by Tl Reeve
“Well, if you’re not sure how children come to be,” he teased.
Natasha snorted. “Duh. But, how?”
Maël sighed. “That, I do not know. It’s a rarity. Your father and mother didn’t just have you, but your brothers too.”
Wow. She didn’t know what to say or think given the information Maël imparted on her. If anything, she only had more questions. None of which he could possibly answer. The only people who could, were dead. “So, my protector, huh?”
He smirked. “Until my dying breath, princess.”
“There they are.” Keiji came up beside her. “We’ve been looking all over for you.” He brushed a kiss over her lips.
Natasha glanced down and noticed Taichi held Keiji’s hand while she held Maël’s, who seemed quite content at the moment. What an interesting turn of events. As if hearing her thoughts, Taichi smirked at her. “Here we are. So, what is this.”
“Shh…” Taichi winked at her. “It’s special. I like your eyes by the way.”
“T-thanks.” She returned her attention the guy with the large tome. “I like your … hair?” Today he added purple streaks and spiked his hair.
“Thanks. Have you ever thought about adding some red to yours? I think it would really make your eyes pop.” He stepped to her. “Although I do like this too.” He ran his fingers through her hair. “Yeah, now I understand why Keiji is taken with you.”
Her cheeks heated. “Awesome?”
He laughed. “Looks like everything is about to begin.”
The man with the book stepped forward as a precession of men wearing hooded black robes walked through the wooded area to the right of where they were standing. They were quiet. Everyone was for that matter. She watched with rapt awe as the group of hooded men took up their positions around the pit. They extended their arms, palms up then began to chant in Latin the words spoken by the man holding the book.
Exardebit ignis ardens mihi
Ne perenni cremer igne succensi
Omnes qui me videbunt
Et populi pars meī
Flamma una, plures partes,
Pectora flammae ignis sacer
Flames leapt to life. The snap and crackle of the fire filled the still night air. It was beautiful. The fire danced along the dry wood, eating up its fluid. The person at the head of the pit turned to those who had gathered for the festivities. “Welcome to the opening night of Daímonas Festivál. The Fire of the Druid will burn from now ’til the end of the festival. Tonight is a welcoming for all new students. Only those of you who are of the night are allowed to partake in this celebration. We have food and drinks setup inside Williams Tower.”
“Well that answers that,” she muttered.
“What?” Maël glanced down at her.
“The spell at the perimeter.” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder at the entrance.
“Ah, you felt it?” Keiji asked.
“Yeah. It’s pretty simple. I have a friend back home who sets them up at her store. Says they’re made to allow people who are welcomed in and those they don’t want around, out.” She cleared her throat. “Why can’t shifters come?”
“Long story,” Taichi said. “If you have a drink with me, I’ll explain.”
She glanced between Keiji and Maël. “Sure. Lead the way.”
Five
“Did you enjoy yourself last night?” Taichi met Natasha at the office door. Her shift at the radio station started in less than ten minutes.
Getting out of the house had been a chore. Natasha set all of her alarms to make sure she’d be up and ready to go with plenty of time to spare. However, last night she got a little too involved with the opening festivities. She couldn’t remember how many glasses of punch she had, other than it’d been sweet and exactly what she needed to calm her frazzled nerves. It also meant when she finally crawled out of bed, she only had twenty minutes to shower and dress before running out the door.
“I did. Maybe a little too much.” She pulled her sunglasses off and tucked then into the collar of her shirt. She blamed the pounding headache pulsing at her temples, on her eye sensitivity and the fact she drank too much, but in the back of her mind she wondered, what if? What if everything she’d learned over the last three days had been true. What if she really was part of the ‘nightwalkers?’ “How about you?”
“I did.” He guided her over to the small coffee station near the back wall of the building. “Here, you look like you could use this.”
“Thank you.” She sagged when the first wisps of the bitter coffee aroma hit her nose. “So, interesting night, huh?”
Somehow, she’d been sandwiched between Taichi, Keiji and Maël ninety-nine percent of the time. They each showered her with attention and strangely enough, affection. No, they hadn’t done anything more than hold hands with her or place their arms around her, however, this sense of rightness, as cliché as it sounded, filled her, and she’d been content to soak up their attention. She also noticed others had done the same—drifting into smaller groupings. She’d wondered if perhaps it was due to the nature of the festivities, yet instead of voicing her inquisitiveness, she quietly observed everyone, including the men who accompanied her.
“It was fun.” Taichi handed her a cup of coffee. “Let me show you where the magic happens.” His eyes became heavy-lidded, and his lips curled in a sensual smirk at what she figured was a double entendre. The man, like Keiji, had a potent edge to him, more so when he teased her.
“You’re pretty smooth.”
He laughed. “Come on.” He led her up the small staircase and into the booth where all of the broadcast equipment was located. “Take a seat.” He pointed to the chair next to his own. “We have about four hours of syndicate broadcasting that covers the hours of 6am to 10am on the weekends. Then the radio station takes over for the rest of the day and night.”
