Lattie landed on my windowsill and knocked on the glass with a curious expression. I hauled up the old slide window and let her in.
“Why was it closed?” she asked and plopped down on my bed.
I slammed it shut again and eyed up and down the street below. “Just a precaution.” I tightened the blanket around me and laid down next to her as she stretched out her long limbs. “Lattie, what do you know about vampires?”
She let out a tiny sound and flipped over to look at me. “Vampires?”
I loosed a deep sigh. “Yeah. Tell me everything you know about them.”
She blinked a few times before settling back down at my side. We both stared tiredly at the ceiling. “Well, they’re ruthless and soulless, for one.”
“Is it possible for them to be good?”
“They’re beautiful for a reason. They’re predators, luring their prey with dazzling smiles and ill promises of immortality. But they’re most definitely not your friend, Avery. They’re not your lovers.” She yawned. “They rarely even Make their prey. A vampire in Ironworld only has one thing on its mind. Where their next meal is coming from.”
I considered all that she said with a stony gaze at the ceiling. I thought back over all the events that led me to this moment, this crossroads with Cillian and Celadine. The job posting. I’d wondered how I got the job over so many other more qualified candidates. How Celadine swiftly lured me closer with the offer of an apprenticeship.
And then Cillian. He’d followed me all over the place before even approaching me for the first time. His smell, his touch. Even the sound of his voice. It all affected me. Swayed my will until all my thoughts were consumed by him.
I wondered when they’d planned to do it. Kill me. Eat me. Drink me. Whatever it was they did with their prey. Would they have locked me up and toyed with me for a while, or would it have been a swift death? I’ll never know because it ended here. All of it. I wouldn’t give them the chance to lure me any closer.
I sat up and bounced on the bed as I fetched my laptop from the little bedside table and fired it up. Before I talked myself out of it, I typed up my resignation and emailed it to Celadine. Satisfied with my decision, I closed it and swung off the bed, tossing the blanket.
I needed some normalcy.
***
I drove the hour-long trip to Tess’s house in the country. Home. I went home. It was the only place I could think of that was free from all the chaos that currently consumed my life. Every minute I drew closer, I could feel my nerves melting away.
But Tess wasn’t home when I arrived and, when I called her cell, I got an automated message reminding me she was out of town for the Home & Garden show. She wouldn’t be back for weeks, but I stayed, anyway.
I needed the quiet.
I took a long bubble bath. Only stepping out when the water turned too cold to tolerate. Then I prepared some snacks and grabbed a beer as I headed out to the garden patio. My sketchbook tucked under my arm. The sounds of JJ Wilde boomed from my phone as the sun set, and I smiled happily as Tess’s garden automatically came to life with millions of solar-powered twinkle lights and patio lanterns. I rocked back in the lounge chair and kept doodling mindlessly in my book. I hadn’t been this content in weeks. Not since…
And just like that, my thoughts became consumed once again. I fought to swat away the images that burned into my mind. Demanding to be seen. Celadine pouring over years of notes to teach me all that she knew. Cillian’s blazing white smile that always took my breath away. How every fiber of my being had screamed that they were dangerous when I’d first met them.
But I’d ignored it. Chalked it up to me just being nervous and inexperienced. Their goodwill behavior and seemingly normal lives had convinced me. And Cillian… I just assumed his presence always set my nerves on fire, not because he was a predator but because I was so irrevocably attracted to him.
I huffed out a sigh and slammed down my pencil.
Who was I kidding? I wanted them probably as bad as they wanted me. But for different reasons. While they most likely viewed me as a meal, I looked at them as two people I so desperately wanted to get closer to. Even if it was all a seductive lure. A predator move.
Celadine was everything I’d ever hoped for in a mentor. She was my friend; she would have opened doors for me I may not have ever reached in my lifetime. She taught me so much about the art world, giving me the best leg up to start my career. It killed me inside to even consider that it might have all been a show. That she’d go to such great lengths just to drink my blood.
