Chapter 3

When I got home, I saged the apartment to get rid of any residual energies and got my tarot cards out.

I sat on the floor beside my coffee table. Everyone knows you should sage your cards before using them too, so I did that and shuffled them around before laying them out on the table.

I had decided to do the Celtic cross spread, a spread involving ten cards, six of them forming a cross, and the other 4 laid in a vertical pattern off to the side.

I wasn’t sure what sort of answers I was hoping to get, but I figured this spread could help answer my biggest questions: could I really have a mate, was it him, and what would this mean for my life?

It is usually best to keep one open ended question in mind when consulting tarot cards, but this particular spread is meant to give greater insight in a broad overview.

I laid each card with intention: my current position in life, what crosses me now, hidden influences, what led me to this point, internal influences, what lies ahead, my current attitude, external influences, my hopes or fears, and the likely outcome.

My current position was the queen of swords. Someone independent but guarded. What crossed me was the page of cups in a reversed position. A page of cups usually meant some sort of message about love coming in, but since it was reversed it likely was because I wasn’t ready to listen to it yet.

What led me to this point was the six of swords, a symbol of leaving and cutting off the past, moving on to a fresh start. thats exactly what I did when I moved to Florida about a year ago, but my fresh start hadn’t worked out the way I had hoped.

What lies ahead was the fool card. It usually meant a new journey beginning. One that could possibly involve this vampire mate.

The hidden influences card was troubling. It was a three of swords which often meant broken hearts or a physical death or medical emergency. I certainly hoped no one would die, and I hadn’t felt a broken heart in some time. Perhaps he had been broken hearted? by a previous relationship? Maybe that’s what was driving him to make me his mate.

The internal influences placement had the ace of cups. That probably represented the part of me that wanted this, that was intrigued by the idea of having a vampire mate.

Over in the vertical placements, my current attitude had the star card reversed. The star card usually represented hope in its upright position, but since it was reversed it signified to me that while I wanted it, I wasn’t allowing myself to be hopeful about where it could lead.

Next up was the external influences which was the devil card. I wasn’t sure what that meant. I was at a complete loss as to how it factored in. I supposed it would reveal its meaning given time.

The hopes and fears placement had the tower card. The tower card represented life altering changes, and old ways and systems being torn down to make way for the new. Maybe that was what a I needed, something to shake up my life after the way the last few years have gone.

The outcome placement had the lovers card. This card normally symbolized having a choice to make, and in this situation, maybe that meant I had to choose love? But that didn’t really make sense, this was supposed to show me the likely outcome if I already chose love. So perhaps in this instance it was meant to represent a perfect match. The match of my dreams.

A knock on the door made me jump, breaking out of my reverie. Right. The date. He must be here to pick me up. I went to go open the door.

As soon as opened it he gave me a smirk. “Doing a reading on me little witch?”

I folded my arms and didn’t bother to move aside to let him in. “Well it seemed like a good idea since I’m going on a date with a complete stranger who hasn’t even told me his name by the way.”

“An oversight on my part. My name is Daquarious, but you can call me Dax.”

“Daquarious…..?” He gave me a blank stare. “No family name?” The only way to become a vampire was to be turned. They could procreate, but the child would be born a human. Children of vampires were normally turned when they came of age in some sort of ceremony. The only way to be turned into a vampire was to be claimed by one of the old families. The families existed around the world, and vampire families were notorious for acting as mafia families. It was the main reason people tended to avoid vampires. That, and the fact they drank human blood.

He answered carefully, “No. I don’t have a family.”

“Bullshit, there’s no way you could be a vampire without belonging to one.”

He hesitated. “I had one once. I no longer associate with them.”

“They just let you walk away?” I raised a brow.

“It was a bitter parting. But the point is I don’t belong to any of the vampire families. Not anymore.”

Interesting. Maybe I didn’t need to be so afraid of having a vampire mate.

“Aren’t you going to tell me your name?” he asked in that smooth baritone.

“Don’t you already know it stalker?”

“You have some very poor manners. The polite thing to do when someone tells you their name after you practically demand it, is to tell them yours.”

“I’m from New York. I don’t do ‘polite.’”

“Well you live in the south now, so time to learn some manners. Now what is your name?” He gave me a mildly condescending look.

I ground my teeth. “Marianna.”

“Do you have a nick name?”

“No,” I ground out. “It’s just ‘Marianna’ and don’t try to give me one either.”

He gave me a lop-sided grin. “Okay. Now invite me in.”

I stepped to the side. He tried to take a step in but was stopped by an invisible force. I gave him a saccharine smile.

“Very funny. A spell to keep vampires out.”

“A blessing, actually, which I had put on the apartment when I moved in. Just in case. I’m glad to see though that you haven’t tried to break into my house while I’m sleeping though.”

“And you decided not to take it down or allow me passage for tonight?”

“Let’s see how this date goes. Then I’ll decide.”

“Fair enough. Is that what you are wearing on our date?” he gave me a once over.

I didn’t know if I should be offended. “Would it bother you if it is?”

I was just wearing some comfortable shorts and a t-shirt I put on when I got home from work. I was planning on changing, but since I didn’t know where we were going yet, I hadn’t decided on an outfit. I supposed I should dress how he was dressed.

He had on an expensive looking red and black hoodie with the sleeves pushed up, and designer jeans. I could also see a belt peaking out from underneath his hoodie, and some bracelets and a gold chain necklace.

It was a very casual look, but somehow it seemed very dressed up. He looked good. Really good.

“Enjoying the view?” he asked breaking my reverie. I had been staring again. Why did I keep doing that?

He laughed. “To answer your question, you do look very good in this particular outfit,” he said hungrily, “but I don’t think it will be appropriate for our date.”

“I’ll be right back.” I gave him a sweet smile before I shut the door.

I quickly put away my tarot cards before going into my room.

I decided on dark blue jean shorts, a white spaghetti strap blouse with a light grey cardigan sweater, and wedges.

I quickly pinned the front pieces of my soft brown curly hair back, and put on some lip gloss. I looked myself over in the mirror.

What am I doing? I asked myself. As I looked at myself in the mirror, my sea green eyes stared back at me.

For a moment, I was in another bathroom staring into the mirror, my face covered in blood. I began to hyperventilate as I scrubbed at my face. The blood. There was so much and it wouldn’t come off. The room was closing in on me. I had to escape. There were footsteps and a male voice asked through the door—

The mirror in my bathroom had cracked bringing me back to the present. Shit. My landlord was definitely going to charge me for that.

I would deal with it later. I grabbed a pair of large dangling earrings from my jewelry box, and headed back towards the front door as I put them in my ears.

He was standing a few steps outside my door when I opened it again. He had a serious look on his face, and something told me he had been pacing.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

I nodded, grabbed my purse and keys, and locked the door behind me as I walked down the stairs with him.