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All around us there were dings and clonks and yells when people won big or lost their games. There were no children around at this time of night, which was why I’d suggested we come at nine and not earlier. Adult screams were bad enough for me, thank you very much. In the far corner of the wide open room, lit only by arcade lights, two machines sat side by side.
One was a pinball machine themed around mermaids, and to its left, shoved so far back that no one ever played, an arcade game.Witch’s Treasures. I slid a ticket into the slot and sat down in front of it, starting the game up. It was simple enough. Twitching the joysticks side to side, I moved the witch through a maze, picking up all of her lost things as I went. When I reached the end, a peppy cartoon witch promoted me to the next level.
Higher levels had foes chasing you through the maze, darting around the treasures in set patterns that were increasingly difficult to avoid. The same style as the Pac-Man games, but instead of ghosts chasing me, there were wolves and vampires.
It was eerily similar to my actual life.
“Someone supernatural had to have made this game,” Caspian said, leaning over my shoulder to watch my progress. With all the time I spent here, I knew the earlier levels by heart.
“That’s what I thought when I found it on my first visit. It’s funny that the owners put this game beside a mermaid machine, too. I’m half nymph and half witch, so it always felt like they laid out this corner with me in mind.”
I knew it was stupid to think anything was meant for me, but it was a little joy I could hang on to when I was feeling down. Which was more and more every week.
“You’ve never told me that before,” he said.
“I assume you already picked up that up from your research, anyway. Or possibly my scent. I’ve never connected with the nymph magic so I’m not sure if I scent like one.”
Glancing over my shoulder at him, a wolf chomped on my witch, sending her to respawn. He cringed, but I wasn’t upset. If I were to accuse anyone of being a snoop, it would be Shan. Caspian wouldn’t have requested or found the information without the direction of his boss. “We knew, yeah. He did a background check on you after we talked to you the first time. You don’t smell like a nymph, though.”
“It’s not something I tell people, so try not to mention it at Club Chaos.”
“Why don’t you tell people?”
“Would you tell people if you had the option not to?”
His fingertips went up to graze the pointed tips of his ears. They were on display tonight with his hair done up, though a glamour hid them from any Nulls. “No. I would let them think I’m an incubus and that’s it. There isn’t as much stigma with witches and mermaids interbreeding, though.”
“It makes Zemterrans antagonist towards me, since mermaids are fae creatures, and that’s stigma enough for me. Witches are neutral ground, no affiliations to Hell or Faerie. Besides, I never embraced my nymph side and I can’t even transform to explore the oceans. My sister was the one who went out to the beach every day as a kid.”
“What’s your sister like?”
I glanced around us without thinking. Not a single human was near us. Witch Sticks was half empty and despite fitting right in with the theme, this machine wasn’t popular. “She was the shy one,” I said, meeting Caspian’s eyes again. I’d never seen them so green before. Around me, they tended to be dark with arousal or fury.
“Always had me talking for her, even though I was five years younger. Everything about her was dainty and graceful. Any time she wasn’t at school, she was swimming or dancing ballet. Whenever I went in the water, I floundered around and splashed everyone, but she made swimming look so easy. It surprised no one when she revealed as an Omega.”
The community I grew up in would have been shocked to learn about me revealing as one.
“You’re talking about her in the past tense,” Caspian pointed out, sitting down at the mermaid pinball machine beside mine. “She’s not…”
“No, she’s not dead. As far as I know.”
“Why wouldn’t you know? Did you have a falling out?”
“Her husband doesn’t allow her to communicate with anyone.”
He went silent and so did I. Bringing up my family hadn’t been on the agenda, but some things reminded me of her. Like the mermaid pinball. Sometimes I forgot she was a witch or I was a nymph, because we’d taken to opposite sides of our heritage. Standing abruptly, I shook my head. “This whole date was a horrible idea. I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
Since I was looking at him, I saw his panic. And his pain. “Freya, we don’t have to talk about this. I… I’m really glad you brought me here, but we can go somewhere else.”
“Are you glad I brought you here because you want to learn all my secrets?”
“What? No! This is the kind of place I’m comfortable in. I grew up around humans, but supernaturals don’t go on the style of dates that Nulls go on, not usually.”
“If we don’t go on dates like this, what dates do our kind go on?”
“I don’t know about everyone’s experience, but I’ve been on two types of dates. They either want to take me back to their place to experience the ecstasy of fucking an incubus, or take me into an alley behind a bar to beat the shit out of me because I’m half fae.”
Chapter 16
