by India Amare
Her face lit up. “There you are. I have cake. I hope you like chocolate. There are four different kinds in this baby.”
And even though I wasn’t as cake obsessed as my “new best friend” my stomach growled in anticipation. “I told you I didn’t need cake.”
“Nonsense.” She placed it on the counter and removed the lid, then held out a fork.
I stared at it. “Are we going to eat right off the platter?”
She brandished a second fork. “Of course. It’s the best way to eat cake. Here, take it.”
I took it and watched as Gigi pushed her fork through what appeared to be a very moist cake and shoved it into her mouth. “Oh my god, so good!” She mumbled around the food, eyes rolling back, shoulders dropping.
I couldn’t resist even though this all seemed weird to me. Eating from opposite ends of a giant cake? Strange, right? But what wasn’t weird was how delicious it was. That was just amazing.
“So how was your week? What are you studying?”
I swallowed yet another bite of delicious cake. “Pretty busy actually. I’m exhausted.”
“Maybe the sugar will help.”
“Maybe. I’m a psych major.”
“Oh!” She smiled brightly. I swear every time she did that it was like someone turned a spotlight on. It was just so damn sincere. “I’m a grad student in anthropology.”
“What are you doing with it?” I studied a little anthropology and sociology as part of my degree.
“It’s complicated, but basically I’m working on ancient DNA. So I work a lot with the biology department as well. It’s why I’m here at all. It’s one of the only places they’re doing genetic research of this scale in this part of the world.”
“And now that I know you’re crazy smart I’m mildly intimidated.”
Her phone bleeped and she pulled it out of her back pocket, groaning. “So I may have lied a little. My brother Dray might stop by and drag me home.”
Drag her home? Like a caveman? “What’s going on? You don’t have to tell me,” I added at the last second. Gigi was just so easy to talk to I forgot I didn’t actually know her.
She sighed much more dramatically than I ever would have. “There’s some shit going on with the company and he’s afraid I’m not safe on my own.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. I mean, I figured after the ball gown and tuxedos they were kind of a big deal, but really? “Why wouldn’t you be safe? What does your family do?”
For the first time Gigi didn’t bubble over with more information than necessary. In fact, she was downright cryptic. “Real estate.”
“Real estate is dangerous these days? Or is that code for the mob? Are you in a crime family?” A really well-dressed crime family, but still.
She laughed nervously. “Uh, no. Nothing like that. But you know how people get when millions or even billions of dollars are at stake. Cutthroat. A few years ago, a friend of mine—Lou—she was kidnapped and ransomed.”
My jaw hit the floor. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. It was so horrible.”
“Is she okay?”
Gigi frowned. “She’s different, but yes, she’s alive and well.”
I’d be different too after being taken and used as leverage for money. How horrible. “Over real estate?”
She didn’t look at me. “Yep. Her family was the only other bidder in a massive property development scheme.”
I couldn’t even respond to that. “So Dray thinks you might be in trouble now, too?”
She shrugged. “It’s possible. Usually they fight in the boardrooms but sometimes shady stuff happens. Tracking devices on cars, someone getting jumped in an alley. Stuff like that.”
She said all of it so casually, as if it were totally normal. “Why were you so dressed up last week?”
“Charity,” she said, hand over her mouth to cover the cake she’d just shoved inside. She swallowed and put her hand down. “Our family is very involved in charity work. It was one of the biggest, glitziest events of the year. Honestly, I think it's fun to get dressed up.”
“What do your brothers think?” I remembered how uncomfortable Dray looked, even though he slayed that tux.
“Bo complains but he secretly loves all of it. The clothes, the parties, the glamour. But Dray is a mountain man at heart. He can wear the clothes, he knows just how to behave, but he does it begrudgingly.”
Mountain man. Yes, yes that’s exactly who he was. I could see him swinging an axe or building something with his bare hands. And even though he was nowhere near, I felt my pulse kick up a notch, and I swear I heard whispers again. Faint ones just barely there. I hadn’t heard them once since Dray walked out the door a week ago.