“Makes sense. So, is it the same for the day shift … The shifters?” Even though she couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on with her body, she still like to think at some point she’d get back to the old her and be able to participate in daytime activities too. Even if, now it was a long shot.
“Yes. Zoe knows the day shift better than I do,” he answered. “This computer has all the tracks in it. We usually fill an hour at a time, so click at least ten to twelve tracks into the playlist and hit play. It’ll start for you and this” —he tapped a clock next to the computer— “will count down when there is only eight minutes left in the hour.”
Natasha was a little bummed. “I honestly expected a turntable and tons of vinyl. Since, you know…” She pointed to the shelf of records just outside the booth.
“Those are leftovers from when the station opened in the sixties. The college switched over to computers a couple of years ago when everything changed from analog to digital.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “Makes sense, I guess. What else?”
He pointed to the computer beside her “This is how we pay the bills.”
He lost her. “I’m sorry?”
Taichi laughed. “Commercials. Sponsors.”
“Oh geez.” She gave a breathy laugh. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You’re learning.” He placed his hand on her knee, and the warm tingles she experienced the night before spread throughout her body. His gaze locked with hers, and the same pit-of-her-stomach butterfly effect Keiji had over her whenever he snared her gaze happened with Taichi. She didn’t understand it, but she liked it nonetheless.
Rational thought said it wasn’t impossible to like three men—or in her case two men. The idea made her feel a little inappropriate. Like, she was being greedy. From a moral standpoint, she should be happy to find one person and settle down. Maybe have a few kids. White picket fence. Like her grandmother had with her grandfather. Yet, the logical part of her brain couldn’t reconcile what she experienced with all three men. So where did it leave her?
“You look like you’re thinking too hard,” Taichi said.
“You caught me.” She gave a shy smile.
“You’re thinking about last night, aren’t you?” He cocked a brow. “Maybe, over analyzing it?” Taichi clicked the mouse, then hit a button on the board in front of them. When he faced her again, the judgment she feared would be etched across his face hadn’t been there. Even his tone took on an inquisitive quality. In some respects, she wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d been a little territorial or angry with her, instead he watched her, which only unsettled her more.
She tried to formulate how she felt last night, but it stayed jumbled in her foggy brain. She enjoyed herself. She liked the attention each man lavished her with, but should she have? Didn’t it make her a bit of a slut? She cringed inwardly. Teach me to drink the fruity punch again. “I don’t know.” A weak answer for sure. “I’m beginning to question myself and everything I knew about my life up to now.”
“You seriously believed you were human.” His expression changed from playful to attentive. He sat forward, taking her hand in his. The warmth emanating from where they were connected grounded her, forced her to concentrate on his words. “I can’t begin to understand why you’d hide it, or why someone else would hide it from you. It had to be a pretty big reason. Still, after the last few days, you do realize you’re not human anymore, right?”
Dhampir. “I guess. I mean, I don’t think I have reached the level of being angry enough to confront my grandmother. It’s like my world has imploded and now I have to rebuild it with what I know.”
“There has to be a sensible reason your grandmother didn’t tell you. Hang onto that.”
Yeah, she agreed. Why they moved to Blue Creek. Could her grandmother have known the whole time, and thought by not telling Natasha, she’d been protecting her? Maël did say, I was supposed to have bodyguards. “I need more time to process it. I think.”
“I agree. For now, we should concentrate on work.” He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze then went back to his duties as the DJ.
For the next hour, Natasha took copious amounts of notes. Every time Taichi did something, she asked a question. He’d been patient with her, going over everything he did and made sure she understood the reasoning behind it. Her confidence grew as she sat there with him—but not to the point she believed she could do the job on her own. No, there were too many switches. Too many buttons. She still feared she might mess it up. No one wants to hear gibberish when they’re listening to the station. Maybe in a few days she’d feel a little more certain of her tasks.
Though Taichi talked openly with her, he’d been a bit reserved the rest of the time. It gave her a chance to study him. Unlike Maël and Keiji, he carried a bit more inner peace. His presence eased her, even when all he did was touch her in a sympathetic way. She supposed it had something to do with the kind of demon he was since he prevented whatever damage Keiji could bring. It was as though Taichi had been the water to douse Keiji’s fire. No wonder they seek each other out.
He’d also been a bit nerdy. When he explained the different control knobs and buttons, his eyes lit up. Gadgets, Natasha found out quickly, were his things. Anything mechanical, he had to figure out how it worked. She wondered if perhaps he’d taken everything apart in the station and put it back together, just to see if he could. She laughed softly, garnering Taichi’s attention.
He cocked a brow. “What?”
Heat filled her cheeks. “I was thinking, is all.”
“About?” He prodded.
“Did you take everything in here apart on your first day, just to see if you could put it all back together?”
Taichi chuckled. “I may have contemplated it a time or two.”
“But you haven’t?”
“No. It’s too expensive, and I didn’t want to cause trouble.” He pulled her chair closer to him. “Will you be going to the rest of the festivities this coming week?”
He caught Natasha off guard with his question. “I guess so. I’m still confused by the whole, ‘no shifter,’ thing to be honest. I’m not even sure I understand what Daímonas Festivál is.”
