Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“They’re here early,” he says with a grin, getting up and strolling past me to the foyer. I stay behind him, always apprehensive about meeting new people but especially when they’re vampires.
He opens the door and I’m immediately met with a blast of dark, ancient energy, making my scalp prickle and my hair stand on end.
Before me stands Solon, the purveyor of this energy and one seriously handsome dude, even by vampire standards. He’s tall, broad-shouldered and square-jawed with piercing blue eyes and chin-length black hair similar to Valtu’s, except his is straight and not wavy. He’s dressed impeccably in a charcoal grey wool coat, black pants, sleek boots. While his energy certainly brings this darkness and a sense of him being extremely old and almost sanctified, I don’t sense any evil in him. In fact, he seems quite calm and thoughtful.
I look to his woman, expecting the same thing.
That’s not what I get.
She’s a witch.
This woman is a fucking witch!
I stare at her for a moment, absolutely dumbstruck. A witch can always tell a witch, and that’s what this woman is. She’s stunning, young, with long honey-colored hair, dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, but she’s a witch. Standing alongside her vampire lover. For one millisecond it gives me hope for me and Valtu.
Then she meets my eyes and though her eyes are hazel, the pupils in them momentarily flash red, her nostrils flaring.
And then I know that she’s not just a witch.
She’s a vampire, too.
Oh fuck.
And now she’s staring at me, puzzled, trying to figure me out, like she’s trying to see past my glamor and then I see the moment when she lifts the veil and sees me for who I truly am.
Her eyes go wide.
They go angry.
As I said, a witch always knows a witch. She can see the glamor coating me like a shimmering cloak, knows I’ve been hiding my true identity.
Oh fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Solon, this is my girlfriend Dahlia,” Valtu says, gesturing to me. If I wasn’t staring at the witch-vampire in horror, I probably would have felt giddy over him addressing me as his girlfriend for the first time, at least in this lifetime. “Dahlia, this is Solon.”
I shake Solon’s hand, looking at him momentarily, trying to smile even though I’m holding my breath thinking that this girl is going to say something.
“And this is Lenore,” Valtu says. “She’s a vampire and a witch. We try not to hold that against her.”
Lenore stares at me, then looks at Valtu, then back at me, probably trying to gauge if he knows the truth or not.
Finally she clears her throat, putting on a fake smile and says. “Pleasure to meet you, Dahlia.”
“Yeah, I’m just a human,” I say through an awkward laugh, hoping that Lenore takes the hint and doesn’t out me right now.
“That’s okay, we don’t bite,” Solon says, his accent lightly British. Then catches himself. “Well, we’ll try not to.”
“Come on in,” Valtu says, opening the door wider. Solon and Lenore walk past me and Lenore stares right into my very soul as she does, her eyes burning me from the inside out.
Oh god. I am so fucked!
I follow them inside and they go with Valtu to the kitchen and then out to the garden where Valtu has arranged the patio table and chairs in the sun. It’s warm at the moment, the chill being held at bay thanks to lack of wind, but it doesn’t really matter to them since they don’t get cold.
I pause in the kitchen, not sure what I’m supposed to do. I should pretend to be a good host and get the platter I prepared out to them but I’m terrified, so terrified that I can’t move, I just stand by the island and watch Lenore and Solon sit down.
Valtu comes back inside and gives me a quizzical look. “You alright, my dove? You look a little pale.”
I nod. “Uh huh. Guess that sickness I had from last night is coming back.”
He peers at me then walks over, taking his fingers and running them through my hair, disarmingly tender as he does so. “You’re nervous about meeting my friends,” he says softly as he stares down at me. “Or you’re anxious because I introduced you as my girlfriend.”
I manage a quick smile, suddenly aware of how little time I have before this all blows up in my face. “No. No I loved that.” I swallow. “But maybe I am a little nervous.”
“They’ll love you,” he says. “I know Solon can seem a bit stoic, but he’s the real deal. And Lenore, she was like you. Meaning a human. She didn’t even know she was witch or a vampire until she turned twenty-one. Her parents hid it from her. They were vampire slayers, can you imagine that?”
Oh god, it keeps getting worse! Of course she can tell what I am.