Nightshifted (Edie Spence 1)

An eyebrow crept higher on his head, pulling a lopsided smile behind. I kept going in spite of myself. “It was fun, don’t get me wrong, and we had chemistry, sure, but—”

I stared at him and lost my train of thought. There was a gravitational pull between us, yes. But if I were the Earth, then he was a cool and distant moon. Light, but not heat—and I liked to be warm. “You’re a doctor, I’m a nurse, it’s just not a good idea. ”

The train shuddered to a halt.

“I believe this is your stop,” he said. He stood and made no move toward the door.

“It is. See you. ” I stood and walked out into the station and made it halfway up the stairs.

“I’m not really a doctor, you know,” said Asher’s accented voice. I turned and saw his suit, incongruous with the station’s milky white walls. I quickly blinked an eye and found him glowing, bright.

I inhaled. “Then … what are you?” I asked, slowly.

“I can be a doctor. I can be a lot of things. I prefer, however, to be myself. ” He crossed the short distance between us. “Look at me, Edie. ”

I did. It was daylight outside, just six stairs away. He couldn’t be a vampire. I reached between my breasts and pressed my badge hard against my skin.

Asher’s face slowly became the face of someone I didn’t recognize. His dark eyes were pierced with blue, until the blue overtook all the brown, like the sky after a heavy storm. His skin tone lightened from olive to become Nordic white, and the set of his jaw tilted, from angled high to low and square.

“I think I met your cousin last night,” I said.

“Now will you tell me where you work?” he asked.

“Y4. ”

“It figures,” he said. He shifted back to the Asher I knew in the blink of an eye.

“Does that mean that when you feel like it, you can be me now?” I asked. I thought of Gina, on the floor with gauzed eyes full of blood.

“No, actually. I did try, though, at the club, and several times thereafter. When I found out I couldn’t, I was shocked, then intrigued. Then when I learned you were merely being protected by the proximity of your badge…”

“So you weren’t really into me for me is what you’re saying?”

“You were a novelty. ”

And isn’t that what every girl wants to hear? “Fan-fucking-tastic. Good night, Asher, or good morning, or whatever the fuck it is for you now. I’m too tired for this. ” I started walking the final stairs away from him.

“That’s not what I meant, Edie,” he called after me. “You have to imagine my surprise that night. I thought you were a rare beast, something that for shapeshifters is like a unicorn—someone whose spirit can’t be tamed. When I realized you worked at a hospital, and probably the hospital, and that was the reason I couldn’t shift into you, well … you can only imagine my disappointment. ”

I whirled on him. “How about you imagine my disappointment? When some guy like you is interested in me, we have great sex, and then all of a sudden I’m not good enough anymore?”

He looked up at me like a baffled dog, and he clearly did not understand. And I didn’t want to explain it to him, how girls like me never got guys like him, how I was a Wednesday-night girl, but not a Friday-night girl. I decided it wasn’t worth the energy. I’m not sure what played on my face right then, but at least he seemed thoughtful.

“You’ve got a really confused relative at Y4 right now. You should go check him out. ”

Asher held up his hands. “Edie, I’m sorry. ”

I inhaled to tell him to shove it, and then shrugged instead. “Yeah. I know. ” I hitched up my purse, and walked straight ahead.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

I slung my purse across my chest for the short walk home from the station. I had set out across the commuter parking lot when I heard a car honk its horn. I ignored it, and it honked again. I turned, to make sure I wasn’t about to be run over, and saw my own car, with Jake sitting inside. I changed my course, picking up steam as I crossed the lot.

“How did you—” I sputtered, then realized I should be glad he wasn’t on the way to trade it in.

“I went by your place last night. I saw the car out front, and knocked and knocked, then I realized you weren’t home. So I let myself in with my spare, and decided I’d come pick you up this morning for breakfast. ”

I inhaled to be angry at him—I hadn’t told him he could make a spare key for my place, but him having one was the least of my concerns. “Well—thanks. ”

“Well, you’re welcome. ” He pulled us out of the lot. He looked clean, physically and bloodstreamily. Maybe he’d taken a shower at my place. His hands on the wheel were solid, competent. “What happened to you?” he asked, glancing over at me. I used the rearview mirror to check out my lip. It was as swollen as it felt.

“Last night was long. ” I tilted the mirror back toward him.

“Uh-huh. When’d you start taking German?”

“What?”

“That broken CD player. I tried to get the disc out, but it wouldn’t open for me. ”