I changed the subject. “And how did you enjoy the latest installment in Mysteries, Mayhem, and Murder?”
She set her fork down and sighed. “It was amazing. Gah. I read it twice and then read The Rake because I thought I might die from despair. Then I re-read the whole Triple M series. I think I’m finally recovered from the fact that I have nothing new to read for at least six more months.”
The Triple M books came out every six months like clockwork. “I enjoyed it as well.” But I didn’t have time for book depressions or for re-reading entire series in a week.
“Is it always this quiet on Monday nights?” She looked around at the empty half of the bookstore.
“Pretty much. The coffee bar is the only reason they have their Monday study group here. Otherwise the entire place would be empty.”
“I guess I don’t leave the lab enough to notice which nights are busy and which aren’t.” She looked truly perplexed.
“You’re a nerd, aren’t you,” I teased.
She gave me the same kind of glare she gave Bo. “I adore my research. I’d do nothing else if it were up to me.”
“So no Thursday nights at the club for you?” I was feeling oddly close to this near stranger. We had a lot in common if you didn’t look at our vastly different wardrobes.
“Charity balls are about all the dancing I do. I’m not a particular fan of loud music, sweat, and handsy men.”
Maybe we did become instant best friends last week. “I can’t eat another bite.” There was so much sugar in my system I was almost ready to turn on some music and dance here in the bookstore.
Suddenly the air was filled with screeching tires, several booming sounds, and screams. Gigi froze. The students from the corner ran to the windows.
“Fight! Fight!” One of them shouted. They all plastered their noses to the windows.
Gigi frowned and tilted her head to the side. “I need to go.”
That was sudden, but the look in her eyes told me she absolutely meant it. “Use the back door so you don’t get caught up in whatever is going outside.”
She began to move toward the storage room and then stopped, turning toward the windows.
“Knife!” Someone yelled. “Dude, that’s a cool knife!”
“Gun!” Another screamed.
Gigi ran for the door that led to the street just as the unmistakable sound of a gun firing filled the air. “Dray!” she yelled.
My heart stopped. No, it couldn’t be. Nothing interesting ever happened at Books and Brews...until Gigi and Dray walked into my shop.
I moved like I was swimming through water. The students had been too shocked to film the fight, but now they all yanked out their phones and began calling for help.
I pushed through the door and took in the scene. In the street were two wrecked cars and Dray lying on the asphalt, blood gushing from a hole in his shoulder and dripping down the side of his face.
Gigi went right to him, screaming for help.
But I couldn’t move. I was frozen. Not from the shock of seeing the accident or the wound, but from something else entirely. I had no control over my body at all. I couldn’t move. It was like I was trapped inside my own skin. I stared at the blood as my heart beat faster and louder. My skin sizzle
d with electricity. The whispers returned louder than ever.
Wake! Wake! Wake!
Dray moved, blinking his eyes open. He turned and looked directly at me. It was as if the world split apart the moment our gazes collided. As if I split in two. Like lightning struck and sent a shockwave out from my center, flattening everything around me.
Except the only things that appeared affected were Gigi and Dray. Their hair was blown back, their eyes wide with shock, like a wall of wind or energy had blasted them.
Ambulances and police cars flew into the intersection, blocking my view of the pair. I remained frozen where I was, but after a few moments I saw Dray loaded onto a stretcher. He tried to wave them away but they forced him down. His eyes found mine again, filled with a million questions I had no way of answering.
The ambulance doors slammed shut and suddenly I could move, not that I wanted to. Everything hurt. Everything. My head, my muscles, my bones. “Gigi?”
I looked everywhere but she was gone. I knew she didn’t get into the ambulance. Was she in a police car?
With great effort I glanced inside each one, only finding them empty. The pain I felt grew worse so I gave up and returned to the bookshop. It was completely empty now and there was no chance of more customers with the scene outside, so I locked up and dragged my ass home.