And then Cillian…
I glanced down at my sketchbook and groaned. I’d done it again. Black hair, the way it fell like a silky curtain across his forehead. The shape of his cunning eyes. The line of his jaw. I filled the pages with glimpses of him. I tossed my head and closed my eyes with a loud grumble but inhaled deeply. And I swear I could smell his inviting scent of leather and night air in the breeze.
“You forgot that I have a little freckle above my left eyebrow,” spoke a voice that sent my eyes flying open and my chair rocking back on two legs. He grinned sadly and pointed at the drawings. “Right here.”
I slammed the book shut and flew to my feet. I backed up to the patio door, putting as much distance between us as I could.
“How did you find me?”
“Oh, I don’t think you’re ready for that answer.”
“No?” I challenged brazenly, clutching my scrapbook to my chest. “And when would I be ready, Cillian? Right around the time you planned to tell me you’re a vampire?”
His expression hardened. “I was going to tell you.”
“When.” The word was more of a demand than a question.
But he didn’t seem to have an answer either way. He just stared at me. He looked so beautiful in the twinkle lights. It almost hurt to look at him. And I hated myself for even thinking it.
“You quit?”
“What?” I said, my tongue gone completely dry.
“The email you sent to Cellie,” he reminded. “You gave her your resignation?”
“What did you expect?”
Cillian’s shoulders slumped as he leaned forward in the chair, bracing his forearms on his knees. “Everything and nothing.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He refused to reply, and something burned in my gut. Rage. I was pissed. “Please leave.”
He stood from the lounge chair, palms out in surrender. “Avery, if you’d just let me explain–”
“I said leave.” I inched further down the exterior wall of Tess’s house, a movement he noted. “Leave here, leave me alone. Don’t come to the coffee shop, don’t pester my friends, and don’t make me feel bad about leaving my dream job. Trust me, I already hate myself for it.”
“Then don’t leave,” he replied with a hint of desperation. “Don’t quit. Cellie needs you.”
“Does she?” I retorted. “Need me for what? Does she plan to get close to me, make me fall in love with the job, with her, with you… and then eat me for dinner? Is this some kind of game to you guys?”
He rolled those blue eyes. “That’s not what we–”
“I’ve already given my answer. Now leave.”
But he didn’t. He just stood in place like a freaking statue, like a dark spill of ink against my aunt’s beautiful garden. The sight of him almost broke me. I sucked my lip inside my mouth to stifle the sob that threatened to erupt.
“Avery, please,” he gently begged. “If you won’t talk to me, that’s fine. I get it. I’ll deal. But don’t do this to my sister. She doesn’t deserve to lose you. It’d crush her.”
My eyes brimmed with tears. “Put yourself in my shoes. What would you have me do, Cillian?”
“Just talk to her. Even a phone call.”
I chewed at my lip. “Give me one good reason why I should. A real reason,” I added when I saw he was about to dive into more pleading.
“We’re not like the others of our kind
,” he offered sincerely. And part of me believed it.
“So, you guys don’t prey on humans or drink blood?”
“Well… it’s more complicated than that.”
“But it’s really not,” I said and released my death grip on my book and set it down on the table. “You either drink human blood, or you don’t.” He just stood unmoving. Staring at me. “Is this something that can be explained in less than sixty seconds?”
He slowly shook his head, and that bit of hair fell across his forehead. “No, I’m afraid it’s not.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. I ached to touch him and chastised myself for feeling that way. He just looked far too inviting. It’s just his predatory lure.
I sucked in a deep, cleansing breath. But it did no good. “Then I’m not ready to hear it.” I folded my arms. “I want you too badly to let you linger while I process everything.”
His sharp inhale had my eyes darting to his parted lips. “You… want me?”
I looked up at the night sky. “I don’t think that’s really a secret at this point.” I tipped my chin back down. “But… you’re a vampire, Cillian.” A crazed laugh escaped. “I don’t even know what to do with that information. I’m still processing fairies.”
His stunning face twisted curiously, then he nodded back once as if to say, ahh. “Julie. And the little blue creature that crawls in and out of your window.”
