A Girl's Guide to Vampires do-1

by Кейти Макалистер

"OK. You can tell two people who are neutral in all this mess—Arielle and Milos."

  Raphael held a momentary confab with them, then returned to his chair. "Concentrate on the question. Oooh, interesting. I haven't seen that stone in that position before. Have you had a history of spontaneous combustion in your family?"

  His eyes widened in surprise.

  I grinned. "Just kidding. Let's see what we have here. Mmm. The past influences say that you have several unresolved mysteries that you desperately seek solutions for. Upheaval is prominent in relationship to your question; you suffered a veritable firestorm of anguish trying to ride it out, but in the end you did not find the answer you sought."

  I glanced up from the stones to find him watching me with narrow-eyed intensity. I was tempted to ask him just whether the traumatic experience he had recently survived was connected to his secret, but figured it was a question better left for later.

  "Influences on the present—hmmm. This stone, Mannaz, says you should be looking for help from those closest around you." I glanced up at him again, met his gaze, and quickly looked back at the stones. "Coupled with this stone, Dagaz, it indicates that only by joining forces with someone else will you have the breakthrough you need to resolve the question plaguing you."

  I didn't look up. I wanted to, I wanted to offer my help with whatever task the runes said he had undertaken, but I didn't. I pushed the image of his amber eyes from my mind and kept my gaze focused on the amethyst stones as I moved on to the ones indicating the future. "Influences acting on the future outcome of your question are deceit, treachery, and deliberate misdirection. In order to overcome these obstacles, you must open yourself up to a partnership that is about to be offered you. Communication is vital with your partner. Jera, the last stone, says that your hard labors will be rewarded."

  I risked a glance up. He was looking thoughtful, but nothing more. "So, how did I do?"

  "What was his question?" Tanya demanded to know.

  Milos gave a slight shrug. "His question was whether or not he would find the solution to a problem that was perplexing him."

  I shivered as Milos's gaze touched on me for a few seconds. I couldn't pin down what it was about him, but he gave me a never-ending case of the willies.

  "Ha!" Tanya cried, jumping to her feet.

  "Sit down," Roxy grumbled. "What are you, a jackrabbit?"

  "She fails! AH that talk of firestorms and upheaval is just a guess."

  "Actually," Raphael said as he stood, "she's remarkably close to the situation." He glanced at Dominic. "As my employer will no doubt be happy to tell you, recent circumstances have wrongly cast me under a cloud of suspicion. The situation I hope to find a solution to stems from that origin."

  "Yay!" Roxy cheered. "Our team is ahead two to nothing. Still think she's faking it, Tanya?"

  Tanya curled her lip in a truly frightening smile and stalked over to the table.

  "Now we shall see. You shall do a reading for me. I will not be so easy to fool as the others."

  "Same rules apply for you as Raphael. You have to tell your question to two people—Arielle and Roxy."

  "No!" Tanya shouted, pointing at Roxy. "Not her."

  "Fine," I said, wanting to get it over with. Although I didn't hold much, if any, faith in the divination power of rune stones, I found doing readings tended to be a bit draining. "Arielle and Milos again, if neither objects."

  Neither did. Once Tanya had whispered her question to them, she sat down. I scooped the stones back into the velvet bag, shook it, and started pulling stones out. "Hmm. Just look at all the reversed stones."

  Tanya leaned forward to glare at the stones. "You are doing that on purpose!"

  "Think so? I'm not, but I'll tell you what. I'll start over and you can watch me pull them out of the bag."

  "Yes," she hissed. "I shall watch you most carefully."

  I picked up the couple of stones, tossed them into the bag, shook it again, and pulled out stones one at a time, careful to let her see my fingers as each stone cleared the bag.

  Almost all the stones came out reversed. I pursed my lips as I considered the stones laid out in Odin's Nine. "Mmmm. Doesn't look very good, does it? Let's see—the past influences say a cycle has been completed, that relationships you held in the past have come to an end due to neglect and abandonment. Overconfidence and relationship problems have played a major part in forming your present situation."

