Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Y … yes,” she said, nodding.
“It’s perfect. You nailed the vibe you were hoping for in here too. Bright and happy, but cozy and inviting.”
The door opened with a chime, making Victor turn to look at the man coming inside. A man so well-built that you could see the muscles through the thin material of his shirt. He had chiseled features and cool, dark eyes.
Something about him had Victor’s brows furrowing as he turned back to Pandora.
“Gargoyle,” she said, never wanting to lie to him again.
“Gargoyle,” Victor said with a little laugh. “Guess there’s still a lot I need to learn. Are there other creatures?”
“Well, Lucy is a werewolf,” Pandora told him, waving over toward where Lucy was making lattes behind the counter in the café section of the shop.
“A werewolf. Wow.”
“And there are fae, succubi, sirens … basically all the creatures you read about in fiction are based, at least partially, on reality.”
“I should be more shocked than I am,” he said. “How have you been, Pandy?”
She knew she was supposed to feed him some platitudes, tell him she was all right, that everything was OK. After all, her misery was of her own making.
But she couldn’t force out even a kind lie. Not to him.
“Not good.”
To that, Victor’s head tipped to the side as he watched her.
“I knew it was you,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“The funding for my department. I knew it was you the second I heard about it.”
“It was the right thing to do,” she said. “I didn’t think you would take the money directly from me. But if it came through the school, I thought you would take the opportunity to finish your PhD. You’ve earned it.” When he didn’t immediately reply, Pandora leaned forward. “Please tell me you took advantage of it.”
“The next term hasn’t really started yet, but, yes, I decided to finish.”
“Oh, good. I’m so glad to hear that. How have you been?”
“Doing a lot of thinking,” he said.
“About?”
“Many things. Not the least of which, going back over every movie, show, and book I’ve read about vampires, as well as my entire thesis, knowing now what I know.”
“Any new conclusions?”
“That you’re not purely evil creatures.”
“How did you come to that?”
“Because I spent weeks around your family,” he told her. “No one who has met Ravenna would think she’s evil.”
“But she drinks blood,” Pandora said, pitching her voice lower.
Victor glanced around. Clearly uncomfortable with the close quarters and possibly eavesdropping ears, he looked back at her. “Is there an office where we may speak more freely?”
“Sure.” She led him down the hall, past the toilets and into the shoebox-sized office.
Away from the scents of brewing coffee and sugary syrups, Victor’s cinnamon, vanilla, and leather scent overwhelmed her senses, making her chest feel tight and her skin warm.
The longing was acute and instantaneous, and she couldn’t help but wonder if the need was etched all over her face.
“That’s something I’ve been wondering about,” Victor said, no longer whispering.
“What?” Pandora asked, too focused on the nearness of him to keep track of the conversation.
“The blood.”
“Oh, right. OK. What about the blood?”
“Does Ravenna drain people? As in dry?”
“Not that I know of, no.”
“But it happens.”
“Yes, it happens.”
“The night of the stag and hen party …”
“I thought he’d been drained,” Pandora said. “Lucy and I were worried that you might step into the alley, find him, and call the police. We were just going to move him, not get rid of him.”
“Have you done that often? Hidden bodies?”
“Never.”
“Not even your own … meals?”
“I don’t drink human blood. Not anymore. I did as a child, back before I knew any better.”
“What do you drink?”
“Well, it was pig’s blood. Until the night of my hen party. We were at a club next door to your pub.”
“There’s no club there … Oh,” he said, putting things together. “It’s an … underground club.”
“Yes. And, well, the barman told me that there’s a new blood on the market for ‘vegetarian’ vampires like me and Dante. It’s synthetic, but provides everything we need to survive. I’ve been drinking that since.”
“Wow. Is there a market for it?”
“Seems to be. I think it’s a sign of the changing times, the newer generation having different feelings from our parents.”
“Your parents are OK with it?”
“They’re … learning to adjust,” she told him.
Since the wedding, she’d become a bit allergic to lying. Which meant she’d started to come clean to her family about not drinking from humans; she explained she’d been drinking pig’s blood for years and was now on a supplement. And so was Dante.
“They got over me not wanting to sleep in a coffin, so they’ll get used to this eventually.”
“So the coffin thing is true, huh?”
“Pretty much across the board. Some of my family members even travel with their coffins when they visit.”
“I can … picture that,” he said, nodding. “Anyway, yeah, the more I’ve thought on it, the more convinced I am that just like there are good and evil humans, there are good and evil vampires. Bellatrix comes to mind,” he added with a small smirk.