14. Juniper
juniper
. . .
Vi’s lips were warm and soft as they passed over mine, our kisses unhurried as we cuddled under the covers.
The neon cityscape drifted through the sheets in patches of pink and blue, lighting the panes of Vi’s face. Her lips parted as I drew her closer, my fangs grazing her lip in a small scrape that had the sweetness of her blood exploding over my tongue. Metallic and salty and so fucking good that I sucked on her lip for another taste, making her groan.
“Juni,” Vi whispered on a moan. “You’re going to make me come.”
“Maybe I want to,” I teased, my fingers working her clit in tight circles. “Would that be a problem, little rabbit?”
My phone buzzed, shaking me from my dream, and I gasped, jerking up in bed to find Vi sleeping soundly beside me.
A sex dream? I wondered, the idea foreign to me.
I hadn’t dreamed much since I’d been turned… and it hadn’t felt like a dream. It felt like something else—something more .
Tangible. Real.
Like last night in the VIP. For a moment, it was like we’d been there before…
But Vi hadn’t ever been in the backrooms with me before. Or spent the night. And I had never been in her—or Kaylee’s, I guessed—bed before now…
What the hell was that dream?
My phone buzzed again, and I grabbed it off the nightstand, slipping carefully from under the covers to pad into the hall as it continued to ring. The oversized T-shirt Vi had lent me to sleep in was my normal size, though I’m sure she’d be swimming in it. I’d felt a little self-conscious until I’d caught her staring at me halfway through the movie, eyes fixed longingly at the curve of my thick thigh where the hem just barely reached.
It wasn't that I didn’t like her.
Actually, it was the exact opposite.
I enjoyed being around Vi; there was something about her that felt like coming home after a long day. Comfortable . I wouldn’t fuck that up by taking advantage of her while she was shaken up. Or worse, letting her get too close only to find out that I was so emotionally closed off she’d be better off trying to date a Canada goose, and those feathered snakes with legs bit .
Well, so do I.
Hadn’t I bit her in that… whatever it was? Was it possible to taste someone’s blood so clearly when you’d never had it before?
Kaylee was snoring on the couch, leaving me no other choice but to stay in the hall, findingthe only patch of wall that wasn’t covered by photographs or questionable art projects to lean against so I could take the call.
“What do you want?”
“Good morning to you too,” my covenmate said, an irritated edge to her voice.
I sighed. “Good morning, Dana.”
“Much better,” she praised, but, never one for social calls, she broached the real reason she’d phoned with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. “How is she?”
“Asleep,” I replied, choosing my words carefully. “She seems okay, but he scared her.”
Dana sighed, and I could almost picture her running a hand over her tight curls. “Okay, good. What are your plans for the day?”
“I’ll probably head out soon, go to the club, get some work done. Hey, Dana…” I started slowly, trying to piece together my disjointed thoughts. Part of me thought I was crazy for even considering it. Another part of me thought I’d go crazy if I didn’t at least try to talk to someone else about my… dream?
It felt so real.
“Yeah?”
“Have you ever had a déjà vu before?”
“Like, recently?” she asked, the sound of bedsheets rustling coming through the speaker.
“Yeah. Recently.”
“I mean, sure. A couple times.”
“Was it about Vi?”
Dana’s silence was telling. “Once. Why?”
“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” I hissed into the receiver, pushing my hair away from my face.
I certainly felt crazy.
“I won’t think you’re crazy,” Dana promised. “Scouts honour.”
“You’ve never been a scout,” I muttered.
“Sentiment still stands. What's up, Junebug?”
“I-I…” Even as I prepared to say it, I knew how it sounded. “I had this… dream? Vision? Where we were…” It was too embarrassing to say out loud. “And I don’t know—I think maybe we knew each other before?”
Dana laughed on the other end of the line. “What? You think you’re past-life soulmates or something? June, that is crazy.”
“Dana, you promised!” I snapped, running a hand through my hair in frustration.
“You’re right,” Dana choked, trying to cover another laugh with a cough, before taking a deep inhale to compose herself, clearing her throat. “Never took you for the romantic superstitious type, but it just doesn’t make sense. You, what? Found each other again through time and space?”
I nudged the door ajar with my outstretched fingers, watching Vi’s prone figure as she slept, her face illuminated by a patch of streetlight creeping through the window.
She was right, of course. It was crazy. It wasn’t like past lives were more than a bunch of romantic wistfulness. And Vi wasn’t the type of person you just forgot.
Maybe I’d been compelled?
But who would have the desire or ability to compel a vampire to forget a human woman?
No one.
I really was losing it, trying to draw lines between unrelated things for the sake of crafting my own romantic scenario. Limerence at work.
Maybe the only thing between Vi and me was an obsessive crush spurred on by my own competitiveness as I watched my partners pour time and energy into this girl, making me want to take her from them.
But that didn’t feel right either.
“I just can’t shake the feeling that… y’know… I’ve met her before,” I said finally, feeling well and truly foolish.
“You’re spiritual,” Dana reasoned, like that explained every weird half-memory I’d experienced since Vi had crashed into my life. “You know, woo-woo? So, maybe she is a past life lover.”
I hated when she placated me. It was worse than the laughing.
“Oh, fuck off,” I muttered, aware that Dana didn’t share my blind faith.
“I’m being serious, wanna ask your tarot cards?”
“Maybe instead of being annoying you could tell me what the fuck happened after I left last night, huh?”
“Oh. That,” Dana sighed, and I could almost see her pinching the bridge of her nose through the phone. “I managed to talk Ren down, but Elsie was pretty shaken up so I sent them home so I could deal with the mess.”
“And the vamp?”
“Dealt with,” she replied icily. “He won’t bother us again.”
Something in her tone made me change the subject. I didn’t need to know the details, just that our family was safe.
“I should get to the club. I’ll see you there?”
“Yeah, Xuxuzinho, I’ll see you soon. Don’t drive yourself crazy chasing threads of fate.”
I scoffed, disconnecting the call as I headed back into Vi’s room to change into my clothes from the night before.
My borrowed T-shirt was supposed to make it into the hamper, but the strangest thing happened—it ended up in my bag instead.
I leaned over the bed, brushing a kiss against Vi’s cheek, knowing I wouldn’t have been brave enough to do it if she’d been awake.
Whatever she was to me—past life lover, a temptress who was tampering with my memory, just a girl who was cute and smelled good—I was powerless to resist her.
I didn’t know what was going on here, but I knew one thing: no matter what, I was going to get to the bottom of it.