by Kristie Cook
Soul Savers Series
WONDER:
A Soul Savers Collection of Short Stories
Part 1 - Thanksgiving
Kristie Cook
Ang’dora Productions, LLC
Naples, Florida
For Kristie’s Crew
Acknowledgements
Being this is a Thanksgiving special collection, I should count my blessings here. However, I simply have too many to list in a book, let alone on a single page. Most importantly, I am grateful to know God and have Jesus Christ as my savior, and I am thankful for all of the people in my life, from my parents to my spouse and children and extended family to friends I know in real life to those I only know online. And this includes each of you, dear readers. The grace of God and the support of my readers are the only reasons I am able to live my dream.
We’ve been going through some tough health issues in our family while putting these stories together, and I want to thank everyone who has sent their well wishes, said their prayers for us, and shared good healthy vibes. I am so blessed to have such a large community of friends that stretches around the world. Thank you, again, for your support and love. You don’t know how many times your kindness has brought tears to my eyes—good tears, of course. I pray for you all that you experience such caring when you most need it and that you have much to be thankful for this holiday season.
God bless.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Contents
AMITY Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
BELONGING Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
GRATITUDE Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
About the Author
Connect With Me Online
Want more by Kristie Cook?
Copyright
Coming very soon…
AMITY
This first short story, Amity, introduces new characters in the Soul Savers world, giving you a peak into the Daemoni way of life. It does not fit in any particular place in the main Soul Savers Series chronology, although it would definitely be before the events that conclude Wrath (Book 5). I hope you enjoy these characters as much as I enjoyed writing this!
Chapter 1
Oranges, reds, and yellows painted the trees lining the path of the park as Mindy crossed it on her way to work. One tree blazed like a bright fire against a backdrop of evergreens. Another was nearly naked already, its bare, spindly branches reaching for the overcast sky. Although the cold air didn’t bother her, Mindy snuggled her hands into her coat pockets, trying to look Norman, while flipping the blond strands away from her eyes and cheeks even as the wind insisted on slapping them back against her skin. She sniffed the air, tasting the crispness of fall along with the threads of humanity that floated in the cool breeze. Her mouth watered. But, strangely, not for her usual favorite meal of human blood.
No. Right now, she craved human food. More specifically, a Thanksgiving feast.
She hadn’t craved human food for months. Not since the early weeks of being turned nearly a year ago. Sure, she could eat Norman food and drink Norman drinks, but except for pretty much anything alcoholic, she never strongly desired it. But Thanksgiving had always been her favorite holiday, and for the last couple of days, she couldn’t stop thinking about a table loaded with a golden turkey, fluffy mashed potatoes and creamy gravy, buttery green beans, and her mother’s famous stuffing that was never soggy or mushy, but perfectly browned like her turkey. She dreamt about Granny’s pumpkin pie and Nana’s apple cobbler, too.
Or, maybe, it was really Mom, Granny, and Nana, as well as her sisters, that she truly missed so much.
Not going there, Mindy told herself as she shouldered her way through the door of the bar where she’d serve drinks to humans for the next several hours while deciding which one she’d take for dinner after closing. Thoughts of family were unacceptable. Forbidden, even. But oh, so difficult to avoid this week. Which was why she focused on the food.
The night remained slow, most Normans doing the “family thing” this night before the holiday. The ones who weren’t, though, were her best customers—they didn’t have family to be with tonight or any other night. They’d left their families and never bothered to start ones of their own because they’d much rather spend their time in a dark, dingy bar run by creatures they didn’t believe existed, no matter how many times said creatures drank from their veins. They were alcoholics, loving the bottle more than any soul, which was why they were Mindy’s best customers. Not only did they drink a lot and tip well, but drunk and readily available, they provided easy pickings for her own dinner and were too far gone to remember it the next morning. Or at least, to believe it when they were sober.
Jewels, a fellow bartender and Mindy’s roommate, handed Mindy a card toward the end of the night.
“We’re invited to a Vampire Thanksgiving Feast!” Jewels danced behind the bar with excitement, her vampire gifts keeping her perfectly balanced on her six-inch stilettos when any Norman would have broken an ankle. Her long, brown hair spread like a fan as she spun, and when she stopped, a twinkle shone in her brown eyes. “Time to show our thanks to the Daemoni gods for our immortality.”
Mindy lifted a brow at Jewels after reading the invitation. “It doesn’t say that.”
Jewels laughed. “Of course not, silly. But isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about—giving thanks? And what more do we have to be thankful for than being vampires?”
“You’re British. You don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving,” Mindy pointed out.
“But I’m here right now. And a vampire feast? I can only imagine how nice that will be!”
Mindy had learned by now that “nice” had a deeper meaning to the English than to Americans. “Nice” to Jewels meant very good, maybe even spectacular, especially when she said it with such enthusiasm. Mindy wasn’t sure about a vampire feast being spectacular. Or even nice. She still fought traces of humanity that lingered in her soul, and a smorgasbord of humans didn’t sound so “nice.”
