by M. L. Briers
“I see what you did there,” Neal replied with a natural charm, but underneath it all; he was both curious and frustrated. He couldn’t get a read on her, and he certainly couldn’t get inside her mind – and that was strange – but he had been able to calm her emotions.
Neal had never encountered anyone, witch or otherwise, that he couldn’t read like an open book, unless they were using some kind of blocking spell, and it didn’t feel like that to him. There was no tapping on the closed door of her mind; he just couldn’t locate that door in the first place.
“What’d I do?” Amber knew what she’d done, and it looked like he got it too. But this felt like a game of chess, and she did like to play.
But was going up against a vampire really a good idea?
Her mother wouldn’t think so, but then she knew that her mother and Claudia were holding something back, and she did like to get to the bottom of a good mystery – but – even if it killed her?
While she hated to use her magic on humans, it was fair to say that this guy had stopped being human the moment he’d awoken from the dead and tasted the first drop of human blood on his tongue. She didn’t think she’d have a problem using her magic on him.
“A Mogwai is good, and a Gremlin is bad, and you equated my feeding habits with the Gremlin.”
He more than had her number, and she was her mother’s daughter – he just hoped there wasn’t a lot of Grandma Louann in there as well.
“Aren’t they bad?” Amber asked, tilting her chin up in defiance, and meeting his gaze without looking away.
Neal offered her a slow-to-boil smile that usually got him what he wanted, but that was with a normal human, and he knew she wasn’t normal. “Want to find out?”
CHAPTER TEN
~
“No, she doesn’t.”
Amber forgot all about the vampire when the deep, gravelly tones boomed out from the back of her shop. To say it was a surprise was an understatement. She’d only just opened up, and the back door wasn’t unlocked, so whoever he was, he’d been trespassing.
Amber turned on her heels with instant recognition for the man-mountain whose broad shoulders almost reached the doorframe on either side. The stranger was as tall as the vampire, but he was chock full with muscles; and where the vampire oozed charm, this guy oozed deadly intentions, but she didn’t feel as if those bad intentions were aimed at her.
The stranger was offering a dark glare at the vampire and almost ignoring her presence. There was an odd flick of a look in her direction, but Amber thought that was more to try to judge her mood and keep an eye on where she was than actually acknowledging her existence.
There was something about him; apart from his devilishly good looks with that square jaw, jade green eyes, and a mop of unruly hair that almost begged to have a brush run through it. Those were all good, but Amber was getting that supernatural ping off her radar, but what kind of supernatural was he?
“The boyfriend?” Neal asked and got an incredulous look from Amber in return. “Not the boyfriend,” he surmised.
“Hardly, and he’s trespassing on my property,” Amber said indignantly and got a little side-eye from the stranger in return.
“You’d rather I let him bleed you dry?” Joshua Melrose eyed the witch for a long moment. He’d seen her the day before standing outside the store, and he’d tried to dismiss her, but he felt drawn to her – now he knew why – she was one of the witches in town, and he wasn’t fond of witches.
Joshua couldn’t allow himself the luxury of getting caught up in witch drama. Still, he’d seen the vampire and something deep within him – probably that damn protectionist DNA that all shifters carried within them – had demanded he make sure she was safe. He was an idiot, and this was not what he was in town to do.
“There’s a tasty thought,” Neal muttered loud enough for both of them to catch his words, and the smirk on his lips told Amber that for some reason, the vampire was trying to push the other guy’s buttons – she was interested to hear that he’d succeeded when a long, deep growl rumbled through the air.
That answered that question, her white knight was a shifter, but that only opened up the door to wondering what kind of shifter he was?
“Look,” Amber said, turning her attention to Joshua. “I get that you’re trying to protect me, in some misogynistic, out of date way…”
“Misogynistic?” Joshua didn’t quite get why she was throwing a label at him. “You’re a human female; he’s a bloodsucker…”
“Yeah, there’s that female thing again,” Amber said.
“Big no-no, furry,” Neal said, enjoying the moment and the sparring match going on between the witch and the wolf shifter.
Neal would say the guy was out of his league – it took a keen mind to argue with a female about misogyny nowadays, and he didn’t think the big guy had that going for him, or he wouldn’t have mentioned she was female in the first place. You could think it, but hell opened up if you said it out loud.
Joshua folded his arms in a purely defensive move. “I’m not a misogynist…”
“And your best friend’s gay?” Neal dropped that in just to stir the pot.
“What?” Joshua didn’t get what that had to do with anything, but when Amber snickered, he knew he was being played.
Amber waved the comment away. “The thing is, I don’t need your help, but thanks anyway,” she offered.
It could be painfully obvious at times that some people were set in their ways, and she guessed that shifters had a worse time of it than most. Naturally protective of women, testosterone-fuelled and with an alpha type personality to deal with, the little darlings were troll bait. But she was a witch, and nobody was burning her at the stake of convenience.
“Hey, if you wanna become lunch for him,” Joshua shrugged. Some folk you just couldn’t help, and he guessed that this witch was one of those times. That irked him more than he could fathom out why.
