by Kristie Cook
The small-town part, though . . . I’d come to Atlanta in the first place to escape the small-town life of my childhood. I’d done quite well in putting that misery behind me, never thinking about home and the family that had taken me in only because they had to, but didn’t really want me. I’d escaped that life once. Did I really want to go back? Of course, the pictures of the mountain village looked nothing like the dusty Texas town where I’d grown up. Maybe Colorado small towns were different.
“Yeah, right.” I dropped my plate in the dishwasher and cleaned up the rest of the kitchen before sitting down to clean up my computer.
After the virus scan came back clean, I went on an online hunt for a new job—hotel night manager. Every single listing I found on every single job site was the same one: Whisper Falls Inn.
Chapter 2
“Sleep well?” Sindi asked me the next night when I came into the kitchen, a teasing glint in her eye and smirk on her lips.
I groaned with embarrassment. “Did I . . . make noises?”
She shrugged. “How would I know? I sleep like the dead.”
Bada-bing. It was one of her favorite lines, but it grew old two years ago. I rolled my eyes.
“But I can smell it.” Her smirk grew.
My cheeks flushed. Sometimes, I wished my vampirism was more like hers. She couldn’t blush.
“All sweet and sexy at the same time,” she added.
“Ugh. Sindi! Stop.”
She placed a glass of blood in front of me—our version of the protein smoothie. “But it’s such a delightful way to wake up—horny as hell. Starts the night off right.”
“Not when it’s the only action you’re getting,” I muttered.
“Speak for yourself.” She swatted me on the ass before heading back upstairs to get ready for work.
I lifted the glass to my mouth and forced the cool liquid down. Stored blood compared to fresh blood like fat-free cheese compared to the real deal—it just flat-out didn’t. I should have left the city last night to hunt out in the country, but I’d promised Sindi I’d wait for her to make the trip on our next shared night off. Whenever that might be. It’d been weeks since we’d hunted, and the blood we’d collected then was running low. The thought of living in a small town surrounded by forest and wildlife admittedly sounded more and more appealing. I could drink fresh every night . . .
If only I could find a job in a place that actually existed. I was letting the fictional Whisper Falls Inn get to me—and it had to be fictional, because all the weirdness last night just couldn’t be real. That reminds me. I need to take my computer in to Joe tonight.
After finishing my blood, I downed a cup of coffee before jumping into the shower. Visions from my dream floated lazily behind my closed lids as I stood under the flowing water—full lips traveling over my neck and shoulder . . . large hands skimming down my side . . . my tongue playing over the birthmark on his muscular chest . . . gray-green eyes, darker than my own, piercing all the way into me, touching my soul . . .
I’d never admitted that last part to Sindi, not really even to myself. Because those eyes—I felt like I knew them, except I didn’t. The rest was all Ryan, I was sure of it. I’d been dreaming of him since the day I met him freshman year at Emory University. But for some reason, all my dreams had those eyes that looked nothing like Ryan’s warm brown ones. The intense feeling that came with those eyes, what they did to my heart and soul, could only mean they’d belonged to my ex back in Texas. The one whose memory I’d chosen to bury, but my subconscious thought we should bring out on a regular basis, like whenever I was horny.
“I need to get laid,” I muttered as I towel-dried my hair.
“Yes, you do!” Sindi called from her own bathroom. She didn’t have to yell. I could hear her as well as she could hear me. As though realizing this, she dropped her voice to normal tones. “I bet Colorado lumberjacks are great in bed. What else do they have to do with their free time?”
“I’m pretty sure not everyone in Colorado is a lumberjack.”
“Maybe not, but they sure are sexy. You’re gonna get so lucky.”
“I’m not even going. Just stop it already.”
“Yes, you are.”
“It wasn’t real.”
“If you say so. Or maybe it’s very real and they really want you and you just can’t admit that to yourself.”
“How would they even know what skills or experience I have?” Or didn’t have, as it was.
