by June Stevens
“Damn vampire hearing,” I muttered.
I took a deep breath and looked at my father. “No, I probably don’t have a clue what I’m doing.”
Pinky smiled. “Okay, I just wanted to make sure you were aware of that fact.”
I stared at him blankly. Pinky had never said anything to me about who I flirted, dated, or slept with. When my sisters and I were teens, Pinky had sat each of us down to talk about sex and responsibility. He’d always been open with us and given us the freedom to make our own choices. He never judged us when those choices turned out to be mistakes. He usually only stepped in if we were doing something that would hurt ourselves or each other.
“Am I going to get a lecture about hooking up with my sister’s friend?” I asked.
He grinned. “Seems to me that if I were going to give you that lecture, I’m about six months too late.”
My jaw dropped. “You know about that? How?”
Pinky gave me his best ‘Dad’ look. “You know, the sound proofing spells on this place might keep people upstairs from hearing what’s happening down in the bar, but they have no effect on my keen sense of smell.”
I felt my entire body flush crimson. “Crap on a cracker.”
Pinky laughed. “Oh, don’t be embarrassed. Really, you and your sisters keep a lot less from me than you think.”
Which wasn’t a hell of a lot, considering we pretty much told him everything.
“If it makes you feel any better,” he continued, “Fiona and Ian had sex in the rooftop garden one night while you, Jarrett, and I were playing cards down here.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I actually knew that. River found her underwear tossed in the pumpkin patch.” I took a deep breath and looked Pinky in the eye. “Okay, so you know Jarrett and I were together before. I’m sorry I tried to hide it.”
Pinky came over and put his arm around my shoulder. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. You are entitled to your privacy, and I strive to give you as much as possible. I only brought it up because I wanted to make sure you were aware that you were venturing into territory you’ve never been in before.”
“You mean because Jarrett is a vampire? Or because he is Fiona’s best friend?” I asked, leaning my head on his shoulder.
“Both. Plus the fact that I’ve never known you to hook up with someone again after an affair has ended.”
“You think I have some sort of emotional attachment to Jarrett?” I asked.
Pinky stepped back so he could meet my eyes. “I don’t know one way or the other. What do you think?”
“I think Jarrett is a nice guy. We had a lot of good talks when he was here. I also think he is sexy and exciting, and the sex was phenomenal. I wouldn’t mind doing that again. And the passage of time between encounters has to do with nothing more than the fact that he just happened to come back to town and I have nothing else to do. That’s all there is to it.”
“Okay.”
“Okay? That’s all? You just wanted to make sure I wasn’t being all stupid and getting my heart involved?” I shook my head, not understanding this conversation at all.
“There is nothing stupid about getting your heart involved in a relationship. The fact that you think there is concerns me a little. I just wanted to make sure you were aware your heart could get involved, and it might not have the results you would expect.”
“So you think that because we are friendly, and because I’ve been with him before, if I hook up with Jarrett I might be sad when he leaves again. Or that I might feel weird when I see him again, as I’m likely to do because he and Fiona are friends.”
Pinky nodded. “It could happen. How do you think you’ll deal with it if it does?”
I shrugged. “I’m not the type to feel weird about guys I’ve slept with, and I have never felt sad about a guy. But, I suppose it could happen. If it does, I’ll get over it.”
Pinky laughed and bent to drop a light kiss on my forehead. “That’s my pragmatic girl.”
He stepped over, took a tray of glasses I’d just washed, and put them on a shelf before turning back to me. “That group of women just left in a huff after each of them propositioned Jarrett and were turned down. They started towards Luca, but I guess he didn’t like being second best, because he took his drink and went back to play poker.”
I laughed. “Poor drunk bitches. I had a feeling they’d do something like that.”
“It’s beyond dead in there. I think Farrah and I can handle the rest of the night if you want to head out a little early.”
“You came back here to question me about my sex life, then let me off work early so I can go have sex?”
“Yep.”
I shook my head in exasperation. “You are the weirdest father on the planet.”
He flashed a grin. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
I ignored him and went out the door and up the back steps to the fourth floor apartment I shared with River. In my bedroom, I quickly stuffed a change of clothes and pair of sandals into my bag. It might be presuming too much, but there was little doubt in my mind that ‘take a walk’ was code for ‘have hot monkey sex’, and I wanted to be prepared. I grabbed a shawl and headed back downstairs, this time using the front stairs that emptied directly into the bar area.
Sitting on the stool next to Jarrett, I grabbed his glass and poured myself a shot from the bottle I’d left him. “So, you ready to go for that walk?” I asked, pretending the warmth in the pit of my stomach was only a side-effect of the liquor.
***
Like the pub, the street outside was nearly deserted. On a busy night, the sidewalks would be packed with people shopping or going to the bars and taverns that lined Broadway. Pinky always said that, with the exception of a few buildings that had been destroyed, this street was much like it had been before the Cataclysm. Tonight, there were only a couple dozen people milling up and down both sides of the wide street. A few for-hire rickshaws were parked next to the sidewalks, waiting to take patrons wherever they needed to go.
