by Dyan Chick
Alec took the seat on the other side of Jimmy, apparently there to observe. I ignored him, and waited for my boss to make the next move.
"What do you have for us today?" Jimmy asked. "Is it worth working on your birthday?"
"Oh, it's worth it." Niceties over, I knew it was time to get down to business. I unwrapped the fabric, showing the little ceramic dragon, then passed the figurine off to Jimmy.
Alec lifted an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. "Boss, I didn't know you collected these things. I can pick some up at the flea market next time I'm in the city."
Jimmy traced his fingers over the dragon, ignoring Alec. He looked up at me. "Where did you find this?"
"Estate sale in Oregon."
"You do realize how much this is worth, don't you?" he asked.
"I have an idea," I said, already imagining the look on my landlord's face when I paid my rent on time.
"I don't get it," Alec said.
Jimmy turned to him. "My boy, you have much to learn."
"It's not just about the dragon, is it?" Alec asked.
"It's a curse," Jimmy said. "Mage stuff."
"Mages sometimes use objects to hold charms, spells, or curses," I said.
"But you're not a mage," Alec said.
"Correct." Jimmy cradled the figurine in his hands. "But when a mage has enchanted an object, you don't have to have magic to release it. Anyone can release it."
"It doesn't look special to me." Alec narrowed his eyes as he stared at the object.
"In time, vampires can learn to detect magic. And this," he held up the figurine, "is powerful magic."
Jimmy stood. "Max, bring my case, Pete, take this to the vault."
Pete took the sculpture from Jimmy and walked away. A moment later, Max returned with a locked case I'd seen on one other occasion. Flutters of anticipation rose inside me. When he purchased smaller objects from me, he pulled cash out of his wallet. If he needed the case, he was going to pay more than he had on him.
It was quiet in the room as Jimmy turned the combination locks on his case. I looked at the bare walls, wishing he had something hanging on them I could busy my focus on while I waited. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Alec. He was staring at me.
I turned so I was facing him, and he lowered his eyes. It was possible he'd never met a mage before if he hadn't explored much of Realm's Gate yet. "You been here long?"
Alec looked up. "Just a few weeks."
"It's a nice place, Realm's Gate." I was terrible at small talk.
"You should show him around," Jimmy said. "He's close to your age, show him some of the nightlife. Go out and do something fun for your birthday."
I looked over at Jimmy, half-expecting him to tell me he was joking. His expression made it clear he was not only serious, but expecting me to oblige. This is why I didn't like working with vampires. "Sure."
"Great. Why don't you pick him up at 8?"
Had I just been set up on a date by a vampire crime lord? "Sounds perfect."
I smiled at Alec. He looked horrified that his boss of only a few weeks had just set him up with a girl. Well, at least I wasn't the only one.
"How does three-thousand sound?" Jimmy asked.
My head turned back to him, and I tried to blink away the surprise at the number he was suggesting. I had hoped for a third of that.
Jimmy held a stack of bills out toward me, then pulled them away.
Shit. He could read me like a book. He knew it was more than I expected.
"Why don't we add in a few hundred for tonight? Make sure you two kids have a good time." He added a couple more bills to the stack then handed it to me.
Had I just been paid to take a vampire out? "You do remember that I don't give blood."
"We all know that," Jimmy said. "Consider it a birthday present."
"I swear, I'm not after your blood," Alec said from behind me.
I glanced at him as I stood. "As long as we're clear on that, I'll see you at eight."
3
Standing outside the door to my apartment, I dragged my fingers down the center of the door as I whispered the spell. It was probably overkill to enchant my door every time I left, but one could never be too careful.
Unlocking it, I turned the doorknob and stepped inside. Everything seemed to be in place, which it should. It wasn't like I expected to come home to invaders, but I'd grown paranoid over the years. My apartment was small, but it suited me just fine.
