Dez wanted friends. And she was at a point in her life where she was ready to throw open her arms and welcome them in. But how to undo centuries of practicing exactly the opposite?
Patience, she coached inwardly. It will take time. And ole blue-haired Elise topped her must-befriend list.
Tossing her dust rag under the counter, Dez was startled when the bell above the door tinkled. It was high noon, and most of Willow Cove would be home eating or at one of half a dozen cozy cafes chatting and gossiping.
A man entered. The glare of sunlight behind his broad shoulders wouldn't allow Dez to see his face. Must be a long-distance customer. Or else he was lost, asking for directions. That happened a lot. Always got her hopes up.
Then she realized who it was-the vampire.
"Truce?"
"What are you doing in here? Didn't you get enough last night?"
He held his hands up in surrender.
Now she took a moment to look him over without having to cast a defensive spell. Not a particularly ugly man. For a vampire.
Who was also a witch. Not that she had anything against vampires, but still she had to be careful, with the war and all.
Short, black, spiky hair raged about his head. Dark eyes set below straight brows took in her small shop, lined with whitewashed walls and shelves of perfume vials. Broad shoulders and a physique tended more toward martial arts than witchcraft, impressed Dez only so much; she knew vampires were naturally athletic.
She restrained the urge to zap him with a gale wind. That would only set him back against the door, likely shattering the glass and knocking down half her stock in the process. She'd hear him out.
Besides, she didn't need to give the town more fodder for claiming she was a witch.
"Stay back by the door, fixer. You're not welcome in here."
"I thought not." He shoved his hands in the front pockets of his dark trousers. "Fortunately, I don't need an invitation. Public places are open to me."
"But how during the day?"
"Told you, my father is a phoenix. I inherited his immunity to sunlight."
The phoenix vampire was rare. Meant he'd survived a witch's blood attack. Dez had not heard of any survivors over the past decades. Not that she had an ear to the pulse of the vampire nation. She mostly did her thing and let the world pass her by. Until she'd decided having friends would be nice.
But this witch wasn't about to befriend a bloodsucker, even if he was only one by half.
"I can't believe your gall." Dez crossed her arms over her chest. "Didn't getting beat on by a girl do it for you?"
"You are no girl."
"Oh?" She walked around the counter and propped her hip against the curved end of the rose granite. Today she wore a snug, black calf-length skirt and a tight, low-necked black shirt. Beatnik stuff. She could dig it, but only with superspiked black heels.
"I'm no girl?" she repeated. "Then what am I?"
"You are a potent witch with an incredible arsenal. How did you do that? The tsunami thing. I've never been able to command the air and water like that. Can you teach me?"
"Back off, vampire. You may be half witch, but you'll never be able to do the things I do. Stick to your hi-tech conjures and bounty hunting."
He nodded, accepting. "Hi-tech not your thing?"
"I prefer simple spells." And that was all he was going to get regarding her spellcraft.
Turning, he examined a wooden display that featured dozens of perfume samples. He touched one, and Dez cringed. Not because she thought he'd drop the glass vial, but because the overmuscled trickster touching her things was not acceptable. She'd put her heart and soul into those perfumes.
"I'm quite sure you didn't come in here to buy perfume, and I was just closing up. So if you have a purpose-?"
"Everyone has a purpose, Desideriel."
"Don't call me that."
"Isn't that your name?"
"I prefer not to hear it coming from the devil's fixer. And since that is your purpose, you are not welcome anywhere near me." "It's a night job," he offered. "Days are my own." Popping open the cork stopper on one of the samples, he then sniffed. "This is nice."
"It's called Blood Feud. Vanilla, bergamot, honey, and a touch of sour cherry and cream. Makes strange sense you would find it appealing."
"Because I bear the blood of both feuding nations in my body?" He smiled and sniffed again. "Appropriate. I love the creamy cherry afternote."
"Right. So you're a perfume connoisseur when it suits you? It doesn't suit me. What natural disaster do I have to conjure to get you to leave Willow Cove?"
"Can't leave until I've the book in hand."
"You're forthcoming with your evil intentions."
"I pride myself in being honest."
"Like that kiss last night was honest." She looked aside and rolled her eyes.
"It was damned honest."
"It was a trick!"
"Not to begin with. I couldn't resist you. You're so-" He clasped the perfume vial and fisted the air. Resolving some inner conflict, he sighed and shook his head. "Listen, Desideriel, I-"
"It's just Dez. Dez Merovech. And I'll thank you to get that right."
She was ready to summon an itching spell when the door tinkled open again. Another customer? This was an absolute rush. Dez recognized the woman immediately. Two trips by the store in one day?
"Mrs. Henderson." Dez went to greet her, but the old lady was too intent on checking out the vampire towering over her frail, thin body.
What was his name? He'd kissed her and she didn't even know his name.
"It's nice to see you in my shop, Mrs. Henderson."
Elise was the head of the Willow Cove Rose Club, which Dez pined to join. If only to be accepted into a group of women who had common interests. Friends.
