side before he changed his mind and placed my hands on his shoulders to easier crouch down on his back. He didn’t make a sound when I accidentally placed my knee on his spine, but I still grimaced. “Sorry. Tell me if I’m too heavy.”
Warin snorted, and I had the good grace to blush.
“Right, yes, vampire strength. Sorry.”
“Put your arms around my neck,” he said, and I did as instructed. No sooner had I linked my arms around him than he straightened up.
I squealed at the sudden shift, but Warin locked his arms around my thighs, ensuring I stayed put. It was like being encased in granite.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Oh, goddess, yes!”
Warin chuckled at my obvious excitement and set off.
We rose faster than I had anticipated, and I screamed and clung to his neck with all my might as the g-force pushed at me and the wind whipped at my face.
The pressure stopped as soon as it started, and I gasped in a breath of air as I stared over Warin’s shoulder down on the rooftops far below. Red and white lights from the city’s many cars coiled in the distance.
“Holy shit, Warin, you can fly!” I gasped from where I was pressed flush against his strong body. “Oh, goddess, we’re flying!”
“Would you like to go further?” he asked.
“I want to go as far as you’ll take me,” I said, and I meant it.
Warin shot forward instead of up this time, like an arrow from a bowstring toward the center of town. The cold air whipped against us, bringing with it scents of the night I’d never smelled so clearly before.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuuck!” I chanted as the vampire looped a few times and then suddenly dove straight down, landing smoothly on top of a skyscraper.
Apparently we�
��d arrived at our destination.
It took me a little while to release Warin’s neck from my death grip, and I had to lean on his shoulder for support while my jellied legs solidified again.
“So, what did you think?” A small smile tugged at his lips.
“It was fantastic!" I managed to gasp. "Best experience of my life, hands down."
“I’m glad.” His smile softened as he turned away to look across the city. “I like to come up here, when I have time.”
“I can see why,” I said, plopping down on the roof. Warin followed my example with far more grace.
I let my upper body fall back so I could starfish and looked up at the night sky. It was too cloudy for stargazing, but the sensation of having nothing but the celestial concave above us was amazing.
"If I could fly, I'd never stop," I breathed happily, and turned my head so I could look up at him. He was leaning back, weight supported on one hand as he looked down at me.
“Can all vampires fly?”
“If they live long enough,” he said.
“Wow, talk about perks.” I shot him a teasing grin. “You wouldn’t be taking applications for new vampires, would you?”
“I will never Embrace you, Liv. I could never taint you with this curse.” The smile was gone from his face, grim seriousness replacing it. “There is no perk great enough to twist every beautiful thing you are into a monster of the night. Do not even joke of such matters.”
“You’re not a monster, Warin,” I said. “Is that truly how you see yourself?
“You have no idea what I am, little one. What I used to be. And you would not recognize a monster if it bit your leg.” He turned his gaze from my face to the sky. “You are far too innocent for your own good.”
“And you are too melodramatic for your own good,” I sighed. “Why do you keep trying to scare me off with these grand claims about how terrible you are? I know I’ve only known you a very short time, but I’ve never met anyone with as much kindness in their heart as you. You saved my life, Warin. You took me flying, for fuck’s sake. And you keep coming back to see me, yet you tell me you’re this awful monster. Why do you want me to fear you, when we both obviously like hanging out together?”
“I enjoy speaking with you… very much,” he said. “But I know you’re unaware of what you’re getting into, and I… feel guilt.”
I rolled over onto my side and propped myself up on an elbow. “So tell me.”
"I am a killer." His voice was quiet. "I have many, many lives on my conscience. And there was a time when I… enjoyed inflicting violence and pain on others."
It was a little hard to relate to, especially when I knew the vampire by my side drank blood from donor bags these days.
"A part of me is still that monster. It is in my nature, even when I suppress it.” His eyes flickered to me for a brief moment. “When I was starving in that cage and I smelled your blood… I nearly gave in.”
“But you didn’t,” I reminded him. “A monster would have taken my life without a second thought. Instead, you saved me from my own kind.”
Warin only sighed and laid flat on his back so he could stare up at the sky.
"What changed?" I asked. “When did you stop killing?”
A spasm pulled on his sculpted lips. “I haven’t stopped. You saw the bodies of our captors. I would still kill without remorse today, if…” He glanced at me, growing quiet without finishing the sentence.
“But why did you decide to only drink from donor bags? To not hurt people who didn’t deserve it?” I wanted so much to understand the man by my side. He was an enigma to me, but it wasn’t the mystery he presented that drew me in like a moth to a flame. It was that deep, intense something that pulsed off him in slow waves. Like a near-tangible loneliness that resonated so deep in my very soul I couldn’t put words to the connection I felt to him.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t… I remember being so vicious—lost to the bloodlust. When I rose at night, the only thing that drove me was my need to sate my hunger. To inflict my power on those I deemed weaker than myself. But then… it just… vanished. One night it was there, and then it was gone. And I understood… I felt the pain I’d inflicted on others. Here.” He rested a hand on his chest and sighed.
