Chapter 23
Selene
Sweet Dreams is busy this morning, but thanks to Dove putting a little reserved sign on our usual table, she, Cordelia, and I are sipping coffee happily inside the cosy bakery.
It’s decorated ready for the Halloween festival but, instead of the usual orange, everything matches the pink, turquoise, and white colour palette of the rest of the shop.
Each table has a small pastel centrepiece—ours is a light pink pumpkin with a little ghost sitting on it holding a mug.
It’s adorable. So is the ghost garland wrapped around the glass display case up front.
“You look happy,” Dove comments.
“I am. Now that Jared knows we’re mates and has his powers under control, I can breathe easy.”
“Have the two of you discussed bonding?”
“Cordelia,” Dove hisses. “You can’t just ask that.”
“What? We’re her best friends. Don’t act like you’re not dying to know.” Cordelia leans forward, the ends of the large bow at the neckline of her crimson blouse dangerously close to dipping into her latte. “So, have you?”
Rolling my eyes, I slide her coffee away so the silk bow is no longer in danger. “We’re taking things slow.”
“But you’re mates. Why wait?”
“Just because they’re fated doesn’t mean they have to rush,” Dove says, tugging the sleeves of her fluffy cream jumper over her hands.
“Exactly. Jared’s had enough life-changing events since moving here. Bonding can wait until he’s ready.”
“Are you OK with waiting?” Cordelia asks. “This can’t be how you imagined things would go when you met your mate.”
“It’s not, but that doesn’t matter. Jared and I are happy. We’ll bond when both of us are ready.”
“Alright.” Cordelia lifts her hands in surrender then pulls her coffee closer again, pausing with the mug halfway to her red-painted lips. “You know I’m only trying to look out for you, right?”
“I do, and I appreciate it, but it’s not necessary. When have I not spoken up when something’s been making me unhappy?”
“Point taken.”
We chat for a little while longer before parting ways to go to work. Dove switches her jumper for the chef’s jacket I made her.
“Looking good, girl,” Cordelia comments, and Dove gives us a little twirl.
“Selene did a great job.” She smooths her hands down the front of the white coat. “Seriously, thank you.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
Cordelia asks Dove what enchantments are on the jacket, and the two of them chatter away eagerly, but something pulls my attention to one of the large shop windows.
There’s an older man with paper-white skin and salt and pepper hair looking right at me.
I don’t recognise him, so he’s not a local.
The wards won’t let humans through until Friday, so he must be a supe.
There’s no reason not to believe he’s simply arrived in town early for the festival, but something about him feels…
off. Realising I’ve noticed him, the corners of his mouth pull up into a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.
“Hey, are you listening?” Cordelia asks, stealing my attention.
“Sorry, I thought I saw…” I turn back to the window, trailing off when I realise the unsettling man is gone. Shaking my head, I brush off the strange interaction. He probably mistook me for someone else. “Never mind.”
I’m walking through town square when I spot Jared a few feet away. I call out to him, and his entire expression brightens when his gaze settles on me. He strides towards me, grinning.
“This is a nice surprise.” He runs his hands down my arms then threads his fingers through mine.
“Very.” I raise onto the balls of my feet to kiss him. “Who were you interviewing this morning?”
“The head of the festival’s decorating committee. Did you enjoy coffee with the girls?”
“Yeah, it was—”
A shrill scream cuts me off. My head whips to the side as I search for the source of the commotion. Jared’s doing the same. “There.” He points to the middle of the town square where a few supes are running away from… “What the fuck is that?”
“No idea. Let’s see if we can help,” I say, grabbing Jared’s hand again and pulling him with me.
My confusion only grows the closer we get to the gazebo.
“Raine, baby, you’re freaking me out. Please, you need to calm down.” Audrey’s blue eyes are wide as she pleads with her mate, but the mer is having none of it.
“What happened?” I ask, screeching to a stop next to Audrey. We don’t know each other well, she only started working as a barista at Sweet Dreams a couple of months ago, but she’s still clearly relieved when she spots me.
“I don’t know. She wanted to try on her costume and then started freaking out.”
Raine dives for Audrey again, snarling. “I must have your blood!” While Audrey does her best to keep her at bay, I notice Raine’s usually green irises have turned red like a vampire’s when they’re feeding.
“Stop, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Audrey pleads, but Raine’s past reasoning with.
I move to help Audrey hold her off and, with more strength than a mer should have, Raine flings me across the square.
