by Lila Dubois
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
Oren signaled their server, then passed over some cash when she stopped at the table. Maeve took a minute to examine what the woman was wearing. She needed clothes appropriate to Los Angeles, and this little dress thing Henry had bought her didn’t seem right.
“Shall we?” Oren half-rose, straightening fully when she too stood.
“Where are we going?” Maeve asked as he led her out of the small restaurant.
“I’m going to call someone, if you’ll excuse me.”
“You’re going to call one of the males?” Maeve corrected herself when she saw his expression. “One of the monster men you know?”
“Actually, one of the women who owns Calypso Productions, the studio making the movie.”
“They won’t tell you anything.”
“Why not?”
“Because I told them not to.”
“And why did you do that?”
“Because I wanted to meet you and wanted you to meet me.”
“You wanted the meeting to be without prejudice.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s why you made my car crash?”
“You did not crash.”
“Fair enough.”
Oren held open the passenger side door for her and Maeve climbed in. When Oren too had climbed in, Maeve twisted in her seat to face him.
“I didn’t even know there were female monsters.”
“Of course there are females. There must be for our people to live on.”
“That makes sense. I just never heard any of the guys talk about them.”
“There would never talk about me.”
“Why?”
“They’re afraid of me.”
Oren dropped his hand from the keys, leaving the car off as he slowly turned to face her. “They’re afraid of you?”
“And they should be.”
Maeve grabbed his arm and released her control. The center of her vision went dark. Feelings and fleeting images in ultra-bright colors flooded her mind—his past. Then gray shadow images replace the colors—his future. The images came hard and fast, too much for her to understand or process now, but she would remember them as she had for every person she touched this way.
Vaguely she could hear Oren shouting and cursing, trying to get out of the car.
She’d forgotten how startling it could be for humans to see the Bean Sí.
His future was hazier than most. She pushed, trying to clarify the images, to understand what sort of man he would be and see what clues she could find in his future to explain his present. The harder she pushed, the hazier the images got. She gave up, withdrawing.
The visions stopped and Maeve bowed her head. She felt her hair, which rose away from her in an unseen wind when she Saw, fall against her body, the long strands thumping softly. She opened her mouth, jaw cracking as her face returned to her normal human-like appearance.
Her body tingled with energy and magic, which she took and locked away. Sometimes Seeing drained her, other times it filled the well within her. Despite the fuzzy future vision, this Seeing had filled her with energy.
Maeve opened her eyes, excited to see his reaction to what she really was.
Oren was slumped in his seat, head back and eyes twitching.
“No!”
Maeve threw herself at Oren, touching his face. She slid her knees on either side of him, straddling him in his seat and dropping her head to his chest. His heart was beating and she could feel him breathing.
What had she done?
He had no magic in him, no natural barrier to protect him from the beyond that she touched when she Saw. When she pushed into that beyond—the Everafter—looking for his future, she must have drawn him too close to something no human mind could understand or experience except through the allegories created by their religions.
Terrified, Maeve put her hands on either side of his head, not touching him. She waited, but the churning need to wail didn’t come. He was not dying. If he had been, she would have felt it.
She could always feel death. Her ancestors, the fae Bean Sí of Ireland and Scotland, had been advisors to the great kings, looking into the future and warning of approaching death. When death came, it was the way of her kind to cry out, mourning a passing that had yet to happen. In human myth, they’d been accused of bringing death with their wails, when really they only warned of the approach.
And now Maeve had hurt a human, something she hadn’t wanted. She’d been careless, more interested in experiencing Oren’s company than in planning out how she would use her powers to confirm or dismiss his involvement.
Under her, Oren stirred.
Maeve pressed her hands to his face, holding his head as he woke. Relief flooded her as his eyes fluttered open.
His eyes widened when he saw her. His lips were puckered up like a fish’s due to her hands pushing on his cheeks, and it made him look silly and cute.
“I’m sorry,” she said, releasing his face to stroke his hair. It was soft under her fingers. He licked his lips, drawing his attention there again. Maeve leaned away, her back against the steering wheel, surprised as she felt something deep inside her stir to life. His gaze met hers and something moved between them, something she hadn’t felt in a long time.
“What are you?” he asked.
Tentatively, Maeve explored his face with her fingertips, letting this half-forgotten feeling he’d woken fill her. She touched his lips, and his gaze flew to hers.
“I’m a banshee.”
Chapter Five
Cali
The mood on set was killing the production.
Cali stalked across the lot, walking over snaking cables and skirting around tents and outdoor set ups.
Since the meeting where they’d told everyone about that damned blog post, the entire cast and crew had been on edge. The tension was palpable and it had slowed everything down. It was taking longer for shots to be set up, they were doing up to fifteen takes when last week they’d been nailing everything in six to eight and she’d overheard several of the makeup artists making calls about other jobs.
The movie was falling apart around her and Cali wasn’t sure how to hold it together.
