Page 5 of Darcy By Day, Demon By Night

The door swung shut behind me with a nice loud creeeeeak, making me jump a little.

I looked back to see a heavy oak door instead of the cheap apartment door we’d opened from the outside. That was an impressive trick.

Vanth appeared at my side. “You came!”

I smiled. “And I’m impressed.”

When I turned to look at him my jaw dropped.

He was wearing a similar costume to the one he’d been wearing earlier at the tea, but instead of the regency outfit, he was wearing super tight leather pants and that was it.

His bare chest was on full display.

Oh, the man was built! He had abs for days, an Adonis belt that begged to be licked, and pecs I wanted to bury my face between and worship.

His skin was still dark blue and he had silver horns on his head from earlier. Had he died his skin? If so, was he now stuck that color until it wore off? I didn’t mind the idea; he looked good in navy blue.

He beamed at me and didn’t look disgusted at all so I must’ve managed to control my drool.

“You haven’t even seen everything yet.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” I barely kept from asking if he was going to peel those pants off.

“I have some entertainment coming,” he promised. His eyes traveled up and down my body. “May I say, you are the most gorgeous mermaid I’ve ever met.”

“Do you hang out with a lot of mermaids?” I asked, enjoying his eyes on me. It was only fair because I’d already gawked at him and I’d put a lot of effort into this costume.

I’d made a skirt out of layers and layers of scales I’d hand cut and painstakingly stitched on. The skirt was tight from my waist to my knees, then flared out in a triangle shape from my knees to the floor to create the tail.

The flare was wide enough to allow me to move with little, tiny steps. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make for this costume. Besides, I could take nice long strides every other day of the year.

For the top I’d used a bikini and some of the same fabric from the skirt. Then I’d covered every inch of exposed flesh with shimmering powder and Nan had helped me streak my hair with blue and purple dye.

I was proud of the entire effect. It was nice that Vanth admired it too. Bonus points for the guy because he didn’t constantly stare at my chest.

“Let me show you all the things,” he said, offering me his arm.

“Walk slowly,” I said. “The skirt is tight.”

“Walking at any pace with you is a pleasure,” he answered.

I’d ever get enough of his smooth, distinctly masculine voice.

As we walked through the foyer to one of the corridors, I noticed Justice and Nan had found Vanth’s friend from the tea party. He looked very pleased to be cornered by the two of them. All three were finding lots of excuses to touch each other. It was cute and I was happy for them.

I had a suspicion I’d be attending a handfasting in the future for the three of them.

“What’s some of your most favorite things to do?” Vanth asked as we walked down an impossibly long corridor.

“Honestly?” I asked. “Or the socially acceptable answer?”

“Always honestly, please,” he said. A sudden cacophony of screams and laughter came from the foyer and he chuckled. “My ghosts have made an appearance.”

“You have ghosts on call?” I teased.

He smirked. “Doesn’t everyone? Now, give the real answer to my question.”

“I like to read,” I said, deciding to get this out of the way now. Several boyfriends had complained about my literary tastes, so it would be interesting to see how Vanth reacted. “I like romance, all kinds of romance. Sci-fi, paranormal, contemporary, LGBTQIA+, and everything. Well, everything except historical and dark stuff.”