She appeared in my doorway, her head tilted as she secured her earing while watching me with a raised brow. “Are you telling me not once after graduation or since did you put your résumé on the internet? And if you say no, I’ll have to kick your ass.” She barely paused, not letting me answer, because she already knew I had. “So someone obviously, finally found it, and they want you. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Kaela. Take the damn job.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying to get rid of me,” I said between breaths as I did the necessary dance to tug on my tight black jeans. “Something you want to tell me?”
When she didn’t answer immediately, I glanced up to find something dark flicker across her blue eyes, but they cleared instantly. “Yeah. Start your career. Get your own place. And then I’m coming to stay with you this time. Maybe I can meet a sexy lumberjack who doesn’t mind sharing his bed and his blood every night.”
She threw me a wink before spinning and sauntering back to her room.
“I have to make a stop on the way to work, okay?” I said a half-hour later as we left home, indicating my laptop bag on my shoulder. “I just need to drop it off with Joe. It’ll be quick, I promise.”
Sindi lifted a perfectly shaped brow. “We can’t be late again.”
“We won’t. I swear.” I held up my pinky as we began walking down the residential street toward Peachtree Road and the nightclub we both bartended at tonight. We didn’t actually do the whole pinky-swear thing—the finger lift was enough in our book.
“I’m pretty sure we’re both out of warnings,” she reminded me.
“We’ll be fine. It’ll only take a second. And if you want to go on, you can.”
“Yeah, sure, because if you get fired, you already have another job waiting for you.”
I ignored the comment. She refused to believe the job offer was a fake, and I couldn’t prove it until my computer was professionally scanned and remedied. So it was a moot point to argue any further about it.
Joe’s computer repair shop was right around the corner from home and a few blocks from the club, on the second floor over one of the many restaurants and bars lining the street. I’d insisted Sindi go on without me because we both knew she was a lot closer to losing her job than I was. So I couldn’t believe it when I came out of Joe’s and saw her crimson head bobbing in a small crowd in front of one of the restaurants. I pushed by a few people and tapped on her shoulder.
“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded, unable to see what she could considering she stood taller than most of the crowd, while I stared at people’s backs. “I thought you didn’t want to get fired.”
She glanced down at me before looking forward again. Then as though something spooked her, she looked at me again with wide eyes. She grabbed my upper arm and started tugging me back out of the crowd.
“Hey!” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Come on. We have to go, right?”
The crowd gasped as we began to make our way around it without stepping into the busy street.
“There’s the ring,” someone squealed excitedly.
I looked over with curiosity. Did I mention how much I enjoyed sappy love stories? That’s when I noticed exactly which restaurant everyone had gathered in front of. I shouldn’t have been surprised. The Bird Cage, a fancy, romantic gig famous for the number of proposals that took place on the little metal gazebo out front. The place where Ryan had proposed to me. I usually avoided it, crossing the r
oad to walk on the other side ever since. I hadn’t been paying attention when I’d come out of Joe’s.
“You think she’ll say yes?” someone asked.
“So romantic!” another sighed.
I stopped, unable to help myself. I was drawn in along with everyone else. I peeked through a small gap in the crowd to see what looked like men’s legs bent down on one knee.
“Kaekae, come on!” Sindi insisted.
“You go on if you want. I just want to see.”
“No. You don’t.”
I shook my arm free from her grip and threw her a harsh look. “I’m fine. It’s not like I can avoid this place or public proposals the rest of my life. In fact, they make me happy.”
“You do not want to see this one. It won’t make you happy. Trust me.”
“Why n—” As I looked in her eyes, realization dawned on me.
Go. Just move along, get to work, and go on with your night. I tried to convince myself, but did I mention what a masochist I was? My feet carried me closer, and I pressed into the crowd, ignoring the jabs and comments about my rudeness. I was a woman possessed, by what I didn’t know, but I couldn’t stop myself until I was at the front of the crowd. And I couldn’t stop the sob when I saw them.
Ryan on one knee, just like he’d been that terrible night.
Ryan holding a small, black box up, just like he’d been that terrible night.
