Page 91

“OK, OK. I get it, I look like crap. But please tell me you’re not too tired to go out. I’m losing my mind here.”

“Be ready in twenty.”

That girl could transition quicker than a chameleon.

Alessandra put on a pair of jeans and a white, flowy top, refusing to wear concealer on principle. Her brother said she looked like a pirate hooker every time she wore this shirt, but it was one of her favorites.

And right now Alessandra desperately needed something to comfort her. Because it felt as if the ground would open up at any moment and swallow her. Worse, she thought she’d probably welcome it.

“What are we going to tell Birdie?” Toni asked as they headed out with no particular destination in mind. She’d already told Toni everything, of course.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” she said. “Laria said that Lawrence might want to stay around for a while, which means mum’s the word. But we already told her about the Cheld, so I think she needs to know at least part of the truth.”

Telling her everything would only scare her, and that was the last thing Alessandra wanted to do.

“By the way, where are we going?”

Toni nodded up the street. “Murphy’s . . . I know, I know. But I’m in the mood for wings.”

And no one had wings like Murphy’s Pub.

“Works for me.”

As they walked, Alessandra was acutely aware that less than two weeks ago she’d walked this same path with a completely different outlook. Then, her fantasies had been about buying one of the brightly colored Victorian houses or, when she was feeling particularly fanciful, quitting her job and opening a little bookshop on Main Street. Life had been so simple and straightforward.

And maybe a bit dull?

“You OK?”

They walked inside the familiar bar, the bar’s regulars none the wiser that they lived among creatures, herself included, who weren’t quite like them.

“Yeah,” she said, finding an open high top. “No.”

Toni laughed. “At least you’re honest.”

Lot of good that did her.

With the murmurs of regular conversation around them, about this person’s misbehaving child and that person’s incontinent cat, Alessandra and Toni ate, drank beer, and avoided all talk of supernatural beings. Toni spoke of Tyler, and Alessandra nodded as politely as possible. She asked for the millionth time if she should go back to school, and for the millionth time, Alessandra told her that she should do whatever made her happy, even if it meant working at Curiosities until she was as old as most of the patrons.

Mostly Toni was rolling out their best hits in an effort to distract her from the obvious.

Alessandra was heartbroken. Too bad being a Cheld only gave her physical strength.

Ugh.

Her hand froze midair. Putting down the frosted mug, Alessandra glanced around in every direction. A vampire was here, and she couldn’t tell yet if that meant danger. Twisting her new bracelet, Alessandra finally spotted the source of the sensation at the bar. The bartender handed him a drink, some type of gin, no doubt, and then he turned to face her.

Alessandra struggled to breath. She struggled to breath normally, anyway.

Up until now, every time she’d seen Kenton, including last night, he’d worn jeans or pants and either a button-down shirt or a sport coat. Polished. Pristine. Like a banker, but of the hot variety.

Tonight he wore jeans, a black T-shirt and a black hoodie, likely due to the cold spell that had settled temporarily in Stone Haven. Alessandra was wholly unprepared for the sight of him, and even less so for his dangerous-looking, sexy outfit. He looked like . . . like . . . a vampire.

“Jesus Christ,”she muttered.

“Probably cannot save you,” Toni said.

She glared at her friend, whose response was a guilty smile.