Jarrett looked down at my feet, and then motioned towards one of the rickshaws near the pub’s entrance. “Those don’t look like they were made for walking. Do you want to take a ride instead?”
I pulled the knitted shawl around my bare shoulders to block out the cool night air. “I take it you have a particular destination in mind. Is it far?”
It was my guess that the destination would be his room at Blade’s Headquarters, which was barely two blocks away. Or perhaps he’d rented a room at one of the inns on Broadway, which also wouldn’t be far.
“A few blocks,” he said.
“Then I’ll be fine. It’s a nice night for a walk,” I said. Both Fiona and River often lamented my habit of wearing high heels to work, especially since Fiona had borrowed some of my clothes a few months ago when she’d been undercover. She’d had a hard time getting used to walking in my shoes. But I enjoyed heels, they made me feel feminine. The knee-high, spike-heeled boots I was wearing were a pair of my favorites. “But, I can go change if you think there will be a problem.”
One side of his mouth quirked up in a wicked, sexy grin. “Don’t you dare.”
A tiny thrill flitted through me. “Then lead on.”
Jarrett laced his fingers with mine and we started walking. We didn’t talk. Instead, we enjoyed a companionable silence, as if we really were just out for an evening stroll. Yet, I knew there was a purpose to this walk and giddy anticipation buzzed through me.
I was surprised when we left the bars and inns behind us and crossed the street to the docks. The Cumberland River was a main trade and travel access point in and out of Nash. It was busy at all hours, day or night. While the area wasn’t as bustling as it had been that morning, there were still numerous dock workers, sailors, and fishermen loading and unloading barges and fishing boats. Solar-crystal lanterns illuminated the docks and ships with a soft, blue glow.
Wondering what he could possibly want to show me on the riv
er in the dark, I quietly followed him down the dock until we stood in front of a sailing ship that looked to be around fifty feet long. It was well taken care of, but I could tell it was quite old. Mostly because the design and materials were nothing like any other boat I’d ever seen on the river. It was missing the steam-powered paddle-wheel all the wide, flat barges used to propel themselves up and down the river. Instead, it had a large pole with an attached sail shooting out of the front, high into the air, resembling the smaller versions on the fishing boats. This boat was also about twice their length, and the deck was nearly even with the top. In the center was a room surrounded with windows, and there was an area raised about three feet over the deck. On the side, “The Minnow” was painted in bright red letters.
“Is this the boat you came in on today?” I asked.
“It is. Actually it’s my boat. My home.”
I felt my eyes go wide. “Your home? You live on a boat? That’s kind of cool.”
He laughed. “I don’t disagree. Want a tour?”
“Absolutely!”
He laughed and helped me aboard. We went into the windowed room first.
“This is the wheelhouse,” Jarrett said. “It’s where I steer and run the boat.”
I looked around. Seats lined the sides and the front wall. To one side was a dashboard with levers, dials, and a spoked wheel. There were two doors low in the wall on either side of the room.
Jarrett went through a door and downward. He peered up at me through the opening. “Be careful on the stairs.”
I followed him into a room with built-in cupboards on one side and a table and benches built into the other side.
“As you can see, this is the dining area. And this is the galley, or kitchen as you would call it,” he said, stepping through another doorway. “And through that door is a small cabin I use for storage.”
I followed him into the narrow room that had cabinets built on both sides. It had a sink, a small crystal-stove, and several cabinets overhead. “This is wonderful.” I said, running my hand over the gleaming, polished wood.
“It’s home,” he said, but his eyes brightened. I could see he was pleased I liked his space. He brushed past me and walked back to where we started. I followed him up the stairs back into the wheelhouse. He pointed at the other door. “Through there is the head and two more cabins, including mine, which I’ll show you later,” he said, his voice dropping into a sultry timbre on the last few words.
“The head?” My curiosity was more powerful than his seductive ways.
He laughed. “The bathroom.”
My eyes widened. “You have a bathroom on your boat?”
His eyes twinkled. “It’s kind of a necessity, even for vampires. It has a working shower too. I’ll show you how to use it later,” he said, but this time he was laughing too hard to be seductive.
His laughing was due to my eyes growing even wider when he’d said “working shower.” I’d never taken an actual shower before. Pinky had told us about them, but plumbing just wasn’t what it once was. We didn’t even have running hot water in the pub. We used a bathhouse a few blocks away, soaking in tubs of hot water to bathe. I tried to imagine water cascading down my body.
I didn’t realize I’d closed my eyes until I heard Jarrett clear his throat.
“Sorry, I was imagining a shower. I’ve never had one.”
His eyes were dark and seductive. “That must have been one heck of an imagining, you were moaning like you were being caressed.”
My face burned with embarrassment. “I guess I was, by water.”
He laughed again. “Okay, before I get sidetracked, want to go for a ride?”
“Oh, can we?” I asked, not caring that I sounded like a five-year-old asking for candy. “It’s so dark and there isn’t any wind.”
Jarrett touched his hand to a crystal on the dashboard and several crystal lanterns popped to life around the edge of the boat, casting the water with a blue-tinged glow. Then he took a small crystal from his pocket and pushed it into a depression next to the gears on the dash. A soft rumbling started below our feet.
