Chapter Four

“You’re sure about that?” Lucas raises an eyebrow as I move onto the porch.

“Yeah, so…I invite you—wait. I need to establish a few ground rules.”

“Certainly, my lady.”

I wave my hand over the lock, using magic to open the door. I’m teetering on my heels, not sure if I’m regretting that last drink I had back at the stupid hipster bar or thankful for the extra alcohol flooding my veins. I push open the door and step inside, turning around and looking at Lucas. He can’t come in, not until I officially say the words.

“Don’t attack me,” I start, putting one hand on the doorframe for support. “I don’t feel like cleaning up the ashy mess of your remains if you do.”

“You think you could stop me?”

“I know I could stop you.”

His full lips pull into a grin. “Fair enough. I can control myself.”

I roll my eyes at him. “And the most important rule. Do. Not. Fuck. With. My. Cats.”

“You don’t want me to fuck with your pussy?” he retorts, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

“Pussies,” I snap, raising my eyebrows. “I have three cats. Do not touch them. Hell, don’t even look at them. They probably won’t like you.”

He laughs. “I wouldn’t have taken you for a crazy cat lady. At least you’re hot.”

Shaking my head, I step back. “Then, Lucas, I invite you into my home.” My heart flutters as soon as I say the words. There’s no going back now. He’s been invited. He can come in whether I like it or not.

Stepping in behind me, he closes the door and looks around the foyer. I take off my heels and walk right into the kitchen. I open the fridge and pull out a bottle of wine.

“Haven’t you had enough?” Lucas asks, moving at vamp speed, making it seem like he appeared out of nowhere. He takes the bottle from my hands. “I admit it’s been a millennium or two since I’ve had anything other than blood to drink, but judging by your size, you’ve had more than enough tonight.”

“Oh please.” I snatch the bottle back. “I can drink as much as I like. Why, are you worried I’ll overdo it and die or something?”

“Not worried, though I do think you’ve already overdone it.”

I make a face and try to twist the cap off the wine and then realize there’s a cork in it. Shit. Maybe I have had enough. There’s just something about a homecoming to bring out the alcoholic in me. Forgoing a corkscrew, I set the bottle on the counter and look at the cork. It rises out of the bottle and hovers in the air. I grab it and put it on the counter.

“Why are you set on drinking yourself to death?” Lucas takes the bottle from me again.

“I’m not.”

“Really? You have enough alcohol in you to make me feel drunk if I were to drink your blood.”

I bring my arms in, fighting a shiver. “I didn’t realize it worked like that.”

“It doesn’t affect me as much as it affects you, but what you eat or drink does make its way to your bloodstream.”

“Hmm. Good to know.”

“Really, Callie,” he says, rounding on me. The intensity in his eyes is suffocating. I want him to look away as much as I want to stare into his eyes forever. “What are you running from?”

I close my eyes in a long blink, and the words burn in my throat. I haven’t said them out loud to anyone. Not even myself.

“There’s an emptiness inside me, and no matter what I do or how hard I try to ignore it, it never goes away.  The emptiness will always be there, slowly eating away, seeping deeper and deeper into my bones until it becomes a part of me.” I close my eyes in a long blink, exhale, and shake myself. The source of the emptiness is yet another issue to be explored, but at least I know where it’s coming from.

Though it’s so deeply rooted into my soul, I don’t know how I’ll ever escape it.

“And I’m mentally preparing myself for possibly considering going to my niece’s birthday party in like a week.”

Lucas tips his head, looking at me curiously. He leans against the kitchen counter and shifts his gaze, taking in the rest of the house. I’ve lived here for five years, and I’ve done upgrades over the years. It was in bad condition when I bought it and haunted as fuck.

Which is part of what drew me to this place.

After the ghosts were banished, the black mold cleaned out, and the water pumped out of the basement, I started the slow process of remodeling. This kitchen was the first thing I redid, and not to toot my own horn, but I freaking love it. It’s light and bright and I was able to reconfigure everything to fit in a very small island counter.

“You’re drinking now for a party that’s a week away?”

“It’s a long story, and no, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I believe you,” he says, voice soft. He looks deep into my eyes and neither of us speaks. A moment passes between us, and in those few seconds I know he feels the emptiness inside of him too. My lips part and I want to cave and give in to my body, kissing him and letting him have me, making me feel—even briefly—nothing but pleasure.

Then Binx comes running, meowing as he jumps onto the counter next to me. He starts purring as soon as I run my hand over his sleek black fur.

“He’s hungry.” I turn away and open a cabinet, pulling out a wine glass. “And I need a drink.” I pour pink Moscato into the glass, filling it to the brim. I take a long drink and turn back to Lucas. “You must think I’m a basket case of a witch.”

He chuckles again but shakes his head. “No. That’s now how I see you.”

Taking another small sip, I set the wine down and cross my arms tightly over my chest. I hold out a hand in front of me, conjuring a string of magic. Lucas leans in, inhaling deep. I don’t know if the raw energy I’m holding in my hand has a specific smell to him or not, but I do know he can feel the pull from the magic.

“How do you see me?”

“I see the only human whose power rivals mine.” His brow furrows and the pain he’s feeling deep inside manifests into his expression. But the moment is fleeting, and he jerks back, giving me a cocky grin. Pulling his lips back into a snarl, he shows his long, sharp fangs. “That, and lunch.”

“Isn’t it a little late for lunch?” I shoot back, not missing a beat.

