by Liz Schulte
“On the other side of this door, you can be her any time you want. No one will stop you. Do you want me to show you?”
He was the devil, but the offer was too good to refuse. I gave into the temptation, dragging my lips along the column of his neck, taking what I needed from him. His fingers threaded through my hair, but he didn’t pull away. A coarse rumble started deep in his chest as he lifted me against the door, using his body to pin me there, blue flames dancing in his eyes. I cupped his face, pulling him against me harder, sinking my teeth into his lip, making him hiss. He slowly slid me back to my feet.
But it was too late to stop what he’d started. The hunger wouldn’t be beaten down again. I reached for him, but he pulled away and managed to avoid me. “Not me,” he said, taking me by the shoulders and turning me toward them door. “Them.”
He opened the red door and I stepped inside.
Chapter 5
I was late getting to work the next morning, but I felt fantastic. I hummed all the way to the bakery. I couldn’t remember much of anything that happened after I went through the door with Phoenix, which was worrisome, but the feeling that the world was mine for the taking made the worry easy to dismiss.
There were two days until opening. Boone was installing the countertops and the chairs and tables would arrive any minute, which meant I had the rest of the day and tomorrow to finish setting up and to prepare for Saturday. Despite everything that had happened, I was going to open on time. It felt like a major accomplishment. And even better than making my deadline was the fact I was calm. My entire outlook on life had changed. Was it because of the talk Boone and I had, or because I’d finally sated my appetite? Either way, I owed both Phoenix and Boone flowers—or something less girly. I couldn’t have made it through the week without them.
There was one more thing I had to do, though. Yesterday, I couldn’t decide, but this morning when I woke up (Yes, I slept!) the answer was clear. Holden had to be told about Garret. Garret couldn’t be left as he was, frightened and positive that I was somehow evil. That decided, I got to work. My tables and chairs arrived and I dedicated the rest of the morning to arranging them until they looked perfect.
Boone tapped my shoulder as I was admiring how everything had come together. “I’m finished,” he said.
I looked at the wall in front of the kitchen, opposite of the big windows and entrance. Goosebumps rose in waves over my arms. It was more than perfect. It was mine. “I love it.” I smiled from my heart at Boone. “I love everything about it. I’m so glad we met.”
His dimples came out. “Wait here. I have a present for you.”
I wrapped my arms around myself as I envisioned the cases filled with treats and the cabinets lined with colorful jars of hard candy and trinkets. I couldn’t wait to start baking.
The door chimed. I looked up expecting Boone, but Garret was there instead, wearing a huge crucifix and a string of garlic around his neck. One hand held a video camera and the other clasped a bottle of what I could only assume was holy water. I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.
“You’re back,” I said, sighing heavily. “Garret, you have to stop harassing me.”
“I know what you are, demon.” He sent a spray of holy water splashing across my face.
I briefly considered messing with him, but I decided that wouldn’t be the best idea given the trouble we were in. I simply wiped it away. “Please, sit down. We need to talk.”
He stared accusingly at the ineffectual holy water then stuck it in his pocket and focused the video camera on me. “Then talk, vampire.”
I sighed again. “This is insane. Put the camera down. You’re unwell.”
“The camera stays. I want a record of your lies. I could feel you in my mind yesterday. I know you did something to me. The world will know.”
It was worse than I thought. I assumed since I’d failed that compelling wasn’t one of my abilities—but he’d felt me. What if I’d damaged him in some way? “Put the camera down,” I said gently. “Let me help you.”
He pulled out a gun and pointed it at me, his hand shaking. “I thought you might say that, but I saw you heal and I can prove it.”
I held up both hands and backed away. “You don’t want to do this, Garret.” He really didn’t. Chances were I would not only heal instantaneously, but my vampire half might take being shot personally.
“Confess and admit it on film or you’re forcing me to prove it. The world deserves to know.”
He pulled the trigger. A shot rang through the air. I moved out of the way just before the bullet hit, even though I was on camera—the lesser of two evils. It was that or accidentally kill him and that was something I didn’t want to live with.
Garret crashed into the ground as Boone tackled him from behind, knocking over a couple chairs. A small wrapped gift flew from his hands and fell to the floor.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m okay.” Boone pinned Garret’s arm behind his back. “He didn’t want to hurt me.”
I didn’t have the words to defend Garret, but I couldn’t condemn him either. This was my fault.
“Did he or did he not just try to shoot you?” Boone growled, yanking Garret’s arm up tighter. Garret clutched the camera with his free hand.
“You moved too fast. You did. You moved too fast,” he crowed. “I have it on film. Everyone will know.”
Two days ago he had been such a nice man.
“Call the police,” Boone said over Garret’s ramblings.
