“No.” He finally admitted.
“Because I’m still healing and a party at a sex shop is the last thing I need?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it’s a damn shame I don’t agree with you.” I stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “After the party, we’re staying at my place. I’m healthy enough to go up and down stairs, and I want to be able to scream your name tonight.” He looked exasperated as I sauntered off to the bedroom.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Mark was back in time to shower, shave, and walk aimlessly around the room while I fiddled with my makeup. Phoebe packed bright red lipstick and eyeliner but no eye shadow or base. I improvised and used the eyeliner as kohl. The look was decidedly dated, but I could tell Jakob appreciated it.
Both of them looked dashing. Jakob wore a charcoal gray shirt over dark denim jeans. The shirt’s French cuffs emphasized his hands, while all the dark colors brought out his pale skin and wonderful blond hair. I’d never seen him look so young or casual. I decided immediately that we would be going to more parties.
Mark wore a black button down shirt with black slacks. The monochromatic look worked, lengthening him. He kept his collar up to hide his scars, but it made the shadows around his face play in a way that women would want to get close to him. He noticed my frank gaze.
“Are my scars showing? Do I look bad?” He worried.
“You look great, both of you do actually.” I laughed and smoothed my full skirt. Phoebe had dropped off my bright red dress and my favorite impractical red silk high-heeled sandals. I felt positively loud next to the two of them, but the look in Jakob’s eyes told me it worked. “Come on. We’re going to be late.”
We arrived at Seductions only a little later than the girls would have. Seeing Phoebe’s car parked next to Anna’s made me smile. I ran my hand over both cars delighting in the feeling. After a week of boring hospital rooms, my skin craved sensations.
“Fire princess?” Mark asked. “Isn’t that Anna’s car?”
“A gift from her father, the whole family is fire witches. It’s really important to them,” I answered.
“Then I’m sure they’re delighted at what she did last weekend.”
Jakob gave him a nasty look, but I laughed it off. I wasn’t going to let what happened ruin my night. Painted neon pink, Seductions was not small, and it sure as hell wasn’t discreet. It was part of an unassuming strip mall, grocery store in the center, gym in one corner, pizza parlor, Chinese food, and then, two stories high, with no windows and a heavy, solid door, Seductions jumped out at you. Tonight more than ever, it glowed, lit from the inside with a brightness that dwarfed all of the other shops around it.
I wondered what the patrons at the Chinese restaurant thought about the loud techno music that poured out whenever anyone opened the doors. I walked through the double doors with a debonair vampire on either arm, feeling like I was the happiest woman in the world.
Upstairs I saw chocolate fountains and dessert tables set up between demonstrations areas for the sex toys. The entire downstairs had been turned into a dance floor, the movie racks pushed back to form a giant circle. At least a hundred people packed together, but it was still impossible to miss Rhythm, who always had to be the best dancer. A round of high-pitched squeals came when the girls saw me and we got lost in the dancing. A few minutes later, I found Anna. I gave her the longest hug of our friendship and stole a sip of her drink.
“How’s my hero doing this evening?” I asked high on the party around me.
“I’m better now,” she said, kissing me hello. We danced together getting a little crazy before a deep male voice asked to cut in. I turned expecting Jakob but found Indigo. He was wearing the very faded tight blue jeans I’d seen on him before with a white linen blazer and nothing else. His hair looked wet, as if he’d just stepped out of the shower, the dark curls brushing the collar of his jacket. Somehow the white made his skin seem even darker, sexier.
“Can you merengue?” he asked.
“If you’re a very strong lead, and Rhythm helps.” I smiled at her, and she winked. Suddenly the steps came into my mind. He spun me so that my back was pressed against him and our bodies were moving together.
“I’m sorry I didn’t do something sooner.”
“You saved my life once, Indigo, I think that’s all a girl can ask for.” I smiled as he spun me out again. “Besides, I had a couple of knights in shining armor, not to mention a lady to save me.”
“You’re positive there isn’t anything I can do to beg your forgiveness?” he asked, flirting with me.
“Not with my boyfriend watching,” I smiled and looked up stairs, Jakob waved at us.
Indigo laughed. “I’m jealous.”
“You should be.”
By one o’clock I had danced myself out. I searched around for Jakob and found him in a backroom with Cali. The two old friends were relaxing on leather couches behind a pool table. I wonder what sort of fun the room usually saw. “Hey, Cali, great party!”
Cali looked a thousand times more Greek than Rhythm. He’d cut his hair short, leaving only the top long enough to gel into curls. His skin glowed deep olive. After dancing with Indigo my mind boggled at the myriad skin tones found among the men of the world. I sat down on the couch next to Jakob.
