“Married life has made you boring already, hasn’t it?”
“I’ll take boring for a while, though our sex life is as good as ever.”
“I’m jealous, and I don’t understand how you have the energy to have sex as often as you do.”
I laugh. “It’s a benefit of not being fully human, I suppose. And Lucas is very good at what he does. I know I’m going to come multiple times every time.”
“Maybe he should turn Phil into a vampire,” Abby jokes and we both laugh. We get one good hour in before Penny starts to whine and fuss. She just got over a nasty cold and it looks like it’s starting to come back, hence the extreme crabbiness.
We cut our excursion short, and I go back to Abby’s house with her, helping her deal with Penny as she gets dinner started. Penny is being extra clingy tonight and just wants to be held. Lucky for her, I’m the aunt for the job and I entertain her with magic. I leave right as the sun is setting, and make it to Eliza’s before dark.
“Hey, Callie,” she says when I get in and close the door. She’s redecorated, taking the overall feel of this place from modern and minimalistic to more of a classic, girly style.
“You redecorated. I love it!”
“Thanks. I never was a fan of how sparse and white everything was before. It needed more pink.”
“It’s really pretty.”
“It is,” she agrees. “My dinner is upstairs waiting for me. Stay down here.”
“I will.”
“Great.” She presses a smile and zooms up the stairs. I take off my shoes and go through the foyer and into the living room, which has been completely redone. There’s a pink rug in front of an ivory-colored couch, and a large vase of flowers sits on the coffee table.
I settle on the couch, pulling a thick pink blanket over my lap. I make it through half my book when Lucas shows up. I smile as soon as I see him, setting my book down and meeting him in the foyer. He looks…different. I can’t put my finger on it, though his cheeks almost appear flushed.
Which isn’t possible.
“Hello, husband,” I say, still getting a rush from calling him that.
“My sexy wife,” he replies and takes me in his arms. “How was your day?”
“Good. It’s always fun going out with Abby.”
“I’m glad.”
A door opens and shuts upstairs, and Eliza zooms down. “We have a problem.”
“Hello to you too,” Lucas says. Eliza pouts but zooms down the stairs. Lucas wraps her in a hug and kisses her forehead. “What’s the problem?” he asks.
“Anti-vampire protestors have gathered outside the bar again.”
“They’re allowed to protest.”
“Rene said they’re preventing people from coming in. They’re turning them away and are blocking the door.”
“They can’t do that,” Lucas sighs. “I’ll go deal with it.”
“I’ll come with you,” I tell him. “I kind of want one of those big pretzels from the bar anyway.” I grab my coat, knowing I’ll need it on this chilly September evening.
We drive the short distance to the bar and park about a block away.
“Do you feel that?” I ask when I get out of the car. I hold my hands up. “Something feels…off. Almost like it’s a full moon, but it’s not.”
“I feel something,” Lucas says and comes around the car. “But I can’t tell what it is.” He tips his head up and smells the air. “It almost smells like magic, but it’s…it’s…” He inhales again. “Different.”
“Like angel-different?” I ask, heart skipping a beat.
“No.”
“Well, that’s a relief. Except we both know what something indiscernibly weird means.”
Lucas looks at me and grins. “It’s been a while since we got to kill anything.”
“A whole two weeks. I am itching to try out my new demon-killing spell again. I feel like I should be ashamed to admit it, but I’m not,” I laugh.
He takes my hand in his and we start toward the bar. A small group of people are indeed blocking the door.
“Excuse me,” I say politely when we get up there. “You can’t block people from entering a public building.”
“This bar is owned by vampires!”
Lucas fakes his shock. “It is? I had no idea.”
“Yeah, disgusting, huh? They’re taking over our jobs now too.”
“Like you could own and manage anything.” Lucas draws his fangs and holds the protestor spellbound. “You love vampires. In fact, you want to be one. You’re going to bed every vampire you come across to turn an unworthy waste of human life into an immortal god. But you’re not going to ask me. You know you’ll never be good enough to be mine.”
“Yeah,” the guy says, nodding his head. “Holy shit, I love vampires! I love them so much!”
“No move along,” Lucas tells him. “Go home where it’s warm.”
“He’s a vamp!” another one of the protesters yells, seeing Lucas hold their buddy spellbound. Police lights flash down the street, coming to tell the protesters they can’t block an entrance—and exit—like this.
“Yes,” Lucas says, whirling around and drawing his fangs. “And I own his bar. If you have an issue with it, or want to protest, take it up with me.” He jerks forward, scaring two of the protestors. Someone who was walking down the street stopped to record this exchange.
“Fucking fanger!” one of the protestors yells and pulls a switchblade from his jacket pocket. Lucas, knowing the blade can’t do serious damage to him, holds up his hands and looks at the woman recording us. Any sort of vampire-human alteration like this has the potential to go viral, and he wants to make sure he looks innocent to prove that this human started it and he didn’t even fight back.
“He’s got a knife!” someone on the sidewalk yells and Lucas looks steps in front of me, shielding me from the protestors. I could easily use magic to knock the blade out of that guy’s hand, but I follow Lucas’s lead. Getting footage of a human attacking a vampire could work wonders in terms of vampire rights.
The police pull up to the curb and rush out of the car. Without warning, the protestor slashes the blade across Lucas’s abdomen. Lucas grunts in pain, but knowing he’ll heal in just a few seconds, Lucas seems more annoyed that he’s doing to have to change his shirt than deal with the pain.
The woman recording the video screams and the cops rush forward, apprehending the guy.
“I’ll be fine,” Lucas says, flashing his fangs. “But I’m most definitely pressing charges.”
Lucas winces and puts his hand on my stomach. His gray t-shirt is getting soaked in blood, and it’s dripping out much faster than it should be by now. The cops have the protestor on the ground now, and the others are trying to run away. I flick my wrist and trip them both, causing them to tumble into each other and crash onto the ground.
Keeping one hand over the wound, Lucas grabs me with his free hand and pulls me into the bar, going straight to the office. I run to keep up with him and know something is wrong when he perches on the edge of desk and looks down at himself.
Slowly, he peels his hand back, and I almost scream. Fresh blood runs down his stomach, pooling on the floor by his feet. His skin is flapped over, and I can see the muscle exposed from the torn skin.
“Callie,” he grunts and puts his hand back to his stomach. “Something is wrong. I’m…I’m not healing.”
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