I sat up, grabbing my beer. Hell no. We weren’t going down this road. I’d already decided to shut this shit down. Let him plow whoever he wanted, just leave me out of it. There wasn’t room for this in my life, not with a storm brewing on the horizon.
Shameful…
“Be focused. Be ready,” I told myself. “Maybe take a vow of celibacy.”
Doubting every word, I stripped and got into the shower. The hot spray helped, relaxing my mind a little and unknitting the tension in my muscles, the traces of Silvanus washing away.
See ya!
Clean, smelling of cherry soap, I dried off, facing myself in the mirror above the sink.
“You looked exhausted,” I told my reflection, pushing a hand through my damp silver hair.
The puncture marks on my neck were gone, thanks to the wolf in my blood. I touched the area, wondering if the king would reopen them tonight.
Absolutely fucking not!
Anyway, check out those bags under my eyes. Someone needed a long sleep and an escape to a sunnier climate.
One day I’d take a vacation to the sunny beaches of Coral Sands in the Mer Domain.
Speaking of all things mer, the mystery mermaid’s timing had been interesting in light of this vision. Pretending to care about poor little me collapsing on the bridge, offering me the charity of coin.
Clearly, she’d been crying before our meeting. Why? What’d been her ulterior motive?
“Looks like a mermaid hunt is on the cards,” I mumbled.
Done with the mirror, I dressed, dumping my cum-stained boxers in the bin. A waste really, but, well, yeah. I’d rather go commando.
I lit up a mistrock cig, picked up my beer, and went to the window. Watching the gentle twinkle of the stars on the inky blanket of the sky, I enjoyed a moment of peace. I even yawned, feeling weirdly relaxed despite everything. Well, apart from wondering what the hell my twin sister Pearl would be thinking about this.
Ashamed? Horrified? Disgusted? She’d been murdered by a vamp, and here was her twin brother getting tossed off by the vampire king. But she’d been infected with Aidan’s rotten lies, believing in a cause that’d come crashing down like a glass roof in a meteor shower.
“I’m sorry, Pearl,” I whispered.
I didn’t mean for this to happen, and I’d make sure to curb these feelings. At the same time, I couldn’t ignore Silvanus. There would be no walking away from him until we got answers.Maybe when every stone had been turned, flipped, and smashed, I could finally leave the Human Domain; make a life for myself in the forest in the domain of my people. Live like an elf should amongst the trees, no more towns and cities for me.
Finally free to start my life properly.
“Yeah, because things are that easy,” I chided myself, taking a deep drag on my cig.
“How are you doing up there?” Medusa called from downstairs.
“Sweetcream,” I returned. “I’ll be down in a sec.”
I just wanted a bit longer looking up at the stars, dreaming of better days.
A rhythmic thrumming sounded nearby.
“What the hell?” I moved closer to the window, elfy ears pricked and listening.
“Can you hear that?” Medusa called.
“Yeah.” I pressed my face to the glass, unable to see anything from this angle. But the volume went up, the sound becoming clearer.
Helicopter.
My stomach flipped. Instinctively, I knew this was going to be bad. Really bad.
