by Liddie Cain
Morning sunlight, bright and clear, filled my room and lifted me out of the depths of sleep. My mind nagged that something was wrong. I sat up. Everything looked normal. There was the usual clutter with clothes slung over the back of the chair in front of my vanity table and the unorganized bookshelf by the window. The closet door was open, and I could see the clothes I had on yesterday sitting on top of the dirty clothes hamper. Then it clicked.
The shattered glass, the fire bottle and injuries. I reached up and touched my hair, surprised to find it felt clean. I pushed the covers back and found I was wore clean pajamas. Mac walked into my bedroom door as I was standing up out of the bed.
“Morning, heard you moving around in here. How do you feel?”
“I feel okay, but…” I looked down at my pajamas.
He lifted his eyebrows in question then realized what I was asking and amusement slid across his face. “Wondering if I closed my eyes while I changed your clothes?”
“Mac!”
He laughed. “I have seen you without clothes several times, Rozalyn.”
“Oh god,” I groaned, sitting back down on the edge of my bed and slapping a hand up on my face. I heard him walk toward me, then his hand grasped my shoulder.
“Relax.” I could still hear laughter in his tone. “I called your mom. She took care of both of you. I only took orders and moved you where she needed you.”
“Oh, thank you. She would have been pretty worried. I can’t believe I didn’t wake up for any of it.”
“I even laid you on the kitchen counter for her to wash your hair over the sink.”
“Wow. How is Darby?”
“She’s fine. She’s already up. She didn’t pass out as hard as you did so she was able to get herself cleaned up with a little help from your mom. Your mom is cooking breakfast, you will need some food.”
He turned to leave, and on impulse, I stood and grabbed his arm. My heart rate shot up as he turned back, standing close in front of me.
“Mac.” Annoyingly, my voice came out breathless. “I want to thank you.”
“Don’t.”
His face grew tense.
“But you saved us--”
“I caused it. I knew that kind of reaction was possible, and I should have had protection for you already arranged.”
I shook my head. “There is no way you could have predicted someone would try to set the place on fire.”
The grim expression remained on his face. I went up on tiptoe and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him into an embrace. With my mouth close to his ear, I said softly. “It was only a scare. Me and Darby are both fine and you took care of the threat.”
His arms slid up around me as I spoke against his ear. I responded to his arms, his nearness. My heart raced and excitement swelled immediately. My fingertips touched his hairline on the back of his neck. His skin was cool as mine burned.
One of his hands trailed a delicate path up my back before sinking into the hair on the back of my head and tightening its grip. My lips parted, my breath spilling out across his ear as I leaned back. Our faces lingered close. His lips were right there in front of mine.
He let his forehead fall against mine as his grip loosened. “Dove,” he said quietly. I shivered at the pet name as he took a step back, his expression pained.
I stood there looking at him, wanting him again so much. “You think it’s only because of drinking your blood?”
He nodded. “I’ll be in the kitchen with your mom and Darby.”
He lingered for one last heated look before turning and leaving the room.
My body was still feeling the rush of wanting him. I groaned in frustration. I knew that I’d been very determined to keep this on a professional level when he first reappeared. That didn’t change the fact that I was standing there yearning for him to come back in here and take me into those arms. For now, I could only agree to disagree with myself whether or not I wanted to keep this platonic.
Being all turned on with nowhere to go was putting me in a bad mood, so I tried to distract myself with getting dressed for the day. Dressing for work never took much thought for me. I made sure it was a nice matching outfit, casual but not slouchy.
But today, I found myself giving more consideration to what clothes I should wear. I slid on a peach-colored sundress that I liked the look of against my tanned skin tone. I paired it with some cute flat sandals then actually sat down and took more than three minutes on my makeup.
When I finally walked into the kitchen, Mom raised her eyebrows when she first saw me being more carefully dressed, but she didn’t mention it. “Good morning, sweetie. Feeling a little more normal now?”
“Yes. Thank you for taking care of us.” I leaned in and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
She slipped her arm around my waist, still holding a spatula over a pan of eggs with her other hand, and returned the kiss on my temple. “Sit and eat.”
Darby was already sitting at the kitchen table, and I sat down beside her. She reached out and grasped my hand, squeezing it as we smiled with relief at each other. If my mother was not with us we would have discussed what had happened. Darby knew me well enough to know that I would rather hold off on that conversation until later.
Mom sat all of the food on the table and sat down with us as Mac entered the kitchen.
He sat down across from me, watching all of us as we fixed our plates.
“We’ve got to get our cars back home,” Darby said before she took a bite of biscuit.
Mac shook his head. “I brought them back this morning.”
“Good, thank you.”
“I don’t have a lot of time to get the shop back in order. Might have to reschedule the early appointments,” I said as I glanced at the clock on the stove.
Again, Mac shook his head. “It is already cleaned. The window is boarded up until the new one can be installed this afternoon.”
“Thanks.” I wasn’t quite able to look him in the face without blushing. “And wow, you work fast.”
