Love Letters and Thirst Tonics (Moonvale Matches Book 1)

6. Redd

Gods, I was so drained. This town was a mess! I was okay with my job–I loved working with wood and creating things with my own hands, but sometimes a vampire just needed a break.

And I was still so thirsty.

Maybe being shimmery wouldn’t be too bad. Could a shimmery vampire still be tough and fearsome? If my throat tightened up any more, I’d have to risk it and find out. Maybe I’d get lucky and end up with harmless temporary hoof feet, or something interesting like sunset-orange eyeballs.

The only way to truly satisfy the thirst was to drink directly from the vein, but that practice was outdated in modern times. Apparently, it used to be extremely common when the Old Gods still roamed the realm. I didn’t understand why our elders had frowned upon drinking fresh blood. These days, blood sharing only really occurred between serious romantic partners, often mates, and we were expected to stay quiet about it.

It had been ages since I had indulged in the delicacy, but I longed for the feeling of hot, fresh blood sliding down my throat. My fangs pulsated at the thought.

Thirst tonics and supplemental critter blood just about did the trick, though. It was good enough.

I had been run ragged in the days since I had ended up in Moonvale and had Mayor Tommins put me to work wherever they needed help. Why this gods-forsaken town didn’t have a woodworking shop was a mystery to me. They certainly needed one.

All the local handyfolk had been in a frenzy trying to keep up with all the recent destruction that was being caused. Pipes had burst, homes had slid off their foundations, and fires had started. The town seemed to be falling apart.

Just like Sunhaven had been when I left…

Nobody knew exactly what was causing all this destruction. Some of it appeared to be magical, but the reasons were a mystery. The cause wasn’t any of my business, as long as I got my silver payment at the end of the day.

It had nothing to do with me… hopefully.

I dropped into Mochas More for my blood chai latte on my way to the mayor’s office at Town Hall. My body didn’t require much more than a few swallows of blood to function, but the stuff was delicious and helped take the edge off the razor-like pain in my throat. It eased the cravings infinitesimally.

Almost all vampires in existence these days had some non-vampire ancestors, and we were able to survive off a combination of food and blood. Most of us needed both, sometimes one more than the other.

Unluckily, my family was almost entirely vampire, which meant we suffered the consequences of thirst deprivation more acutely than others.

Blood chai lattes were one of the highlights of my day here in Moonvale. The barista was extremely efficient and hardly spoke two words to me. It was awesome.

“What’ll it be today, boss?” I asked as I entered Mayor Tommins’ office. I never knew what to expect when I reported for a new job assignment. This town liked to throw me curveballs. I had only been here for a week and the experience had certainly been… unique.

Mayor Tommins was slumped over his desk, his golden hair greasy and his eyes dull and droopy. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Maybe he hadn’t. “There’s been some sort of shelf collapse at the trinket shop in the town square, it’s the one on the corner across from that giant tree. Just read the signs, you’ll find it. It’s rather impossible to miss. Do what you can, please.”

He didn’t even look me in the eye as he spoke, his gaze wandering to somewhere off over my shoulder.

Another day, another problem. It never ended. “Yes, boss,” I responded, not wanting to stress the gryphon out any more than necessary.

Sipping on my latte and trying to get my thoughts in order, my tool bag tucked against my hip, I made my way to the square. It was nice to be able to walk this entire town. There was rarely the need for horses and carriages or other transportation methods like there was back in Sunhaven.

My family ran a woodworking and building shop in Sunhaven, and we were all involved in the business. It was lively and busy, but nothing was ever surprising. Everything was scheduled and planned and thought out ahead of time.

This current predicament was taking a lot of adjustments. I felt knocked out of alignment.

I quickly realized which shop was my destination, as it appeared to be sinking into itself. The sign on the front was long gone but I could reasonably make assumptions, based on the crumbling facade.

Collapsed shelves, my ass. This whole place has collapsed.

I sighed and finished off my blood chai with a huge swallow.

I pushed open the fragmented door and made my way inside, catching a whiff of death and grease remover in the air. Gross, this place stinks. There was a pleasant, and mildly familiar scent of warm skin and berries lingering that made my fangs prickle, but it was being suffocated in dreadful fumes.

It looked like a tornado had ravaged the place. When I had heard about the broken shelves, I had pictured a minor mess. A few boards that would need replacing. Something I could fix in just a few hours.

The situation before me was overwhelming. The destruction was so widespread I couldn’t even tell if the floor was made of wood or stone.

The place smelled sickeningly putrid, and a thick cloud of dust particles hovered in the air. Everything was wrecked. Destroyed. I didn’t know if anything would be salvageable.

I couldn’t prevent my astonishment from escaping from my lips. I grumbled, “Nope. No way. Absolutely not.”