  "Lies! You are lying! You do not see that at all in the stones; you merely say that to try to win the wager!"

  "We can have Arielle interpret the stones, too, if you like."

  Arielle stood up. Tanya snarled something at her, and she sat right back down.

  I looked at Tanya. "Shall I go on?"

  "No! You are proving nothing, you are reading nothing! You do not have the power you claim you have. You are manipulating the stones so they say what you want them to say."

  I looked over her shoulder to where everyone sat. "Should I finish it or not?"

  "Finish it, mon ange," Dominic said as he strolled over to stand next to Tanya. I hoped his presence would have a calming effect on her, although I hadn't noticed it had in the past.

  "All right. Influences on the present with regard to your question—a partnership is in the offing, but it will not be what you seek. This stone, Pertho reversed, indicates an ending, so the partnership will bring you only loss, not gain. To avoid this, you should not seek to undertake any new ventures now, especially ones that would put you in a position of any vulnerability."

  "This is foolishness! She does not know—"

  "Let her finish," Dominic ordered, his hand on her shoulder. From the way Tanya flinched, I gathered his hold on her was not gentle.

  "Last bit, then we'll be done. Influences on your future." I studied the three stones indicating the future, puzzled by the combination of stones.

  "Well?" Tanya demanded. "What lies do you want to tell me now?"

  I touched the stones as I thought out the best way to explain what they said. "This stone, Jera, acts as a caution. It says basically, what goes around, comes around. This stone, Fehu reversed, says you will not have the material gain you expect to have unless you take steps to alter your path. The last stone, Othala reversed, indicates that something rightfully yours will be taken from you. Read together, the runes show a strong warning that you must release the plans you have made, and instead use your natural talents to shape a happier result. If you do not…" I shrugged.

  "If I do not, what?" she asked in that sickening sweet voice. I shrugged again. I didn't want to tell her that the combined stones predicted disaster on a catastrophic level if she didn't take her future in her hands and change it.

  "The stones say you'll regret following the path you're currently on."

  "Bah! You think your threats will make any difference to me? They do not!" She slammed her hand down on the table, scattering the stones. I scooped them up and tucked them safely into the bag. While I didn't necessarily hold with the belief that no one but the reader should touch the stones, the amethyst runes were pretty, and I didn't want to lose one.

  "What was her question?" Roxy asked Arielle.

  "She asked if she would be successful in ridding herself of a threat to her happiness."

  We both looked at Tanya. She smiled at me.

  "I did not find your demonstration adequate," she said. "You have lost the wager. You will pay the money you owe and never step foot here again."

  "Now, hold on," I said at the same time as Roxy cried, "You big cheater! She did so win the bet," just as Raphael intervened between the two of us.

  "Dominic, if you can't control your people better, I'll be happy to give you a few tips on how to keep them quiet." He waited until Tanya snatched her arm from Dominic's grasp and rubbed it up and down vigorously. "Joy won the wager. She proved she could read with a reasonable level of accuracy. End of show. Come along, little troublemaker," he said offering me his hand. "I'd like a word
with you in private."

  I let my lips curl into a grin at the look in his eye. It was part exasperation, part desire, and part something I couldn't read at all.

  "I agree that she won the wager," Dominic said as he moved forward. "But she will come with me. It is I who wishes to have a word with her. In private."

  The way he said the last two words made my skin crawl.

  "Sorry, Raphael asked first," I said as I took his offered hand. "Even if he didn't, I like him better. Thanks for all the fun, kids. Roxy, don't forget to collect your winnings."

  I followed Raphael off the stage, my hand still in his, and down the aisle to the opening of the tent before Tanya exploded. She screamed her fury at Dominic in at least three languages, lunging at him as she yelled obscenities and threats until Dominic pulled back and slapped her. I'm certainly not one of Tanya's biggest fans, but I never think it's right when a guy feels he can slap a woman around. I started back toward Dominic.

  "Leave them," Raphael warned in my ear as his fingers tightened around mine.

  "He's hitting her," I whispered, tugging to free my hand. "I don't like her, but I'm not going to stand by while he beats her up."