“You learned empathy,” I said softly.
“I suppose I did. But it doesn’t erase what I’ve done. It doesn’t change what I am.”
“It doesn’t need to.” I sat up and wrapped my arms around my legs as I watched the solemn vampire by my side. “Yes, you may have done horrible things in your past, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a good person today. If you have really done what you say you have, that just makes it so much more important that you spend the rest of your time on this planet making amends.”
Warin rolled over onto his side to better look at me. “You believe a monster can make amends?”
“I do. There has to be a balance, you know? In the universe. If you take a life, you must save one too.” I gave him a small smile. “So you’re already on your way, after saving my ass.”
“Hmm,” he hummed, the expression on his pale face mildly intrigued. “I’ve never thought about it in those terms.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” I assured him, offering him a cheeky grin to lighten the mood. “To point out the brighter side, so you don’t get lost in all that broody smolder.”
Warin laughed, a rumbling sound from deep in his chest that made my stomach feel light with happiness. “Do you know that your name means ‘life’ in my native language? I find it very apt.”
“Olivia?”
“No. Liv.” The way he pronounced it made it sound so exotic, like a sensual caress. He sighed and rolled over again, getting to his feet in a graceful move. “I should take you home. I am late for a meeting… again. I seem to forget the time when we speak.”
* * *
That night, I dreamt about flying among the stars on a ball of golden light.
11
Surprisingly, the first time I realized that there were distinct downsides to having a vampire friend had nothing to do with witches.
I stuck to my end of mine and Warin’s bargain and kept my nose out of any and all blood investigations, though I found my job had gotten a new edge to it. Every time someone came in to buy anything from tarot cards to one of our very delicious herbal teas, I found myself staring at them in an attempt to work out if they were an actual witch or not. The fact that I had no clue what to look for didn’t help matters.
* * *
Three nights after Warin’s last visit, he called me again to see if I had time to meet. And, too excited to pause to think, I happily agreed.
It was undoubtedly pretty pathetic, but after our few interactions and how little we truly knew each other, he already felt like the best friend I’d ever had.
He knocked on my front door not twenty minutes after sundown, and I opened it with a cheerful, “Hey!”
Only instead of responding, Warin grabbed me by the shoulders with his cold, strong hands, eyes scanning me with clear worry. “Liv, are you hurt?”
“What? No, I’m fine?” I squawked, alarm rising in my throat at his obvious concern. “Warin, what’s—?”
Without warning, his nostrils flared wide and his body went rigid as his gaze locked on my abdomen, pupils blown.
I squeaked, the sudden change in his demeanor sending flashes of the time I’d been bleeding in the cage in that creepy basement to the forefront of my mind. But before I managed to do anything else, he’d released me, the air around us swooshing. When I turned with a blink, he stood at the other end of my living room, clearly holding his breath.
“I’m very sorry,” he blurted before I could open my mouth to ask what the hell was going on. “It… caught me by surprise.”
“What caught you by surprise? Warin, what the hell—?” I blinked when his gaze flickered down to the level of my crotch, then swiftly up again. He might not have been capable
of blushing, but he managed to look mortified nonetheless.
“Oh!” And just like that, it dawned on me that inviting your vampire buddy over when you’re on your period was probably not the best idea in the world.
I slapped both hands up to cover my face, too embarrassed to look at the poor vampire still holding his breath.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think,” I said, still hiding behind my hands.
“No, I should have…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but the discomfort in his voice was unmistakable.
Pulling on every ounce of willpower I possessed, I lowered my hands. “You gonna be okay?”
Warin nodded once without looking at me.
* * *
The next hour was fantastically awkward.
Warin sat pressed as far back into the couch as he could get, looking like the epitome of the word “tense.”
I tried to pretend like nothing was amiss, but it was pretty damn hard to keep a conversation going when one party refused to breathe, let alone answer with anything longer than one-syllable.
One hour after he’d arrived, after I’d given up trying to get a conversation started and we’d sat in silence for a good fifteen minutes, Warin made up some excuse about work and left as swiftly as he could without actually running for the door.
* * *
After a week of complete silence, it was pretty obvious that Warin wasn’t planning on calling me again. I wasn’t entirely sure why it was such a big deal, embarrassing as it was that he could smell what was going on in my downstairs department, but it was pretty damn hurtful that I’d apparently been tossed to the side. Again.
For the first while, I’d try to tell myself he was probably just busy. But on the eighth day after “the second blood incident,” after I’d had to cover two full shifts because Skye was sick, forgotten my wallet so I hadn’t eaten all day, and my beloved Fiesta then refused to start… I’d officially had enough. Of everything.