“Please tell me you didn’t spend the whole party hidden away in here?” I asked.
“Oh, no, I went shopping,” he said with a slow smile. He held up a bright pink Seductions bag and I blushed beet red. Both men laughed.
“The girls are shopping now, I came in here to escape,” I moaned.
“Sorry, Mallory, I can’t let you do that, come on.” Cali held his hand out to me, and I hesitated to take it. I’d never touched the Satyr before, with the way I’d spent my afternoon, I didn’t know what it would do.
“Don’t worry, I’m perfectly safe,” he said but his look promised otherwise. That did it, I grabbed his hand. His magic felt different, more natural, like brushing your hand against silk.
“You know, I think I’ll show Mallory out myself,” Jakob said, with a trace of jealousy in his voice.
Cali laughed and gave up my hand.
The girls were headed to Convenire for an after party. When I saw the number of cute pink bags, I wondered what kind of party it was going to be. Did bars host orgies? Was that even legal? I tried to think of all the insurance you would need, but I couldn’t keep track. Phoebe and Mark were decidedly missing from the group. We found them outside kissing by Phoebe’s car.
“Tsk, tsk,” Anna called, her own little pink bag swinging from her wrist. “You’re going to force Mallory to arrest you for public naughtiness.”
“If I’m the one breaking the law, why are you feeling so guilty, Anna?” Phoebe replied. “Something in that bag maybe? Something you’d like to share with the rest of us?”
A sudden gust of wind caught the bag at Anna’s wrist and lifted it up in the air. When I saw Isaura laughing, I knew it wasn’t random wind. The bag floated toward her, but Anna stalked over ready to snatch it back.
“Get it, Mal!” Isa called.
Phoebe nearly doubled over with laughter. “She can’t tackle you, Mal, you’re still recovering. Quick tell us what it is.”
It was as if Isaura threw the bag at me when really the wind had just changed direction with force. I grabbed it and peered into the pink paper. The cover of the film showed two naked women, their hips grinding together, their lips caught in a passionate kiss. Smaller images of women together decorated the bottom of the box. Nowhere on the cover was there a single man. I looked at the title and realized why Anna hadn’t wanted anyone to see it.
“Well, Mal? Don’t stand there gaping, tell!” Phoebe called. She would have run over, but Mark caught her with his arms around her waist. Anna looked over at me, the only one of them that wasn’t laughing. I tried to wipe the shock off my face as I handed her back the bag.
“Nothing special, just porn.” Inside my
head, a thousand pieces fell together. Phoebe declared Anna boring, and the other two women started to rib her. Indigo walked up and had to be told the whole story while the girls began to pile into cars.
“Can I steal Mark for a minute, Phoebe?” I asked.
“Only if you don’t exhaust him too much,” she teased me, clearly less than sober. The three of us walked toward Jakob’s car. I cornered Mark on my side, well aware that Jakob would hear what I was about to say.
“When did you know?”
“The night I met her, when I heard her heart race.” He looked like he was about to say something else, but Phoebe called him away. I let him go, too tired to try to understand what was happening any more.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
I bemoaned the short drive to the Eclipse as we stepped into the elevator.
“The wind lets me forget everything and concentrate on the sensations. I’m almost sorry we’re not going back to your place,” I pouted.
“We could.”
I gave him a dirty look. Sleeping in my own bed was an assertion of my independence. I wasn’t going to give it up.
“Or you could let me take you flying.”
“Flying?” I tried to sound brave. It didn’t work.
“Mmm-hmm. I can fly you know.” The elevator doors opened at my floor, and I unlocked the door to my apartment feeling a little bit afraid. I stopped myself. I’d been afraid enough in the last few weeks; what was flying compared to werewolves?
“Let’s go,” I told him. “Only one thing, after we fly, you show me what’s in the bag.”
“It would be my pleasure,” he laughed.
****
The next morning I woke up more than a little sore from dancing, not to mention the flying and the fun afterwards. I was happy to take a long bath and soak my muscles. I might have been fully healed, but that didn’t mean my body was ready to go all night. After my bath I settled down on the couch with a good book. An hour went by when I realized if I wanted a drink of water I was going to have to get it myself. I groaned standing up.
I was walking back from the kitchen when I heard a noise at the front door, but it took me a minute to realize it was the lightest knock. I walked stiffly to the door and opened it to find Anna standing in front of me holding a shopping bag.
“Hey! Come on in.” I was delighted to have someone to talk to. The party last night had made me remember how it felt to be normal. I wasn’t ready to go back to sitting quietly all the time, but I wasn’t up for anything else.
“Um, I really can’t stay but, yeah okay.” She walked in just far enough that I could shut the door behind her. She held a shopping bag in front of her like a shield. “You left this in my car ages ago when we went shopping. I thought I’d hang it on the door.”
