Chapter 1 #2
I didn’t know how long we flew but I was more than ready for it to be over.
Unable to concentrate on anything but the talons that held me, I didn’t catch the nudge and chuffle that Zee gave.
Suddenly, he released me, and I was falling.
A yell that turned into a roar burst out of me, but it was cut off when my feet abruptly hit the ground and I crumpled to the earth.
My eyes flew open to find Zee hovering a mere five feet above my head, wearing a very clear grin on his avian face.
“Dick,” I muttered as I stood and brushed myself off, trying to get my heart rate to settle back down.
The griffin gracefully lowered, and he shook out his head and wings, looking rather pleased with himself. While he shifted back to his human form, I took the opportunity to look around.
A sense of wonder wiped out the discomfort of the flight and being dropped. This was it! I stared at the structure with amazement. Seeing the building—in person—that we had spent almost a year scrutinizing online was surreal. More surreal than being flown by a griffin.
A small figure appeared in the doorway that I immediately recognized. He looked up at the sky before pulling out an umbrella. It was cloudy, but it wasn’t raining. The sun, however, was peeking through, and that could be disastrous.
Maxime wore long gloves and held the umbrella tight as he descended the stairs.
The closer he got, the smaller I realized he was.
By the time he was at the bottom of the steps, I felt my smile grow.
He was tiny, maybe just over five feet, but compared to my six-foot-three, he was practically pocket-sized.
I wanted to scoop him up, but he leveled me a look that dared me to try it.
His size didn’t diminish his commanding presence.
“Maxime! Holy shit, it’s you!”
The man gave a cool, genuine smile. “Rudolph, it is very good to see you. I would hug you, but I think it would be better to wait until we were inside.”
I looked up at the sky again and gave him a nod. I wouldn’t want to risk hurting him.
“Can we? Go inside, I mean?”
Maxime gave a nod. “Yes. I have the keys. The agent met me on the big island last night, not wanting to come here. She was trying not to say, but she seemed anxious enough that she must believe what is said about the place.”
“The curse? Do you think there’s anything to it?
” I asked, glancing at the run-down building.
This particular island, Malterra, was once used by the U.S.
Navy as testing grounds, but after many incidents and stories that swept through the workers, they abandoned it.
Malterra was said to be protected or cursed, depending on who you heard it from.
Maxime arched a perfectly manicured brow. “Do you think there is anything to the legends of werewolves or vampires?”
I let out an awkward chuckle. “Good point. But do you think it’s safe?”
“I think… I would prefer cursed land to mobs with pitchforks.”
“Right.” I wondered if that was something he had ever encountered, but then I didn’t know how old he was.
Apparently, it was ‘uncouth’—his word, not mine—to ask a vampire his age.
Maxime appeared to be in his early twenties, but that didn’t mean anything.
I might not be ageless like him, but I knew with my clothing choice and scruff on my face, it was hard to pick out my age of thirty-one.
“Come, let’s continue inside.” Maxime turned and headed back up the steps into the main house.
Looking up at the building, I felt a mix of trepidation and excitement. Zee came up beside me, back in his human form and fully clothed again. He gave me a slight nudge and walked past me. “Come on, Wolfie, nothing to be scared of, except maybe all the work you have ahead of you.”
Blowing out a breath, I followed. I wasn’t afraid of a little work.
When we walked inside, my mouth fell open.
Okay, maybe it would take more than a little work to fix this place up.
Maxime must have noticed my reaction. He closed the umbrella, set it near the door, and crossed the room to me.
He reached up and placed a hand on my cheek, drawing my attention down to him, meeting his gaze. His red-rimmed pupils locked onto mine.
“You can do this; I have the utmost faith in you.”
His words washed over me, filling me with confidence and pride at the certainty of his tone. Except… I took a step back. “Wait… are you glamouring me?”
Maxime let out a laugh that revealed his fangs.
He reached up with both hands to cup my cheeks and pull my face down.
He pecked a quick kiss on my lips, startling me with the action.
Releasing me, I felt more dazed than I had under his intense stare.
