Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Itucked my dress shirt under the waistband of my skirt, combed my fingers through my hair, and took a deep, calming breath. I now appeared perfectly normal—not resembling a thief at all.
Sparing one last glance at the wall, I started back to my office, taking the stairs two at a time.
I clung more firmly onto the book pressed against my chest and crossed my arms over it—almost as if protecting it from prying eyes.
The sooner I got to my office, the sooner I could try different things to open it.
My boss could simply argue the book was discovered within library boundaries—it was one of those exclusive collectibles Steven fancied flaunting under glass showcases while trying to impress donors.
Yet something about this book rendered us inseparable.
It called to me again, pulsing against my chest as if it talked to my heart, filling it with warmth. I didn’t feel an evil aura or the presence of a curse embedded within its pages.
I didn’t have any evidence; I was only relying on my intuition.
Holding the mystical book even tighter, I extended a hand toward the door handle on the tenth floor. But before I could grasp it, the door opened, and my boss’s face appeared in front of me.
I gasped, and he yelped, taking a step back. His tired eyes blinked, teary and puffy. When he recovered, his gaze dropped to the book.
Employees were not supposed to hug rare and delicate books. He’d think I was stealing it.
Well, I am.
“Hi, Breanna.” His gaze lifted to my face, and he raised his eyebrows. “What book are you working on?”
Steven avoided conflict like I avoided the supernaturals.
It was his way of asking politely if I was taking a rare book out of my office, rubbing it against my clothes, and exposing it to light and moisture without permission.
“I went upstairs and found an old book on mythology to brush up on the story I plan to tell the donors at the fundraiser event. You know I like to overprepare.” I suppressed the nervous giggle that bubbled in my throat.
Steven smiled and gave me two thumbs-up.
“I’m heading downstairs for coffee. Do you want me to bring you anything?”
“N-no. I’m fine.”
He gave me a strange look, walked past me, and descended the stairs. I let out a small sigh and dashed to my office.
Although my colleagues’ offices were a hallway away, I couldn’t be too careful. I shut my office door behind me and turned the lock.
The urge to know the contents of the book nudged me again. I shook the book. I pried it open with my fingers.
Holding it with extended arms straight ahead, I let it drop on my desk. My short, jerky movements didn’t make much sense—that was not how I’d open a book—but nothing else helped.
With the book in my hands, I paced in my office while staring at it. I didn’t want to use any tools to open it in case I damaged the pages.
My cell phone vibrated and rang. I rummaged through my leather bag to find it, hid the book inside, and took out my phone.
“Hey, Bree,” Tammy said in her scratchy voice.
“Did you have one of those small get-togethers that ended in singing until one o’clock a.m. last night?”
She giggled and then sighed. “That’s why I need a break.”
“Ha. You need a break. I haven’t started working this morning.”
Tammy combined her passion for anything gothic and vamp-ish with coffee. After she graduated college, she opened a coffee shop on the busiest street in town.
Since Halloween was only a couple of weeks away, her gothic-themed cafe was booming with people. The queue curved out onto the sidewalk, and people didn’t mind standing in the cold to pick up one of Tammy’s best-selling drinks—a cold coffee with red syrup and floating skull marshmallows on top.
“I have something important to tell you. Come downstairs,” she said.
I faked an exaggerated gasp. “You’re killing me. You just decided to show up at my work today, huh?” I imagined her bright-red lips making a pouty face. “Fine. Give me five minutes.”
I removed my work ID from my wallet and placed the bag under my desk, patting it to ensure the book was still there.
Climbing down the stairs to the first floor was enough time to calm down my nerves and decide not to mention the book or my dream realm adventures to Tammy. I hated hiding things from her, but she was a chatterbox and could say something by accident to her gothic friends in her group.
I spotted my bestie sitting at the window table on an oversized fabric chair, comfortable enough to lure me into reading a book for the entire day.
The drink on the round table in front of her was from her cafe—a vampire cold drink with tons of whipped cream and topped with red syrup. The red color merged into the creamy bottom half of the cup, making it look like seeping blood.
I twisted my mouth into a frown even though I didn’t have anything against her bestselling drinks. Tammy was in a holiday spirit, loving every minute of it.