One bedroom, a hallway of a kitchen that opened up to the small living room, and a little space that I used as a study. That study was the reason I'd moved in here. Despite the fact that I didn't practice magic as much as I used to, I still had all the tools of the trade. They were piled in boxes filling the whole study. Occasionally, I would wander in there thinking I'd start practicing again, just to turn around and close the door behind me. It was easier and less painful to watch Netflix.
I set my keys down in the little dish on my kitchen counter. Right next to the framed photo of my mom. It was the only photo I still had of her. She'd died when I was sixteen, a month after I'd earned the ability to come and go as I pleased. If it hadn't been for my limited skill set, I would have stayed in the human world after she died.
Throwing my purse on the floor, I walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. I leaned against the counter while I drank the cold liquid. Setting the bottle down, I walked over to the roses Jimmy sent for my birthday. Touching the petals lightly, I bent down to smell the sweet fragrance. Nobody had ever bought me flowers until Jimmy started the tradition of sending them to me for my birthday. It was the only part of my birthday I looked forward to each year.
Walking away from the roses, I realized that for the first time in a while, I was going out on my birthday. Was I actually going out with a vampire tonight? I'd never had an issue with vampires. The only beings that I avoided in Realm's Gate were the Sirens and anyone who was psychic. I wasn't a big fan of people who could control others without their consent or those who could read minds. I'd had some run-ins with mind readers in my childhood that didn't end well.
I closed up the water bottle and put it back in the fridge. Cold bottled water was my vice. We all have the thing we spend too much money on, that was mine. Realm's Gate had a lot going for it, but its public water tasted terrible to me. When I was younger, I never realized it, but after a few years of living in the human world, I couldn't go back to the tap water here. I noticed a lot of the people who grew up in the human world then moved here later were the same way.
The pipes clanked as I started up the water in my shower. The building was older, solid brick, and haunted with more ghosts than renters, but it was cheap and out of the way. Leaving my clothes in a pile on the floor, I stepped into the warmish water and soaped up. The human world had a different smell than here, and I wasn't fond of it. Better water, worse smell. Weird how things worked.
For a moment, I stared at the razor. If this was a date, shaving my legs was necessary. If this wasn't going anywhere, there was no reason for my jeans to leave my legs. What the hell. I'd never been with a vampire, and I wasn't really planning on it tonight, but I grabbed the razor and shaved my legs anyway.
Clean dark jeans, hair brushed for the first time all week, eyeliner, and a tee-shirt that wasn't two sizes too big. For me, that was dressed up. I wondered if Alec would be in a suit when I picked him up.
Keys in hand, I paused at my front door and turned around to dart back to my room. Digging through my jewelry box, I found my favorite cross necklace. It was a larger black onyx cross on a silver chain. Removing the pendant that gave me access to and from Realm's Gate, I clasped the cross necklace around my neck. I knew crosses weren't a deterrent to vampires, but it still pissed most of them off when you wore them. There was a part of me that got a kick out of seeing how far I could push people, so naturally, my cross necklace collection was rather impressive.
How would a new vampire react to it? Would he be offen
ded? Would he even notice? I'd never spent any time alone with a new vampire. Which reminded me, I needed garlic. While crosses didn't work, all vampires came with an allergy to garlic. It wasn't enough to cause harm, but it could slow them down enough for you to get away.
I knew I had some garlic spray somewhere. After a few minutes of digging through the drawers in my kitchen, I found a little bottle of the stuff and shoved it into the small purse I carried most of the time. I hated big bags so I only used them for holding the cloth and magical objects I purchased.
Feeling a bit more confident about the night ahead of me, I left my apartment, locked up, and headed to my car.
This would either turn out to be an entertaining night where I'd make a new friend, or it would be an awkward encounter with a vamp I'd have to see every time I sold something to Jimmy. I sincerely hoped it went well.
