by Krista Walsh
She was closing the door to her room when a hand grabbed the edge and stopped her.
Allegra’s breath caught in her throat, her muscles tense, and when she glanced up to find Matthew staring at her through the gap, the knots in her neck tightened even more. She wanted to invite him in and allow him to wash her stresses away, but she was certain that to do so would be another mistake. Another night together would make it that much harder to send him away tomorrow, and she knew she had to do it. Her life had become complicated during her stay at the Garden, and she needed to undo the damage. She wanted simple. She needed simple.
A headache pounded at the base of her skull.
“I can’t believe that worked,” Matthew said. Excitement buzzed over his face like electricity, a current that jumped from him to her until the corners of her lips began to curl upward in an involuntary response. She bit down on her reaction, keeping her face neutral. “I never imagined that’s what it would feel like to be a part of something from your world, but the magic filled me up like I was empty. And that finale.” He grinned. “Not to mention dealing with the police the way we did. I’m sorry I fumbled so much. I guess it was a good thing the concierge showed up after all.” He lowered his voice into a tantalizing purr. “But now that it’s over, I can think of a few ways I wouldn’t mind celebrating. Can I come in?”
Yes, she longed to say, but forced out a steady, “No.”
In contrast to his exuberance, her flat response sounded especially cold.
His eyes widened and then narrowed, and she caught the flash of hurt within them.
In spite of her denial, Matthew gave the door a push, and she didn’t prevent it from swinging open. He remained in the hallway and leaned against the door frame. His jacket was draped over his arm, his soiled shirt and rolled-up sleeves giving him a rugged luster. She imagined taking him with her into the bath and cleaning him up, then pushed that image away. She couldn’t afford to make this harder for herself.
It wasn’t fair. She wasn’t supposed to be capable of forming attachments. She wasn’t human, and she didn’t have emotions the way they did. Allegra had wanted to believe that her continued longing for him came from the looming danger of the hotel curse — with the draugrs threatening her, her exhilaration had been heightened.
But the danger was gone now, and her blood and body still sang with desire for him. Their previous night together played in her memory in a loop, warming her, urging her on. Her self-control had shed its skin, and she hardly knew herself without it.
She wanted the safety of his arms, the warmth and security — the easiness — she found being in his company. She wanted to talk to him about what had happened, about her fears over Tim, about how, in spite of the ritual, something in the hotel’s energy still pressed down on her.
But that sort of discussion required intimacy, and she couldn’t allow that.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“I just believe it is for the best if you leave,” she answered, drawing her shoulders back. She ran a quick check over her face to make sure it was cooperating, then arranged her features into a casual mask. “We had fun, but I like our working relationship too much to risk it. Today made me realize how close we’ve come to crossing that line, and how much more difficult it would be to return to normal later if we continued.”
He pressed his lips together and crossed his arms. “I see.”
But he didn’t leave.
Allegra shifted on her feet, not sure what else he expected her to say. “I am aware this might seem sudden, but I would rather we end things while we still enjoy each other’s company, so we can remain civil with one another. You and I run the same way, Matthew. We both enjoy the best while it lasts and then leave before the pleasure fades. Tomorrow is the final day of the photo shoot, so I feel we should leave things as they are.”
He stared into her as though trying to read her thoughts, but she pushed back, refusing to let him see anything past her hard stoicism.
She prayed that he wouldn’t see through her, that he would hear her logic and not read into her hesitation. Her instincts pushed out against her mind, wanting to draw him in and finish what they had started, but she drew them back and focused on remaining distant. Aloof. The image she’d always painted of herself.
After a moment, Matthew shrugged and straightened up. “I guess you’re right. Now that the draugrs are gone and Banks has been taken away, we both have other things to keep us busy. Still, it’s been fun.” He stepped into the room and Allegra froze, but all he did was press a kiss onto her forehead and flick his finger under her chin. “More than fun. You’re going down in the books, beautiful.”
He winked at her and walked away, closing the door behind him.
Once he was gone, Allegra drew in a deep breath, then cursed as her body started to tremble. She blamed it on the cold and stripped out of her robe and bathing suit, leaving them in a heap on the floor. She stepped into the bathroom and ran the water, turning up the temperature until tendrils of steam rose from the surface to swirl along the walls and across the ceiling.
Keeping her thoughts empty, she gathered her bath oils and shampoo, not allowing herself to run though her day. There would be time enough for reflection.
When the water reached past the overflow outlet, she turned off the taps and stepped into the tub. The heat seared her skin and turned her honey-brown legs a sharp pink. It seeped into her muscles and relaxed her calves, her thighs, her stomach. She leaned against the back of the tub and tilted her head toward the ceiling to watch the steam dance.
A sharp pain cut through her chest, but she swallowed to get rid of it. What was there to feel bad about? She should feel relieved.
Everything went as well as I could have wished, she told herself.