“The shifters, seelies, and such all have their Greek Games at the beginning of the year as a welcome for the new students. A great majority of their activities happen during the day, so some of us are excluded due to our… proclivities.”
“Sunlight,” she murmured. “Death. Destruction.”
He nodded. “This school is about inclusion. It’s why it was opened to begin with. So, we, the night dwellers, have Daímonas Festivál. It’s our welcome to the students who are demons, unseelie, vampires and such.”
“I don’t think I belong though,” she said. “I live between both.”
“True,” he replied. “You do—did. You’re unique. I’m not sure I’ve ever met another dhampir.”
Natasha scratched her forehead and scrunched up her face. “I’ve got to be honest with you. I might have realized I was different for a while.” Probably since she moved to Blue Creek at such a young age. She figured the stares and comments had been because she was a human in a tight other community. She never took into consideration she didn’t match anyone there, not even her grandmother. “I attributed my different to being human.”
“It’s easy to do.”
“Maybe. So, what does the festival offer next?” Natasha changed the course of their conversation. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to explore the whys of everything, but she’d do that later, when she could formulate what to say to her grandmother.
“Well, there is a little fight recreation with a party afterwards. A costume ball. A demon hunt.” His gaze turned decidedly hot—aroused. “Do you want to hear about the hunt?”
Natasha licked her lips. Her heart pounded. “Sure. I mean, hunt? Cool... uh what is it?”
He glanced at the countdown clock then back at her. “We break into small groups and chase the females who want to participate.”
She sat back a little. “What?”
“Usually, it’s mates. Or potential mates. No one is forced on either side and even if the person is caught they still say what happens next,” he answered. “It can be fun from what I’ve seen. Hedonistic.”
Natasha swallowed hard and squirmed in her seat. “What do they do when they win?”
The dark rumble of his chuckle sent a shiver of desire down her spine. “What do you think they do, kawaī?”
Kawaī? She drew her brows together. What did that mean? “Kawaī?”
“It means, sweet,” he said. “Hurry now, we only have five minutes.”
Right. What did she think they did? An image of Keiji, Taichi and Maël running through the vast forest surrounding their campus filled her mind. Adrenaline raced through her system. “Oh…”
“We would catch you.” He inched towards her. “Take you to the ground.” His breath brushed across her lips.
Natasha closed the distance, pressing her mouth to his. He allowed her to explore, tangling her tongue with his. Taichi tasted like coffee and something else. Adventure, maybe. He groaned, dragging her out of her chair and into his. He ran his hand under her shirt, the heat of his palm left a sizzling stripe across her flesh. The hard length of his erection pressed into her hip. Holy shit. She whimpered his name, which only fanned the flames of their arousal, causing an inferno of sensations. If she thought Keiji’s kisses had been intense, Taichi’s were delectable. Sensual. Erotic, as crazy as it sounded. His hand drifted higher, the backs of his fingers skimmed the underside of her breast, ripping another cry of pleasure from her throat.
They should slow down. Give themselves a second to think about the ramifications of what they were doing there. Taichi did have a boyfriend, Keiji, and she liked Keiji too. She shouldn’t be sitting in Taichi’s lap getting her grind on, while Keiji was home, sleeping or whatever. Yet, she couldn’t let Taichi go. She turned, straddling his lap. Sparks of pleasure zapped through her body. Natasha rolled her hips. Then did it again. She let out a shuddered breath and kissed Taichi again. It’d bee
n forever since she dry-humped a guy. It felt naughty. Forbidden.
The alarm on the clock sounded, and Natasha reluctantly pulled away. She touched her lips while trying to gather her tattered wits. She didn’t understand how everything had gotten so out of control. It wasn’t like she hated it either. She enjoyed being in his arms—perhaps a little too much. She clambered off of his lap. The words ‘I’m sorry,’ sat on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t push them past her lips, because she hadn’t been sorry. Given the chance, she’d do it again and go farther. This is a dangerous game you’re playing.
“Right on time,” Taichi muttered, adjusting himself. He spun his chair to the board, then switched out the tracks to the news. “I don’t regret it, if you’re worried.”
“I… I’m not worried.” She glanced out over the reception area of the station. “Or regretting it. I liked it. I’m just… Confused. I think.”
“Because of Keiji?”
She rolled her shoulder.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Taichi gave her a knowing smirk. “You’re allowed.”
“To what? Like both of you? Make out with both of you? Fuck both of you?” She snorted.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen it in my hometown, I understand. I just…”
“You don’t believe it’s for you?”
Natasha sighed. “Possibly? Wouldn’t it make sense? I mean, since I arrived here, I found out about my true parentage, and there are two guys who blow my mind.” If she were being honest, three, though she didn’t know how Maël felt about her. He seemed more preoccupied with protecting her than much of anything else. Besides, she shouldn’t be looking a gift horse in the mouth.
“Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to find out? To live a little.” He turned to her once more. “Look, I’m going to be that dick for a minute. You have been living the life your grandmother wanted you to have, whatever her reason might be. Have you stop to consider why you’re here? I don’t mean because it’s a great school either.”