  "She was almost hysterical with rage and out of control," Raphael said. "He wasn't really trying to hurt her."

  I looked back at them. I had to admit Tanya was over the edge. She was still ranting and raving at Dominic, but other than defending himself from her claws, he wasn't striking her. He did shoot unhappy looks our way as Raphael hustled me out of the tent, but he got full marks for staying to deal with Tanya. Christian and Roxy were close on our heels, followed by the silent but eerie-as-hell Milos.

  "Hey, did you notice, no catastrophes!" Roxy called out as Raphael was about to steer me away from the tent. "I guess you'll have to tell Miranda she was wrong about that after all. Of course, most of the stuff you predicted last time didn't happen for a few days, so you know, maybe now would be a good time to take out earthquake insurance."

  "Oh, hardy-har-har. Where are you guys going now?" I'd been worried about what to do with Christian. I couldn't quite wrap my mind around the fact that he had an interest in me—not in that way—and I was more than ready to believe that his interest was all a put-on like Dominic's, except there was something stark in his eyes that had a little part of me believing he was sincere. If that was so, I wanted to make it clear to him that we had no future together, but at the same time let him know that I wished him well and wanted him to be happy. I know it sounds trite, but I did truly want to be friends with him.

  "We're going to the dungeon room," Roxy said quickly, scooting aside as Milos slipped behind her. She grabbed Christian's arm and sent him an adoring look. "What do you say, Mr. Dante, sir? You up to another romp in the dungeon with me? I might not be the woman over whom you've been glaring at Raphael all night, but I'm not smoked cheese, either."

  Christian was watching me with dark, unfathomable eyes. I resisted the urge to look away and raised my chin instead, willing him to understand. He turned to Roxy and laughed despite the sting of her comment. "You are indeed not smoked cheese, although I find you utterly delectable. It would be my pleasure to accompany you to the dungeon room again, but only on two conditions."

  "You want me to tie you up and do wicked things to you with my tongue?" she asked hopefully.

  He laughed again. "No. You must allow me to show you the dungeons at Drahanská Castle—"

  "Oooh, real dungeons," squealed Roxy.

  "—and it is my turn to control the lash in the punishment booth."

  Roxy giggled and tugged him off toward the section of the fair with the weirder offerings. I was thankful he didn't give me another of his martyred looks as he left; I felt bad enough about being the source of unrequited romantic interest.

  "I wonder if it's something in the water," I mused as I turned to Raphael, my fingers still entwined with his. "I tell you, I've never had so many guys falling at my feet before. It's heady stuff, this power I have over mere mortal men!"

  "How you must suffer," he said, pulling me closer. He didn't have to pull very hard. I disentangled my fingers so I could do what I'd been waiting days to do—run them through his curls.

  "So, tell me," I said, leaning into the hard length of his body, "what did you want to see me about? I can only hope you are going to suggest we go somewhere private so I can rip your clothing off and investigate that belly tattoo in detail."

  "I have work to do," he replied, his eyes going molten as I slipped a hand under his sweater and stroked his chest. "The crowds are reaching the maximum number we can accommodate, and I have to make sure the crew assigned to crowd control are doing their jobs."

  A nipple was the reward for my dedicated exploration. I teased it and gloried in the way his breathing suddenly went erratic. "So many men are not nipple aficionados," I commented, wiggling my hips so I brushed against him in a way I hoped would make him forget about the crowds. "I'm glad to see you are, because I've always thought that it is an extremely erotic spot on a man's body."

  He closed his eyes for a moment, a groan slipping out as I licked the corners of his mouth; then suddenly both of his hands were on me. He cupped a hand around the back of my head and pulled it back at the same time as his mouth descended upon mine. He invaded, he dominated, he demanded response and would not settle for anything but utter surrender. I capitulated happily, melting into him and inhaling that wonderful Raphael scent, passion firing deep within me with every stroke of his tongue. I moaned my pleasure and was just about to slide my second hand under his sweater so I could really indulge myself when he broke off the kiss.