A guttural growl escapes from deep inside him, and the ancientness that surrounds him becomes palpable. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?”

Holding his gaze, I bend my fingers into my palm and absorb the bit of magic I was toying with. “No.”

“You should be.”

“I could say the same for you.”

He inches closer, shifting his gaze from my eyes to my lips. “I suppose. But I’m well over a thousand years older than you. And you’re drunk.”

“Not drunk enough.” Binx meows again and rubs against me. “I know,” I tell him. “I’ll feed you. What do you want? Chicken or fish tonight?”

“You really are a crazy cat lady, aren’t you?”

I pick up Binx, not wanting Lucas to get too close. “There’s no point in denying it.” I go to the fridge and get out the fish, dishing it up and using magic to heat it to the exact temp each of my felines likes. I set the bowls down, smiling as I watch all three cats dig into their dinner, and grab my wine, taking a long drink. Lucas isn’t in the kitchen anymore.

“Marco,” I call, letting out a sigh, and walk through the kitchen into the dining room. “You’re supposed to say ‘Polo’ and I know you can hear me.”

Closing my eyes, I hold out a hand and scan the energy in the house. Lucas is upstairs. In my bedroom.

My. Fucking. Bedroom.

“What the hell?”

He’s standing over my weapons chest with the lid open. He holds up a razor-sharp scythe with a handle made from human bone. “You’re not like a regular witch, are you?”

I put my hand on my hip and give him a big wink. “I’m not a regular witch. I’m a cool witch.”

He looks at me incredulously.

“Seriously? You’ve never seen Mean Girls?” Shaking my head, I wave my hand, using magic to close the wooden chest. “And stop going through my things.”

He sets the scythe down and comes over, stopping only when his body is a mere inch from mine. If he were alive, I’d feel his body heat coming off in waves. But nothing about him is hot, well, except for the way he’s making me feel right now. I swallow hard, allowing myself a few seconds to admire everything about him.

He’s tall. Muscular. He has the darkest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Rough stubble covers his strong jaw, and his brown hair is perfectly messy. I conjure up another string of magic, a thin strand of blindingly bright white light. It would burn Lucas if I touched it to him, and he knows it.

Instead of backing away, he cups his hand around mine, fingers dangerously close to the string of magic. I splay my fingers, letting the little piece of magic go into the air. Then I turn, angling my body toward Lucas. He closes his hand around mine, sliding his thumb down to the pulse point in my wrist. A deep growl comes from within his chest, and his fangs slide down.

“You don’t scare me,” I whisper, reaching forward and gently cupping his cheek. His skin is soft but cold as if he was a human who spent too much time outside in the winter. He doesn’t feel dead, and he certainly doesn’t look like it. “But do I scare you?”

With another snarl, his fangs retract. “Humans don’t scare me.”

I take a deep breath, aware of how close we’ve become. “I’m not quite human, though, am I?”

“No,” he says. “You’re not. And I find that very appealing.”

And then I remember him saying he thought about his tongue against my nipple, and that visual sends a shiver through me. I break away, not wanting him to sense what I’m feeling. I turn, feeling those few mouthfuls of wine take hold of me.

“I’m going to, uh, change,” I blurt, needing to put more distance between us. I usher Lucas out of my room, change, and find him downstairs. I’m getting annoyed with him just walking around my house like he owns the place.

The house isn’t big, with the downstairs consisting of a living room, kitchen, small formal dining room, and even a den that I have set up like an office. Upstairs, I have my bedroom, the only bathroom in the house, and another small bedroom. He’s in the living room, looking at photos I have displayed on the wall.

A smirk plays on his face as he takes in my gray PJs. “Most women come back with less clothes on when I’m around.”

“I’m not like most women.”

“I see, and something tells me you rather enjoy being different. I’m right, aren’t I?”

I swallow hard, wrapping my robe tight around my body. What a loaded question. “Yeah. I do. Being normal is overrated.” I sink down on the couch, and Binx jumps up in my lap. Freya, a gray tabby, circles the couch, giving Lucas the stink eye, and Pandora, an orange-white-and-black calico sits on the bottom stair, growling.

Lucas looks at each of them, and for a second, I think he can sense them for what they really are.

“It’s late,” I blurt. “For me at least. And I’ve had a long, trying day. Thank you again for taking me home. We have no debt.”

“We never did,” he says, cocky grin taking over his face once again.

“What?”

“You think I don’t know when blood is spilled in my own place of business? I could smell it the second he sank his teeth into her neck.”

And now Binx is growling. “You lied to me?”

“Of course I did. I told you, you’re a curious thing to me. I wanted to see more. And now that I have…” He licks his lips.

“Get out.”

He holds up his hands. “Leaving, my lady.”

“Don’t fucking call me that.”

He edges toward the door. “For a witch, I’d think you’d know to rescind my invitation.”

“Oh, I do know all about that. Just like I know the only way to kill you is with a silver-tipped wooden stake. And I’ve got a dozen stakes upstairs. Though, really, I have enough protection spells put on this place I’d love to see you try to come in here again once my circle is cast. We’ll see how cocky you are when your flesh has been burned down to the bone.”

His smile wavers, but only a bit. “Well, then, my lady, I bid you goodnight.”

“You better fucking bring me my car!” I yell as he goes out the door. I wave my hand, magically closing and locking it. Pandora jumps off the bottom stair.

“Not tonight,” I tell her, knowing she’s ready to give me an I told you so speech. “I know. I fucking know. Never trust a vampire.”