Chapter 11
ELEVEN
Marinka was booked out for two full weeks, forcing me to keep the bandage on my elbow and wear long T-shirts and sweaters for the duration. A week later, I went back to work.
I still wasn’t feeling a hundred percent. The daily headaches were still there, presenting with a persistent pounding behind my eyes, and my rare steak habit was starting to affect my bank account.
Regardless, I was back at the shop, and that was something to celebrate.
Quinn spotted me the moment I walked in. She sucked in a gasp and zipped down from her perch in a shower of sparkles. Hovering in front of me, her eyes drank me in. “You’re alive!”
I let out a surprised bark of laughter. Quinn had no idea how close I’d come to being a statistic. “All in one piece,” I responded.
She swallowed hard. “Good.”
Silence fell between us. “Well.” She cleared her throat. “No one else will give me syrup, so I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Right,” I said with a somber nod. “Priorities.”
Quinn rolled her eyes and zipped away, this time heading toward the back of the customer area. She landed on one of the shelves holding a pothos plant and tucked herself underneath the dense canopy of leaves, disappearing so well all I saw was the faint glow of her purple eyes.
Addy greeted me when I ventured in from the back, tying my apron around my waist.
“Alex! I’m so happy to see you!” She grimaced and leaned closer. “You’re the best server we have. Our customers have been asking for you every single day, so expect a serious upswing in tips.”
Nice. Maybe I’d have to miss work more often.
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you feeling alright?”
I blinked. “Err. Yes?” Would she know about the headache? “Do I look different or something?”
She waved a hand. “Something about you is off.”
“I have no idea how to respond to that. What’s off?” I lifted my arm and sniffed my pit. “I remembered deodorant. My hair is clean.” I glanced down at my clothing. “I even remembered to wash my apron and my vest.”
Washing the vest had been a herculean effort due to my enamel pin obsession, but by the end of my forced leave, I was going mad with boredom and had spent an hour taking pins off.
Once the wash was done, I spent another hour and half putting them back on and rearranging because I couldn’t remember how I had them.
Addy sighed. “Forget I said anything. There’s a catch-up debrief for you under the register. Read it. Know it. Love it.” She handed me a freshly counted register and breezed past me on her way to the back.
I finished tying my apron and walked over to Harriet, who didn’t bother to greet me. She shoved a sheath of papers at me, grunted, and pulled her register out.
“Good luck,” she muttered before disappearing to the back.
“Friendly as always,” I said under my breath as I slid my register inside the drawer with a click.
The shop was slow right after lunch and picked up around four, when everyone was struggling to stay awake. For the first couple of hours, we sold only a few drinks to a local witch’s bookclub who met weekly, so I spent most of my time refilling supplies and wiping tables.
The problem started when a group of humans wandered in around three.
They smelled delicious. Not in an “oh, what’s that perfume you’re wearing?” No. More like an “I want to bite your face off” smell. A faint, rhythmic pounding sounded in my ears when they stopped at the register, followed by a swooshing noise.
My mouth watered, and I could barely pay attention to their words. One of them said something about steamed milk, but I was too busy staring at the pulse beating like a butterfly in the smooth skin of her neck.
“Excuse me? Miss. Are you listening?”
I blinked. “Err. Yes. Sorry.” I swallowed hard and tore my eyes away from her throat.
“Are you alright?” The girl was young, maybe in her twenties, and had a friendly face. There was nothing super special about her, and there should be no reason why I was so focused on her neck or her pulse.
Or… oh shit. That swooshing noise was blood. Inside her veins. And that drumbeat was her heartbeat.
What was happening to me?
“I’m fine.” I was no such thing. “Apologies. Let’s start over, okay? I’ll get it right this time.”
The girl’s brow furrowed, but she nodded, and I somehow fumbled my way through the order without leaping over the desk to bury the fangs I did not have in her neck.
When the group finished ordering, I took a step back from the register and hurried to the window. “G? Can you ask Addy if I can take a quick break?”
“Sure thing!” G lumbered away.
Addy poked her head out the door a moment later. “Alex?”
“Five minutes?” I begged.
A sharp nod. She came out and gave me a long look before jerking her head toward the door. “Go on. I’ll cover you.”
I hurried away and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. A glimpse in the mirror revealed a pale face and wide, frightened eyes, but nothing else out of the ordinary. No long fangs. No sprouted fur. Nothing but a semi-normal young woman.
A woman who could hear the blood rushing through a human’s veins.