“Water-crystal engine. It works great for navigating the river,” he said.
I watched as he went out and untied the boat from the dock and moved around the deck, preparing to sail.
“I love your boat,” I said when he came back into the wheelhouse and sat in the tall chair behind the steering wheel. “It’s really beautiful.”
“She,” he said.
“What?”
He smiled. “A boat is a she, not an it. It’s an old sailor thing, humor me.”
“Okay, then. She is beautiful,” I said, running my hand across the polished wood. “How old is she?”
He turned the wheel and we began moving out into the middle of the river. I stumbled back and fell into the seat next to the window.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine, just never been on a boat like this before. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a boat at all.” If I had, it was when I was too young to remember, though I doubt I had, even then. The gypsy tribe I grew up in before Pinky had found me had stuck to the woods and mountains of Appalachia. We’d gone to the banks of the Mississippi Sea, as well as the Atlantic Ocean in Atlanta, but we’d never attempted to sail on them.
Concern flashed across Jarrett’s face, and then was gone. “Okay, but let me know if you feel queasy or anything. I might have some herbs in the galley that will help.”
“I’m fine. Now answer my question.” I smiled at him in the dim blue glow of the lantern.
He turned his attention back to the water, watching where he guided the boat as we slowly moved through the water. “Well, she was originally built around three hundred years ago, give or take a decade. I found her about sixty years later in a junk yard. She had a hole in her hull and was in pretty rough shape. Whoever owned her had erased her name, taken her maintenance records, stripped off everything of value, and left her to rot.”
He patted the wheel as if petting a beloved dog. I didn’t quite understand it, but I found it endearing. I experienced a pang of regret on The Minnow’s behalf.
“That’s horrible,” I said, meaning it. “So you restored her?”
“Yes. I restored her as close to original as I could come without having her records. And, since I couldn’t find any record of her original name, I renamed her. But over the years, I’ve made some major modifications to her,” he said, and I could hear a tinge of regret in his words.
“What kind of modifications?”
He sighed. “The Minnow was built as a cruising yacht. Her only source of power was a diesel engine. When the Paranorm Council informed the Blades of the Cataclysm predictions and warned us to start taking precautions, I knew diesel would eventually become scarce, and then non-existent. I modified her to be a sailing ship. She already had a mast and boom, so it wasn’t as hard as it could have been. Later, I had a mage help me modify the motor to a water-crystal-powered engine like the ones used in rickshaws and surreys today, but more powerful. Also, I can use sea or river water, so I never run out of fuel.”
“That’s really cool,” I said, not sure what else to say. It was clear he really loved his boat. And I didn’t blame him. It, she, was beautiful and had obviously been his home for centuries. How nice it must be to have a home that could take you almost anywhere, I thought. Then, I was shocked at myself. I had a home like that once, a wagon, and it had never brought me any happiness. Though I had to admit, my miserable childhood had nothing to do with where I’d slept. I had enjoyed traveling from place to place. It was the people I’d had to travel with that I could have done without.
No, I told myself silently. I would not let thoughts of my childhood ruin this lovely night on the river with Jarrett. I pushed them out of my head and looked out at the dark water and the lights of the city beyond.
As we neared the edge of the city, Jarrett touched the scry-crystal on the dash next to the whe
el and gave his name, rank, and a series of numbers. “The Minnow requesting departure.”
A male face appeared on the small screen and said, “You have clearance to depart through the East river gate.”
Jarrett powered down the crystal, then seeing my look of confusion, explained. “Even though the river gates rarely get closed anymore, the guard towers still monitor traffic in and out of the city. Smaller fishing and trade vessels that don’t carry scry-crystals have to stop at the check-in station.” He pointed to a long, floating pier with a small wooden guard shack built on the end. “There’s another on the other side for incoming traffic.”
“Wow, I’ve lived in this city over a decade now and that is the first time I’ve ever been in this area. I had no idea that was how the gates worked,” I said, awe in my voice.
“Only a decade? Where did you live before?” he asked, curiosity creasing his forehead.
“More than a decade, probably closer to fifteen years now. And as for before, I think that’s a story for another time,” I said, feeling a twinge of guilt for not sharing with him after he’d told me about The Minnow. But I didn’t want my past to cast a shadow on our lovely evening.
“No problem,” he said nonchalantly. “Look over there, there are some kids night fishing on the rocks by the gate. It’s technically illegal because it’s dangerous, but the patrols usually ignore them. The fish gather around the rocks and wall, making for really good fishing.”
I looked where he was pointing and could just see three small figures on the rocks below the glowing crystal lights that marked the wall. “That is actually something I knew. Fiona used to go fishing by the western gate. I stayed home with River. I had no desire to touch stinky, slimy fish.”
His laugh was rich and velvety. “Note to self, don’t take Anya fishing.”
My own laughter joined his.
We sailed on for several minutes before he pulled closer to the shoreline, slowed, and then turned off the crystal-engine.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Weighing anchor,” he said, moving to the other end of the boat and doing things I couldn’t see in the dark, though I heard a splash.
