“Sure, and Adam and Dylan havetwobedrooms in their apartment. What did you do before the discovery?”
I blinked. She was bold. “I’m not living much differently than I had before the humans knew about us.” I kept my voice steady, almost bored. “You?”
“I traveled. I was getting a tattoo when the news hit.”
My brain flashed to the day she was referring to. Almost five years ago now.
I was waterboarding a sorry mark who had drawnThe Starcardwhen they announced that all gene testing was illegal right as I slit his throat.
“The one in between your tits?” I cleared my throat and thoughts. When I was met with silence, I realized what had just come out of my mouth.Shit.
“I mean, the one between your—uh—” I traced a line down my own chest even though she couldn’t see.
“The broken heart? Yeah. That one.” Her voice was tight.
“Hey, I mean, it looked well done. I didn’t get too good of a look.” I stumbled through my words which made her laugh. I relaxed.
“Sure. I still have your shirt, by the way. I fell asleep in it yesterday. I’ll give it back once it’s washed.”
Keep it.
We spent the rest of our shift on the phone, shooting the shit. We took breaks to get drinks and, each time, stopped at the other’s office.
I sat on the edge of her desk as she sketched an anatomical heart.
“So, your eyes.” She glanced up at me, and instinctively I reached for the sunglasses I usually kept in my back pocket when I wasn’t wearing them. “What’s up with that?”
“I told you. When I made my deal with the devil, he marked me.”
“What were your eyes before?”
I sighed. “Blue.”
She looked back up, and we maintained eye contact as she stared at my eyes.
“You’re Bloodborn.” She stated rather than asking. I nodded.
“I am. Both of my parents are Bloodborn vampires. As were yours, I see.” I nodded at her eyes, the dark cherry color revealing her lineage.
“That’s what I’m told. I didn’t know mine.”
“Really?”I straightened on the edge of the desk, intrigued. “Did you know that you were going to turn?”
“No. I was already dreading my twenty-seventh birthday, to begin with. Throwing me dying and changing into the mix? Crazy fucking night. I assume, anyway. I can’t really remember.” She smirked and glanced at me.
“I bet.” Conversation rested for a while, and reflexively, I pulled out my cards to shuffle them.
“You never told me what my card meant,” she said.
The Hanged Man.
Sacrifice. Waiting. Imprisonment.
“It’s hard to say sometimes. I’m still deciding. Sometimes the card represents the person it’s drawn for. Other times it’s meant to show how that person’s presence will affect my life.” It was a bullshit explanation. Not entirely a lie, but for some reason, I didn’t feel right telling her that the card usually only meant bad things when upright—and it had been.
“I’m glad I didn’t pay for that reading,” she muttered.
With that, I packed the cards back in a stack and stood before sauntering back to my office, shutting the door behind me. I sat there, thumbing my fingers on the desk for nine long minutes before I decided to call her.
