I grab a chocolate croissant and fill a mug with coffee before sinking into one of the high-back chairs facing the front lawn. The first thing I do is call Evie, who answers halfway through the second ring.
“Oh my gods.” She sounds genuinely relieved. “You’re alive!”
“I’m so sorry, Ev. I am so,sosorry.”
“Did you see my texts? The black kitten hasn’t been adopted yet!” Her girlish energy is already back. It’s such a relief to hear her happy.
“I didn’t.” I laugh. “I’m just finally looking at my phone now. Last night was absolutely wild. I wanted to let you know I’m safe, but I can’t come in today—or maybe ever again?” I cringe. I should have practiced this.
“So…you quit?” I can tell she’s not sure if I’m kidding or if she should be hurt, pissed, or maybe even offended.
“I have so much I need to tell you, but…” I toss a glance over my shoulder. There’s only one other patron in here and, thankfully, she’s reading with AirPods in. “I can’t say too much right now, but I’m kind of in hiding. Is there any chance you can make it up to the Collegiate Inn? I’ll send you the address.”
“Hiding? Is this because of what happened with the Italian vampire?”
“No. No, I promise—Orfeo is great. He’s perfect.” I hear how it comes out, how much I sound like my male-centered mother. Maybe I’d judged her too harshly, the same way I’m assuming Evie is judging me. “He’s not my problem,” I add quickly.
“Okay, but I swear if anything seems off when I show up there?—”
“You’ll put a hex on him. And I’ll allow it.”
“Faster than you can snatch this kitten out of my arms.” And she sounds like she really means it.
Evie promises to meet me at the inn after she closes the café at three-thirty, which gives me three hours to lose my mind.
I don’t head back up to the loft to check on Orfeo, halfway out of fear of seeing him looking…well, actually dead. In the few moments before he dipped into that deep, primordial sleep, I noticed his skin had taken on an ashen hue, his lips and eyelids becoming almost transparent. It seemed way too private to watch him fade from himself and become so vulnerable.
I wander the grounds, avoiding anyone in a peacoat with a red-thread logo over their left breast. The last thing I need is for someone to ask me what my room number is. Part of me wantsto head into the forest, find a clearing, and see if I can access some god-like powers. Snap some branches with my mind or levitate like Criss fucking Angel.
Ultimately, the biting cold drives me back inside, where I catch a familiar head of blond curls and broad, bulging shoulders disappearing around the curve of the grand staircase.
Leo. Undeniably. How many other hulking blond men are scuttling around Echidna?
I duck through the doorway. “Leo? Is that you?”
He freezes, pivoting on his heels to face me. “Diantha.” His pretty green eyes bulge. His features are so strong, so absurdly masculine, all set against his extremely pretty, mermaidish coloring. “What’re you doing here? You’re supposed to be in hiding.”
“I…I got bored. What’reyoudoing here?”
“Jesus.” He shakes his head. “That’s your human side.”
“I’m used to being very busy.”
He tilts his head toward the end of the hallway. “Fine, then follow me. I’m here picking up a payment for Alfo, and”—he lifts a tote bag—“I brought you some groceries.”
“Aww.” I keep pace with him while peeking inside the bag. Eggs, bread, a single apple, a jar of peanut butter, a bag of baby carrots. It’s like he googled: human girl food. “Thanks, Leo.”
His eyelid twitches. Like being pleasant inflicts physical pain. “It’s no problem.”
“So, you know the people who own this place?”
“How the hell else do you think we’ve kept the vampire living on the grounds a secret?”
Leo comes to an abrupt stop, then knocks three times on one of the doors. It takes a moment, but finally the door swings open ajar and a squirrely man with a square haircut pokes his head out.
“Leonard.” The little man’s big, wet eyes dart between us. “Hold, please.”
“Leonard,” I repeat once the door clicks shut. “Is that a family name?”