She had a few minutes where she could go and center herself. Darryl and Cody were supervising the crew setting up the cameras for the next shot. Cali rubbed her head as she mounted the steps into her trailer. She threw off her headset and battery pack before dropping onto the long bench seat. She leaned back and took a few deep breaths, visualizing the completed project and the accompanying success.
“Cali.”
Seling was standing just inside the door. He must have entered while she was practicing her visualization.
He looked good enough to eat in tight jeans and a slim-cut black leather jacket with a priest collar. His chest was bare and streaked with fake blood. One of the scenes being filmed today was a fight between Luke and Seling. It was the scene where the hero—Henry—realized that the bad guys—Runako and Seling—were in town and planned to kill Henry’s beloved, Akta, because a relationship between a human and a monster was forbidden. Henry catches Seling following him and they fight. They’d filmed Henry’s scenes and the human half of the fight, but still had to film Seling skulking behind Henry and then the second part of the fight, when they were monsters.
“Seling.” Cali studied his face, her blood heating with desire. He looked handsome. His dark hair had been styled to fall over his forehead and oiled so it was glossy even in the bad light of the trailer. His high cheekbones and slanted eyes made him look mysterious.
“I haven’t seen you,” he said, smiling.
“You weren’t on the call sheet until today.” Seling frowned and Cali cursed herself. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong.”
“I didn’t mean seeing you at work.”
Cali blew out a breath. “I know, that was rude. Sorry.”
“I meant this.” Seling took a few steps and drew her up. He bent his h
ead to hers and kissed her slow and deep.
Cali stiffened in surprise and then relaxed into the kiss, felt her worry and stress melt away as desire pooled in her belly. This was certainly better than visualization exercises.
Her hand slid from his leather-covered shoulder to his bare chest. That jerked her out of her sensual haze and she pulled back. “I don’t want to mess up your makeup.” She took her hand away, then inspected his chest for finger smudges in his fake wounds.
Seling looked down and sighed, then gave her a sly look. “The part of me you need to touch doesn’t have any makeup on it.”
Cali laughed. “You’re such a guy.”
“Is that good?” Seling grabbed her by the hips and pulled her pelvis against his. Cali leaned back to keep from touching his chest, holding his shoulder to keep her balance.
He wiggled his brows and she smiled, then said, “We’re not having sex again.” The words had popped out of her mouth before she had a chance to think them through.
The smile faded from Seling’s face. He released her hips and took a step back. “What are you talking about?”
Cali blinked in confusion. “Did you come here thinking we were going to have sex again?”
“Well, yes.”
“I thought you were just flirting.”
“Don’t you want to have sex again?”
Cali bristled. “I’m not about to become your on-demand sex buddy.”
Seling looked nonplused for a moment, then smiled. “Don’t worry, beautiful woman, we are going to go out to dinner too. I know all about dating.”
“Dating? Who said anything about dating?” Cali stared at Seling in shock. What was he talking about? They’d had some fun, and now they were going to have fun little flirt sessions, but there was nothing else between them.
“You…don’t want to date me?”
“You’re gorgeous and lots of fun.” Cali smiled, though it was tight and uncomfortable. She hoped he could tell she was totally sincere. “But with the movie and everything going on, it’s just not a good idea.”
“If you thought it wasn’t a good idea, why did you have sex with me before?”
“Because you’re fun, and because you’re hot. I thought you wanted the same thing I did.”
Seling turned away. “What do you think I want?”
Cali opened her mouth, closed it again.
Seling walked to the trailer door, opened it and left.
Cali sank down on the bench. What the hell had just happened?
Cali grinned as she watched the monitor over Darryl’s shoulder. The fight scene between Henry and Seling was insane. Not only was the choreography Tokaki designed amazing on film, but Seling was legitimately pissed, and it showed.
As confused as she was about what had happened between them and what he’d thought was going on, his anger was a gift. When she’d tried to talk to him before the takes, give him some emotional direction, he’d blown her off. Just seeing her had taken him to the angry place he needed to be for the scene. There was time to deal with the personal later—right now all she cared about was how great this was.
After the second take, she was sure they had it, but she asked them to go one more time, just to see what she could get from them. The second take was better than the third, so she called it.
“Cody, set us up for the shots of Seling following Luke. Javier, I want you to prep for close-up reaction shots.”
As her assistant directors jumped into action, she left the camera and walked towards her actors.
“That was great, we got it.”
Makeup artists ran up to Seling while production assistants gave him water. He wasn’t a handsome man, but a towering monster with red skin and acid-green wings. The fight called for them to start as humans and then change to their monster forms. They’d shot that scene and then the continuation of the fight in monster form.
Catherine would have her work cut out for her in post dealing with the way their special effects makeup flaked off as they changed, plus digitally adding in pants, bridging the gap between the real human-sized pants and the replica monster-size pants.
Henry’s skin was fading to blue, his breath heaving.
