The Exiled Vampire’s Second Wife

I was bored.

I hated Tuesdays. They were too early in week to even dream about the weekend coming up, and they were not the first day of the week so being tired, sluggish, and moody was inexcusable. At least my boss thought so.

It was a slow day at work today. It wasn’t even noon yet and it felt like I’d been here all eight hours already.

My stomach rumbled. I had caved about twenty minutes ago and ordered delivery, even though I knew I shouldn’t have spent the money on it. Working the front desk at a small, local hair salon didn’t pay much.

There was a time when I thought I wanted to be a hair dresser. That was until I realized how little money I would make. I told myself that wouldn’t matter if I loved what I did, but it turned out I didn’t like working in a salon. All the hair product burned my nose, the coworkers were all cliquey and bitchy, and being on your feet all day sucked.

I was glad I had gotten a job working in one before I had put in the time and money to go to cosmetology school. I didn’t know what I wanted to do instead though. I hadn’t figured that out yet. So here I was, sitting at the front desk of the hair salon I had started working at a year ago when I first moved to Florida.

My stomach growled again.

Finally the door chimed as my food arrived.

I tipped the delivery girl generously (because who wants to put up with peoples shit when you only get paid a minimum wage?) and thanked her as she turned to leave.

I scented it then, right as the door closed. That rose-and-ginger musky scent. I had smelled it a few times in the last few weeks, the scent always getting more intense and lasting lingering longer.

I hadn’t told anyone about it yet. My witch senses told me the scent belonged to someone important about to enter my life. It had been driving me crazy, wondering who it could be.

****

The smells of the incense and crystal shop enveloped me as I stepped through the door. It wasn’t too far from where I worked in the downtown area. I just needed to pick up some supplies I was running low on for my daily ritual.

As I entered the store, the scent hit me like a ton of bricks. They had to be close.

My heart started pounding, and my hands became sweaty. I did my best to clear my head and get what I came here for.

I was deciding whether or not I wanted to buy some more incense when he came up behind me.

“You should try sandalwood,” a smooth baritone voice said.

Not ready to turn around and meet him yet, I responded, “Only if I want my home to smell like a wood shop.”

He chuckled at that, and I relaxed a little. Deciding to face him, I turned around, but there was no one there. I looked around the shop, but the only people there were the cashier and an older Haitian woman at the checkout counter.

Confused, I quickly pulled some earthy incense off the rack and moved toward the front of the shop. Ten feet from the counter, I hear the voice again.

“Earth? So you don’t want your home to smell like a wood shop, but you’re okay with it smelling like mildew?”

I whipped myself around, but once again, there’s no one but me, the cashier, and the Haitian woman who was now walking out the door.

Taking a deep breath, I made my way to the counter. There was a bin of crystals next to the register, and at the last minute, I decided to grab some black tourmaline. The cashier finished ringing me up and I moved towards the door.

As I stepped out into the warm humid air, I heard him tut at me and say, “It’s going to take more than some black tourmaline to get rid of me, little witch.”

I turned around slowly this time, and there he was, leaning against the building right next to the door of the shop.

He had very dark skin and hair, clearly of either African or Haitian descent, though his accent was American. Sort of. It had a strange undertone to it that made it sound a bit old, like it was from another era, though it was very subtle. His eyes seemed a bit strange, they were still the beautiful deep brown of his ancestral heritage, but there was a deep red ring around the pupil.

He was dressed in board shorts and a black sleeveless t-shirt, typical of Floridians He would have blended into the crowd quite well if it wasn’t for his strange aura. He emanated a sense of dark power and mystery.

And he had that musky scent of rose-and-ginger.

He was just standing there, watching me take him in. I realized i had been staring for almost a minute, and I suddenly felt like an idiot.

So I fired at him in response to his earlier comment, “I was just hoping to keep the the creepy stalker vibes off of me. I’m well aware that a little piece of black tourmaline won’t keep vampires away.”

“So you know what I am then, mate?”

I went a little slack jawed at that. Mate? I was his mate?

“Witches don’t have mates,” I scoffed.

“But vampires do,” he replied with a slick tone that said ‘I’m more clever than you.’

That got on my nerves a little bit. “We are not mates,” I said and turned to walk away. I needed a drink. And maybe a cigarette. And I definitely needed to consult the cards tonight.

I jumped as all of a sudden he appeared in front of me. I knew of vampires existence, just as I knew of wolves, and witches, and a few other supernatural beings. I liked that term, ‘supernatural.’ most people thought of it as things that are otherworldly, but in truth it meant the opposite. We were a natural part of this world far older than humans, and we had a deep connection to the Earth.

While I knew these things and many others existed, I had very little experience with anyone supernatural outside of my family. We were witches, and my mother and aunt helped a nearby wolf pack on occasion though I rarely interacted with any of them when they came. So it was still a shock to see how vampires moved, or rather, not see.

“Don’t do that,” I snapped.

“Move quickly?”

“No, don’t scare me. Not unless you want to get hurt.”

His lips curved up into a smile. “You’re not going to hurt me.”

“I’m more than capable. But go ahead, underestimate me. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you realize how wrong you are.” I may not be as quite as fast and strong as him, but I had my magic.

He rolled his eyes. “I just wanted to know if you would at least go on a date with me since you don’t believe we are mates.”

I folded my arms. He continued, “I can see this is going to take time with you.”

“Not a chance in hell, vampire.”

And with that, I turned on my heel and walked away.