I didn’t have to wait long for Nevi to return home. Marie and Keona worked out a reversal for the witch’s protection the rogues enjoyed all those many months. My three hundred-year-old vampire’s strengths had been amplified by an enormous amount of handler blood and his wrath was unleashed. Combined with the allegiance of a thousand-year-old handler and a fifty-year-old, incredibly bitchy vampire and Frank and his cronies didn’t stand a chance.
I made an anonymous call to the police on Geoffrey’s behalf. They reached him just in time to save him. I will probably wonder if it was the right thing to do for my remaining days.
It took several days for Nevi to come down from his handler blood high, and even longer for Marie and Keona to cleanse him enough with their herbal concoctions so that his hunger was once again satisfied by vegetarian food; not to mention becoming tolerable company. During this time, the two women did their best to calm
The clock struck midnight. Finally. Time dragged far more tortuously than I could have ever imagined. I have no idea what possessed me to attend a New Year’s party stag. Adding to the emptiness of no one to kiss when the television showed the ball dropping in Times Square as the clock struck midnight, was the sting of not knowing a soul in the room. I felt completely out of place. My promise to myself to do something new on New Year’s Eve never failed me, until now. This party crowd was a cliquish and unfriendly lot. I didn’t belong here. I should never have come. I’m not bad looking. Although, this particular night I felt like an unattractive wallflower, standing alone and unnoticed. I suddenly understood the meaning of being lonely in a crowd. Well, the clock struck midnight. I’d brought in the New Year doing something new. I was surrounded by the new people I’d been sure I needed in order to bring new experiences into my life for th
New Year’s Day. Groan. The effort of opening my eyes to face the trickle of sunshine peeking through my bedroom window was grueling. After a long cat-like stretch, I swung one leg over the edge of the bed and then forced the rest of me to follow. I’ve always disliked getting up in the morning. Today was especially hard. Not only was I hung over and worn out from my vomit inducing party the night before, but I knew I had to prepare myself for New Year’s Day dinner at my parent’s house. It wasn’t my parents I dreaded seeing. I loved them dearly and enjoyed spending time with them. It was my know-it-all sister, Lisa, and her equally know-it-all husband, Brad, who I dreaded spending time with. Lisa and I were born exactly two years apart to the day. She—being the elder—constantly bemoaned her fate at having to share her birthday with me… the freak. Not only were we born on the same day, but we were true to our Irish heritage by being St. Patrick
My body was on autopilot as my car sped down the old county road toward the convenience store where I’d met Nevi Sharpe. It was as if a homing device took over. It was a good thing too, since my mind was off in so many directions. I didn’t belong behind the wheel of a car. I was shaken and confused and in absolute denial of what Geoffrey Jenkins had insisted was fact. My mind whirled as it tried to decipher fantasy from reality. It was such an outrageous claim. He simply had to have been making it up. Geoffrey had looked me straight in the eye—as sober as you please—and informed me that he was a handler. He handled situations that had to do with the supernatural. How did one become a handler? Why, you were born to the task, of course. Apparently, handlers possessed different talents. His happened to be telepathy, which was why he was able to project his thoughts into my head. His tale got even more fantastic when he claimed that I was a handler too. H
As the days progressed, my humiliation over my date slowly faded. I fell into my normal routine. It was as if my new year hadn’t started in the odd way it had. I began looking ahead instead of back. Which was why I was pretty annoyed when Geoffrey Jenkins strolled into the diner and plopped himself down at the counter. I was cooking and not serving. Thank goodness for small wonders. He conveniently planted himself on the stool at the counter, placing him directly opposite the order window. If he hadn’t known I was in the back cooking when he sat down, it wasn’t long before he did. Sparks flew clear into the kitchen when our eyes met. I could swear my toes curled! My treacherous body had a mind of its own. It annoyed me to no end. After all, I’d already made a complete ass of myself with one good-looking guy, and now, not a week later, guy number two came waltzing in to my place of employment to complete my humiliation. Was nothing sacred? No! No! No!
My head was pounding. I rolled over in my bed and slammed my hand onto the alarm’s shut-off switch. I yanked the covers over my eyes to avoid the anticipated glare of the light that automatically switched on to accompany the blaring of my alarm clock. The clock was a concoction my parents rooted out of some novelty shop on one of their many trips abroad to assist me with my aversion to getting out of bed. It was annoying, but it worked. I couldn’t believe it. Once again, I’d gone blank and didn’t remember the end of my date with Nevi. Once again, I’d awoken to find myself tucked safely in my bed. As before, my dress hung neatly in the closet. This time I was wearing my favorite Mickey Mouse nightshirt. I thought about the amount of alcohol I’d consumed at dinner and scowled. I’d promised myself to go easy on it. I was so incredibly comfortable in Nevi’s company that I forgot about being cautious with my drinking. I’d tossed caution to the wind and paid absolutely no
I was still feeling the effects of Geoffrey’s embrace when Nevi arrived for our date. Fortunately, Nevi’s presence was such that it demanded my full attention. I soon forgot all about my little afternoon fling. I’d labored most of the day over Geoffrey’s insistence that Nevi was a vampire. I couldn’t shake it, even though I knew it wasn’t true. Now that I’d decided Geoffrey wasn’t crazy, how could I not justify this claim? It was a real puzzler. The day was gray and dreary. The sun had been lucky to accomplish mastering the projection of the few rays that oozed through the sea of heavily laden clouds. It looked like early evening even at high noon. At least the snow had stopped and the snowplows were able to clear the roads in time for my date. Even so, I was relieved to see Nevi left his Jaguar home. I could only imagine how that beast drove in the snow. Instead, he arrived in a Mercedes SUV. Practical luxury. You go, Nevi. I was eager to le
I slept like a baby tucked snugly beneath my favorite down comforter while Mother Nature attacked the blackened world outside with a snowy vengeance. I relived my fabulous night at the movies in my dreams with smug satisfaction. I couldn’t say what movie we’d seen. It really didn’t matter. I’d spent an incredible two hours in the darkness of the movie theater—a veritable lover’s paradise—and a bit more time in my driveway when he brought me home in the arms of the most perfect man. We alternated between the throws of deep passion and a contented cuddle. It had been the perfect night. All my prayers and dreams of meeting Mr. Right paid off. Prayers do get answered!The world was immobilized by the time my alarm besieged my perfect slumber. It was time to get up for work. Reluctant to leave my blissful memories and fantasies, I grudgingly slapped at the off button to the alarm, but it just kept ringing. After a few more attempts it regi
I was miserably stiff and sore when I awoke the following morning.I was, once again, alone in soft folds of his enormous four poster bed. This time there was a note on the pillow next to me. There was no clock in the room, but I sensed it was late morning. Grabbing the note, I slid out of bed and hobbled over to the window. I smiled as I peeked from behind the thick, drawn drapes. The sun was just beginning to climb over the horizon. The dark clouds had parted, somewhat. It looked like the sun was finally going to grace us with some of its brilliant rays.The roads had been plowed sometime in the night and a man was busy clearing Nevi’s circular driveway and sidewalks with an industrial sized snow blower. Seeing me, he stopped the blower and stared up for what I considered a rude length of time with a ridiculous smirk on his face. Nevi had raised the flame of the fireplace and the room was nice and toasty. It was so much so that I hadn’t felt chilled when