Too surprised to use my magic to save me, I hit the ground a few feet away, the impact knocking the wind out of me.
“Selene!” Jared cries out, panicked.
“I’m fine. Help Audrey,” I wheeze, struggling to sit up.
Jared reaches for Raine, but he’s too slow and she lunges for Audrey’s throat. Audrey’s pale-peach skin turns to grey as she transforms into her gargoyle form just in time to stop Raine piercing her neck. Wait, how on earth does she have fangs?
Yowling in pain when her newly formed fangs connect with Audrey’s strong grey skin, Raine staggers back.
Her red irises glow even brighter, and she lets out another scream of outrage.
Audrey reaches for her mate again, but Jared holds her back when Raine’s body starts trembling violently.
A split-second later, Raine explodes into a cloud of bats.
“No fucking way.”
“Raine!” Audrey falls to her knees, sobbing hysterically.
Jared stumbles back from the swarm of beating wings, looking utterly bewildered. “I thought you said vampires don’t do that.”
“They don’t, and Raine’s not a vampire,” I tell him. Before any of the bats can escape, I recover enough from my fall to use my magic to freeze them.
“What’s happening here?” Neith, a member of the town’s protection team, comes running over dressed in all black, her dark hair secured in a severe bun. About damn time.
Jared’s now doing his best to help an inconsolable Audrey, so it’s up to me to answer.
The trouble is, I have no clue what just happened.
“We don’t know yet. Somehow, Raine turned into a vampire, but not a normal one.
Then that happened.” I gesture towards the frozen bats, and Neith’s deep-brown eyes widen in shock.
It’s the most emotion I’ve ever seen from the crocodile shifter.
“How is that possible?”
“No idea, but now they’re—she’s—immobilised, I can use my magic to check if she’s under some kind of spell.”
“I’ll stay out of your way.” Neith joins Jared and Audrey, laying a comforting hand on the distressed gargoyle’s shoulder. Maybe she’s not as cold as she’d have everyone believe… Not the time.
Tuning out Audrey’s crying and Jared and Neith’s attempts to soothe her, I focus on Raine.
Reaching out with my magic, I use it to see if Raine’s under some kind of spell.
At first, it’s difficult to get a read on the magical signature because it’s currently fractured into around fifty starsdamn bats, but when I finally piece it together, I curse under my breath.
Shit. Silently, I get to work unravelling the botched spell.
Now that I know what I’m dealing with, it’s simple enough.
I open my eyes just in time to see the cloud of bats quiver then merge back into Raine’s human form. With lightening-quick reflexes, Jared catches her before she hits the ground.
“Raine.” Audrey leaps forward, shifting back to her human form and gently cupping her unconscious mate’s cheeks. “Raine, baby, it’s me. Please wake up.”
Raine’s eyelids flutter open, and I’m relieved to see her irises have returned to their usual green. “What happened?” She looks up at Audrey, confused. “Are you OK?” she asks, noticing her mate’s tear-stained cheeks.
Audrey makes a half laugh-half sob of relief. “I’m fine. Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”
“Why are we on the ground?” Raine asks, looking around in bewilderment. “And why do my gums hurt?”
The others look to me for an explanation. “Well, the good news is you’re going to be fine. Your body will need time to recover from the transformation though, so I recommend you take the rest of the day off.”
“Transformation?” she asks, sitting up to lean against her mate’s side.
I clear my throat, uncomfortable. “Yes. About that. It seems my niece decided to try enchanting the costume you bought from us. Do you mind?” I ask, reaching for the hem of the long black and red vampire cape she’s wearing.
“Go ahead.”
Taking the silky material between my fingertips, I quickly undo Eve’s spell.
“Fangs too please.” Rain drops the plastic fangs she’d been wearing into the palm of my hand, and I repeat the process before giving them back.
I do another quick scan of her body to make sure there’s nothing else I missed.
“Alright, I’ve removed the enchantments, so these are perfectly safe now.
I’m so sorry about this. I don’t know what Eve was thinking. ”
“Would you like to file a complaint?” Neith asks.
Raine shakes her head. “No, that’s OK. It sounds like this was all just a stupid teenage prank gone wrong.”
“Alright. In that case, I’ll be going.” Neith leaves without another word, and my shoulders slump in relief. While I’ll sure as hell be giving Eve a serious talking to, I’m glad this idiotic stunt isn’t going to impact her future.
“Thank you. I promise I’ll talk to Eve about this. There will be consequences.”