by Deanna Chase
His cheek twitched. “Yet I’m outside your window tonight not hers, pet.”
I blinked. “Yeah, why’s that?”
He tapped his finger against the tip of my nose. “I need your help. I figure you owe me.” Of course, he did. I raised an eyebrow. “I’d like you to summon a vampire who keeps evading my attempts to capture him.”
“I’ll need to talk to the coven—”
“No. No, coven. Just you and no one else needs to know about it. You have the power and the, shall we say, ability to compel my kind. We’ll just keep this between the two of us.” He glanced up at the lightening sky. “Tomorrow night. Do what you need to do to be ready. This matter needs to be closed.”
He slipped into the fading darkness inhumanly quickly and was gone.
The snow had completely stopped and the strange feeling was gone, yet I was fairly certain it hadn’t been Corbin I’d felt. His vibe was different—more subtle in some ways, but also more identifiable and less foreign to me. I put on my remaining glove and headed slowly toward the coven’s house.
I couldn’t shake the nagging question of why Corbin didn’t want me to tell them about his request. Corbin always had his own agenda, true, but that didn’t necessarily make it bad or wrong—just better for him than anyone else. He wanted another vampire. Why should we care what was going on between them? That was vampire business. Not mine, not the coven’s. . . . So why keep it from them?
I knew I was going to help him, though. Why I was, however, was a question I didn’t need or want to explore. I’d have to find time to break away from the group and get the spell without raising suspicion—or get there before anyone else woke up. That was a good plan. I moved a little quicker.
It was only five-thirty when I arrived, but a light was already on in the house. It was possible they’d forgotten to turn it off the night before, so I opened the door as softly as I could.
“Good morning.” Leslie stuck her head out of the kitchen as the door closed behind me. “Kat and Jess are still sleeping, but I’m making coffee. Want some?”
Damn morning people. I hesitated a moment too long and Leslie frowned. I forced a smile. “Sure.”
Leslie placed a steaming cup on the counter in front of me and sipped from her own mug. “You’re up early,” she said. “Milk, sugar?”
“Just milk.” She pushed a carton toward me.
“Did you figure out who sent the present?” she asked.
I cradled the mug in my hands, letting it warm them. “Hardly thought about it.” I took a drink, enjoying the burn after being outside for so long.
“You don’t have to do that, you know.” She set her cup down. “We just want to be friends with you. You don’t have to keep pushing us away and you don’t have to tell us your deepest, darkest secrets. If we push too hard just tell us to mind our own business. But consider opening up just a little. You might be surprised how good it feels.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I rolled my eyes. Most of the pain in my life came from good intentions of nice people just like them. “Though, it might take more than a cup of coffee to get my life story out of me. What else do you have?” I hoped I sounded more wry than defensive.
Leslie smiled gently. “Just time. I’d loved to hear it and I’ll be here to listen whenever, if ever, you want to share.” I avoided her meaningful gaze. “We might actually understand better than you think. Like I know your life has been hard and seeing your last name on that card rattled you. I actually think your past, in general, upsets you.”
Damn empaths. “Then perhaps we should leave it alone.”
She picked her coffee back up and directed her too caring eyes to the wall in front of her. “Have you seen Corbin lately?”
I choked. Sensing my emotions was one thing. Ferreting out who I saw was another. She reached over to pat me on the back, but I staved off her touch, holding my hands up in the universal “I’m okay” signal. When I finally caught my breath again, I said, “Why? What? No.”
Leslie laughed, her face lighting up. “The gift. I was thinking about it on my jog this morning. The two of you are a lot alike. I could see where there would be an attraction. Maybe the gift was from him. He could be reaching out to you. Or maybe he knew your mother. He’s certainly old enough and a dark witch would be on his radar. Just a thought.”
“Did you miss the memo, the skywriting, or the carefully worded email? He loves Selene.”