It hadn’t gone unnoticed that she was pretty, but not beautiful like the women in glossy magazines. Her red hair was like a warning sign of what her personality would be like, and it hadn’t been wrong – she was feisty and fiery, and he liked that she stood up for herself.
Her green eyes were the colour of summer grass, and he couldn’t help but stare. If he wasn’t wrong, she was doing her fair share of staring back at him, especially when she thought he wasn’t paying attention.
The beast within him wasn’t happy; it was distracted by the vampire and just how close he was to the witch. It made them both nervous.
“I don’t think he came in here to lose his fangs,” Amber said, turning her attention back to the vampire who looked smug – too smug – and she wasn’t taking sides between the strangers, but if she had to do it, then she guessed she’d go with the well-meaning shifter. “But, a nice case of the evergreen boils might not be a bad idea.”
Joshua grunted his approval and the vampire didn’t look so smug any more. It was the best she could do to level the playing field, although, why she cared was beyond her.
“I’m so sorry I’m late,” Sandy burst into the stop, practically hyperventilating, and the words just tumbled from her lips.
“You didn’t miss much,” Amber said.
Sandy seemed oblivious to the vampire and the shifter. “There was a fire at the boarding house, and it was chaos there for a while.”
It was only when Sandy straightened, flustered, and she brushed the wayward strands of hair away from her face that she noticed the man-mountain standing beside her, and she immediately took two sideways steps away from him. She shot a look at Amber. “Am I…?”
“Intruding?” Neal asked, bringing her attention to him. “It seems to be going around today.”
Amber reached into her pocket and fished out some cash. “Could you go and get a couple of coffees and I’ll have a blueberry muffin, and whatever you’re having for breakfast.” Amber held out the money, and it took Sandy a moment or two to scoot back around
the counter and be on her way, but she hesitated at the door and motioned to the men. “Are they…?”
“Just leaving,” Amber said, placing her hands on her hips to show she meant business, and not just to her new employee who looked decidedly uncomfortable.
When the door closed behind her new employee, Amber turned her attention back to the men in her store. While she was very rarely rude to a customer; these two weren’t customers. “You both had no trouble finding the entrances, and they work great as exits too,” she informed them and waited while the men in the room had a stare-off.
Ugh! She could practically taste the testosterone in the air in what was usually a female haven.
“I’ll leave when he leaves,” Joshua said with a deep rumble that stuck in his chest as he eyed the vampire.
“Really – I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” Neal said, and Amber had to hide the smile on her lips behind her hand as she watched things play out.
Who knew dead people could do stand-up? That would account for some of the comedians on TV lately.
“Why don’t you both just beat your chest as well? How about you both just …?” Amber shooed them, and for one long moment, neither man moved. Then, with a sigh, Joshua backed up the way he’d come, reluctant to turn his back on the vampire. “You’re turn,” Amber said, turning to the vampire, but his hand was already on the door, and he yanked it open, and the bell rang out once more.
“I’ll be seeing you around, Red,” Neal said, and stepped out onto the street.
Amber held her stance as long as she could, and then she felt the adrenaline die and the nerves kicked in. It appeared her mother was right to be cautious – but that vampire wasn’t everything she’d expected a bloodsucker to be. He didn’t feel … dangerous, but then that was probably by design.
Amber wanted to lock the backdoor, and she was tempted to do it with magic, but she couldn’t be sure the shifter had left. She needed to make sure, and she drew on her magic as she headed out the back.
Meeting her first vampire and her first shifter in one day felt – draining, but then she’d never had to keep her magic about her for that long before, and what was with Sandy? Had the witch really not noticed the supernatural in their midst?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
~
A moment earlier and Marilyn would have walked right smack bang into the vampire coming out of her daughter’s store. Thankfully, she’d stopped to say a few words to one of the ladies from the church, and fate had been kind enough to make that intervention and give her a moment to gather herself, so she didn’t trip over her feet when she spotted him.
Goddess, but he looked good. But, then der, he’d always looked good and forever would, whereas she’d aged. Marilyn couldn’t help but wonder if he’d notice her diving behind a parked car for cover and crawling away on her hands and knees.
Boy, did she feel like doing it?
There he was, Mr Silver Fox, in suspended animation, and time had caught up with her, so they were roughly the same age or the same age when he’d been turned – either way, that wasn’t fair – but, she guessed the alternative for both of them was worse.
As he came towards her with that smile that used to do funny things to her stomach, and still did, she offered her opening shot. “Stay the hell out of Bells.”
“Who’s Bell?” he replied, and she noted the twinkle of amusement in his eyes that made her want to smile back.
But, this was not ten years ago, and he was not going to get to her the way he did back then. He’d come back to town, thrown everything up in the air, and disappeared into the night again leaving behind him a trail of destruction in his path.
It didn’t matter that he’d been right about certain things – like her ex-husband being a giant douche – it only mattered that her world had fallen apart and he wasn’t there to help her put it back together, but then, you could never trust a vampire – word or deed.