Ryan smiling with that nervous tic where his dark hair touched his temple, just like he’d been that terrible night.
And Heather, her curly hair bouncing as she jumped up and down in her slinky dress and heels, which she’d also been doing that terrible night.
But she hadn’t been the one squealing, “YES!”
She’d been out here, right where I stood, excited for me.
I’d been the one saying, “Yes!”
I couldn’t say what overcame me. Every possible emotion known to man, or vampire, whatever. At least, all of the negative ones, exploding with the intensified force of my kind. Tears burned my eyes. Sobs choked me, making me gasp for air. Hurt, denial, sadness, anger—they all swirled together inside me.
People started screaming. And running. And I didn’t know why.
Heather cried out. Ryan ducked and tried to push her behind him. She grabbed onto him as she tripped, ripping his dress shirt open as they both went down, him on top of her. He held his arms up, as though trying to stop something from hitting them.
“Kaela.” Sindi’s voice came from a great distance, muffled by the whir of blood rushing through my ears.
I couldn’t turn to look at her. My vision tunneled onto the scene in front of me, through a thick, red haze. Heather splayed out on the ground, Ryan on top of her, his shirt hanging open, baring his chest. The gazebo, shaped like a bird cage, appeared to be collapsing over them. Several support bars snapped free, and the ends twisted inward, all pointing at Ryan, closing in on him.
“Kaela!” Sindi’s voice came more urgently now. A vice grabbed my upper arm and jerked at me. “Kaela, stop this! Now!”
She tugged me again, harder now, twisting me away. I looked at her and blinked with disorientation.
“Stop,” she said much more calmly, her blue eyes locked on mine. I tried to look back, but she moved her face, blocking my line of sight. “No more, Kaekae. No more.”
I blinked again. My head cleared. My lungs seized. “Oh my god! What did I do?”
She tried to stop me from looking again, but I had to know. I shifted to see around her and threw my hand over my mouth. Heather and Ryan were crawling out of a gap in the metal bars of the gazebo, which looked like a large hand had squeezed the top of it like a beer can. Except, some of the bars appeared to be partially melted. Metal bars. Melted.
“Come on. We need to get out of here.” Sindi took my hand and tugged me along behind her. I stumbled in my heeled boots at first, but caught myself and followed without paying attention to where we went. We walked in silence for a while, how long I didn’t know, as I was lost in my own mind. We finally stopped, and Sindi turned to me. “Are you going to make it through your shift?”
I realized we stood at the back door of the club, a metal door in a brick building. My hand lifted to the door, but nothing happened. It didn’t melt or crumple under my touch. I inhaled a deep breath and nodded. “I’m okay. I’ll be okay.”
She studied my face for a moment and nodded, although she didn’t look entirely convinced. She shouldn’t have been. I was far from okay. I was a mess at work, making the wrong drinks, dropping glasses, giving incorrect change. My mind was still stuck on the proposal. On the deformed bird cage gazebo. On Ryan’s bare chest.
That didn’t have a birthmark.
For some reason, that’s what my mind obsessed on the most. If he didn’t have a birthmark, then he wasn’t the one in my dreams. And if he wasn’t, who the hell was?
“You need to take that job and get far away from here,” Sindi said once we were home.
I sat on the couch in a ball with my legs drawn in and a blanket wrapped around me. I stared at her blankly.
“You could have killed him, Kaela. Again.”
My eyes squeezed shut, and I nodded. “I know,” I whispered.
“It must happen when you lose control of your emotions,” she said, referring to the deformed metal. “Or when you’re angry or hurt or something.”
I nodded again. Something similar had happened before. Only once, the first time I’d seen Ryan and Heather together, through the window of the apartment he and I used to share, both naked in our bed. The entire metal fire escape bent and melted before I turned away and ran. Sindi had followed me there, just in case things went bad with Ryan and me as I was making the first move to try to start over with him. She’d witnessed the whole thing.
“And as long as you’re here and they’re here . . . well, it’s not good for you. And it sure as hell isn’t good for them.”
