Chapter 10
LIKE HERDING UNICORNS
MORGAN
Something was wrong.
Nelson had the scowliest scowl on his face, and he was going all blurry again. Maybe the hotel had a spa package. It wasn’t good for anyone to be as stressed as he was.
Oh! We could do a couple’s massage. That’d be fun.
Sure, we weren’t a couple, but I’d always wanted to see if doing things as a couple changed the experience. I suspected it would. This would be a great chance to test my theory since Nelson seemed reluctant to leave my side.
He really did make a great sidekick, even if he was a bit grumpy. But that was part of his charm. My life had a lot of rainbows already; it was good to have a sidekick who was a little darker to balance things out.
Although it would have been nice if he had relaxed a little during dinner. He acted like everyone was out to get us. Poor guy. It’d be hard to live your life like that.
Hoping to ease his stress, I’d kept my side of the conversation to easy topics.
I talked about how I’d never been skiing before and how brilliant hot chocolate tasted with nutmeg and cinnamon in it and how weird laugh tracks sounded.
Nelson didn’t contribute much, but that was okay.
Violet always said I didn’t need anyone else to talk once I got going.
She was mostly right. Although I really wished Nelson would share a teensy little bit about himself. I was fiercely curious about him.
Instead, by the time I’d polished off my main course and three desserts, I hadn’t learned much except that the sticky toffee pudding was scrumptious, the molten chocolate cake was hot enough to burn my tongue, and the cherry pie could have used more cherries.
Well, I guess I’d also found out that when Nelson was stressed, three things happened: He didn’t eat anything but mushrooms, he went a little blurry around the edges, and his eyes turned black.
Maybe it was time to de-stress him a little. I pushed the empty plate away as I dabbed at my mouth with the corner of the cloth napkin.
“That was excellent.” I rubbed my full belly. My magic zinged along my skin, all fired up after eating so many sweets.
“I am pleased to hear it,” a man said as he approached our table.
The guy had dirty blond hair and angular features that weren’t softened by the scruff along his jaw.
Nelson had scruff too, but with his, I wanted to rub my hand across it.
I had zero interest in touching this new guy.
His accent with its proper, upper-class British cadence was almost as sharp as his features—of course, I was guessing at where he was from.
I’d only heard accents like that on TV, though, so I could be wrong.
Nelson stiffened.
“Are you the hotelier?” I asked. “If so, please extend my compliments to the chef.”
Shoot. I wasn’t supposed to say please, was I?
“No. I am your host for the weekend.” The man smiled—revealing the extremely pointy tips of his upper canines—as he adjusted a cufflink.
Oh! He was a vampire. My first!
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize who you are. And you are?”
“Keenan Huntington.” He bowed slightly.
Personally, I thought my bow to Nelson had been better. Speaking of Nelson, he was getting blurrier by the second. I kicked him under the table. His edges snapped back into place a moment later.
“I am so glad you could attend, Mr. Tada and Mr. Long.” Keenan emphasized our aliases and punctuated his words with a wink. How did he know those weren’t our real names? “I hope I am as lucky as you this weekend and find exactly what I’m looking for. But I already fear it isn’t here.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be lucky yet—” I shook my head. Oops. Did my wig move? Maybe I shouldn’t have done that “—but I’m looking forward to seeing what is available tomorrow.”
“Oh? How unexpected.” The vampire raised an eyebrow in Nelson’s direction before turning back to me. “I do wish you luck.”
“And I wish you the same.”
“How delightful,” Keenan said. Then the man pivoted toward Nelson. “Please extend my regards to your compatriots in Willow Lake.”
Nelson was fading again.
“Such a delightful spot,” the vampire continued.
“Alas, the last time I was in the vicinity, I was unable to linger. Fortunately, I heard everyone escaped their underground confinements.” He whispered the last two words.
“Although, rest assured I would have forwarded a memo to your delightful death mage if they hadn’t.
I was happy it didn’t come to that, though. I had my hands quite full at the time.”
“How do you know about any of that?” Nelson bristled.
His arm, the one closest to the wall and therefore the most shaded, was little more than a tendril of smoke.
It curled in a tight coil, then relaxed in a wavy undulation.
It reminded me of someone clenching and unclenching their fist. “Were you in league with Robbie?”
“Now, now,” Keenan tsked. He waved at himself. “Do you really think I would consort with someone like that? You clearly don’t know me.”
I had no idea what event they were discussing, but I got the sense Keenan was offended.
“How else would you know about any of that?” Nelson looked murderous—all angry, powerful, and ready to do what needed to be done to eliminate a threat. It was surprisingly appealing. I hadn’t realized I’d be attracted to murder vibes.
“Perhaps I will drop by the next time I’m in the area and introduce myself properly.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Nelson snarled, quite impressively considering he wasn’t a shifter with a beastly side.
Uh oh. I could see right through Nelson’s torso now. That wasn’t good. When I tried kicking him, my foot didn’t connect with anything.