“Oh, dear. Why don’t you just go and be an Amadis bitch?” Jewels said at the look in Mindy’s blue eyes. The dark-haired vampire shook her head. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you stoop to that. But really, Minz, you need to step it up. You know you feel it—the blood thirst. The craving for human blood. Stop fighting it so much.”
Mindy chuckled as she eyed one of her regulars, and her tongue swept across the bottom of her teeth. Her fangs were retracted at the moment, but she could still feel the little points of her canines. “You know I don’t fight it.”
It was impossible to fight, even when she wanted to.
“Then you’ll come with me to the feast tomorrow?” Jewels demanded.
Mindy’s eyes travelled back to her roomie’s face, and she frowned.
“That looks like a ‘no’.”
“I kind of ... I kind of want a traditional dinner.”
Jewels’ nose wrinkled. “Like human food?”
She shuddered.
“It may be the last time I crave it, so why not?”
“And where are you going to do that?” Jewels’ eyes narrowed. “You’re not thinking about going home, are you?”
Mindy rolled her eyes, although the desire to see her family one more time remained as a pit in her stomach. “Of course not. That would be stupid.”
“And forbidden.”
Yup. And forbidden. A new idea struck Mindy. “
I could make my own little Thanksgiving feast at the apartment.” Her excitement grew at the idea. “You could join me, too, and we can eat like human pigs.”
“Yuek. No, thank you. I’ll be going to the vampire feast. And you should really go with me. It’s much healthier, you know.”
Mindy laughed. “Healthy and Thanksgiving feast don’t even belong in the same sentence. You really should join me and learn what an American Thanksgiving is all about.”
“Giving thanks and gluttony. I already know. And that’s what I plan to do—with all of our new vampire mates.” Jewels sauntered down to the other end of the bar, indicating the conversation was over.
Not quite wanting to throw it away, Mindy shoved the invitation into the back pocket of her jeans. As she served the few customers the rest of the night and even as she drank from one after, she made a mental grocery list. The craving for a traditional Thanksgiving became so strong, her mouth watering so much, she nearly drained her customer dry. She was a baby vamp herself, too young to be siring a newborn, but if she hadn’t stopped in time, her only other choice would have been to leave him to die. So she was thankful she’d come to her senses when she did.
No, she wasn’t full Daemoni yet. And that could likely get her killed. But for now, she wanted to enjoy these last bits of her humanity. She was thankful she hadn’t lost her soul ... yet.
“Much to be thankful about,” she happily muttered to herself as she entered the twenty-four-hour grocery store near her apartment, but then she clamped her mouth shut and looked around. Too many Daemoni vamps around to be talking like that. But she could think it. A real Thanksgiving dinner is especially something to be grateful for.
Chapter 2
“What the hell are you doing?” Jewels demanded when she came out of her bedroom the next morning wearing nothing more than an extra large t-shirt and maybe panties underneath, but the shirt was too long to know for sure. She didn’t really need to sleep—neither of them did—but sometimes a vampire needed some alone time in the privacy of her own room. Jewels’ dinner-date still slept soundly in her bed. “And what the hell are you wearing?”
Mindy sat on the couch with her knees pulled to her chest, wearing her old pajamas left over from a life she no longer had—pink fuzzy ones with yellow elephants on them. Her eyes didn’t leave the television screen where a four-story-tall Elmo floated by. “Watching the Macy’s parade in my jammies. Thanksgiving Day tradition.”
Jewels glanced at the TV, then glared at her roommate. “Are you daft? We have a feast to get ready for!”
“I told you. I’m making my own feast, and the turkey’s already in the oven. But even if I was going with you, it doesn’t start for twelve hours.”
Jewels huffed. “Yes, well, it’s the event of the year. At least, since I’ve been here, which has almost been a year. It’s going to be glorious, and I want to look my best.”
Mindy looked at her roommate and pretended to gag. “Are you actually going to wear a dress? Gads!”
“Hmph. I might.” She spun on her heel and returned to her bedroom.
Daylight was only a nuisance to them, although direct sun could be a little more problematic, but less so for Jewels, who was a couple of years older, in vampire age, than Mindy. Jewels showed no repercussions as she had another go with her dinner before kicking him out of her bed so she could get ready for the night’s gala. After the parade was over, Mindy moved a little slower than she did at night—but still faster than any Norman. By noon, she was dressed in dark blue jeans and a festive brown and red sweater, her turkey was sitting on the counter resting, and she’d finished whipping the potatoes, buttering the green beans, and now stirred the lumps out of the gravy. Her stuffing hadn’t turned out nearly as good as her mother’s, and she wasn’t sure she even wanted to eat it.
“I have to admit, it smells nice,” Jewels said. She still wore only a silk robe and walked on her heels, cotton woven between her freshly painted toes. She took a spoon out of the drawer and scooped out a bite of potatoes. She wrinkled her nose as she swallowed it. “Ugh. How can you eat this?”
Mindy took her own bite with petulance, sure Jewels was just being difficult. Teasing her again for wanting human food. But she frowned as she moved the creamy potatoes around her mouth with her tongue.