“Henry, that was great.”
“Yeah, it was.” He looked at Seling. “He’s pissed.”
“No, he’s just in character.” Cali wasn’t sure why she tried to convince Henry that Seling wasn’t angry. He gave her an odd look, but she turned away.
A few PAs were holding up a towel to preserve Seling’s modesty as he shifted to a human. They handed him baby wipes so he could clean off some of the cracked and peeling makeup that still clung to his human skin after the shift, and a pair of loose shorts to wear while he went back to makeup to have more—this time human-strength—applied. She waved her hand and the PAs dispersed.
Seling gave her a cold look and took a drink of water.
“That was good, a great shot. You’ll head back to makeup and then when you’re ready we’re going to shoot you—”
“I know what I need to do.” Seling nodded to her and turned away.
“Seling, wait.”
He turned to look at her over his shoulder but didn’t stop. “I have to get to makeup.”
Cali waited for Seling to enter makeup before following him. She peaked around the side of a nearby stack of boxes, watching the makeup trailer.
“How’s it going?” Margo, looking tired but pretty, wandered up to her.
“Shhh.” Cali waved her hand at Margo, who raised her brows. Cali motioned Margo closer so she could whisper in her ear. “Better today.”
“Everyone still tense?” Margo matched her whisper.
“Yes, but the filming today went well. Three takes for the fight scene.”
“Great, so why are you hiding behind this trailer, and why are we whispering?”
“I’m not hiding, I was trying to hear what they were saying in the makeup trailer.”
“Who’s in the makeup trailer?”
“Seling.”
“Ohhh.” Margo wiggled her eyebrows and smiled.
“No. It’s not like that.”
“What’s it like then?”
“I slept with him.”
“Holy shit!”
“Keep your damned voice down.”
“You and Seling? Okay, I see that, but why are you eavesdropping on him?”
“I may have pissed him off.”
Margo closed her eyes and thunked her head back against the trailer. “Cali, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything! We had sex once, that’s all it was.”
“Does he know that?”
Cali rubbed her arms nervously. “I thought so. I mean, what did he think we were doing?”
“Did it occur to you that you shouldn’t sleep with one of our actors, and that he may want a relationship?”
“He didn’t want a relationship.”
“And you know that how?”
“Because…” Cali put her head in her hands. Had Seling thought they were starting a relationship? Did he want a relationship?
“Cali. You know I think you’re great, and you know you’re my friend, but you can be a real bitch at times.”
“I know.” Cali practically snarled the words. Her whole adult life, Cali had been struggling with relationships. She didn’t understand why people spent so much time and effort lying to each other and filtering what they said. The truth sucked a lot of the time, but with her, people always knew where they stood.
“And you’re really bad at reading people.”
“I know!” Cali had destroyed many a relationship when she didn’t take the time to figure out what the person was trying to say. Why wouldn’t people just say what they wanted?
“How are you such a good director when you don’t seem to understand people at all?”
She ignored that. The trailer door was opening. She shooed Margo away and they hustled off, bent at the waist. When they reached Cali’s traile
r, they slipped inside.
“I can’t believe we’re sneaking around our own movie set.” Margo brushed her hair off her shoulders.
Cali paced the small space. “What should I do? Seling’s pissed at me, which works for the next few scenes, but it’s going to get messy when he needs to give me some other emotion on camera.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to find a way to make sure Seling will be able to give me something more than anger.”
“I’m not talking about movie, Cali. What do you want? With Seling?”
Cali stopped pacing and dropped into a seat. “Why would you even ask that?”
“Because that’s the normal question you ask someone who’s met and slept with a hot guy.”
Cali blinked and sat back. She’d never even considered Seling as anything more than…a quick moment of pleasure and indulgence of the desire she’d felt for him since she first saw him.
She never let herself consider anything more.
There was a tap at the door. “Cali, you in here?” Lena, more casual than normal in jeans and a loose sweater, slipped in. “Margo, you’re here too. Good. Did you hear back from Oren about—”
“Cali slept with Seling and then blew him off.”
Lena’s arms dropped to her sides. “What?”
“Cali slept with Seling and he thought that they were starting a relationship, but then she blew him off, and now he’s pissed at her.”
Cali snarled at Margo for tattling on her. “Can we talk about something else? The new monster, the chick, is with Oren. I didn’t tell him anything about her. If he’s not guilty and gets pissed about this, we’re in serious trouble. Turning a banshee loose on him was pretty low.”
Lena was just staring at her. “Cali, what were you thinking?”
So much for distracting them from the whole slept-with-Seling thing. “I thought it would be fine. He’s hot, I wanted him.” She shrugged, wishing that they could move off this topic.
“How bad is it?” Lena asked Margo.
“I’m not sure. I was just asking Cali what it was she wanted from Seling.”
“I don’t want anything from him!” Cali pushed up and started pacing again, forcing Margo and Lena back against the trailer walls.