by Kira Nyte
She smelled wolfish, and the gleam in her sharp eyes when she looked at him, confirmed it.
“Who’s this?” the new guest asked.
“I was just about to leave.” He looked at Vivian, pleased to find her attention back on him, accompanied by a soft blush over her cheeks. “I hope to see you again.”
Vivian graced him with a smile as he walked away. He paused at the door of the joint long enough to toss her a lingering glance and half-grin before leaving for the second time.
“Well, I sure hope you didn’t make a bigger fool of yourself,” Clark said, pushing off the brick wall next to the door.
Draven shrugged, ignoring his friend’s burning gaze. “Guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
Chapter Three
Licks of icy cold shadows caressed her mind, but she mentally swatted them away.
For over a week, this precarious dance with darkness haunted her. Freedom was becoming a battle, one she did not want to fight, but one she would not lose.
Vivian curled her fingers against the counter and closed her eyes. The sweet and delicious scents of Magical Mayhem faded as the darkness fought to latch onto her consciousness.
She pressed her lips together, a familiar lump forming at the base of her throat.
Don’t make me fight this again. Please.
Like evil ever listened to reason. Or the pleas of an innocent host.
“Vivi, is everything okay?”
Vivian opened her eyes as she forced her fingers to relax and a smile curled her lips. Kalen leaned against the doorway to the back of the store, his eyes narrowed on her and his arms crossed over his chest. Suspicion darkened his eyes and sharpened his handsome features.
Her beloved brother. She could not bear putting him through the anguish and pain of watching her slowly go crazy beneath the spell of the poisonous serum. The last experiment performed on her would have killed her had it not been for Kalen’s determination to cure her.
“I thought you’d be long gone by now.” Vivian cast her eyes towards the front of the store. It was unusually quiet, even for the late hour. The crowds on the sidewalk beyond the windows had thinned as evening turned to night. She’d be closing up the shop in about a half hour. She hadn’t even heard Kalen come in, another unsettling hint that Hugh Ellingham’s cure hadn’t cured her, simply masked the evil for a few months. “It’s late and I’m sure Fawn is waiting for you.”
“I stopped by to pick up some paperwork she left here earlier.” He rustled the folder tucked under his arm. She had missed it on first look. “You look pale.”
She laughed and waved his concern aside. “So do you, if we’re going to talk skin tone.”
“Vivian.”
She forced her smile to widen as she stepped up to him and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t take that tone with me, big brother. You have another woman in your life now. Your focus should be on Fawn.”
“My focus is on you both.”
“I’m a big girl.” She touched his shoulder. “There are times I reminisce, that’s all. Just…sordid memories.”
The sternness in his expression softened, but his brows furrowed with growing concern. He caressed her hair and sighed. “You would tell me if something is wrong?”
“Of course.” The lie practically choked her, but she couldn’t tell him otherwise. “Now go. I’m trying to clean up so I can save Jackson from becoming one with his computer screen.”
“No other…incidents have occurred between you two, have they?”
Vivian snickered and shook her head as she turned away. “I told you, it was just an innocent kiss. I don’t think of Jackson that way.”
Kalen grunted.
“Brother, what are you going to do the day I find a man who kisses me the way you kiss Fawn?”
Kalen groaned and pushed off the doorframe without answering. “You’ll be okay closing up? I can stay and help.”
“Go, Kalen.” She pointed toward the back door. “I love you to the ends of the universe. Now go.”
Kalen chuckled and shook his head. He brushed a kiss on her forehead before he disappeared out the back door. Only once she was certain he was gone did she let her shoulders sag. She wasn’t sure what was worse. Lying to her brother about what was happening to her or facing the monster alone. She hadn’t confided in Jackson, either.
Vivian loaded her arms with pans of fruit and granola and brought them to the walk-in fridge in the back room.
When she returned to the front, she came up short. The corners of her mouth twitched with the onset of a natural smile and her heart did the same silly flutter it performed the night before.