Alec wasn't wearing a suit. So far so good. He sat in the passenger seat of my car in a fitted black tee-shirt and dark jeans. I had to admit, he wore the tee-shirt well. Whatever he had done in his human life, he'd taken care of his body. That was very important for a vampire as they were stuck with whatever they were when they turned. If you were a balding middle-aged dude with a beer gut when you turned, you'd be a balding middle-aged vamp with a beer gut for eternity. Or until someone nailed you with a stake. That was not a myth. Wooden stake to the heart was about the only way to kill a vampire. Though, I'd heard decapitation worked, too. As long as you burned the body after. I'd never tested it out, and I wasn't brave enough to ask a vampire those questions.
"So, you lived here long?" Alec asked.
Small talk. I hated small talk, but I had to hand it to him, he was trying. And he looked just as uncomfortable as I felt. "Yeah, I was born here but lived in the human world for a few years when I was a teenager."
"That's nice," he said. "To be around others like you all the time."
"It is," I said. "Though, honestly, being a mage isn't that different from a human, so they don't really notice us in their world. How about you? You've been here a few weeks?"
"That's right. I met Jimmy in San Francisco through a mutual friend. He offered me a job."
"That's great," I said. "How long have you, uh..." Was it polite to ask someone how long they'd been undead?
"Been a vampire?"
"Yeah, sorry. Is that rude?" I asked.
He laughed. "No, it's fine. I was turned about a year ago."
"That's longer than I thought, based on what Jimmy said,"
"Well, to him, I'm practically an infant. I mean, he's been around for centuries. Can you imagine?" he shook his head.
"No," I said.
"Not one for the whole eternal life thing?" he asked.
"I don't like things that exist outside their natural order."
"Like vampires?" he asked.
I winced. "That came out wrong. That's not what I meant. You were human. I'm a mage. Mages don't live forever. Mages don't become vampires."
"They could, right?" he asked.
"I suppose so," I said. "But then we have to give up our magic, so we're no longer a mage. And for us, magic is like oxygen. Which, I suppose you don't need as a vampire. Maybe it's like blood?"
"Maybe," he said.
4
It was a Tuesday night, not a typically busy night for the Dizzy Dragon Bar, though it was still the most crowded building in town at this time of night.
Careful not to stand too near to Alec, I stopped in front of the door and flashed my sweetest smile at Jay, the bouncer. I wanted him to know the vampire and I were not a couple.
When I first moved back to town, I'd been a regular here, but in the last couple of years, my visits had lessened. Despite the turnover of the bartenders and the other staff, Jay remained.
He crossed his arms over his muscled chest, flexing his biceps. In the spotlight that shined down on him, every line of his body was emphasized. Like most werewolves, Jay was seriously ripped. It almost made me wish I hadn't turned him down when he'd asked me out as a teenager.
Back then, I was still a bit too into the whole mage thing and thought I only wanted to date other Mages. There's a long history of attempted brainwashing I had to overcome. In the end, it made me stronger, but I knew it left me scarred.
"Who's this?" Jay lifted his chin toward Alec.
Not missing a beat, Alec extended his hand to Jay. "I'm Alec. New in town. Got a job working for Jimmy. Nice to meet you..."
To my surprise, Jay extended his hand. "I'm Jay. I'm the muscle around here. If you're bringing trouble into my club, you'll have to deal with me."
Alec held his hands up in mock surrender. "I would never dream of it."
"So, first date?" Jay asked.
"Not a date. I told Jimmy I'd show the new guy around town," I said.
Jay lifted an eyebrow. "You officially part of the gang now?"
"You can't judge me. I've sold plenty of magical items to your pack leader." Hands on my hips, I stared at him. Jay knew what I did to pay the bills, and I knew what he did on his nights off from the club. The werewolf pack wasn't in as deep as Jimmy's vampires, but they certainly had their share of shady deals. Jay often working as the muscle.
Since Mages were the only ones who could do real magic, my services were in demand. If I could find more of the items, I would make quite the comfortable living. Heck, if it weren't illegal to enchant objects, I'd just make them myself. But I wasn't going to go there. I dealt in enough of a gray area by reselling the items other people had illegally created.
"Right, you're an entrepreneur," Jay said.
"Damn straight I am." I dropped my arms. "Now, you going to let us in?"