“Corbin does a lot of things I’m sure I can’t even begin to fathom, but I can’t imagine him clinging to the idea of Selene, especially now. They’re bonded, but it’s my understanding it’s mutually beneficial for them. They’ll each find a way to move on with their lives. Also, I know for a fact Selene has done everything in her power to block as much of herself as she can from him. That should help him considerably.”
Or make him feel more alone than ever. Didn’t she have any idea what he put on the line for her? Another case of people with good intentions making someone else suffer for what they thought was right. “Well, obviously it’s him then.”
Leslie shrugged, taking another sip.
“What must be him?” Jessica shuffled over to the stool next to me and collapsed onto it with a yawn. “Who’s him?”
“Corbin,” Leslie said. “I think he gave Frost the key. I think he’s telling her he took the time to find out who she is. It’s sort of romantic.”
Jessica opened one eye and snorted.
“My thoughts exactly,” I said. “Corbin doesn’t care about me at all.”
“Not that,” Jessica said. “I could actually see that working out. You both have a general disdain for other people. You could sit around and bitch about how unfair life is.” She winked at me. “The snort was entirely directed to the romantic notion. When did stalking become romantic? Humanity is doomed.”
I finished off my coffee. “The two of you are deluded.”
“Good morning,” Katrina said, coming into the kitchen. “Hey, Frost, I was thinking last night. Maybe Corbin left the present.”
I dropped my head into my arms while the other two laughed. These people were something else. How could they all be on the same page all the time? How was I ever supposed to catch up with them when I didn’t think like them at all?
3
The morning and most of afternoon flew by as decorations were made and put up all over the house. Mostly they gave me menial tasks that I couldn’t mess up, but somehow I still managed to ruin at least a couple of them.
“Maybe you shouldn’t help with the wreaths,” Leslie said, scrunching her nose. “No offense.”
I looked at the quickly dying evergreen branch in my hand. “None taken.” I dropped the branch in the trashcan and put my gloves back on. “Crafts aren’t really my thing anyway.”
“Yeah, Jessica’s either,” Katrina said, looking up. “You could help her. She’s organizing and planning what we need for the meditation. I think she’s going to make some candles. She’s in the attic.”
I nodded. That was where I wanted to be all right. All I had to do was get her out of the attic long enough to find the spell for Corbin and we’d be good to go tonight. I took the steps slowly, letting boredom float around the top of my emotions so Leslie wouldn’t suspect. Jessica was sitting cross-legged on the floor in the attic, reading the Book of Shadows and taking notes.
“Hey. Apparently I suck at crafts. I’m supposed to help you,” I said, walking in.
“Cool,” Jessica said. “This meditation sounds trippy.”
“Oh yeah?” I sat down across from her and took in the set up. There were stacks of dried ingredients, wicks, wax, and a line of five oils. “How so?”
“We’ll each get our own spiritual guide on the meditation and they’ll have a bag containing the four elements’ answers to the question we seek clarity on.”
I shrugged. “All things considered, that’s not so bad.”
Her mouth thinned. “I guess not.”
It didn�
��t take an empath to see something was bothering her. “You worried about someone you killed showing up?”
She blanched and looked up at me. “Aren’t you?”
I shook my head. “The dead don’t scare me. They don’t walk with me and they don’t walk with you either. You carry them with you all on your own.”
Jessica nodded. “I don’t know how to let them go.”
If I had a trick to help her, I would have given it to her. Taking an innocent life was a burden beyond what most people could deal with. Jessica was strong and she had kept herself together admirably well. “Then don’t. Remember them and learn from what happened so it doesn’t happen again. Even if one of them is your guide, it will only be because they have a message they want to pass to you.”
She rolled her shoulders back. “I know you’re right. I still want to puke though.”
Laughter bubbled up from my chest. “That never goes away.”
“How do you live like this?”
“One day at a time. It’s all I can manage.” Her eyes drifted away from me toward the door and I swiped the last oil in the row. “Do you want me to tell you it will get better with time?”