She was right. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I had to shed my masochistic tendencies and do what I should have done a long time ago. Otherwise, I’d never be able to move on. And if I killed one of them, I’d never be able to live with myself.
“What about you?” I asked her, my voice thin.
She gave me a warm smile and patted my knee. “I keep telling you. I’m a big girl. I’ll be fine. You helped me through a rough time, too, gave me a distraction from my own shitty life. But I’m good now.” Her smile broadened. “You and me, we had a lot of fun together. We got through some fucked-up shit, but we had a lot of fun, too, right?”
I smiled weakly and nodded.
“So we’re good. And now it’s time for you to spread your wings and fly, baby bird.” She leaned over and gave me a quick hug. Something she didn’t do very often. She was much more of a badass vampire chick than I was. “Besides, I’m not kidding. Once you’re settled, my ass is so out there to visit. It’ll be a long drive, so you better make it worth it.”
She handed me my phone and a piece of paper with the number for Whisper Falls Inn. Why was I not surprised she’d written it down from the email? She stared at me expectantly. She’d never give up until I proved to her the inn was a hoax. So I dialed the number and tapped the green send icon.
“Whisper Falls Inn,” the sweet female voice on the other end answered, surprising me.
Sindi laughed at my shocked expression, then nodded with encouragement.
“Um . . . hi. This is Kaela Peters. I’m calling for M. Luiza. About a job offer.”
Chapter 3
After spending the day in a nearby motel waiting for night to fall, I pulled into the McDonald’s parking lot in Durango, Colorado, exactly two weeks later. As Ms. Luiza had promised, I couldn’t have missed the shuttle bus parked in back that I was supposed to meet. A huge wrap around the entire vehicle advertised the beauty and fun to be had in Havenwood Falls, my soon-to-be hometown. Several people were boarding the bus. I parked my car nearby and glanced at the clock. 7:14. I had just en
ough time to pee and grab something to eat before we hit the road again.
“Holy fuck, it’s freezing!” I yelped when I opened my car door. I grabbed the thick, white coat from the passenger seat and wrapped myself up before climbing out.
“Michaela Petran?” a deep and raspy voice said from behind me, and I turned to face an old man with gray, shaggy hair and a long beard to match, wearing a thick flannel shirt, jeans, and boots. I had to bite back a smirk, thinking of Sindi’s lumberjack dreams.
“Um . . . Kaela Peters,” I corrected as I pulled on my coat. How was he not freezing?
His gray, furry brows pinched together before laughter twinkled in his blue eyes. “Of course! Silly me! Gettin’ forgetful in my old age. Anyway, good on you for meetin’ us here. The drive from here on in can get confusin’ and treacherous. You sure you want to drive it?”
“I’m sure. I’ll be fine,” I promised. It wasn’t like I really had a choice. I needed my car.
He eyed said car. “In that thing?” He chuckled. “Good thing the roads are clear right now. But winter ain’t over yet up in the mountains. You better be gettin’ a four-wheel-drive A-S-A-P.”
“Um . . . thanks for the advice,” I said. I supposed most of my savings would be going to a new vehicle soon. “I’ll be fine for now, right?”
“For now,” he said with a nod. “Alrighty then, Ms. Petra—I mean, Ms. Peters. I’m waitin’ on a few more arrivals, but we leave in ten minutes with or without them and with or without you.”
“Understood.” I gave him a smile, then hurried inside to take care of my personal business, worried about being left behind.
For some odd reason, I couldn’t find Havenwood Falls anywhere on any map, not even Google’s. I had coordinates, but Ms. Luiza warned me that GPS often led people down the wrong roads, taking them hours out of their way. After being on the road for three nights, I really didn’t want to add hours if I didn’t have to, especially if it risked me being outside at sunrise. So I made sure to be back in my car and ready to go by the time the bus, decorated with ski slopes and restaurant facades, pulled out. To my surprise, I wasn’t the only car following. A five-vehicle caravan made its way up and around the mountains.