Checking that I’ve got my facts in order, I confirm, “Drink my blood or get blood from a bag, then we can fuck multiple times a night?”
“Yes,” Tilly takes my arm again and starts leading me up toward Third Street where The Dancing Daisy is. “Also know that if you decide to go the biting route, that vampire fangs hold a trace of venom. For a short feeding, it can act as an aphrodisiac and you’ll probably have the best orgasm of your life.”
Seriously, why haven’t we been doing this right from the start? If I wasn’t adamant about discussing this smutty book and spending time with the girls, I’d be turning around right now and offering my neck to Arran.
Something I should consider though is what’s holding Arran back. I mentioned biting before and he declined. Could there be more to it that I’m not understanding?
Frowning, I stop at the top of the hill’s stairs. “What if he bites too long? Drinks a little too much if my blood is too delicious or something?”
Tilly stops too. “Then he can turn you.”
“Oh.”
“Yup,” Tilly says with a bittersweet smile. “Now you know what those fangs can do.”
I shrug. “But also not really. I get that there’s a risk involved, but he doesn’t scare me.”
Tilly takes my hand and implores me with her eyes. “I trust Arran with my life. With Orion and Calliope’s lives too. He’s a good one.”
I squeeze her fingers back. “I’m coming to understand that.”
“Who’s a good one?” Maisie asks, popping her head out from Nori’s shop.
“Arran,” we answer in unison.
Nori waves at us from the open door. “Are we sharing Arran stories?”
“You guys got some?” I ask.
“Everyone on this island has one,” Calixta says as she and Beryl also make their way up from their shops on Second Street.
Nori ushers us into The Dancing Daisy and we quickly make ourselves comfortable, some heading right to the snacks while others peruse the new selection of magical candies against the back wall.
I settle into one of the orange leather chairs with a themed cupcake that Maisie has baked for today, and discreetly do a finger-prick test, calculating the timing of my next insulin shot to the snacks I’m about to consume.
Once drinks are poured and window shopping is done, everyone takes their seats.
With my curiosity far from sated, I hijack the small talk and redirect the conversation back to Arran.
“Indulge me. How does everyone have an Arran story? I thought he’s basically a recluse and you guys hardly talk to him?” I ask, throwing the question out to the whole room.
Calixta taps a long talon against her black lips. “I don’t think many of us know him in that sense, but Arran’s the reason we’re all here. He’s always either directly or indirectly involved in how creatures get to the island.”
That doesn’t surprise me, not after what Arran’s told me about how the first werewolf joined him here, and how more creatures followed.
Nori shifts forward in her chair and takes a deep breath while she fidgets with the hem of her dress. “I don’t know if you guys are aware of Shinsu’s background, but a long time ago, he was employed by an awful man who would make Shinsu shift for his own delight. Arran found out about it and sent someone to bring Shinsu to Starry Hill.”
Beryl clears her throat. “Bodin and I were abandoned as kids on Starry Hill. There was no orphanage on the island, but Arran didn’t want to send us to a home in the city and thought we would be safer and happier here. That’s when Ma adopted us two orc babies, even if we were already bigger than her goblin self.”
“Mine isn’t as big as theirs,” Maisie says, her mouth half stuffed with cake. “When we were building the extension for the cakery, Arran would be out there every night building while theothers were asleep at home. If it wasn’t for him taking those late shifts, construction would’ve taken twice as long.”
Well, that explains all those calluses on his hands.
One by one, everyone shares a way Arran has in one way or another helped them come to live in Starry Hill.
I feel so proud of Arran, of how he took the cruel fate that was handed to him against his will and turned it into such a thing of beauty—a community filled with love and acceptance, a true place of safety and comfort.
This quiet guy who’s mostly locked in his own castle, who, at first glance, looks like he’s separate from the community, is in fact the heart of Starry Hill.
