Night Tide Page 11
And she was grateful to have it.
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Remake Last Choice
Reese: Sacrifice Yourself
“Will it really protect Vendetta? And keep Castle Cove safe?” she asked him.
He regarded her with hellfire eyes. “Yes.”
“Then I’ll do it.”
“Really?” Ethan seemed genuinely surprised.
“Yes. I’ll do it.” It wasn’t like she was doing anything special with her life. She had no one here that really needed her. She thought of her ex, Violet, but Violet was fine. She didn’t need Reese any more than the ocean needed a grain of sand.
“Come here.” Ethan leaned across the seat as if to kiss her. But before he touched her lips with his, he said, “Your sacrifice will be rewarded. I will make sure of it.”
With fire in his eyes, Ethan lowered his mouth to hers and began to kiss her.
No, not kiss her, she realized. Drink her.
He was drinking her dry...
When Reese next came to awareness, at first she didn’t know where she was. It was dark and the shallow warm waters moved smoothly around her. Her strong, lithe form cut a trail through the reef, weaving in and out of the coral gardens. Small, trembling creatures dove into the coral and rock crevices, escaping her path.
She didn’t give chase. She wasn’t hungry. In fact, she didn’t want for anything. She enjoyed the steady rhythm of her strong body in the water and the way the underwater forest gleamed in the moonlight.
She couldn’t remember where she had been before this moment, or what she had been doing.
It didn’t matter. She had no destination in mind. No ambition to fulfill. She simply wanted to enjoy these moments, at home on the ocean floor, as her fins cut through moonlit waters.
It was a good life, she thought.
And she was grateful to have it.
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Remake Last Choice
Grayson: Call it a night
Daniel shrugged and offered a friendly smile. “No worries. Have a good birthday.”
He continued down the stairs and disappeared into the crowd. Grayson turned back, looking up to see if Liam was still there, but he was gone and so was his entourage.
With a shiver, Grayson decided it was time to go home. The night was catching up to him. He was tired and suddenly wanted his bed more than anything in the world.
He stepped out into the night and took a deep breath. His mind began to clear.
Pheromones, he realized. Like the sirens, vampires had their own pheromones that clouded the mind.
It’s a wonder that any human is able to accomplish anything in this town, he thought. All these freaking pheromones floating around.
But the pheromones had also suppressed that sad part of him, the part that was grieving the loss of Landon.
Now that he was alone walking the streets, reality pressed in on him again. His sadness felt too heavy in the moonlight. By the time he was at his front door, he was nearly in tears.
He slipped into the quiet house. He mounted the stairs as slowly as possible to avoid creaks and found Abby asleep in his bed.
He climbed in beside her. Abby stirred but didn’t wake. That was just as well. Grayson didn’t know what he could’ve possibly said to her if she had.
He woke to a soft knock on his bedroom door. He opened his eyes and found his mother standing in the frame, one hand on the handle, another on the jamb.
If his mother had any thoughts about the way Abigail was wrapped around his shoulder, sleeping soundly on his chest, she didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look directly at Abby.
And Grayson was too exhausted to care. He felt like his eyes were on fire. He couldn’t have slept for more than two or three hours.
“Abigail’s mom is going to be here in twenty minutes. I thought she might want a bagel or coffee before she goes.”
“Abby.” He shook her gently. “Abby, wake up.”
At first, her hold tightened on him.
“Abby, your mom is on her way.”
She raised her head, auburn hair covering her face. She pushed it back with her hand.
“Morning,” his mother said from the doorway. She came to the side of the bed and put Abby’s clean clothes on a pile. “I washed your clothes. Or you can just wear those.” She seemed to read Abby’s hesitation. “I can get them back some other time.”
“Thank you,” Abby said, sitting up. “I appreciate that.”
“Would you like a bagel and coffee?
“Yes and yes.” She smoothed her abundant hair out of her face.
“Blueberry or Everything?”
“Everything. Do you have any of that garlic spread?”
His mother smiled, but Grayson saw how it didn’t reach her eyes. “I do.”
“I’ll take that, please. Thank you.”
His mother gave him a look.
“I’ll make mine,” Grayson told her, before she shut the door with a nod.
“I love your mother,” Abby said, stretching her arms overhead.
“Do you need a washcloth or anything?” he asked. He knew Abby liked to wash her face in the morning.
“I still have one from yesterday.”
For a long time they both sat there, not moving, not speaking.
“It really happened, didn’t it? He’s really dead.” She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. “There was a moment when I was just coming awake and I thought—”
“I know,” he said. The last twelve hours of his life seemed like a crazy blur.
She took her clothes and disappeared into the bathroom without saying anything else.
Grayson went downstairs and found the bagels by the toaster. The smell of coffee filled the kitchen. It was some sort of mocha blend. He could smell the chocolate.
He cut a blueberry bagel in half with a knife and forced it into the slots of the toaster. He stood there while the elements glowed red.
Landon.
God, Landon. Was he really dead? Could he really be gone?
His mind kept bucking against the idea with disbelief.