Every step was worse than the one before it, but I managed to text Gloria and tell her what happened and to expect an odd morning. My stomach growled so I went to the kitchen. Was I hot? Yes. Feverish? Maybe. After grabbing a roll, I went to the bathroom and pulled out a thermometer. My temperature was totally normal somehow. I slammed two pain relievers and prayed for it to help.
But the pain and the heat only grew worse. Nothing I did seemed to help. No amount of food filled me; no amount of water relieved my thirst. I stripped down and stood under freezing cold water in the shower until the pain was so bad I had no choice but to curl into a ball and cry myself into the terrifying, lonely darkness.
Chapter 3
The night passed by in flashes. Pain. Light. Cold water all around me. The whispers returned but now they said all kinds of different things I couldn’t understand. At one point I thought I was floating and at another I was drinking and drinking and drinking the sweetest water I had ever tasted.
And then finally sleep. Real sleep.
I had no idea how long I was out, but when my eyes blinked open it was light out. Even though it was my sparse little bedroom with the gauzy white curtains and light wood walls, everything seemed different.
“You’re awake.”
I screamed, pulling the blankets up to my chin as if they would somehow protect me from an intruder. Get it together Rhysa. “Gigi! What the hell are you doing in my bedroom?” I liked her but this was...well it was freaky. At best.
She sat in a chair by my bedroom door, one leg over the other, her hands calmly folded in her lap. She wore the same clothes as the night before. Not a hair out of place.
“What do you remember about last night?” she asked.
I glanced under the sheets. I had on a t-shirt and underwear that I didn’t remember putting on. I thought back, before the darkness, before the shower and the pain, to Dray being shot outside my bookshop. “We were having cake and then Dray was shot. I couldn’t find you so I came home and passed out.” That seemed like a safe version of events. “Is he okay?” Oh god, what if he died? She didn’t seem panicked.
“He’ll be fine,” she waved off my question. “I came to check on you and found you passed out, naked, in a cold shower.”
Damn. Wait. “How do you know where I live?”
She waved at me again, dismissing my questions as trivial. “It wasn’t hard to figure out. You didn’t answer the door for a long time, but it was unlocked and I came in to find you about to drown yourself.”
I always locked the door. Always. But then again, I was in incredible pain...pain that I now realized was gone. I stretched my neck and arms. “Thank you for helping me out.”
She leaned forward, her straight blonde hair falling forward, her eyes narrowed and serious. “Who are you really?”
Now I was genuinely freaking out. Everything was normal—boring, but normal—until a week ago. From the moment this woman stepped into my bookshop everything was strange and wrong. And now this? “I’m Rhysa Smith, as you well know, and unless you have a reason to be here, I’m asking you to leave.”
She didn’t move. “I do have a reason to be here. You need me, you just don’t know it yet.”
What the hell? I pushed back the covers and grabbed a pair of sweats, shoving my feet through. “I’m calling the police.” This was way beyond weird—and I knew weird. Knew if you didn’t cut it off as soon as you recognized it, it would quickly spiral out of control, usually hurting everyone in its path.
“Rhysa,” she sighed, “whoever you think you are, you’re not.”
This pretty blonde woman was not in her right mind. How had I missed the signs? “That makes absolutely no sense.” I started searching for my phone. Where the hell did it wind up? I texted Gloria, came home, didn’t lock the door, and...fuck, I had no clue.
Gigi stood up, blocking the doorway. My fight or flight instinct kicked in and instead of searching for my phone I began to look for a weapon. “When you saw Dray...what happened to you? Can you explain it? You froze. You appeared to be in a great deal of pain. And then…”
I curled my fingers around the small baseball bat I stored behind my nightstand and paused, remembering the weird shockwave lightning thing I felt when I saw Dray bleeding. Something niggled in the back of my mind. Something told me I needed to listen. “And then?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “You would likely have died in that shower if I hadn’t found you. And not because of the water.”