She turned back to me. “Will it?”
“No.”
She drew in a deep breath and I could see her mentally propping herself back up. “Okay, so we need to make candles—red, green, white, and black ones. . These are the oils we need.” She gestured to the row of little oil bottles lined up between us. “Clove, orange, myrrh, frankincense… Wait, where did the patchouli go?”
We both stood up and looked around, neither of us producing it.
“I’m losing my mind. I could have sworn I put it out. We have another bottle downstairs. Be right back.” She got up and trotted out of the room.
Immediately I turned the Book of Shadows toward me. It took less than a minute to find the spell I wanted. It was just a normal summoning spell, but adjusting it to apply to a vampire wouldn’t be so hard. I grabbed a piece of Jessica’s paper and scrawled the ingredients and spell so fast I wasn’t sure I would be able to read it later.
“Hey, Frost,” Jessica called from downstairs. My body jerked and I froze. “You want to come down here for a second?”
“Sure,” I called back.
I quickly folded the paper, slipped it in my pocket, and carefully put the book back. With a deep breath, I went downstairs.
All three girls stood at the bottom of the stairs. My steps slowed. “What happened?” I asked.
Katrina broke ranks and opened the front door wide. Another package lay on the mat. I came the rest of the way down. “When did that get here?”
“I didn’t hear anyone,” Leslie said.
“No tracks in the snow,” Jessica added. “So it must have been a while ago. Maybe around the time you got here.”
I picked up the thin flat box wrapped in silver paper covered in glistening snowflakes. “Are you sure you guys aren’t doing this?” They all shook their heads, watching me intently. “At least this eliminates Corbin.”
“Not necessarily,” Katrina said. “He could have sent any number of people here with the package at any time today. See what’s in it.”
“Plus it was still fairly dark when you got here,” Leslie added.
I plucked off the card. “The star is but a pet of the darkness. Find me.” I frowned, my eyes lingering on one word. Pet. Corbin had called me pet more than once. Was I the star? When did he get so prose-y? I glanced outside. Sunset was rapidly approaching.
I tore off the paper and lifted the lid. The box slipped from my hand and landed on the floor with a thud.
“What is it?” Katrina whispered.
I swallowed hard and glared at the box for a moment, then stooped down and picked up the contents: a picture of a woman with a small frame and long black hair who looked a lot like me. She was smiling and laughing like she had her whole life before her. There was a letter taped to the back that read, “To my daughter.”
My throat tightened.
“Is that your mother?” Jessica asked. “You look like her.”
“I don’t have a mother.” I crumpled the picture and letter, dropped them to the floor and stepped outside. I sat on the porch swing, ignoring the biting cold. If Corbin was behind this, he had a reason or something to gain, but what? Why couldn’t he and everyone leave my past alone? I didn’t need it. It didn’t help me move on to suddenly have a picture of her. It didn’t help me understand her any better. All it would do was soften me toward someone who didn’t deserve that sort of consideration. She chose to end her life and ruin mine when she became a dark witch. End of story. All I needed from her was my hatred. It fueled me.
Sometime later, Leslie sat next to me and handed me a steaming cup of coffee. “It’s too cold to sit out here.”
I didn’t bother replying, but I did take the drink.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean to—”
“Don’t say it,” I said. “I don’t care what his intention was. My past is mine. He had no right to pry.” My hands shook with cold and fury.
“You’re right. But can’t you see that he’s reaching out to you? It’s huge, especially for him. It’s more than he ever did for Selene. He’s showing a genuine interest in you and where you came from. Maybe both of you need each other right now. I know you’re lonely and we haven’t helped you with that as much as I hoped we would. If anything we’ve made it worse. You’re actually lonelier now than you were when you met us. Maybe Corbin is someone you won’t feel isolated around. He might be exactly what you’re looking for.”
I took a deep breath. “I saw him last night. I’m supposed to meet him again tonight.”