Before he considered what he was doing, he had his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed Landon’s cell—he was the last one to call Grayson—and listened to the empty static on the line.
It went straight to voicemail.
“If you’re looking for Landon, you found him! What’s up?”
It beeped and Grayson considered leaving a message. His mouth was half open. The breath was there between his lips.
“Who are you calling?” his mom asked. She came through the swinging doors and crossed to the fridge. She pulled out a pitcher of OJ and stood there looking at him.
“No one,” Grayson said, slipping the phone back into his pocket. “I was checking my messages.”
It was a meaningless lie, but easier than opening himself up to have a conversation he wasn’t ready to have.
The toaster spit out his bagel and he took it into the dining room. He sat down at the table beside his father. That left a space between him and his mother for Abby, which already had a steaming cup of coffee and hot bagel waiting.
“What are you going to do today?” his father asked.
“I think you should stay home and rest,” his mother interjected. Her fierce blue eyes seemed to challenge his father to argue against her. “You clearly didn’t get enough sleep.”
His father seemed oblivious to any such challenge as he shoved the last bite of a bagel into his mouth and continued to scroll through his phone, catching up on the morning news.
“I’m supposed to be at work at two,” Grayson said. “But I could call in.”
“You should,” his mother said. “What will Tabitha do? Fire you?”
It was true that Grayson didn’t need his job at Curiosity Books. But he liked working there. There was something about the cramped rows and precariously perched stacks that comforted him. And it wasn’t like spending his afternoons in
a used bookstore was a hard job. Usually he spent it reading behind the register and saying hello to the customers who meandered in.
Every hour or so, there might be a purchase or two, but overall it was quiet.
The most exciting part of the gig was the ghost upstairs who liked to move around Ms. Monroe’s dining room furniture when she was away. And sometimes, if the ghost was particularly restless, she would pull a book from the shelves just to hear it hit the dusty carpet.
“Are you guys going to be here?” Grayson asked, forcing down a bite of his bagel. Thinking of Landon was making his throat tight again, but if he didn’t eat his mother would only come down harder on him. She was militant about self-care.
“No, I have to go into the lab for a few hours, but I’ll be home in the afternoon,” his father said.
“And I have office hours and two meetings,” his mother said. “But I’d be happy to cancel those if you want me to stay with you.”
“No,” he said and hoped he didn’t sound too eager. “I want to be alone.”
“Okay,” his mother said, but her face was contradicting her. It was clear she didn’t really think it was okay. “There’s still Chinese in the fridge and I also made a salad.”
“Thanks.”
“You’ll let us know where you’re going to be though,” his mother said. It wasn’t a question, even if it did tilt up at the end. “Work or here?”
Grayson Choice 6
Go to work
Stay home
Reese: Follow strange woman
Reese ran as fast as she could down the beach. She was faster than a human, given her shifter status, so she managed to make it back to her pile of clothes and up the steep sandy slope in moments.
She was still naked when she ran across the street toward her red pickup. She’d only just thrown the door shut when twin taillights sparked to life in front of her. A car parked several meters away, farther up Canyon Road hooked a U-turn on the road. Its engine revved as it sped back toward town. Reese ducked down, pressing her face to her warm fabric seats as the car passed.
She waited a few breaths and inched up just enough to check her side mirror. The car was speeding away. The coast was clear.
Once the taillights were small enough that she thought she could also turn around and not get caught, she keyed the ignition and threw the truck into drive. She U-turned in the middle of Canyon Road. Her tires spit rock and sand along the pavement as she wrenched her wheel left then right.
She dressed as she drove, getting her bra and shirt down over her head first. She pulled her wet hair out of her shirt and let it fall down her back, knowing it would have to be washed and detangled later and what a job that would be.
The pants were harder to get on. She managed only to get one leg inside them before giving up.
Reese kept the taillights in her line of sight, but didn’t get too close to the car. Again, she didn’t want the woman to realize she was being followed. As they passed Vendetta Heights, Reese vaguely noted the cluster of cars parked in the wild, open fields. No one would dare go into the Western Woods that bordered the Heights, but the Heights themselves were free game for vampires who wanted to hook-up with vamp-loving humans.
The field-turned-parking lot looked like any other make-out spot for teens. Laughter rippled through her open window as she passed and also caught the metallic tang of blood. And sex.
Reese slammed on her brakes and downshifted as a woman stepped off the shoulder into her headlights. She disappeared before the red pickup could connect with her.
Reese sat in the middle of the road, heart rabbiting in her throat.
“Fucking ghosts.” Reese shifted her truck back into first gear. “Fucking ghosts.”
She stepped on the gas again, rushing to recover some of the lost distance.
The car up ahead had stopped at the four-way and turned left, creeping slowly into the adjacent parking lot.
“Damn,” Reese said, knowing where the woman was headed.
Reese gave her a wide berth before pulling into the gravel lot herself.
She looked at the old-timey saloon sitting in front of her.
The Crossroads.
A demon bar posted at the last four-way stop out of town. Patroned almost entirely by demons, shifters and humans only went into the bar if they had business. Like soul-selling business.