I nodded absently, trying to hide the lightning speed of which my brain processed the fact that Cillian knew about my mythical friends while also considering that he knew which window was my bedroom.
“How did you know?” I asked him. “About my friends?”
He looked unsure. “I could… smell them.”
My eyebrows raised. “Oh? And how do my friends differ in smell from me?”
He braved a step closer, and I let him. A fact that made him visibly relax. I could probably touch him if I reached far enough. I stuck both hands under my arms and made the mistake of meeting his gaze. Those deep pools of navy blue stilled my breath in my chest.
“Well, for starters,” he said in a deep, raspy purr. “Julie smells like sunshine wrapped in the static of magic.” Cillian leaned ever so slightly. His face dangerously close to mine. Only a few inches separated us. “Whereas you, my dear Avery,” he made a show of inhaling the air around me, “Your glorious scent makes my skin crawl and my head spin. You make me want to devour the world around you just by being in your presence.”
Dead air hitched in my throat as he came even closer, his own luring scent enveloping me. And like a mouse caught in a trap, I froze as his lips brushed the searing skin of my cheek with a feather touch, and he whispered in my ear, “but I can wait.”
I don’t know what came over me. My hands were not my own, nor my feet as he leaned away, and I stepped toward him. My fingers clawed around the back of Cillian’s neck, and he stilled as I planted my lips to his in a crushing hold. But I fumbled in my haste, and my tooth broke the skin on the inside of my lip. I could taste blood.
And I was kissing a vampire.
Cillian’s entire body tensed, and his iron grip closed around me like a vice, hauling my body to his in a crushing embrace. I couldn’t escape, even if I wanted to. His hands raked through my hair, as mine did to his. And I slipped my tongue inside his panting mouth. A mouth that seemed to devour mine in a never-ending hunger as he sucked the blood from the wound. It charged me. I felt on fire with a searing current that blazed throughout my body.
I backed up until we pressed against the patio door. The cool glass sent another sensation shooting down through me. I gasped into his mouth and whimpered as Cillian thrust his hips ever so slightly. I could feel him hard against me, and I moaned, a purr that vibrated both our lips.
He bit down harder, drawing more blood, and I froze. Immediately ripped from the sensual daze. I pushed at his iron chest to no avail. It took a second push to break the bloody kiss, and I wavered in place with a heavy inhale. Rewarding my lungs with air. Cool wetness dripped down over my chin, and I wicked it away with the back of my hand.
And then I looked at him.
Gone were those night-blue eyes I loved so much. Only pits of black stared back at me. And there he was, the monster. A minor change, but enough to remind me why I left the city.
“We can’t do this,” I said, my hands clenched into fists.
Cillian blinked a handful of times, and I watched the blue seep back into his eyes and the whites restore. So they weren’t contacts after all. He looked at me with remorse. “Avery, I’m so sorry–”
My hand shot up. “I need time, Cillian.”
“Of course,” he quickly replied and wrung a hand through his hair, slicking it back into place.
He was just too much to look at, and I closed my eyes tightly, tipping my head back against the glass. A light brush of air kissed my face, and I opened my eyes. He was gone.
I took a seat, my hands shaking in my lap. Matched to the buzzing that hummed over my skin. I could still feel his lips on mine. I’d kissed a vampire. It was intense. And brutal. And dangerous. And… I reached up and touched my trembling fingertips to my swollen lip…
…I absolutely craved more.
Chapter Eighteen
I stayed at Tess’s house all weekend. Just me and my thoughts. I actually got sleep. Cooked myself a couple proper meals. I nourished myself, something I’d neglected to do since moving to the city and taking on so much. School, two jobs, the apprenticeship, then juggling it all with the discovery of a mythical world operating right under our noses.
I needed to recharge. So, that’s what I did. And I returned to the city anew.
I beamed as I headed to class. Two coffees and two muffins in my arms. Tomas opened the doors for me.
“Doubling down this morning?” he kidded.
“I’d certainly need it for how much sleep I’ve been getting,” I replied. “Although, I caught up on some this weekend.”