“Someone walking up to the door.” He stood and started to leave the kitchen.
Mom called out after him, “Probably Ell!” My dad’s name was frequently shortened to Ell, just as my mom’s was frequently shortened to Eve. As a couple, they were often referred to as Eve ‘n Ell.
Mac returned with Dad behind him. I sprang up from the chair and threw my arms around Dad’s neck. He lifted me off the floor and held me firmly against his chest. “My girl,” he murmured.
Still holding me, he shot a direct look at Mac. “You'll have her protected from now on?”
“Dad!” He let me drop to the floor while I glared at him.
“Yes,” Mac said. “I was waiting for you to get here to tell everyone about it.”
Dad grunted and we all sat back down at the table. Mac waited until Dad had fixed his plate before he started talking.
“Meg has been replaced.”
“Wait, you did what with my receptionist?”
He met my gaze steadily. “She is taken care of and will be financially able to stay home with her son now.”
“Oh, well that’s amazing. I love Meg. But who is going to be my receptionist?”
“Roz isn’t always great at letting someone else do the talking,” Dad interjected.
Amusement flirted around Mac’s lips. “I remember.”
I rolled my eyes at both of them but remained quiet.
Mac continued, “Her name is Brinna. It might take her some time to figure out the receptionist role, but she is a very strong protector.”
“Is she also a vampire?” Dad asked.
“No, she is an angel.”
All of us stopped to look at him. My dad found his voice first. “As in a heavenly one?”
Mac nodded.
Mom had a confused look. “I didn’t realize they would work with, well, you know.”
“The other side?” He laughed. “Normally not. Angels have some strict guidelines when it comes to
humans, though, and they agreed that a guardian was needed for Roz and the ones around her.”
“How do you call up an angel?” Dad asked, curiosity taking over for him.
“The heavenly crowd has a similar organizational structure to the demonic. It happened up the line from me. I imagined I would be sent a lesser demon, someone who passes for human better than a vampire. It was a surprise to be told it would be an angel, but a good surprise.”
“Demons?” Darby asked, sounding astounded.
He tilted his head toward her. “Yeah. Easier to believe in the angels, right? Most of the higher-ranking ones were angels, too, at one point.”
“It is a little hard to believe, but at the same time, I grew up thinking vampires weren’t real and they would die in sunlight,” my mom added.
“Just the heavenly light. Angels can emit an ethereal light that repels or kills vampires depending on how strong it is.”
“So won’t having Brinna around make other vampires nervous?” I asked.
“Like I said, angels have strict guidelines if they want to stay on the light bringer side. There has to be a threat of significant loss of human life before they can strike another immortal down.”
“Good,” Mom stated firmly. “Not that I want anything to happen to you, Mac, but any other vampire makes me nervous.”
“Understandable, Mrs. Hunt. And I agree. I don’t know why the angels are involved, but it makes me feel even more confident that I can keep Roz safe.”
Dad began to pull Mac’s attention for more supernatural-related questions as me and Darby started cleaning up the breakfast dishes. I needed a few moments to process and was quiet as I loaded everything into the dishwasher. The danger had become more real after last night even though it had been two dumb rednecks committing the crime. Still, I was excited for what my life would be as I started on this path.
“Sweetie, your father and I are going to head out.” Mom broke into my thoughts as she came up to hug and kiss me goodbye. “Be safe. Half the town is going to be at that seminar.”
I hugged and kissed them both. Darby had gone to get ready for work. I was dressed and the kitchen was clean, so I had no excuse to hide as Mac stood there looking at me.
“You look nice today.”
“Thank you.”
He stepped close to me again, but his interest didn’t turn physical as before. He looked like he was thinking pretty hard.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong exactly. Just…do you have any family stories of someone being more than human in your ancestry?”
I shook my head. “No. I’ve never heard of any. Why?”
“Something just feels different.”
I looked at him questioningly.
“What I feel from feeding you last night, it’s different from other people I’ve shared it with.”
“Not even the slightest idea of how to respond to that.”
He sighed. “It probably doesn’t matter. But that, along with the fact that you can sense immortals, makes me wonder. Human witches or seers can do that, but their aura is much different.”
He glanced down the hallway. “Darby is ready. I’ve got some things to take care of. Brinna is waiting on you at the spa already.”
“Okay, talk to you later, then.”
He touched my face, and I blushed. Then he caught my chin and tilted my face back to look up at him. “The attraction will fade over the next couple of days, Dove. We will be back on a professional level.”
I just nodded. His gaze lingered a moment before he dropped his hands away from me and left.
I expected to be disturbed by returning to where I had been attacked the night before. That would seem to be a normal thing to have felt, vulnerable or disturbed. But as I parked and stared at the spa and the boarded-up window, I mostly felt annoyed. And knowing that I had the back up from both sides of the ethereal realm, a little bit of daring these rednecks to try it again floated through my head.
