Her jaw dropped when she looked at me again. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” she whined. “I could’ve sworn I finally had everything sorted out! Those sprites must be breaking in after dark again. I amsosorry.”
The usually brightly tempered woman was frazzled, bouncing around the shop like she couldn’t find a place to settle.Her smock was dirty, hanging from her curvy figure like a sheet instead of accentuating her form like it usually did. Her olive hair hung limply over her shoulders.
Kizzi had been tormented by the local forest sprites for ages now. The troublemaking creatures wanted nothing more than to cause a little mischief. I didn’t know what she could’ve possibly done to earn the ire of the harmless woodland creatures, but they created problems for her at every opportunity.
“It’s alright, Kiz,” I mumbled bashfully, any frustration draining out of me immediately at my friend’s guilt. My desire for justice evaporated. “It gives me a bit of a striking quality, doesn’t it?” I was missing my caramel-colored strands desperately, but I didn’t want to make her feel worse than she already did.
Brightly colored hair wasn’t rare in Moonvale, nor was it frowned upon. I didn’t even dislike it, truly. I just didn’t appreciate it being inflicted upon me unexpectedly. I reached up to snag a piece that slipped free from its twist, twirling it around my finger.
Kizzi hesitated for a bit too long, and then blurted out, “of course it does! I couldn’t look away from you if I wanted to! You’re as hypnotizing as the moons.” She quickly turned around so I couldn’t see the expression on her face.
I sighed. Kizzi sure knew how to lay it on thick. I came here to give my best friend a lecture for her carelessness, but I couldn’t manage to stay mad at her.
“The sprites are giving you a hard time again?” I asked. “I thought they had finally moved on after you performed that ridiculous ritual and sang to them for four hours straight.” I hadn’t even been able to stay in the shop during that spectacle. I loved Kizzi but her voice was worse than a siren with a sore throat. She was an impressive natural witch, but her magic clearly didn’t spread to her vocal cords.
“I thought so, too,” she muttered with a glumness she couldn’t quite hide. “They only stayed away for a few weeks. I’ve done everything I can think of to shake them! They’re determined to ruin my life, for no gods damned reason! I must have angered the Old Gods somehow.”
I didn’t know why Kizzi bothered to acknowledge the Old Gods. They had abandoned our realm centuries ago, and I doubted they had even an inkling of an idea what was happening here now. They were surely long gone. All they had left behind was remnants of magic. Mere crumbs of what used to be.
“They better keep their grubby hands off of my thirst tonics,” I grumbled. “Those tonics are the only things keeping me from losing my mind and sinking my fangs into the locals.” There were quite a few vampires in Moonvale, and we all struggled with our thirst from time to time, but some of us needed pharmaceutical assistance more than others.
Drinking blood straight from the vein had become an outdated practice with all the magical and medicinal intervention that was now possible. It wastaboo, or whatever those fussy old vampire elders said. Unsavory. Frowned upon.
Vampires could find sustenance from any type of blood, critter or creature, but the blood of other vampires was the most potent. It staved off the cravings for the longest. The blood of any folk, from orcs to elves and everywhere in between, could satisfy a craving for days. A week, if we were lucky. But we were encouraged not to indulge in that delicacy.
Not unless we were mated–or willing to risk being shamed. The side effects of drinking straight from the vein were often… uncontrollable. And inappropriate.
And extremely fun, with the right partner.
Thirst tonics certainly helped with the cravings. Most days, a juicy blood-infused cocktail was just as satisfying as a few gulps of blood fresh from a living being.
Or at least I told myself it was.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m doing my best, Fi,” Kizzi grumbled. Fi was a nickname that I didn’t allow freely. Only those who deserved it earned the chance to call me Fi. The rest of the realm called me Fiella. Or Miss Elmwick, if they were trying to sound fancy.
Kizzi had, like me, been suffering from the recent lack of tourism that the freeze season caused. All of the local businesses in Moonvale had. We depended on the folk of the entire realm, Aldova, to spend their silvers to keep us afloat.
The freeze season kept wanderers from other towns at bay, and only the warming of the air would bring flocks of visitors back again.
If folk couldn’t travel by river boat, then they had to trek the Barren Lands, and that was a whole miserable journey and a half. I couldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to endure that.
Only the desperate ever risked it.
“If those little sprites keep giving you a hard time, let me know and I’ll come in here and give them a piece of my mind!” I insisted with as much wrath as I could muster. My willowy frame wasn’tthatintimidating, but I liked to think that I could strike some fear into my enemies if I set my mind to it.
Kizzi cast a skeptical glance my way, which I tried not to be offended by. She didn’t know the ferocity I was capable of. I didn’t know either, to be fair, but I was sure it was buried down within me somewhere.
“Thanks, you badass vampire, but I’ll deal with it,” Kizzi stated, not very convincingly. “One of these days, I’ll figure out what their problem is.”
Our conversation was interrupted.
“Hello, uh… Is there any thirst tonic for sale here?” a deep voice boomed from across the room. I practically jumped out of my skin.
“Gods! The sprites must have stolen my door chime too,” Kizzi exclaimed with a hand pressed to her chest as if she could slow the pace of her heart with pressure alone.
I glanced over to see who had the audacity to interrupt thisclearlyimportant conversation. If they were intruding, they better at least be worth the diversion. I hadn’t even gotten the chance to bite into my pastry yet or tell Kizzi about the new book I had started reading!
My eyes landed on the figure by the front door.