It was so refreshing having a friend who was just human. Nothing more, nothing less. A pure and uncomplicated human friend. Tomas was a breath of fresh air.
“How was your visit with your aunt?”
Some time alone was exactly what I needed to put the whole fairy thing in perspective. I smiled. “She wasn’t home, so I just vegged all weekend in silence.” I knew what I was. A mortal Seer. An Oracle. Julie was a Changeling. Lattie was… whatever she was. Some terrifying yet adorable, carnivorous pixie. Moya, once a mermaid, was now a member of the Summer Lands. Her sisters were some sort of otherworldly Shades. Oliver, a troll and a magical healer.
They were good people. I knew it, felt it. And I wanted to learn more about this world I’ve found myself inexplicably linked to.
“Well, you missed out on an epic weekend,” Tomas said with a laugh. The sarcasm was light.
“Yeah?” I quipped, and we turned one of the last corners before we would have to split to our classes.
“Oh, yeah. A Tolkien marathon. I think I might have bored Julie to near death, though. Could have really used you there.”
“Did you tell her Viggo actually broke his foot in that scene where he kicked the helmet?”
“Yeah, she didn’t even care!”
I laughed as we came to a stop where the hallway split in two. I was right. He was left. “Some people just can’t appreciate art when they see it, Tomas.”
I listened to his chuckle as we parted and bounded for class. I was a few minutes early, but I planned it that way. For today, anyway. Because I knew stickler Max would be there. She pretended not to notice me as I came right up to her and set one of the coffee and muffin combos on her desk.
“What’s this?” she balked. Her hair was long black curls that hung to her elbows today.
“Peace offering,” I told her. “Amends for standing you up with the project.”
She pressed her lips into a thin line and narrowed her black-rimmed eyes at me. “It’s going to take a lot more than baked goods a
nd some crappy coffee, Quinn.”
“Fine.” I reached for the coffee and muffin, but she snatched them away.
“But it’s a start.”
I failed to hide the grin that plastered across my face and took my seat next to Max.
Small victories.
***
Days crawled by. Without my job at the gallery and the nighttime apprenticeship, I had so much free time on my hands. So, I picked up a few extra shifts at the coffee shop. But it still wasn’t enough to fill the void packed with worry. By Friday, I’d had enough. And when Julie suggested we go to the Sanctuary in the park for drinks, I happily approved. It was warded, and I felt safe there.
We found it just like before, and a party exploded around us. I let the lively music take me away as Julie swiped two flutes of wine from a table and handed me one. We leaned against a large tree. I was beginning to love this place. Before long, we were four drinks in and dancing about. I twirled with trolls and skipped around with higher Fae. Those busybody sprites spun around me like a whirlwind, tousling my hair and tickling my skin.
I let loose, let myself fall into place there. In a world I’d now come to accept as part of my own. I belonged to it, as Julie had said. And she was right. I could feel it in my blood, in my bones.
The wine swirled in my head. I nearly floated along the grass as I moved off to the side to break from dancing. I plopped down on a worn stump and watched Julie get taken by the music and Fae around her. Fiddles played a jaunty tune, and she danced with her hands in the air, dragging colors through it like watercolor paint. She’d completely let down her glamor and paraded around like some sort of ethereal angel, and all I could do was stare in awe. She was a sight to behold.
A voice called from the trees that sat in the dark that rimmed the party. My heart sprang to life because it sounded like Lattie. I searched the crowd for my tiny blue friend, but she was nowhere to be found. I stood up and followed the call of the voice, a twinkle in the air, a cry for… me.
Averrrryyy…
I burst through the trees in a frantic search. My feet stumbled as I hit the damp sand of a small crescent that curved the dark side of the small lake. But there was nothing, no one. Just as I turned to go back, there was a movement on the water. A slight ripple on its surface. I stopped and squinted in the dark. A pair of black eyes poked up from the water and blinked wetly at me.
A Kingdom of Iron & Wine : New Adult Fantasy Romance (The Ironworld Series Book 1) Page 24