She had been honest with Matthew, and he had taken her refusal well. He hadn’t succumbed to the fault of human passion she so frequently witnessed — the desire to latch on to anything familiar and pleasing. He’d agreed with her that it was better to end their dalliance before they hated each other. That was how she always handled such situations. She had no room in her life for personal relationships, and neither did he.
She lay in the water and allowed the day to wash off of her until the tension released its final hold on her muscles. But the tightness around her heart refused to go away. She wanted to believe that everything had gone exactly how she’d hoped, but no matter how badly she tried to deny it, she couldn’t ignore how much it hurt that Matthew had walked away so easily.
14
An hour later, Allegra still felt as though the solid life she’d built for herself was crumbling around her. Wrapped in her favorite silk robe, she paced the room and brewed some hotel tea. The flavor of the first sip reminded her of her conversation with Tim, which brought her back to Matthew, which turned the sweetness of the spices sour on her tongue.
Hugging the robe closer around her, Allegra settled in the chair by the window, drew her knees to her chest, and stared out at the twilit garden. The rain had stopped and a glimmer of low moonlight peered through the remaining clouds. A cool breeze rattled the hedges below, carrying the sweet scents of loamy earth and drying leaves toward her. She inhaled deeply, hoping the soft scents would soothe her addled thoughts, but her head continued to spin.
Self-directed anger simmered in her blood. She thought back to when she was twelve years old and her mother used to sit her down and scold her when she spoke out of turn or tried to feed on someone without taking proper precautions for secrecy — behavior that was unsuitable for a succubus of her caliber. She deserved such a lecture now. Not only for her error in judgment with Tim, but also for all of her dithering about with trite human affairs like emotions. She was smarter than that.
Too restless to remain still, she pushed herself out of the armchair and settled in front of the vanity table. She checked the lines around her eyes and across her brow, searching for any signs her recent stress might have left, and relief
poured over her that no wrinkles marred the perfect smoothness of her skin. Some people might consider such superficial concerns laughable with everything else going on, but physical appearance was important. Allegra knew that many evils could be forgiven if a person was well put-together. Beauty offered the illusion of innocence, masking what was hiding beneath the surface.
She brushed out her hair, counting her strokes, but only made it to twenty-five before she forgot where she was. After the third attempt, she gave it up as a lost cause.
As spacious as the room was, the walls were closing in on her.
She went to the wardrobe and pulled out a pair of jeans and a navy blue cashmere sweater that hung wide around her neck. The softness of the wool settled some of her mental chaos, but she still felt the need to get out of the small space and move around freely.
Stepping into the hallway, she listened for any voices nearby, and when nothing reached her but the murmur of the dwindling supper crowd, she slipped downstairs. Her stomach grumbled as the aroma of fresh food wafted out of the dining room, the first time her appetite had shown an interest in food in days. She suspected it was more for comfort than any actual hunger, and she hated that her mind had picked up such a base human crutch.
That’s what comes of spending so much time with these people, she thought.
When this was over, she was going to take a couple weeks off work and hide in her apartment until she found some grounding.
More voices drifted from the salon and sitting rooms, so she avoided those. Police tape blocked off the side door to the garden, and she had no desire to return to the pool in case some of her colleagues had taken to the hot tub.
That left her with only one option, and at the moment she didn’t even care about the damage the grease would do to her skin. She already felt it clinging to her, although she was nowhere near the kitchen.
She opened the staff door and headed down to the basement. Instead of the unappetizing stench she expected to hit her, the aroma wafting up the stairs teased her growing appetite. She wondered what Lee had added to tonight’s specials, and if she’d been silly to turn it down. Maybe he would be willing to treat her to a private meal.
The doors swung open as one of the servers pushed past her with a large tray balanced on his hand. Allegra leaned closer to get a better idea of what smelled so good, then recoiled at the spices and meat of a regular roast beef dish. Whatever the people upstairs were eating, it wasn’t the delicious odor she caught down here.
Chef’s special?
She pushed her way through the doors, her heels clacking on the cement floor, and found Lee standing over the stove. He was dressed casually this evening in jeans and a faded blue T-shirt, and now that the final server had left with his orders, he stood alone in his domain.
“Dinner’s been served and the kitchen’s closed,” he said without turning around. “If you want anything else, you can order from the bar staff. Rules for Thursday night.”
“I am not here to eat,” Allegra said, and at the sound of her voice, Lee turned to face her.
“You again,” he said, wagging a spoon in her direction.
“Am I troubling you?” she asked. It hadn’t occurred to her that Lee would cast her out of the kitchen. She didn’t know where else she would go if she had to leave. Then she realized she was concerned about the desires of a lowly cook and her demon shuddered. She had to get away from here.
“By the sounds of it, you’ve been causing all kinds of trouble in the upstairs world.” Lee said. “Good on you. We haven’t seen this much action in far too long.”
“I would not dream of taking all the credit. You played your role.”
He rolled his gaze to the ceiling. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t say so too loud. I’d hate for Banks to think he got taken away because I opened my big yap. I’ve worked here long enough that I’m probably the first person he’ll think of, anyway.”