“That’s great! What time?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. He just said at dark.”
“Then we don’t have much time. Come on.” She nodded toward the house.
I didn’t move. “Why?”
“You can’t go looking like that.” She waved a hand at me. “You’re hiding all of your best features.”
My eyebrows tugged together. “This is how I always look.”
She sighed. “He’s making an effort for you. The least you can do is make one for him.”
I barely bit back my kneejerk reaction to say fuck that. “You think so?”
She nodded emphatically. “Trust us. You’ll knock him off his feet.”
I took a deep breath and followed her inside.
An hour and several arguments later, they had given me a makeover without actually touching me, which was a feat in itself. I had on heels that were already hurting my feet, black pants that were supposed to be capris but ended at my ankle and a satiny black camisole under a black tuxedo jacket. They even forced me to curl my hair so it fell in long waves down my back instead of my customary braid. All that I had left of me was my black leather gloves.
By the time I made it back to the inn, I was ready to set the shoes on fire, but resisted—barely. At least the snow and the cold numbed my legs. I felt his presence before I saw him.
“What happened to you?” Corbin asked from the shadows, chuckling. “Did you finally find your fairy godmother?”
I shifted, every muscle in my body tight, my lungs burning. I had to breathe, but I didn’t want to. As soon as I released my breath, my heart would start pounding and he’d know I was nervous. Was this even what I wanted? It was person, not technically a living breathing person, but still a person, which was more than I had now, but it was still a risk. It would require me to relinquish control. I hated that. I blew out my breath. I just had to do it. “Can we go inside?”
“So long as you promise not to give me a makeover too.” His grin was the first thing I saw as he came out of the shadows.
Why did he have to be so hot? Vampires should be ugly. They were dead. What right did they have to have great abs and chiseled features? Despite the cold, warmth spread through me. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. He followed me through the inn. My mouth was d
ry and I struggled to make myself look at him as I fingered the key around my neck. Corbin brushed against me as he went into my room, looking around. “Can you do the spell inside?”
“Did you know my mother?” I asked, voice breaking slightly.
He sat on my bed and stretched his legs out, crossing them at the ankle. His lips curled as he glanced at the ceiling. “I was wondering when this would come up. Yes, I knew of her.”
My heart nearly stopped. Holy shit. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He shrugged. “Why would I?”
It was true I had a tendency to avoid any discussion of my family. It would have upset me.
He was up and to me in a flash. His fingers brushed against one of my curls, making my breath catch. “I can’t help notice that you seem peculiarly nervous tonight. Is there something you’d like to say to me, pet?”
So many things. I wanted to say he had no right to bring any of this up. I wanted to say it wasn’t fair that as soon as Selene dumped him for good he came crawling back to me. I wanted to say my feelings weren’t a yo-yo for him to play with. And finally I wanted to ask what took him so long. I didn’t say any of those things. His shirt was soft beneath my hands. I jerked him toward me and pressed my lips against his.
As he kissed me back, I could feel the pull of him feeding on me. I slapped the back of his head. “No,” I said against his lips.
“Then stop kissing me,” he said, with a half-smile and perplexed eyes. He held me out an arm’s distance away from him. “Are you drunk?”
“I wish.” I blew out a breath. Being open with him was harder than I thought it would be. “Why are you doing this, Corbin?”
His dark eyes met mine. “I’m pretty sure you started it.”
I shook my head. “The presents. The confusing notes. My mother. Why now? Why any of it? What do you want from me?”
His head tilted and he went very still. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you sure you haven’t been drinking?”
Heat rose to my cheeks.
All at once his eyes lit up and laughter bubbled out of him. “Oh, this is bloody brilliant.” He wiped beneath his eyes. “It’s been ages since I’ve laughed like this. Did you think I wanted to be your boyfriend?” I lost him to laughter again. “All of this is for me.” He waved a hand at my hair and my clothes.