We’re outside another room with a large bay window and a big, fancy fireplace. “Why did it go through so many owners?” I ask, realizing that I’m talking about the house as if it were a dog up for adoption. “I can’t imagine leaving this place if I bought it.”
“Ghosts,” Lucas teases, and this time Natalie laughs, high-pitched from nerves.
“The upkeep on a place like this is a lot. The house itself is nine-thousand square feet, and then you have the outbuildings in the back as well as the servants’ quarters. And that’s not to mention the grounds. I was told by the town historian that this place used to have beautiful gardens.”
“Is this fireplace original?” I ask, gently running my finger over the detailed cast iron.
“Yes, you’ll find a lot of the original house still in place and in okay condition. Well, more or less so.” She digs a paper out of her purse and uses her flashlight to read it. “There are thirteen fireplaces total in this house, all original, though the last owner did have a few restored back in 2003, so I’m not sure how much exactly was changed.”
I nod, eyes wide, and look around the room. Everything is so detailed, including a build-in shelf next to the fireplace with intricate carving. “Look at the woodwork!” I turn to Lucas, smiling.
He flicks his gaze to the ceiling. “Look at the water damage. And the graffiti. And the black mo—”
“And the stained glass above that door! I’m surprised it’s still intact.” Lucas steps in close to me and slips his arm around my waist. “Imagine this living room, all restored. We’d put a couch there, with an altar hidden in the corner. And a soft rug, right in front of the fire. I can just see us spending our nights in front of it,” I say quietly so only he can hear.
“Do you see us fucking?”
“Of course. You start a fire, even though the night is hot. And then you lay me down and take me right there, so close to the hearth we can feel the heat on our skin.”
He turns to Natalie. “We’ll take it.”
I elbow Lucas hard in the ribs. “Let’s see the rest of the house first.”
Chuckling, Lucas holds my hand as we walk through this room, into another room, and then another, and then finally into the kitchen, which was last updated in the late 70s. The entire thing needs to be gutted and redone. We tour the rest of the downstairs, and the conservatory, with large glass windows, is a top contender for my favorite room in the house.
And then Natalie shows us the library, complete with the original wooden shelves.
“This alone makes me want this place,” I tell Lucas.
“I figured it would.”
We check out the basement, which is damp, smelly and in need of a lot of work. Then we head back up and take a back staircase in the hall by the library that goes upstairs. The rooms up here are just as damaged and vandalized as downstairs, with cracks in the drywall and water damage from rain and snow.
There’s a spiral staircase in a closet, which seems a little strange to me at first. There are no lights up here, so Lucas and I both get out our phones for light. Lucas doesn’t need it, of course, but the extra light helps me see. The attic is large, with tall ceilings and solid wood flooring.
The energy shifts again, and I’m picking up something more personal…like a specific energy belonging to one person.
“What’s through here?” I ask, pointing to a little door in the wall.
“I’m assuming storage,” Natalie tells me, gaze darting around the attic. She doesn’t like it up here, and if I were a normal human, I might not either. It’s quite spooky. Taking my hand from Lucas’s, I go to the little door and try to open it. It’s locked, and we don’t have a key. I lean in, whispering an incantation to unlock the door.
Stale air hits me when the door swings open, and Lucas quickly walks over, dropping to his knees next to me.
“Do you smell that?” he asks, and I shake my head. It just smells old in here, and kind of like wet leaves and rotting wood. He looks in, not bothering to use the flashlight. “Get back,” he shouts, throwing out his hand and pushing me away.
“Why, what’s—?” I don’t get my question out before I get the answer. A very rotten zombie drags itself out of the little cubby, moving fast as it snarls and growls. Oh shit. I guess we didn’t get every one.
Natalie screams and starts running away, dropping her phone and bumping into a wall. Lucas rushes forward, moving with vamp speed, and grabs the zombie by the head and twists, snapping its neck and pulling the head clean off. He drops the head and speeds over to Natalie, holding her spellbound.
I flick my wrist, sending the body and the head back into the cubby and close it up, sealing it with magic.