A cold water splash did nothing to slow down my pounding heart. “What is wrong with me?” I whispered to myself. There was no one I could trust, no one I could go to and ask what was happening to me.
On the surface, everything about me seemed fine. The only one who’d questioned anything had been Addy. As a fae, my boss was more sensitive to magic than some of the other supernatural races. Maybe she had sensed something inside me that had changed after the attack?
A soft knock on the door came and then, “Alex, open up. It’s Addy.”
I hurriedly dried my face and opened the door. Addy squeezed in and locked it behind her. She leaned against the sink and crossed her arms over her chest.
“What happened?” she demanded.
I pasted a confused smile. “Just a little overwhelmed after being off for a week.”
Addy’s derisive snort told me she didn’t buy my excuse for a second. “Not today. When you were gone. Something isn’t right with you.” Her nose wrinkled. “You smell… off. Not your body. Your magic.”
I opened my mouth and shut it just as fast. How could I tell her?
Addy’s expression softened. “Alex.” A sigh escaped her. “We’ve worked together a while now. You always volunteer to stay late or pick up extra shifts. You’re not dating anyone, and you haven’t since I’ve known you. I don’t even think you have any friends.”
My chest tightened with hurt, even as I knew my lack of friends was no one’s fault but my own. Every time I wanted to take that first step, Mom’s warnings rang in my head, and I always backed away, ruining any chance at a future friendship. I was forever doomed to be the acquaintance girl.
“I’m not saying any of this to upset you, only to show you there are people out there you can confide in.”
I dashed an errant tear away from my cheek.
Addy straightened. “Does this have anything to do with that vampire? Beckett or something?”
My lower lip wobbled. A second later, the entire story spilled out. Addy listened, her eyes widening at certain parts of my tale. I kept quiet about my implant. It had nothing to do with the rest of the attack. Nor did I tell her I knew the identities of the others.
Telling her the Vampire Prime and the Shifter King had almost killed me might stretch the bands of credulity. I was doing a good enough job of that all on my own.
“There’s no trace of any injuries?” Addy asked, her brow wrinkling.
“Nothing. If I hadn’t gone through it, I wouldn’t believe me either.”
“And now you’re having headaches and odd cravings?”
I nodded. “Witches can’t turn. Right?”
Addy shook her head. “No.” Her lips pursed. “Are you a witch, though?”
I blinked in surprise. “Of course I’m a witch,” I blurted. “My mother is.” That would make me half just on her side.
“And your father?”
I stared at Addy, not liking where this was going. “Never met him. Mom wouldn’t tell me much about him.”
All I knew was Mom had loved him. Very much. And as such, I loved him too, even though it felt ridiculous to admit that. How could I love someone I’d never met? Now I’d lost them both, and even though Mom’s absence had shattered my heart, it had also made my father’s absence all the more stark.
Addy shrugged. “Supernaturals can’t turn into each other. A witch can’t turn into a vampire or a shifter. A vampire can’t turn into a shifter or vice versa either.”
My shoulders slumped with relief.
A sad smile. “I’m not finished.”
I sank against the wall, dread filling me.
“I’ve heard the occasional rumor of hybrid creatures, supernaturals who’ve suffered an attack and become something else. Nothing substantiated,” she said quickly when she saw my expression fall. “And nothing saying those people turned into feral beasts, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Well, feral beast hadn’t yet crossed my mind until Addy said it, but now the possibility burrowed into my brain like a tapeworm.
A thoughtful look crossed her face. “I know a hybrid,” she said slowly.
“Sort of. Nothing of the type of hybrid you seem to be thinking of, though.” Her lips twisted.
“One of my friends tangled with a wolf shifter. Turned out when he started growing fangs on the full moon, his mom had to confess his blood was diluted with human, even though his supposed father was also a full fae.” She waved a hand.
“Caused a whole domestic nightmare.” Addy chuckled.
“Good thing there’s no 23andMe for supernaturals, right? ”
I nodded, though I thought a DNA service would be excellent if it helped me figure out what the hell my father was and if there was the possibility these changes might be permanent.
“Regardless, he’s fine. Only the fangs happened. He didn’t suddenly start eating people or anything like that.”
I stared at my boss. “Maybe you shouldn’t be a motivational speaker.”
Addy snorted. “True.” Her eyes softened. “I have someone you can talk to. If you want.”
At my dubious look, Addy’s lips twitched. “So suspicious.”