There was no heat to it—it was a totally platonic kiss—but I wasn’t used to that sort of thing.
Although he was a vamp of—redacted—years old, so casual affection was probably nothing new for him, like it was for me.
He patted my chest and chuckled. “Oh, Rudolph, it is such a delight to meet you in person. You are exactly what I was expecting.”
“Thanks, uh, yeah, you too.” Unable to determine if that was good or bad, I decided to change topics. “Where’s Kieran? Zee said he was here already.”
Maxime shot a look at the griffin shifter whose eyes lit with amusement. “He’s here, but someone thought it would be a good idea to ask about the dimensions of the main building.”
“And that’s a problem… why? It seems like it would be useful information to know, especially as we start planning out the layout.”
“Because now Kieran won’t stop until it’s finished.” Maxime’s voice was laced with exasperation while Zee snickered.
“Oh.” It was my only response, but I didn’t want to let on that I didn’t understand, which wasn’t new. I often felt like I wasn’t in on the jokes or understood what people were talking about. Smile and nod was my default state more often than not.
Maxime didn’t bother to expand on it either.
Instead, he looked out over the large entranceway.
“I feel really good about this. It’s got everything we need.
This building will become the main part of the inn, but there are also small studios around the property that we can convert into private casitas with unique features for a variety of guests.
Malterra itself has a lot of terrain available, from the coastline with access to water, as well as woods and trees, which will be beneficial to beings of all types. ”
He led us around the dilapidated building, which had paint peeling from the walls, the occasional broken floorboard, and upended and rotting furniture.
As we went, Maxime pointed out what each room could potentially be, seeing past the current state it was in.
He had always been the one with the vision.
Maxime saw it so clearly that it made it easy for us to follow along, wanting to be a part of it.
The vivid way he described things had me genuinely smiling and nodding, and not in the way I did when I didn’t grasp something.
It was a big undertaking, but I’d never been more excited to take something like this on.
To do it at all was one thing, but it was entirely different coming into this with my closest group of friends.
Friends who made me feel like I actually had something to contribute.
Admittedly, I would have done anything simply to feel included, which wasn’t something I felt a lot, not until meeting everyone online.
This was something I actually wanted to do, and not just because of FOMO.
When we reached the rundown kitchen, Zee separated from us to study the area that would be his domain. He was seldom serious, except when it came to food. Zephyr had been coming up with all kinds of ideas about the menu and food options.
Maxime continued to give me the full tour. We found Kieran, whose lithe form was hunched over as he took careful, measured steps. He never looked up when we entered the room.
“Hey, Kieran!” I called out, hoping to get his attention.
A simple grunt was all that came from him. We’d grown close in our group chat, and I’d never gotten the impression from him that he was unfriendly. So why was he ignoring me at our first meeting?
Maxime clapped my shoulder, and leaned in. “It’s not personal, Rudolph. He can’t stop in the middle of a task or he’ll have to start over. It’s a compulsion.”
“Okay.” Despite Maxime’s brief explanation, worry niggled in my mind, wondering if he was avoiding me. It was probably a me thing, especially if he really couldn’t help it.
After seeing the full building, Maxime brought me back to the main hall. His red-rimmed eyes sparkled as he stood with wide arms. “This will be our lobby, and my desk—the front desk—will be right over here.”
I stood there and scanned the room. Broken furniture lay in tatters, making it seem as though the previous tenants had left in a hurry. What happened here? They were the Navy, for fuck’s sake. What scared the Navy? How bad was this curse exactly?
With Maxime looking at the space with pride and confidence, without a hint of worry on his face, I pushed past my fears and let his vision spark hope in me. “This is actually happening, huh?”
Maxime smiled as he faced me. “Yes, it is.”
“Do you think we could ever compete with Catalina? I mean, it still seems pretty busy, and it’s their off-season.”
The small vampire placed a hand on my arm.
“We don’t need to compete with them. That’s not what we’re doing this for.
We’re offering something special and meeting a need so few can.
Tell me, Rudy, would you feel comfortable taking a vacation on the big island?
Would you have been able to let your guard down and relax? ”