“You needn’t worry,” she said. “I left you out of what I told the police. I believe it would be better for all involved if not many people knew of my visits here.”
She gave him a pointed stare to drive home her hint, and Lee chuckled. “No one’ll hear it from me. I promise you that.”
Certain that if he were going to send her away, he would have already done so, Allegra approached and peered into the pan next to him. The contents didn’t look nearly as appetizing as they smelled — a gelatinous mess of something, poured over a yellowing lump of something else.
“What on earth is that?” she asked.
“An old family recipe. Chicken in a marinade.” He scooped out the meat and laid it in the center of a plate, drizzling the rest of the sauce over top. “Want some?”
Allegra wrinkled her nose. “No thank you, I believe I’ll pass. Though it does smell wonderful. I don’t suppose you have anything else?”
Lee nodded and jerked his chin toward the large table in the middle of the room, gesturing with his elbow for her to take a seat. “Not many people agree with you about my sauce — they think it smells too raw for their tastes — but it’s my go-to for a rough day. Nothing more comforting than a traditional Horton dish.”
He set his plate on the table, then went to the counter to throw together a quick bowl of chicken salad. It didn’t smell nearly as tantalizing as his dinner, but at least it would satisfy her stomach.
“Has it been a long day for you as well?” she asked.
“Could say that. The staff is all in a tizzy with Banks being taken away and the body being found. Makes it challenging to get them to focus on their work. Not that I blame them for being excited. I never thought I’d hear tell of the woman again. Definitely never thought it’d be because of someone like you. Poor old Penny. Still, better she’s dug up now than more bodies being added to the toll, right?” He glanced at Allegra from under his bushy eyebrows as he set the bowl in front of her. “You think you’ve fixed the problem?”
“I hope so,” she said, taking a bite of salad. The chicken was juicy and flavored to perfection. “I thought I would feel more of a change in the air with the monsters gone, but at least I haven’t sensed anyone watching me since we cast the banishing spell. Have you noticed any difference?”
“I can’t say I have, but then I wouldn’t know what to look for. And it was so busy down here with all the fuss that I likely would have missed an earthquake if one’d passed through.” Lee snorted and shook his head. “Spells, hauntings, dead bodies in the garden. I know I believed in the monsters before you told me anything about them being draugrs, but it’s still tough to wrap my head around it all, you know? It’s like I’ve gone from jumping at ghost stories around a campfire to being shown evidence that aliens exist. It’s quite a leap.”
Allegra nodded. “I can see how it would be difficult to accept. But you do?”
He shrugged. “Who am I to scoff when the proof is right in front of me?”
The door swung open, and Cody shuffled into the room. He puffed out a loud sigh as he flipped his cap off his head and set it on the edge of the table. He pulled a stool out from underneath and straddled it, his shoulders hunching forward as he crossed his arms on the table top.
“Why not scoff? It’s completely unbelievable,” he said, continuing the conversation he must have overheard from beyond the swinging doors. “I was right there, experiencing it first-hand, and I still hardly believe it actually happened.”
“Only a fool discounts these things when the proof is right in his face,” Lee said, cutting off a piece of his chicken with the side of his fork. “You’d have to be an arrogant ass to believe you know how the world works based on what we know now. Look at how far science has come in the last hundred years. Things we always believed were impossible have now been confirmed as not only possible, but the only logical way that something could have happened. Just because science hasn’t proved magic exists doesn’t mean we won’t discover it next week or twenty years from now. Keep an open mind.”
Allegr
a raised her eyebrows at the wisdom coming out of the old cook’s mouth.
Cody grunted and grabbed a handful of roasted peanuts from the bowl in the center of the table. “I don’t know, this magic doesn’t seem all that impressive to me. It’s just a lot of wind and rain in my eyes and this nasty bump on my head. But as long as it worked.” He grinned. “And I did kick some ass.”
“I don’t doubt it, my boy,” Lee replied with an indulgent smile.
“How are you feeling, Cody?” Allegra asked. He’d cast her a less-than-subtle glance as he spoke, and she felt she owed him the courtesy of taking his bait for sympathy. Based on how easily the draugr energy had knocked her off her feet, she doubted she and Matthew would have been able to complete the banishing spell without his help.
For an instant she was back in the garden, fighting the resistance that had risen up against the spell. She remembered how close she had come to failing, and her stomach clenched around the few bites of salad she’d eaten. She ate another piece of chicken to settle her discomfort.
“Fine,” Cody replied. “Better than I’ve felt in a while, actually.”
“Why don’t you knock off early, kid?” Lee asked around a bite of his own meal. “Not like the boss man is here to stop you, and I’m sure Chantal would be okay with your taking a break, all things considered.”
Cody rubbed the back of his neck. “I would, old man, but I need the hours. Besides, what’s a bump on the head? This has been the most entertainment I’ve been able to afford in a long time. Watching everyone huddle together wondering what happened to that woman, like it was some murder mystery theater. And the expression on Banks’s face when the police took him away. Priceless.” He slapped his hand on the table. “That reminds me, have you heard the news?”