Draven Lourdes, a masterpiece of sharp-edged handsomeness softened by a charming smile and twinkling blue eyes, stood at the counter by the register, resting a hip casually against the edge. He had a thumb hooked in his black leather belt and the other hand tucked under his arm.
Vivian tried to take a breath, but it jammed somewhere between her nose and her throat. Good thing her vampire genes didn’t need oxygen and her fae genes needed little. Those gorgeous blue eyes moved over her slowly, and she felt every inch of that perusal as if it were a physical touch.
Her skin tingled and warmed.
The darkness inside her vanished, almost as if it feared the man standing a few feet away.
“I didn’t mean to startle you.” His voice was deep and husky, sexy and fluid. Black hair hung over his forehead, the ends brushing his pale cheeks. He pressed off the counter and arched a brow. “I hope I’m not interrupting something.”
Vivian cleared her throat and laughed nervously, lowering her head as unnatural heat burned her cheeks. She chewed her lower lip for a moment before mustering enough strength to meet Draven’s watchful gaze.
“I’m sorry. No, you’re not interrupting anything. I was just cleaning up for the night.” She motioned to the cooler with a trembling hand. Wow, her nerves were overset. Her entire body was overset, from the persistent fluttering of her heart in her chest to the pleasant turn of her belly. “Can I get you something?”
The corner of his mouth curled into a devilish grin. “Actually, I was hoping you might be available for a drink.”
Vivian stared at him, flabbergasted. A drink? Was he asking her on a…date?
“I, uh, I…” A drink with Draven. The more she looked at him, the harder she found it to look away. “How did you know where to find me?”
Draven waved toward the front door. “My friend suspected you might work here. I figured I’d give it a shot. I want to make up for my poor manners from last night.”
“You had apologized.” Vivian busied herself gathering another section of pans from the display cooler. She stole several glances at Draven while she covered the pans with plastic wrap. “I believe you’d be outdoing yourself with a drink.”
Draven moved with a fluid grace that reminded her of Kalen as he stepped in front of her on the opposite side of the display. He folded his leather jacket-clad arms over the top of the curved glass.
“So, you accept my invitation,” he assumed.
“What”—she pulled plastic wrap over another pan—“makes you believe that?”
“The way you’re hiding your smile.”
Vivian blinked and looked up at him. She was shocked when he reached out and brushed a finger over her cheek. Not from the motion, necessarily, but the string of hot tingles that followed the path of his simple touch.
“Don’t hide it. It’s too beautiful to be stifled.” He replaced his arm on the top of the case. “Allow me to make up for my fumble.”
She wasn’t sure she understood what he meant by fumble, but she had made up her mind. There was a strange magnetic pull to the man, one she couldn’t shake. One that kept her up all night and all day with visions of Draven’s winning smile and blue eyes consuming her mind.
Vivian rested her hands flat against the narrow counter behind the display and lifted a brow. “One drink.”
Draven pursed
his lips in thought and gave a slow nod. “And what if I win your attention for a second?”
She laughed and piled the covered pans on top of each other. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”
“Can I be of assistance?”
“You can greet anyone who might come into the store while I’m putting these away.”
Vivian cast him one last glance before turning toward the back. The grin he wore paired with the intrigued gleam in his eyes was devastating in the best way. His gaze lingered on her until she disappeared into the walk-in.
She had never been more thankful for the blast of cold air that cascaded over her skin, soothing the burn that had taken up residence since Draven’s arrival. She stored the pans in their designated places and took a deep breath to calm her nerves before returning to the front.
Draven lounged against the side of the drink cooler, cell phone in hand, fingers texting at a rapid pace. Too rapid for a human, not that she suspected he was human. She narrowed her eyes, utterly aware of the smile growing on his mouth.
“Sorry. My friend was asking when I’d be home,” Draven explained, locking the phone and tucking it in his jacket pocket.