But the reminder of blood and vampires didn’t sit well with someone who knew the truth about both.
At the library café, I placed my order for a pumpkin spice latte, and while waiting at the pickup counter, I couldn’t help but smile at Tammy.
She was the only one I knew who could pull off a bloody-red lipstick that never smeared while drinking. She had paired her signature knee-high leather boots and a black shirt with a deep V-neck, revealing her favorite green beetle in an oval glass necklace.
Even from a distance, I couldn’t miss her purple contact lenses encircled by fake eyelashes. Today, her shoulder-length hair hung black and straight, but that changed on a weekly basis.
She stuck her tongue out at me, and I laughed. Tammy’s lips curved into a genuine smile. She had a small ring on her bottom lip.
I liked seeing my best friend smiling, unlike when she broke up with her boyfriends. After discovering her obsession with immortality and supernaturals, most guys avoided her, like I avoided the werewolf kingdom.
Even in college, the boys couldn’t see past Tammy’s outer layers. They had no clue she was one of the top students in the entire university. Tammy opened the cafe after taking out loans and maxing out her credit cards in her last year of college. I was proud of her for doing so well.
When I crossed toward her, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and snapped pictures of her drink.
“I wish I could tag you,” she said, her fingers swiping left and right.
“No social media for me. Too much to handle.” I cleared my throat to stop myself from frowning.
It was the best way to keep myself and the werewolf kingdom safe. Even while living among humans, I still couldn’t have a normal life.
“What’s so important? And why do I have a bad feeling about it?” I asked Tammy.
She’d been pestering me to go to a fake vampire nightclub.
I sat across from her and sipped my warm drink while pushing my mind to devise more excuses for not going out to party with her.
“Please, Bree. You’ll save me. I can’t go alone, but I have already paid for the entrance cover. Getting in is so hard. You have to wait for months. Lucky for me, I know someone who works there.”
“But I thought you were going with the other vampire wannabes.”
Pretending that vampires weren’t real and that it was normal for humans to want to be vampires was the worst. Were humans bored with their lives?
“They bailed on me.” She turned her lips down and made puppy eyes at me.
I didn’t need the reminder about vampires, even if they were humans who wore fake costumes. And there was nothing entertaining watching people pretend to drink fake blood from their Bloody Marys in a nightclub.
After all, vampires had been werewolves’ number one enemy for centuries. And I couldn’t explain to her that vampires were as real as her and me.
But I also had a problem saying no to people I loved and adored.
“Remember that one time we went out together three years ago?” Tammy rolled her eyes at me. “We were joined by your…what was the name of Blondie-Sexy-Pants again?”
“Hayden,” I said with a sigh.
“Dancing and drinking were good for you. You even got laid.” Tammy laughed, and my smile disappeared. “Why don’t you invite him again, Bree? You looked good together.”
I swallowed hard and looked out the window, staring at the humans who lived their unassuming lives in peace.
I wished I was one of them.
“He works for my dad’s security business,” I said and took a long sip of my latte.
I didn’t want to think about Hayden in case he starred in my dream realm again.
I hadn’t told Tammy the truth about my parents—that they were the King and Queen of the werewolf kingdom in California.
The less she knew, the safer she was, and I wouldn’t let anything happen to my best friend. The only human friend I had. She and my neighbor, Lisa, were my anchors in this life I’d created in London, away from high royal expectations, bullying, and disappointed glances.
How could I tell my friend this fake vampire club would be a trigger for me? The first time—and what I thought would be the last time—I’d gone to a vampire-themed Halloween party was five years ago when Tammy and I were still in college.
Although my pulse was wild and my face flushed, I’d endured a night of loud, eerie music with organ chords and haunting melodies, flickering candles casting shadows on the walls, red cocktail drinks, fake fangs, and lots of capes.
Tammy had a blast, and I didn’t have it in me to tell her I didn’t want to take pictures with the vampire props, drink blood punch drinks, or eat a red velvet cake that resembled a coffin.
The year before the vampire college party, Tammy told me about her fascination with everything vampire—the parties, the costumes, the movies, the food.
Tammy had been nervous about letting me in on her secret because she feared I would run away.
Just like the guys she dated ran away after finding out.
Just like most girls at school she’d tried to befriend.