I was so lost. So confused. It felt like I should understand, that I should know what she was talking about, but I simply didn’t. “Okay then, why would I have died?” I kept my hand on the bat.
“When humans change only some of them survive. But I don’t think that’s what you are...regardless, without blood you would have starved.”
Humans? Why did she say that like she wasn’t human? Gigi was very clearly not in her right mind. “Blood?” That was...what was even happening?
But as I stood there, the memories of floating and drinking hit me even harder. I licked my lower lip and remembered the sweet taste of blood.
Oh my god.
“Who are you?” Gigi tried again, stepping closer.
Terror seized me. My well-honed fight or flight instincts kicking into overdrive. “Who the hell are you?” I pulled out the bat and pointed it at her. If she was going to keep asking me questions I couldn’t answer, then I was going to start asking some of my own. I didn’t understand anything she was saying, but it was clear she wasn’t simply some nerdy genetics guru who lived in a lab and flitted around in ball gowns.
She stood a little straighter, brushed back her hair, completely unfazed by my weapon. “I guess that’s fair. I know you’re probably thinking I’m delusional and that my being here means I’m having a mental break. But everything you think you know is wrong. Very wrong. I think I know who you really are. Who your parents are.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“What I’m about to say is going to sound very strange, okay? But it’s the truth.” She smoothed her hands over her clothing and took a deep breath, letting it out before answering. “My name is Georgiahana Wren of the House of Wren. I’m sixty-six years old and I am not human. We call ourselves Samhain but you would probably call me a psychic, or a shifter, or maybe even a witch, but mostly you’d probably call me a vampire...just like you.”
Just like me.
No. I shook my head a lot, but even as I denied everything she said as some sort of fever dream, I knew she was right. I felt it in my bones. In my soul.
She stepped closer. “What you experienced last night is what we call Awakenin
g. It only happens when a samhain is dormant. This is very rare. You’ve basically lived your whole life as a human, and probably would have continued to do so if Dray hadn’t accidentally awoken you.”
I stumbled backward to the bed and collapsed, the bat falling from my fingers. “How...how did he...awaken me?” My hands started shaking so I shoved them between my thighs.
“The sight of his blood.”
I licked my lips again. “He’s really okay?”
Something moved behind Gigi. No, someone. Someone broad and muscular. “I’m really fine. I promise, Rhysa.” Dray moved to stand beside his sister. Between the sound of his voice and the sight of him before me, my pulse began to race again.
He didn’t even look hurt. “Do samhain have super healing powers?”
He shrugged a little. “We heal faster and I’m particularly good at that.” A look of frustration flashed over his face before he blinked it away. “Who are you?” He said it gently.
I shrugged, feeling so lost and found at once. Like I knew who I was or where I came from even less than I already did, but somehow finally had answers to the questions I never knew to ask. “I don’t know what to tell you guys. My name is Rhysa and I have no family. No history. I’ve got nothing to say because I’ve genuinely got nothing to say.”
They traded a look. Gigi nodded my way. Dray sighed. “Where did the name Rhysa come from?” His eyes lifted to mine.
A shiver raced down my spine. “It was embroidered on the blanket I was left with as a baby.” I went to the closet where I kept it safe. “I’m a cliche. Left at a fire station with a blanket and nothing else.”
The simple quilt was white and lilac. My name was stitched onto the edge in lilac and had flowers on either side. I held it out but they didn’t take it. Instead, they just stared at it.
Gigi looked up at her brother. Dray grimaced.
“Anyone want to share something so I don’t pass out from having my entire world turned upside down?” If my heart beat any faster or harder it might come right out of my chest.
“I think I know who you are,” Gigi said so quietly it was almost a whisper. Then she took the blanket and closed her eyes. As she held my quilt her lips turned down into a frown and a moment later a tear slipped free from each eye. Then she handed it back, looking up at Dray. “It is so. She is who we think she is.”