“Something’s not right,” she admitted. “It’s missing something.”
“Norman,” Jewels called to the guy who had left her bed and found his way to the couch to watch football. Why he was still there, Mindy didn’t know, especially when Jewels wouldn’t need him tonight—not with the feast the girl was so excited for.
“I’m sure he has a name,” Mindy hissed at her roommate.
“That is his name,” Jewels said, and she giggled. “He’s a Norman named Norman. And he’s delicious, isn’t he? I think I want to keep him.”
The guy—a rough and rugged type with tousled brown hair and a scar on his cheek—looked up at Jewels with complete adoration in his eyes. Mindy shook her head with amusement. How did Jewels do it? Her roommate always managed to get what—and whom—she wanted.
“Come here, baby,” Jewels crooned. “We need your help.”
Norman the Norman crossed the living room in three long strides and joined the vampires in the kitchen. Jewels fed him a spoonful of potatoes.
“What does it need?” Mindy asked.
“Salt?” Norman asked, unsure of his answer.
“Oh! Of course.” And Jewels lifted Norman’s arm to her mouth and with what looked like an intimate kiss, slashed her fangs across his wrist.
“Jewels!” Mindy screeched as the other vampire held Norman’s wrist over the bowl of potatoes and stained the white spuds red. “Salt. Not blood. You’ve ruined—”
“Oh, Minz, you have to taste these now.” Jewels’ eyes sparkled with delight as she licked the spoon while taking another from the drawer, filling it with potatoes and shoving it into Mindy’s mouth.
Mindy’s eyes sprang open. “Oh, my god. Those are the best potatoes ever!”
Mindy glanced over all of the bowls and platters spread out on the counter, and she knew exactly what all of her dishes lacked. Blood. Human blood was the missing ingredient that would make this the best Thanksgiving feast ever.
“Mind if I grab a plate before you do that?” Norman asked as Mindy grasped his arm in a tight grip and began making him bleed all over her Thanksgiving feast.
“Ugh. Hurry,” Mindy barked, her mouth watering even more at the spread of food before them. She couldn’t wait to dive into it, hoping she’d have the self-control to be able to savor all the goodness. The way her heart sped at the thought of such gluttony, she wasn’t sure. At least there was a lot of food here, enough to keep her happy for a while. Just grabbing a serving spoon took Norman too long, so Mindy moved in a blur as she dumped spoonfuls of this and that until food heaped in a mountain on his plate. She had it filled in less than three seconds. Then she grabbed his arm once again, slashed it open, and made him rain blood over her feast.
After several minutes, before she’d even made it to the platter of carved turkey, Norman’s body began to slump. Mindy’s brain suddenly clicked back on. Or maybe it was her humanity. She jumped away from the guy and gasped.
“What have I done?” she cried aloud. She shoved Norman’s plate at him and pushed him out of the kitchen. He stumbled for the couch, while she stared at her so-called traditional Thanksgiving feast. Tears filled her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Jewels said, confusion lacing her voice. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“No!” Mindy nearly shouted while her eyes never left the crimson-stained food. “I wanted a real Thanksgiving. Not one soaked in blood!”
Jewels laughed. “Ah, Minz. You’re a vampire now, remember? Maybe this needs to be your compromise.”
Mindy shook her head, then stomped to her bedroom. She threw herself on the bed. What was wrong with her? Jewels was right. A perfect compromise of a feast waited for her out in
the kitchen. But that’s not what she really wanted. Not what she craved—not her heart or her soul. And she could no longer deny it.
What she really wanted—what her soul desired more than anything—was to be with her family on this favorite of all holidays. This little apartment shared with another vampire and a guy she didn’t know but had nearly drained to death was not where she wanted to be. Where she needed to be. She wanted to be at her Nana’s with everyone else, enjoying the company just as much as the food.
“I miss my family,” she cried to herself. “If only ...”
She didn’t even finish her sentence as a new thought occurred to her.
I still have a little bit of my humanity. Surely it will be okay.
Chapter 3
Mindy took her time as she chose a new outfit and dressed for the second time that day. Nana always served Thanksgiving dinner later than most people, much closer to a normal dinner time. And she expected everyone to look nice when they came to the table. She didn’t require dresses or suits or even sweater vests, thank God. But sweatpants, jeans, and t-shirts were not allowed. Mindy used to grumble at Nana’s dress code, but not now. Although she rarely wore skirts or dresses, she was happy to be pulling on an ankle-length, dark brown pencil skirt, the only skirt she owned besides her “vampy” ones that barely covered her ass. And those would be a definite no-no at Nana’s table—or anywhere in or near her house.
“That’s what you’re wearing?” Jewels asked when Mindy came out of her bedroom in her skirt, a cream-colored sweater, a scarf wound around her neck, and peasant boots. Jewels sounded appalled, although she still only wore a robe even as the church down the sheet chimed three o’clock in the afternoon.
Mindy looked down at herself and grinned. “It’s perfect.”
“Don’t you know by now the appropriate dress code for these kinds of things?”