“You seem a man who would enjoy the sunlight,” Vivian ventured to guess. Draven’s smile waned only a smidgen, but his eyes grew sharp. “But you can’t, can you?”
“I was under the impression speaking of our origins in public domains was taboo.” He pointed to the sign hanging in the door’s window. “Should I flip it to Closed?”
Vivian glanced at her watch and nodded. “If you don’t mind. And turn the bolt lock, please?”
Draven did as she asked while she pulled the last of the pans from the display and returned them to the walk-in.
“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”
Vivian spun around, her shoes slipping on the tiled floor of the walk-in. He caught her under the elbow and steadied her. Damn him for knocking her emotions so off-kilter that her own heightened senses failed to pick up his presence.
“You shouldn’t be back here,” she said, easing her elbow from his hand. “For employees only.”
Draven sighed. “My apologies. This is uncharacteristic of me.” He stepped back, giving her room. His gaze stayed on her as the silence stretched. His grin was gone and his expression filled her with a startling swell of indescribable heat. She was beginning to wonder if this was what happened when Kalen met Fawn. Draven cleared his throat. “I’ll, uh, wait in the front.”
“Vampire, are you?” Vivian said quietly, catching him mid-turn. He twisted back and watched her carefully. She shrugged. “Your grace when you move is hard to discount. Men your size shouldn’t be able to move like ghosts.”
“I’ll accept that as a compliment.” His grin returned, and so did the flutter in her chest. “I’m uncertain as to you, though.” He began to reach toward her head, and her ear, she suspected, but caught himself and lowered his arm. “I don’t mean that in any negative form.”
This flirting routine was new to her, but she had watched enough romance movies while locked away in her small room at the lab that she had an idea of how to play the game. She’d give it a try.
She stepped up to him, pressed up on her toes, and whispered in his rounded ear, “Fae.”
Then she sidled by him, out of the walk-in and returned to the front of the store. She wasn’t ready to confide she was more than fae. Jackson’s uncle, Nicholas Tennerston—who had died helping Kalen and her escape the lab—had suggested they keep the vampire half of their heritage secret. It was easier to explain away pointed ears than needle-sharp fangs.
“Enchanting.”
Vivian glanced over her shoulder as Draven came up behind her. He tucked his hands in his jacket pockets.
“That’s the word I was looking for. You’re enchanting, and now I understand why.”
Vivian let out a breathy laugh. “Aren’t you a charmer.”
“I’d like to think I’m more of a laidback guy looking for adventure.”
“I’m domesticated.” She tossed him another glance as she placed lids on the pans that stayed in the cooler and stifled a burst of laughter as his eyes widened. “I’m kidding.” She flipped off the lights in the coolers and wiped her hands on her jeans. “I’m going to grab my jacket and purse from the back. I’ll meet you outside.”
She hesitated in the office until she heard the familiar clunk of the door closing. Quickly, she shot Jackson a text telling him she’d be late, not to wait up for her, and went to meet up with the charming vampire.
If her life were to be stolen from her this time around, at least she would fall victim to the monster having known true attraction.
Chapter Four
“What is a good place to get a drink around here?”
Vivian walked alongside Draven, their pace lazy and their conversation light. They walked with no destination, despite his invitation to join him for a drink. Every now and again, her arm brushed his, unleashing a flurry of warm tingles throughout her body. She wondered if he felt the same, or if she was simply taken by his looks and charm.
She smiled at his question. “I forgot you only just arrived. And that you…sleep during the day.” She motioned down the street to where Black Cat Boulevard intersected with Main Street. When she looked up at Draven—the man was at least Kalen’s height, which was a whole head taller than her meager stature—she found his attention narrowed on the gargoyle fountain in the center of the park. “Want to walk over there?”
Draven seemed to shake himself from his thoughts and smiled down at her. “Is that a real gargoyle?”
“I’m not sure. I’m still adjusting to life on the outside.”
