AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We have you surrounded,” I tell him. “Don’t make this violent.”
“I’ll make sure to tell your human pet ‘hello,’” he says, grinning mischievously. And too late, I realize that the hand gestures I dismissed were components of a spell.
He knows magic.
He vanishes in a puff of smoke, and soon, I hear the roar of a van’s engine come to life outside.
We rush outside, firing after him, some of us even grabbing guns to fire.
But the van keeps moving at an accelerated pace, our bullets ricocheting off the metal without leaving dents.
“Shit!” I yell, panicking.
He’s going after Quinn.
29
QUINN
“You’re fine,” I remind myself, as I check over my shoulder for the fortieth time today.
I’m not sure why I’m so nervous. These customers are heavyweights, and they can get real rowdy, but it isn’t anything I haven’t already dealt with. And the most terrifying thing to happen to me - being stalked by a vampire and confronted in the back kitchen - turned out to also be the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
This night has really laid on the stress. After dealing with so many customers at dinnertime, due to graduations and the Middlebury College baseball game, I figured that I’d be allowed to breathe a little later into the night, and maybe I’d be able to check the backroom and fantasize a little. But as the night winds on, that’s looking less and less likely.
“I’ll have a pint, little lady,” one of the men, who I recognize is probably a werewolf growls. “Whatever you have on tap. And get yourself something nice too.”
“I can’t drink on the job, sir,” I say. I don’t look up from my notepad, but continue scrawling so I don’t have to acknowledge him.
He moves to slap my ass, but I’m too quick for him. I grab his hand and slam it to the table, my veins pulsing with adrenaline.
“Hands to yourself, sir,” I say, as politely as I can given what he just tried.
My senses are on high alert tonight. I’m not normally this uneasy. Did he pick up on that uneasiness and take advantage?
I worry that the other men at the table might get ideas, but they actually seem disappointed in his conduct, which relieves me. Still, I’ve got so much pent up stress, I’m actually starting to feel a bit aroused.
I wish, yet again, that Caspian was here. I wonder what he’s up to right now.
It could be any number of things, really. I’m never quite able to pinpoint that man, even after knowing his identity.
Wherever he is, I hope he’s safe.
I hear a crash coming from the backroom, but as I turn to investigate, I notice another table raising their hands.
At this rate, I’m not even going to get to dishes.
I tell myself, in the back of my mind, that the noise was probably nothing, and that my job needs to come first.
“What can I get for you, sir?” I ask the man at the table, who sits alone. He’s very burly, and could probably take me over a thousand times. In my head, I plan a strategy for if this gets messy.
He’s very well-built, but there’s also a little pudginess there. From the way his shirt fits, it looks like the extra weight is probably around his chest and hips, which means grabbing him there in the event of an altercation will be easier than grabbing his very muscley arms.
“I heard you’re seein’ a vampire,” the man says. I can smell the booze on his breath. He looks agitated.
“Who on earth told you that?” I ask him. He’s slow to respond, so I add again, a little more insistently, “What can I get for you?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, girlie,” he says, nearly slurring his words. “I think if you’re dating a vampire, I’m entitled to know.”