Reese hadn’t detected any demonic energy from the woman as she’d watched her calling down her magic from the ocean and sky. So was the woman a human playing with magic or a full-blown witch? Maybe she’d made some deal with a demon for a certain power and was pissed that all it had gotten her was a stormy sky?
Surely she wouldn’t like it when she found out there was a no-returns policy on souls...
The dark wave music seeping out into the night didn’t match the look of the bar. It really did look like a saloon straight out of an old western. The wooden porch. The windows with worn shutters. Those windows looked possessed themselves, like twin glowing eyes watching Reese contemplate her next move in the solemn darkness of her truck.
There were half a dozen cars and three motorcycles in the lot.
She weighed her options.
Reese could hold her own in a fight, but demons never played fair. Besides, she just wanted to know what that woman was up to. It was up to the long-time residents of Castle Cove—people like Reese, Kristine, Cole—to keep their eyes open for trouble like this.
“I could pretend to be looking for Cole,” she murmured to herself. Cole was a demon but also her friend and neighbor. Maybe no one would question why she came to a demon bar looking for her demon friend then. “I can just peek in there and see what she’s up to.”
Realizing the only person she was trying to convince was herself, she gripped the steering wheel.
Reese Choice 7
Go into the bar
Call it a night
Grayson: Go with the vampire
“Let’s go to your place,” Grayson said. His face flushed hotter as he forced the words from his lips.
Daniel smiled. “Let’s.”
When he stepped around Grayson to take the lead, Liam stepped up to the head of the stairs. Liam held Grayson’s gaze with dark, curious eyes. Looking into those eyes, Grayson suspected he understood what Daniel had meant by heartbreaker.
Liam spoke, but his eyes remained fixed on Grayson. “Daniel.”
The vampire froze, his hand stiffening on Grayson’s. “Yeah?”
“Be careful tonight.” And with that he broke the gaze and turned away. Grayson felt all the heat in his body leave in a single whoosh. His knees nearly buckled underneath him.
What is it with that guy?
“Of course,” Daniel said, and Grayson heard the hollow click in his throat.
Daniel pulled him down the staircase and across the foyer. They stepped out into the night together.
“You can’t take the glass,” the doorman said, snatching it from Daniel’s hand before he was even off the porch. He moved so fast that Grayson had barely seen the man’s hand move.
Daniel forced a pouty face. “Let me finish it at least.”
He snatched it back with a triumphant grin and threw back the alcohol. That’s when Oli, the doorman seemed to register Grayson’s appearance.
He looked from Grayson to Daniel and nodded. “Not bad. You could’ve done worse.”
Daniel snorted. “Thank you for the endorsement, Oliver.”
He reached for Grayson. “Come on.”
Grayson followed him off the porch onto the sidewalk. His sneakers scuffed pavement as they headed east toward the university.
“Does the birthday boy have a wish?” Daniel asked. He was walking close to Grayson, their shoulders brushing every few steps. “Everyone gets a birthday wish.”
Grayson shrugged. “I don’t know.” For my friend to not be dead.
Daniel pointed at the adjacent street and they cut across after a baby blue Prius passed.
; “Gentle, rough, role play, I mean I can do just about anything.”
Grayson’s face flushed. “It’s my first time.”
Daniel stopped walking. “Ever?”
Grayson laughed. It was a high, nervous sound. “No. I mean with a vampire. And a man.”
Daniel placed a hand over his chest. “I’m honored, Grayson. What do you usually go for?”
He thought of Abby. “Human girls.”
Daniel snorted as if Grayson made a joke. Grayson wasn’t sure it was. It was true he’d never slept with a man before, but he had found a few attractive. He’d wondered if it was the supernatural element. When it came to humans, it was mostly women he noticed. But when they weren’t human, he seemed more...fluid in his choices.
“Then perhaps I should take the lead on this one?” Daniel suggested. He stopped outside a brick apartment building and removed a key from his pocket. It jingled on the ring. He was watching Grayson’s face carefully. “Assuming you still want to come up?”
Grayson nodded.
“Just checking.” Daniel pushed open the door and hit the light switch. “I’m on the top floor, 303.”
Grayson followed the carpeted stairs up to the top floor. There were two doors on the large level, one on each side. Number 303 was on the left.
He waited at the red door for Daniel to fish out another key.
The apartment door opened with a creak revealing a wide, open floor plan. The kitchen was modern and nicely updated. The appliances were gleaming stainless steel and the counter a dark granite. Daniel seemed to follow his gaze. “Yeah, it’s a tragedy that this place has such a nice kitchen and I’ll never cook in it.”
He went to the fridge. “But I do have some drinks if you want something. Coffee, tea, OJ and vodka. I can make you a screwdriver if you want.”
“Isn’t giving alcohol to minors illegal?” Grayson asked. He realized he was hovering in the doorway and Daniel was waiting for him to move so he could shut the door.
Grayson stepped into the apartment.
“No to the drink then?”
“Water is fine,” he said.
Opposite the kitchen was an open living room with a large TV and teal couch. Between them, on the far wall were sliding doors to the balcony. He crossed and looked out on the courtyard below.