She clenched her teeth when she realized what slipped from her lips. It earned her a furrowed brow and a hand over hers, pulling her to a stop. She made an attempt to look away and laugh off her loose tongue—how had she been so careless in the first place?—but the blasted man caught her chin with his thumb and forefinger and turned her gaze back to his.
“You don’t seem like a criminal who’s spent time behind bars,” he said, his voice soft, soothing.
A sad grin touched the corners of her lips. “Not in the sense you believe. I wish not to discuss it.” She coughed the knot from her throat when he released her chin, but he continued to hold her hand. The comfort she drew from the simple gesture swelled in her chest. “I do know that there is a rotation of gargoyles. Most likely, what you see is real.”
“Interesting,” he murmured, but she felt his gaze pinned on her, not the fountain.
“We can get a coffee and I can show you the fountain.”
“Sure. Coffee is always a good thing.”
She nodded. “I agree with that.”
And the fact Draven was mentally stacking his questions in his head. She sensed his curiosity grow as they moved toward The Hallowed Bean. His gaze poignant. His voice fluid and deep. His attention piqued.
“These are some pretty cool buildings. I like the ones that look like they’re about to crumble into the ground.” A hand on her elbow brought her to a stop outside a small seamstress shop and he touched the faux crack in the brick. Succulents dotted the crevice to make it appear as if the building were in massive disrepair and had been for ages. “Spectacular. This town really pulled out all the stops.” He tapped the webbed glass in one of the panes. Thankfully, the shop was closed for the night and his curiosity wouldn’t call attention to them. “Intentional?”
“Yes. It’s a special type of glass. Adds to that worn, haunting feel.”
He ran a hand over his hair, but the longer strands fell right back over his eyes. “This place is really interesting. Love the lights. And those brackets on the street lamps are cool.”
“The fairy lights add a magical feel to the town at night.” She pointed to a magician performing tricks in front of a dense group of onlookers. “There aren’t many vendors out tonight, but on the weekends, Main Street is packed with performers. Maybe I can s
how you around this weekend.”
Draven’s grin tilted into one of his warm, charming smiles. “Are you implying you’d like another date?”
Vivian paused, a spark of heat touching her cheeks. She laughed quietly, trying to push aside her nervousness. This flirting stuff was all new to her. “Let’s see how coffee and the fountain go tonight, shall we?”
Vivian led the way to The Hallowed Bean, soaking up the attractive company. She couldn’t help stealing glances at him, taking in his utterly handsome profile. His dark hair fluttered over his forehead in the light fall breeze, the slant of his eyes and brows highlighting the angular cut of his cheekbones and the sharp slope of his nose. Those brief moments when his hand brushed hers, her breath hitched and flutters erupted in her belly.
“Where are you from?” Vivian asked. The would-be lovers in movies always struck up small talk. Couldn’t hurt.
“A small mountain town in northwest Maine. Close to the Canadian border. Not much to tell about it. Pretty remote.”
“You don’t seem like a man who cares for remote towns.” He shot her a curious glance. “What I mean is that you seem to have so much life inside you. I’d place you living in a big city.”
“That hasn’t escaped me. However, as much as I enjoy a populated area, I do look forward to retiring to my quiet little piece of the world.” He gave her a playful nudge in the arm. “What about you? I picture you coming from some heavenly realm where you shimmer and glow like stars in the night sky.”
Vivian shrugged. He wasn’t too far off. She had only recently learned of her Celestial fae roots—the fae who oversee the universe—and the royalty in her blood. Her mother had been from a royal line. She had never met her father, who provided her with the vampire genes. Kalen told stories about him, but their sire had been killed protecting Kalen and their mother while she carried Vivian.
“Maybe I do,” she jested half-heartedly. It was far more majestic imagining than the dull gray walls of a room at an undisclosed lab where a mad scientist performed experiments on her and her brother in hopes of creating the perfect vampire. “Maybe I’m from a distant land of twin moons and twin suns, where everything is dripping gold and crystals.”