I shook my head. There was only one thing I could do. “You can leave, Boone. I’ll handle this.”
Garret tried to scramble to his feet, but Boone kept hold of him. “I’m not going anywhere while this madman’s still here.” A lock of his hair fell over his face.
I picked up my cell phone and called Holden. He appeared instantly as a thick black cloud of oily smoke that quickly formed into him.
Garret ranted louder, his face red with exertion. Even Boone looked a little frightened as Holden glared at them. He turned to me. “What happened?”
I gave him a quick rundown of everything that happened with Garret and how I tried to fix it. Holden’s jaw flexed at least three times during my story and I braced myself to be yelled at, but he turned away and scooped up Garret by the back of his shirt, right out from under Boone. Holden’s other hand snatched the camera from Garret and handed it to me. Then he grabbed his chin and forced Garret to look at him.
I sucked in air. He was going to kill him right there in front of me. I squeezed my eyes shut then forced myself to open them again. I had to watch. It was my fault.
“You have never met Maggie, you don’t believe in anything paranormal, the last three days have been completely normal, and you hate sweets. Now you are tired and want to go home and sleep for at least twelve hours.”
Garret’s dark eyes rolled back in his head and Holden dropped him to the ground, where he stood deathly still. Then Holden snapped his fingers and Garret stumbled out, not saying a word, his face completely blank. And that was how compelling was supposed to go.
I bent down and picked up the gun, offering it to Holden. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
He took the weapon and looked at Boone. “What about him?”
Boone stood up and offered Holden a hand.
Holden glanced at me and I nodded. “Boone’s okay.”
He shook his hand, but didn’t look happy about it. “You know the rules.” He turned his penetrating stare onto me.
“He’s psychic. He’s practically one of us.” I glanced at Boone. “Besides, I explained the rules. He understands.”
“What kind of psychic?” Holden asked.
I stepped between him and Boone. “The kind that doesn’t need our sort of trouble.”
“We’ll see.” He looked over my shoulder at Boone. “What did she tell you?”
“That vampires are real and shouldn’t be talked about. Hey, man, I’m not going to say a word.”
H
olden relaxed. “See that you don’t.” With that, he disappeared just as fast as he’d arrived.
Chapter 6
The shop was warm and bursting with life on Halloween. It was a confectioner’s dream. Rows of cupcakes, rolls, tarts, cakes, and candies lined the cases. Charlie, in her cat woman costume, helped Olivia, who was dressed as an angel (of course), and me (I was Daphne from Scooby Doo) hand out treats to the steady stream of adults and children. Some even stayed to mingle. Holden, dressed as himself (of course), sat in the corner of the room trying to restrain baby Baker who already had a mind of his own.
The one person I had hoped would come, Boone, didn’t. In fact, he’d been absent since the day Garret attacked. But it was okay. There were far too many blessings in my life to be upset over one disappointment. I would make another friend. Now that I wasn’t starved, it was easier to have faith in that. My mind drifted to Phoenix. I hadn’t seen him since the night I couldn’t remember. Then again, it wasn’t like I’d gone to Xavier’s to look for him either. To be fair, there wasn’t much call for our paths to cross in my day-to-day life and that was probably for the best. He was too good at tempting me and as each day passed, with me still unable to remember a single detail of that night, the more I feared I’d done something I would regret.
Charlie tugged on my skirt. I looked down at her round cheeks, flushed from the excitement and massive amount of sugar she’d eaten. “Aunt Maggie,” she said, eyes sparkling. “Can I have the big one?”
She was pointing at a large pumpkin-shaped iced sugar cookie on the counter. “Um,” I glanced back at Olivia who shrugged. “Okay, but don’t make yourself sick.”
“Okay.” She skipped off to collect her cookie.
Olivia laughed, handing me her bowl of candy. “I better go help her or you’ll have fingerprints all over the case.”
My smile grew as I greeted the next group of customers with their treats and introduced myself.
“So you finally opened your dream bakery,” my best friend Izzy said behind me.
I closed my eyes, half hoping she wouldn’t be there when I turned around and half ecstatic to see her. “Izzy.” I hugged her gently as possible. “I meant to text you back, but time got away from me. I’m so sorry. It’s wonderful to see you.”
She nodded slowly, still not smiling. “Everything looks great. I’m just glad to know you’re alive and doing well.” She started for the door.
“Iz, wait.” I couldn’t let her walk away. Not after everything. No matter what I was, I missed my friends. Some people, maybe, were built differently and could happily exist alone, but I wasn’t one of them. I needed people. I loved people. And she was my people. “I know I messed up. I’m sorry I haven’t been around. It was completely me, not you. I was working through some stuff. I didn’t mean to shut you out.”