"Only if you save a dance for me." Jay winked.
I let out a breath, thankful that Jay wasn't being weird about me bringing a vampire here. He'd taken to asking me to save a dance for him about a year ago, though his position at the door would never allow it. It's our little inside joke. "As always."
Jay stepped aside and I walked through the black curtain hanging down from the doorjamb. I could feel Alec right behind me. If he could breathe, I'd probably feel it on my neck.
The room was dark with red flashing lights hanging from the ceiling and purple spotlights over the caged performers. Tonight, each of the four human-sized cages suspended from the ceiling had a Siren inside of them. They were almost passable as human when they were on dry land, but if you looked closely, their skin had an iridescent quality to it that humans didn't possess. Like humans, their skin color came in a variety of tones, but they all had that shimmer to them. Plus, they were all stunning.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alec standing next to the cage nearest to us. His eyes nearly glazed over as he stared at the woman inside. A siren with a blue tint to her pale skin and long purple hair was gyrating in the cage. The strappy black dress she wore left very little to the imagination. I rolled my eyes and turned away from the creature in the cage. I recognized her in a heartbeat. Dima and I had a long, complicated past. And she was the last person I wanted to speak to.
As far as I was concerned, Sirens were best left alone, that one especially. Nothing good ever came from them and their ability to get others to do their bidding.
Just like vampire compulsion, they weren't allowed to use their power. The difference was that they couldn't ever turn it off. Vampires had to study and practice and hone their talent. Then, they had to turn it on, and hope the other person was susceptible. Sirens could ask you to get them a cup of coffee and the next thing you know, you're carrying back a latte and a blueberry muffin. It was unsettling.
Alec's mouth was hanging open now, and he'd moved a few steps closer to the cage. He'd probably stand there for hours, just staring. I was a bit annoyed by how quickly I'd been replaced by someone else. Then I reminded myself that this wasn't a date. Which meant, he wasn't my problem.
I walked over to the bar and ordered a beer. As I sipped it, I faced the siren in the cage and watched as Alec
stepped in closer and closer. Now that I'd reminded myself that I was just supposed to show him a night out, I was actually enjoying his foolish behavior.
"Now, that's not nice at all." The feminine southern drawl could only belong to one person.
I turned to see my friend, Lyla, perched on the stool next to me. She grinned, then took a swig of her beer. "How long's he been at it?"
"Only a couple minutes," I said. "You're one to talk. You seem to have the same effect on men."
Lyla had a little bit of Siren blood in her. Not enough to give her any of their power of persuasion, but she had the beauty. Fiery-red hair, porcelain skin, the features of a goddess, Lyla regularly had men making fools of themselves over her. Both of her parents were Mages. We'd attended lessons together on occasion as children, but her parents had a falling out with the elders sometime right before my mom died. We'd lost touch for a few years, but reconnected when I moved back to Realm's Gate.
"Who is he anyway?" She asked, ignoring my comment.
"New vamp, Jimmy asked me to show him around."
She took a sip of her drink. "You going to go fetch him?"
Alec was nearly touching the cage now, and if he got all the way up to the Siren inside, it could be trouble. I sighed, then handed my bottle to Lyla. "Hold my beer."
As I turned away from Lyla, two large men with full beards moved in front of us. Tribal tattoos were visible under the sleeves of their too-tight tee-shirts. I was standing, and I wasn't a short woman, but these men were easily two feet taller than me.
"Can we buy you a drink?" the man closest to me asked. His voice came out in a growl.
If the tattoos weren't a giveaway, his deep voice was. Werewolf. I wasn't sure what it was, but I seemed to be a magnet for shifters. It wasn't that they weren't attractive, I just wasn't into large group activities. And werewolves were very much social creatures. They thrived on large events full of people. Dating one of them was almost like dating the whole pack. Not in a group-sex kind of way, they were rumored to be very loyal to a single mate, but for someone who didn't even like Thanksgiving meals with more than three people, that was stifling.