“Not at all. It will be my pleasure,” the vampire said. He straightened his suit jacket. “Enjoy your time with us, gentlemen.”
Keenan moved to the next table. We sat for a moment as our plates were cleared, and the meals were added to our room tabs. By then, Nelson looked a teensy bit less translucent. He really was too uptight.
“Let’s go to the bar for a drink!” I clapped my hands.
Maybe alcohol would loosen him up a bit. And I’d always wanted to try a Dirty Shirley. I loved Shirley Temples and was curious to experiment with the alcoholic version. I’d need it made with orange juice, not soda, but I was sure a place like this could make that substitution.
“No,” Nelson said. His lips flattened into a grim line.
“Come on. Let’s have some fun!”
If Violet could hear me, she would be so pissed at me right now. Although, given the look Nelson was shooting my way, I had a pretty good idea of what V would look like.
“We need to talk. We can’t do that here.”
“Fine,” I huffed, but I wasn’t really annoyed. If Nelson wanted to get me alone, that sounded like an even better idea than going for drinks. “Maybe we can come back down later for a nightcap.”
It sounded so sophisticated and sexy, right? I hoped Nelson would think I was propositioning him, which, for the record, I was. He definitely made my tail swish.
When we stood from the table, he wrapped his hand around my arm again. He was fully solid now, so that was good. I’d obviously done an excellent job of distracting him. Go me.
A woman with long dark hair and too many weapons studied us as Nelson dragged me by her table.
One of her dinner companions cleared their throat.
As if that was some kind of trigger, the woman popped out of her chair and grabbed my other arm, preventing me from moving forward.
Nelson spun around to see why I’d stopped.
When he saw what was happening, his irises and the white bits around the outside of his irises disappeared—like they were gone gone. His eyes were merely empty holes filled with smoke-like shadows.
Fascinating. How did someone see without eyeballs? I wanted to know more. I wanted to know everything.
“Are you okay?” the woman asked me. She rested her free hand on the gun holstered at her hip. “Is this asshole making you do something you don’t want to?”
“Oh, aren’t you sweet?” I smiled, before I remembered Rudy Tada wasn’t supposed to do that. But it was better than laughing. Laughing led to bubbles, and bubbles led to questions. Besides, how was she supposed to know I’d do anything Nelson wanted right now?
And I didn’t think explaining how Nelson wanted to lock me away in my room was a good idea. That’d raise as many alarms as his manhandling.
I mean, even Violet would take exception to how Nelson was behaving, even though she’d done the same thing to me more times than I could count.
She often said being with me in public was worse than herding cats.
Except there was only one of me, not a whole clowder, so I didn’t see how that was possible.
And really, who herded cats? That was just weird. The fantastical comparison made her whole argument fall apart.
“I can help you,” the woman pressed. She shot a look at her friends. “We can help.”
Shoot, I had to say something. Something that’d make this armed woman uncomfortable. People always shied away from things that made them uncomfortable…
Oh! I knew what to do!
“We’re just having a lover’s spat. Isn’t that right, baby?” I winked at Nelson before leaning toward her and smirking like I was about to reveal a salacious secret. “He hates it when I flirt with other people. But when the make-up sex afterwards is so delicious, why would I stop?”
The woman’s face twisted in a look of disgust briefly before she hid it away again. “Are you sure?”
“Am I sure about the sex? Oh, honey, am I ever!” I gushed.
Lies. It was all lies. But I doubted there would be any hellhounds at an event like this to call me out on them. This wasn’t their kind of gig. I just hoped the rash I’d inevitably be struck with wouldn’t be too bad.
As if on cue, an awful itch prickled along my armpits. Yep. It was already starting. Why was it always like this? My lies were for a good cause. That should count for something.
“You should try it,” I continued. “There’s nothing quite like being bent over the nearest—”
“That’s enough, brat,” Nelson said. His hand squeezed tighter on my arm. “She doesn’t need to know everything that happens between us.”
She clung to me for a moment longer.
“I’ll be sure to let you know all about it when I see you tomorrow…” I fluttered my eyelashes at her. “If I get a moment to myself, that is. He can be quite the animal when I trigger him hard enough. He can go on for days staking his territory.”
“Sit down, Tammy,” one of the woman’s dinner companions said.
Tammy yanked her hand away from me. “I don’t need to know.”
“You’re drawing attention to us,” another of Tammy’s friends said, although something about their attitude felt wrong, deceitful. “Who cares if one supe overpowers another? It’s one less beast we need to worry about later.”
The words made the hair at the back of my neck quiver. That was not a nice person. Not at all. But Tammy dropped into her seat and turned her back to us, so that was handy.
“Fucking supes,” Tammy muttered under her breath.
Well. That was just rude.
People at the nearby tables bristled. They’d obviously heard what she’d said. I kind of wanted to see if anyone would call her on it, but Nelson was dragging me away again.
When we got upstairs, I hoped he really would bend me over.
That’d be fun. I’d never done that before. Sure, I was here for the artifact, but I was willing to multitask. I always enjoyed learning new things.