I leaned against the wall, not sure how to handle this.
“What’s going on with us?” I asked. “You didn’t visit me in the hospital, but last night everything was back to normal when we were dancing. A week ago you saved my life, and now it’s weird between us, like we’re barely friends.”
“I didn’t save you because I’m your friend.” She looked shocked that she had said it.
“Then why did you?”
“I saved you because I’m in love with you.” She shook her head at her own words. “Do you know what it’s like to be in love with someone and know they’re never going to return it? For a while I thought there was a chance, but when you called for him and not me I knew.”
“Could I have called you?” I could call Jakob because he was vampire. A death witch calling a dead being was natural, but Anna wasn’t dead.
“Why do you think I gave you that necklace?”
“Anna, I’m sorry, I had no idea.” I struggled to find words to soothe her without giving her hope for something that would never happen. “Maybe, maybe you’ll…” I let my voice trail off I was about to say maybe you’ll get over it, but I realized how cruel it sounded.
“I’ve called enough whores by your name to know this is real, Mal.” She gave an ugly laugh. “The worst part is all my life I’ve thought I was this amazing fourth generation fire witch, and the only time Raya’s ever come to me, the only time She’s ever given me Her fire is when I needed to save you. So the girl I can’t have is the only one that gives me a chance to touch the Goddess I love.”
She stopped looking down at the floor and stared at me, defiant tears in her eyes. “I’ve prayed to Raya a thousand times, on my knees in temples, in front of fires, and She never came. I thought I had power, and I never felt anything like what I felt the night I saved you. You’re special. Raya wants you the way I want you.”
“Anna, I’m so sorry. I don’t feel that way.”
“I know. I saw your face last night when you looked in that bag. I had this crazy fantasy in my head that you’d see it, and you’d know, and we’d fall into each other’s arms or something. But when I saw that look of confusion on your face, I knew that was never going to happen.” She stepped toward me, coming close enough to kiss me, and I instinctively stepped back. I felt guilty for it but there was no way to lie about it, I didn’t want to kiss her and I wouldn’t. I didn’t feel anything beyond friendship for her.
“What can I do?” I asked, not sure what else I could say.
“Give me some time. I don’t know how much, but I can’t…I can’t do this whole being close to you but not, thing,” she stammered.
“Take as much as you need. I’ll be here.” I started to say more but realized it would sound as hollow as it was. She needed me to love her, to want her back but I couldn’t. I watched her walk toward the door feeling sad that the friendship we’d had was forever over.
“Mallory,” she stopped, her back toward me. “Raya wants you. I felt it before, and if She can deny me after all these years, I don’t know if that’s a good thing for you. Be careful.”
Before I could say anything, she was gone. I curled up on the couch, thinking about her words. My hands ran over soft suede, trying to find comfort in the material. Anna believed in the fire goddess, Raya, who could be cruel and played favorites. I wasn’t sure if I believed too. If there was a god, I wanted it to be someone like Jakob’s and Danny’s god, kind and forgiving. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to be a faithful follower for so long only to find out you’ve really been denied everything. At the same time, I worried that even if I didn’t believe in Raya, being Her favorite was a bad thing.
I could die on an average day doing my job. No warning, no grave illness, no hallmark cards, just go to work one day and never come home again. But Greg had died the same way, without warning. My mother had all the warning in the world, and it hadn’t made things better. Gods and Goddesses were a matter of faith, but death was reality. It made life important, made me want to do something that mattered.
And I had. I’d helped people, Rakesh, his community, Indigo. I’d made a difference to all of them. It felt good. I might not be able to make things right with Anna, there was nothing I could do to help her, but I could go out each day and help the city. I was still scared of a thousand things; I never wanted to end up trapped in a room with someone like Remi again. I didn’t want to feel helpless or suffer in the dark. But those fears seemed small when I compared them to the good I might do.
So Raya liked me and that might be dangerous. Being a cop was dangerous too. But being alive, doing good, was worth it. There were a thousand good things for me to look forward to from Indigo’s chocolates to going dancing with the girls. I went upstairs to Jakob, ready to seize the day.
A word about the author…
Rachel Graves writes urban fantasy detective stories with more than a few steamy scenes. Her work creates dark and dangerous fantasies that explore the many shades of gray found between the lines of right and wrong. Focusing on strong heroines, their fears, and the men they lust after and maybe, eventually, love, her writing incorporates myths from the familiar vampires to lesser-known creatures like selkies and yuk
i onna.
Rachel is a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. You can read more about her at http://www.rachelgraves.com/ where her blog offers short fiction and more.
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