She shook her head and crossed her arms. “We’re friends, Maggie. I know you went through something when Baker died, and I wanted to be there for you.”
“I know, but I had to deal with it on my own. Baker’s death changed my life and I lost myself for a while. I just needed to…I don’t know.” I hugged the candy bowl to my chest. “I promise I’ll be around more if you still want me to be. I’m starting to feel normal again.”
She pressed her lips together, eyes trained on the corner of the room. “Of course I want you around.”
I handed her a bag of treats. “You know where to find me.”
She looked around the store with the start of a grin. “It really does look great.”
The rest of the evening flew by and when everyone was finally gone, I had a huge, glorious mess to clean up. There was a light tap on the front door just as I was finishing up sweeping. I flipped the lock and opened the door. Boone stood on the other side, unsmiling.
“How’d the opening go?”
“Wonderfully—totally wonderfully. Come in.”
He closed the door behind him. “There’s more than vampires out there, isn’t there?”
I opened and closed my mouth. “You don’t want know.”
He nodded. “I think it’s too late for that. I was getting ready to come here and trick-or-treaters came to my door. As I put the candy in their bags, I had a vision about the middle one.”
“What happened?”
He plunked into one of the chairs. “He was taken from his bedroom by an old lady. I saw him sleeping in his bed, then a door appeared in his room. An old woman stepped out of it and picked up the kid. Then I swear she looked right at me and winked. I know it sounds crazy—but then again, you’re a vampire; it doesn’t get much crazier than that.”
Yep, it was definitely my sort of crazy. I thought I needed the store to feel normal again, or even that I needed to fall in love, but I didn’t. Phoenix showed me that, but he wasn’t entirely right. I was still the girl I used to be, the one who wanted to own a bakery and unapologetically loved the color pink, but I was more than that now. I was also a half-vampire who could hopefully do more good than harm in this world.
The store would be a great adventure, but it wouldn’t make or break me. Life was still mine for the choosing. And this had all the makings of one of those moments that would define who I was going to be.
I gave Boone my last piece of candy and sat down across from him, leaning forward on my elbows. I met his squinty blue eyes. “How much do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
Check out more books by Liz:
URBAN FANTASY/PARANORMAL ROMANCE
The Knead to Know Series
Knead to Know (A Knead to Know Short Story)
Fairytale Ambrosia
Psyche Souffle (Valentine’s Day Knead to Know Short Story)
Ghostsnaps (Coming Soon)
The Sekhmet Bounty Series
Sweet Little Lies (A Sekhmet Short Story)
Catatonic (A Sekhmet Short Story)
Catastrophe
Catacombs (Coming Soon)
Catapult (Coming Soon)
The Guardian Trilogy:
Secrets
Choices
Consequences
Be Light (Guardian Trilogy Christmas Short Story)
Snow and Mistletoe (Guardian Trilogy Christmas Short Story)
Good Tidings(Guardian Trilogy Christmas Short Story)
The Jinn Trilogy:
Ember
Inferno
Vestige
Without a Map (A Jinn Trilogy Short Story)
The Easy Bake Coven Series:
Easy Bake Coven
Hungry, Hungry Hoodoo
Pickup Styx
Tiddly Jinx
Ghosts in the Graveyard
Ollie, Ollie Hex ‘n Free
Frost’s Bite (An Easy Bake Coven Short Story)
If the Broom Fits
Stark Raven Mad (Coming Soon)
Moonlight Madness (Coming Soon)
MYSTERY
Dark Corners
Dark Passing
Dark Obsession
The Ninth Floor
MANY AUTHORS CLAIM to have known their calling from a young age. Liz Schulte, however, didn’t always want to be an author. In fact, she had no clue. Liz wanted to be a veterinarian, then she wanted to be a lawyer, then she wanted to be a criminal profiler. In a valiant effort to keep from becoming Walter Mitty, Liz put pen to paper and began writing her first novel. It was at that moment she realized this is what she was meant to do. As a scribe she could be all of those things and so much more.
When Liz isn’t writing or on social networks she is inflicting movie quotes and trivia on people, reading, traveling, and hanging out with friends and family. Liz is a Midwest girl through and through, though she would be perfectly happy never having to shovel her driveway again. She has a love for all things spooky, supernatural, and snarky. Her favorite authors range from Edgar Allen Poe to Joseph Heller to Jane Austen to Jim Butcher and everything in between.
Liz would love to hear from you
Please stop by and visi
t at any of the below mentioned networks:
http://www.LizSchulte.com
https://www.facebook.com/liz.schulte
http://twitter.com/lizschulte
http://www.pinterest.com/liz_schulte/
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4755336.Liz_Schulte
Or sign up for her newsletter
http://lizschulte.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=b24d896a4369244959d216887&id=a525d7447f