I grabbed my things and got out of the car. Darby was already here. She typically got here earlier than me to get the massage rooms ready for the day. That was her domain of the spa. I was the aesthetician and did all the facials, waxing and chemical peels in the early days. As the spa grew, I had hired other massage therapists and aestheticians as administrative work began to take up more of my time. I had added a hair and nail salon two years ago and only filled in for facial appointments if an employee had to leave since then.
I walked in the front door and found Meg talking pleasantly to a tall dark haired woman behind the front desk with her. This must be Brinna. In appearance, she looked like she was around the same age as Meg, mid-twenties. Her head snapped around to face me as soon as I came through the door.
I had to take a few steps across the lobby before her aura swept over me. It was gorgeous, a summer breeze scented by gardenias. Peace flowed throughout me. She watched me as Meg continued to point out something on the computer screen. Her eyes were bright green and a sharp contrast to the dark, chin-length curls. Her expression remained neutral.
“Mornin, Roz!” Meg greeted warmly.
I smiled. “Morning Meg. You must be Brinna?”
“Yes, happy to meet you, Rozalyn.” The angel reached out and took my hand as I came around to stand with them behind the desk. There was a sensation of energy flowing out through my fingertips and into her hand, like she was drawing it in. Then it crept back into me. A spark of interest flickered in her expression. It distracted me, so there was a hesitation before I replied. Meg didn’t seem to notice.
“Very happy to have you here,” I said. Brushing off the sensation Brinna had caused, I turned to Meg. “But I will miss seeing you every day.”
Meg instantly hugged me. “I’ll be around, I promise. And I still want to fill in sometimes. But there was no way I could turn that money down.”
I squeezed her fondly. “And you shouldn’t! I’m so happy you’ll get to stay home, especially after what happened last night.”
Meg’s eyes widened. “Yes! Oh my goodness, I didn’t even think about it. You look like nothing happened!”
“It was nothing that serious, thankfully.”
Brinna watched with a pleasant but neutral demeanor. Meg gestured toward her, “I’ve been trying to give her some training before any clients arrived.”
“Okay, I’ll let you two get back at it. I’ll be in my office.”
They both turned back to the computer as I walked off. Once my office door was shut behind me, I leaned back against it and looked down at my hand. Whatever she had been doing, it was hard to believe it was anything harmful. It had been a little unsettling but I felt fine. I pushed away from the door and sat behind my desk.
There was a decent amount of work to get done and my mind turned to the tasks in front of me. Time started to pass without me noticing. Darby poked her head in between clients just to check on me.
“How are you doing?”
“Good, considering. I’ve been too busy to think much.”
“Yeah, me too, I guess. Started off the day with Mrs. Walker, and you know how she is. Took twenty minutes to get her positioned in a way she approved, which ended up being the way I had her in the first place.”
“If it makes you feel any better, she always comes out and sings your praises.”
“She better with all the trouble she is,” Darby muttered. Then she sat down in the seat across the desk from me. “It is weird to see Mac.”
“And such an eventful way for you to see each other again.”
“No kidding. Honestly, I was relieved when I looked up and saw him there. I’m angry at the way he left, but Mac is Mac, and I knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to us.”
“He always did.”
“Yeah. If you two talk about why he left, let me know?”
“You know you’ll be the first person I tell,” I responded emphatically.
She smiled. “I know. I had always figured I would be awful to
him if I ever saw him again, for breaking your heart. But since he saved our lives and all last night I guess I will be nice.”
I laughed. then sucked in a breath and shot her a serious look. “I think I still have feelings for him.”
“Please. I think we both knew that before he even showed back up.”
I made a playful pouty face. “Are you saying I was pathetic?”
She shook her head. “Only a little. Him leaving never made sense, and you never got closure.”
I sure didn’t. I drifted for a moment, thinking about how right she was.
Darby finally sighed. “Next client will be here in a few, so let me go get ready.”
I waved as she left my office and started to drag myself out of thoughts about Mac so I could focus on the accounting spreadsheet I was trying to finish reviewing. Since I was determined to distract myself with work, I again lost track of time. I was just realizing I had worked through lunch when a very dark aura overtook my senses.
It was something I had never experienced. Mac’s vampiric aura had been more void than dark. The darkness was there, but it was controlled, and his humanity still lingered. This felt like nothing human. It was restless and feral. It kept me from breathing as my mind tried to make sense of it. It triggered my fight or flight reflexes and I felt a touch of wildness. It was coming from the lobby.
I stood and opened the door. The man stood across the front desk speaking to Brinna. Both of them looked at me when I opened the door. The panic must have been evident on my face because Brinna frowned up at him. He ignored her.
Somewhere in the midst of my alarm, I acknowledged that he was gorgeous. He looked like he was straight off of the Bollywood red carpet. He was tall, Middle Eastern, dark hair and eyes, beautiful brown skin and a muscular body. And he was stalking toward me.
I retreated a step back into my office. Then another. But he didn’t stop. He walked right up in front of me. The door of my office drifted shut behind me without him touching it. His dark gaze never flickered from mine. I was anxious, I had no clue who or what he was, but I stood my ground in front of him.