  "Hey!" I said, extremely unhappy that he stopped.

  "Later," he said with a promise in his eyes that made my knees go weak. "I can't do this now, but… later."

  "Your place or mine?" I asked, running my finger over the lush curve of his lower lip. So hot were his eyes, I thought his gaze would leave scorch marks where it touched me.

  "I honestly don't care as long as you're there naked."

  "I like a man who's easily accommodated," I said with a little kiss to the tip of his nose. "Have fun watching the kids play."

  He stopped me as I was turning to leave, pulling a key off a key chain and handing it to me. I saluted him with it, gave him a lascivious leer just to let him know he was the sexiest man on the face of the earth, and toddled off to find Roxy and Christian.

  Roxy blamed every single disaster of the evening on me, claiming my cataclysient powers were running amok.

  "I knew you shouldn't have read those rune stones," she grumbled as she washed her sooty hands in a bucket of water that stood under a spigot. "I knew something like this would happen. I just knew it! You can't keep your catastrophes to yourself! You're not cataclysient, you're a catamaniac!"

  "I am not responsible for that fire! And if you recall, you are the one who arranged for me to read the runes. You begged me, you pleaded with me, you bet every cent you had on me, so even if by some weird quirk of fate my reading was responsible for the fire at the Kirlian photo booth, the entire situation would be your fault, not mine."

  "Ladies," Christian said with what was becoming a well-known martyred look. "I believe the source of the fire will prove to be the wires connected between the aura camera and the computer. I could not help but notice while we were extinguishing the fire that the wires were charred beyond what they should be in a simple fire."

  "There's no such thing as a simple disaster where Joy's concerned," Roxy muttered, taking the towel Christian held out to dry her hands.

  "I would be grateful if you would stop implying that everything that goes wrong is my doing," I said through gritted teeth. "I have had no more to do with the fire than the other happenings this evening."

  "You punched the lead singer of Six Inches of Slime in the face and broke his nose!"

  "I didn't punch him! Not deliberately! I tripped over a power cord and fell onto him. It just so happened that his nose was
right where my fist landed. Besides, he deserved it. He was hitting on me and he wouldn't take no for an answer! What was I supposed to do, let him rape me? You know, I'm getting just a little bit tired of every man around here assuming I'm fair game."

  "Ha! Talk about conceited! Every man? What, you think you're some sort of sex goddess that no man can resist?"

  "Ladies, please—"

  I ignored both Christian and Roxy. "And as for breaking that fool's nose, if he hadn't ducked, I would have hit him in the eye instead of the nose, and he could have gone on with his stupid band rather than screaming for a doctor. Who knew he'd be such a big baby over a little blood? I thought Goths were supposed to like blood and pain and suffering! My inadvertent punching him in the nose should have been right up his alley."

  "Oh, I see," Roxy said with obnoxious innocence. I ground my teeth even harder. "So it wasn't your fault that the crowds rioted and tore up the main tent when Six Inches didn't go on because their lead singer was having his nose set? And it wasn't your fault that Raphael wasn't here controlling the crowds like he was supposed to be, because he was busy driving your victim to the hospital, thus leaving Dominic in charge—a man who clearly has no idea of how to keep large crowds in control?"

  "It's his fair; you'd think he'd take precautions to make sure all those Goths didn't get out of control."

  "Joy, Roxanne, I understand you are both angry, but this is not the—"

  I finished drying my hands and shoved the towel into Christian's hands. Roxy turned and faced me, her hands on her hips. "He did take precautions; he hired Raphael, who would have been here but for you attacking that poor singer."

  "Roxy, I swear, if you tell me one more time that I'm responsible for—"

  "Joy!"

  "Aren't you supposed to be off looking for my Dark One?" I snapped at Christian. "Aren't you supposed to be watching Milos to see if he's the walking dead?"

  "Don't you yell at him," Roxy shouted, throwing herself in front of him and waving her arms in an excited fashion. "He's a famous author! You can't yell at famous authors like that! Besides, he's innocent. He's not the one who—"