"Are you looking for a gift?"
"Yes, er..." The woman, pushing seventy and a big fan of blue hair rinse, smiled up at the man. "Haven't seen you in town before.
Saw you walking down the avenue to the shop. My name's Elise Henderson."
The vampire set down the perfume sample and accepted the hand Elise offered. He bent to kiss the back of it, and if Dez hadn't been standing to the woman's side, she would have fallen over in a swoon. As it was, the old woman's birdlike frame swayed against Dez, but she righted herself quick enough.
"My, but you're a handsome one." Without tearing her gaze from the man, Elise asked Dez, "Is he yours, dear?"
Before she could reply, the vampire said, "She's an old and dear friend. I've never been to the shop, so thought I'd check it out. Such marvels Dez creates, eh?"
Fisting her fingers behind her back, Dez prepared a verbal volley, but Elise broke in.
"I didn't know you had friends, dear."
What to say when the old biddy knew darn well the entire town had put an avoid-for-dear-life tag on Dez?
Elise turned to the vampire. "You should bring your friend to the Rose Club's bash tonight. It's couples only. Willow Cove is celebrating all week, actually, with dances for various events to celebrate the end of summer. We dress up and dance in the town's gazebo. The scent of the night-blooming columbine is incredibly heady. So romantic."
"I'd love to."
"But he can't," Dez rushed out. "You're leaving town tonight on the train, remember?"
"Changed my ticket for an open-ended return," he snapped back.
His determined gaze flashed a glinting smirk at her. It was the first time Dez noticed the color of his eyes. Not so dark as a demonic fixer should possess. Perhaps whiskey brown, with glints of gold.
It was going to take a lot more than a sexy glower to charm her.
"What?" he entreated playfully. "You don't want to show the town how well we dance together? Remember Paris?"
Dez rolled her eyes.
"As I recall, it rained," she said. "And don't you remember the lightning?"
He eased a palm over his right shoulder where the lightning had snapped him. "We were soaked to the bone. I recall your dress was see-through."
Dez glanced away. Yet she couldn't deny the pining ache in her chest to attend the gala. If all it took to be noticed by the townspeople was a handsome man, she would have hired a gigolo years ago.
But could she do that? Use Elise's interest in this vampire to gain entrance to the old lady's attentions?
"I'll take Miss Merovech's silence as a yes," Elise said, then pointed to the counter. "I need something for a teenager. My niece's daughter. She's a rebel. Lives in New York, poor thing. Something sweet, but I suppose a little spicy."
"I've just the thing," Dez said, and went to package up a bottle of Summer Heat. She made sure the vampire caught her rebuking glare over Elise's pouf of blue hair.
He smiled triumphantly.
"It's got cinnamon in it, so it might irritate the skin a bit. Make sure she does a spot test first."
Elise nodded and handed Dez her credit card. She didn't say a thing to Dez, but as she exited she grasped the vampire's hand and shook it, mooning blatantly.
If she only knew the man may very well be lurking around her porch later tonight, jonesing for her blood. Did he savor the older brews for their longevity and flavor?
The bell tinkled, leaving Dez alone with the grinning vampire."I'm surprised you took the bait. You must really want to dance with me."
"No, it's-" She wouldn't allow him to gloat over his win when her pride was at stake. "I'm interested in joining the Rose Club, so what better opportunity to get to know the members?"
"Haven't received an invite all the years you've lived here?"
"Haven't been interested until now." A lie.
"What time shall I pick you up?" he queried.
"This is war," she declared.
"War, I can do. I look forward to it."
"Glad to know where we stand. I can get there myself. And the rules are: no touching, no talking and no kissing."
"So I can do everything else?"
Not dignifying that one with a reply, Dez shuffled into the back room, and waited until the bell tinkled again.
What could everything else possibly imply? She worried her lower lip, pondering the possibilities.
"I'll have to look up a repellent spell before tonight. Something to keep back crazy, gorgeous vampire-witches."
Gorgeous? Yes, he was. And she'd faltered a bit when she'd demanded there be no kisses.
But everything else?
It could mean standing so close she could smell his essence and feel the pulse of his muscles. To tap into strength such as he possessed promised an intriguing foray. If he possessed a strange mix of vampire-witch magic, Dez wanted to learn more.
That's what she would tell herself. Accepting simply because she could still taste his kiss would never win any wars.
Chapter 5.
I van was beginning to wonder if he'd been stood up as old lady Henderson put a third Shirley Temple cocktail into his hand and then dragged forward yet another biddy with fresh flowers clasped about her wrist to meet him.
"He's dating the owner of that shop," Elise said, as she smiled through her venomous introduction.
They really didn't care for Dez, Ivan deduced. Yet Dez had seemed eager to attend this event. So eager she had agreed to go on a date with the devil's fixer, when she knew he was after the Grande Grimoire.
Why did she want to be part of a group like this? For the camaraderie? The girl chats? There wasn't a female under the age of sixty here, and they all sported names like Olive, Daisy and Eveline.