“Sorry,” Natalie starts, still looking into Lucas’s eyes. “I get scared easily. This place has always given me a fright since I was a little girl.”
“The shadows play tricks on your mind,” Lucas goes on, changing Natalie’s memory. “We opened the little door and there was nothing inside.”
“Right. Just storage.”
Lucas breaks his hold on her, and turns, extending his hand for me to take.
I look into Lucas’s deep blue eyes and smile. “You were right the first time.”
“I usually am. But what am I right about this time?”
“We’ll take it.”
Chapter 7
“Lucas bought you a house?”
“Kind of.” I set two cups of to-go coffee from Curlew’s Café on the counter. Kristy opened this morning, and I came in a little while later, after stopping for coffee of course.
“How do you kind of buy a house? You either do or don’t.”
“He knew I liked it, and neither of us like the long-distance relationship thing, especially since we’re limited to the night to do anything together. This way he can make the house vampire friendly, and we can have more time together.”
Kristy blows on her hot latte to cool it down. “So you’re moving in with him?”
“Yeah,” I say but sound unsure of myself. “It all seems so soon to move in together.” I pop the lid off my coffee and watch steam billow up from the cup. “And Lucas didn’t say anything, but I can tell time bothers him.”
“Time?”
“He’s going to live forever unless he’s murdered, basically. And I won’t.” I bite my lip. “A lifetime for me isn’t that long for him.”
“That would have to be hard,” Kristy says without thinking. “I mean, not that hard, because you two are totally good together and I, uh…”
“It’s okay. I know. I know it’ll be hard for us both, but more so for him. I can’t imagine having to watch him age and die, which is what he’s going to do with me.”
Kristy sets her latte down and pats my hand. “You’re young and have years before you have to worry about that. So enjoy the fancy house.” She smiles. “It’s big enough we can finally host that murder mystery party we’ve talked about for years.”
“I’m putting dibs on Ms. Scarlet. Any excuse to wear a fancy red dress.”
“You know Professor Plum is my favorite anyway,” she laughs.
I turn on the computer and go into the office to get the register drawer out of the safe. We have a few minutes before the store opens. It’s a hot and sunny day today, and I have a feeling it’s going to be busy.
“As your best friend, I feel I need to ask the hard questions,” Kristy says, using magic to roll up the blinds. “Do you want to move in with Lucas? Put the pressure of aging and dying aside.”
“I do. I love him, more than I ever thought I’d love anyone, let alone a vampire.” I turn on the open sign and unlock the door. “But when we’re together, I don’t think of him as a vampire. He’s just Lucas. The one I love and the one who makes me really fucking happy.”
“And this has nothing do to with the mind-blowing sex you brag about?” Kristy raises her eyebrows.
“I don’t brag, but in case you didn’t know, it’s the best sex I’ve ever had.”
> Kristy rolls her eyes. “You’re making me regret breaking things off with Daniel again.”
“You know he’ll be up for a booty call.” I wiggle my eyebrows, and she laughs.
“That’s what I thought last time, and it turned into him wanting to be together, and he’s nice and all, but…”
“Clingy,” I finish, knowing she’s too nice to say it.
“Yeah. Just a little. You know I like my space.”
“I do, which is why we’re such good friends,” I tease. A few customers come in, and our morning gets started like usual. Natalie comes in to get the book we were talking about last night. She’s all smiles and small talk, and I wonder if she’d be this friendly if she remembered the zombie crawling out of a hidden cubby in the attic last night. Which reminds me I need to tell Kristy about it.
Two hours later, we finally get a bit of a break. I sit on the barstool behind the counter, reheating my coffee with magic. My phone rings from the shelf under the register.
It’s Nicole, and my first thought is something dark and demonic is up. “Hey, lady,” I say into the phone.
“Hey,” she says back cheerfully, leading me to believe this is a social call. “Did you get the summons yet?”
“Summons?” I echo and Kristy looks away from the customer she’s helping find a mystery novel.
“Yes, the Grand Coven is paying us a visit tonight.”