I grinned, unrepentant. It was easier to tease than to process how fundamentally wrong it felt to see Elias—meticulous, controlled, immortal Elias—as something close to human. The rapid thump of his heart echoed in my ears, too fast compared to our usual slow vampire rhythms. And his blood smelled strangely…
Delicious.
"Your aura's still weird," I told him, studying the silvery-blue light surrounding him. "Different. Not vampire. Not human. Kind of like Talin's, but with something extra."
Talin perked up. "You can see auras?"
I gave her a little shrug. "Always could, even as a human. Useful talent in my line of work." I winked at her. "Helps me know which customers are trouble."
The door opened, sending a long shaft of weak sunlight across the floor. Flashing my fangs, I hissed at the intruder. But I didn't need to look to know who'd just arrived. I'd felt her approach like a storm front moving over the ocean, electric and inevitable.
Alice.
For years, I'd known Alice Moss as Judy's niece, a sweet-faced witch with gentle magic and fierce loyalty to her coven. We'd exchanged pleasantries at coven meetings, said hello, and not much else. At least until recently. I'd always found her beautiful in a serene, untouchable way.
But something had changed these past weeks. Maybe it started that night she came looking for Talin, when she'd trembled in my arms and confessed her fear of the darkness inside her. Or maybe later, when we'd walked the boundary between vampire and witch territory, almost kissing under the stars.
Whatever it was, I found I couldn't look away from her now.
"Dae-Jung," she greeted me with a timid smile, her voice soft but steady. The honey-blonde hair I'd always admired fell in loose waves past her shoulders, and she wore one of those flowing rainbow dresses that should have looked ridiculous but somehow made her even more ethereal.
"Yeobo," I replied, the endearment slipping out before I could stop it.
A slight blush colored her cheeks. "How's your brother doing, Alice?" Talin asked her.
"Better every day," she answered. "He's recovering faster than we expected. Probably thanks to his djinn blood," Alice said quietly, and I caught the flash of worry in her eyes before she masked it.
"Probably," Talin agreed, apparently missing the darkness that had briefly shadowed Alice's expression.
But I saw it. I always saw Alice, even when she was trying to hide.
"Speaking of Alex," Elias said, finishing his coffee, "we should head over to Killian's." Elias had been staying with Talin in her apartment the last few nights while he healed. "He wanted to talk to me."
Talin nodded, sliding off her stool. "Were you looking for me, Alice?"
Alice's fingers twisted together nervously. "Actually, I came here looking for Dae."
My heart skipped a beat, and I covered that section of my chest with my hand like I was trying to keep anyone else from hearing it. But that wasn't necessary. The only one here with that kind of hearing was me.
After Talin and Elias left, Alice took the seat Talin had vacated, close enough that I could catch the scent of her soap clinging to her skin.
"You look tired," I observed.
"I haven't been sleeping well," she admitted. "I've been having dreams."
"About Marcus?"
She tensed, but nodded.
It didn't surprise me. I'd seen the haunted look in her eyes, the same look her brother had carried when he'd returned from his little side trip to Marcus's pocket dimension. "Want to talk about it?"
"Not really." She lowered her voice despite the empty room.
"Wanna tell me anyway?"
Getting up from her stool, she walked over to the door, and for a second I thought she was just gonna leave.
But she didn't. Locking the door, she turned to face me, and I realized how close we were standing. Close enough that I could count each freckle across the bridge of her nose, close enough to see the flecks of gold in her brown eyes.