Marilyn cocked her head to the side and gave him her best Louann impression with a hard glare that she hoped sent a shiver down his spine.
“Oh, dear God, no, you’ve turned into your mother,” Neal said, and whipped the rug from beneath her feet, throwing her mind into turmoil, and causing Marilyn to want to scream at the top of her lungs at the inhumanity of it all.
Marilyn felt the bubble of something within her, but it wasn’t magic – although, given a chance, out of the view of the human world – she would have zapped him with everything she had for that insult. No, the bubble within was anger, anger fast approaching rage.
Her chin almost touched her chest as she glared at him from beneath her eyebrows that drew down so low it felt like she had swelling above her lids. “My mother?”
“It’s uncanny,” Neal offered back with a teasing smile. “Somewhat unnerving…”
Neal flinched when she moved her hand, he almost expected that hard sting of magic to strike him, but she held her ground. Although, if looks could kill; he’d be a pile of ashes.
“What makes you think you can walk back into this town…?” Into my damn life; was what she wanted to say, but didn’t.
Neal looked around at the hub of Clearview; the cars might have changed and some of the storefronts, but it was still the place he’d been picturing for the last decade. There were some places and people you couldn’t forget; no matter how long you outlived them. “I still own a house here, and – most of the stores,” he said with an absent wave over his shoulder at Amber’s store.
Marilyn’s lower jaw sagged, but it took her a long moment to realise it – he owned Bells? Damn, that wasn’t good. Then she snapped her mouth shut and drew her body to its full height. “You should have stayed away for another few decades…”
“Oh, be fair; it won’t take your mother that long to die,” he tossed back and blindsided her once more.
“I was talking about me,” she said, and shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts. “What’s my mother got to do with…?”
“Ask her,” Neal said. He’d wondered for a decade if Marilyn had known what her mother was up to – if she was complicit in those deeds – maybe he just got his answer.
Marilyn stood her ground, and she even folded her arms to show him that she meant business. “I’m asking you.”
Neal took a long step towards her, she didn’t flinch, didn’t move a muscle. He was close enough that under other circumstances, he could have ended her life with a snap of the neck. “Far be it from me to upset the apple cart where your family are concerned.”
Marilyn felt the rush of anger boiling up within her. She snorted with disbelief at the audacity of the man. “Yeah, like that’s never happened before,” she bit out.
Now she seemed to have blindsided him. When he turned to look at her, he stared deeply into her eyes, and she bristled. “You couldn’t read me back then, and you certainly have no chance now,” she informed him, but just in case, she drew her magic even closer and strengthened the wards around her to keep him at bay.
Neal offered her a smile that screamed victory. “Don’t be so sure of that, Marilyn, I might have learned a trick or two of my own while I’ve been away,” he replied and noted the way that she blinked twice.
The worm had turned again, and she was on the back foot once more. Damn, but she hated that man with a vengeance. “Leave town…”
“Oh no,” he said with a smile that could disarm the most steadfast slayer. “I have unfinished business, and I’ll be seeing you around.”
Marilyn intended to come up with a witty comeback, but he was already walking away from her. The cheek of the man, the audacity, the downright nerve of him to even give her a sideways glance, let alone threaten her like that made her want to seek revenge.
As stupid as it felt, as childish as it may have been – Marilyn drew on her magic and took great pleasure in putting an invisible block right in front of him. When he tripped – heading for a nasty fall which he more than deserved – she felt elated and guilty, but mostly
smug and happy.
It was just a shame that his vampire reflexes stopped him from hitting the road face first, but she’d made her point. It was just a shame that he didn’t look back to see her crowing, but he most definitely heard her chuckling.
~
“Hey, ghoul!”
Claudia took a step forward just as Neal drew level with the alleyway where she’d watched the vampire and her best friend delivering verbal blows. It hadn’t been hard to determine from their body language that each had managed to land punches against the other.
Now it was her turn to get involved. After all, what were best friends for but to stick their nose in where it might not have belonged?
Neal stopped at the sound of the familiar voice, but he didn’t turn to look at her, he didn’t need to, he’d kept up with her life over the last decade, and she hadn’t been hard to follow. Unlike Marilyn and her family, Claudia was very public.
“Well, you couldn’t have come home to spend your ill-gotten gains on Main Street,” he said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans to keep from wringing her neck. He was sure that she’d had a hand in what had transpired a decade earlier.
Claudia took his opening shot with a pinch of salt. Maybe he knew about her life and perhaps he didn’t, but he hadn’t turned her into the authorities yet. “And you didn’t come home for the fanfare that the town wouldn’t throw for you even if they knew you existed as their benefactor,” she replied.
“Ouch,” Neal gave her that point. He’d always found her a formidable opponent, perhaps that’s why he hadn’t taken his revenge on her – yet – he had time, lots of it. “Mean girl.”
“Why are you here, Neal?” Claudia asked.
It wasn’t as if he was going to tell her his life story, but if you didn’t ask then the other person couldn’t slip up and tell you something they didn’t want you to know – and she’d always been good at finding out secrets.