Page 32 of Bloody Temptations

It’s been in Willan’s family in one way or another for several generations. Before the roads to the Coruxix Mountains were made easier with modern highways, mages from the clan would travel to thecity with their goods, rather than have beings and humans risk the treacherous journey themselves.

The building is four stories tall, and built in the classical, old style of Osneau architecture—meaning it has a lot of windows on the front with lots of spindly, decorative columns.

The top floor is the family's private apartments where Willan lives with his Uncle—though they live separately. On the third floor are the training rooms for witches, and those wanting to try their hand at dedicating their lives to magic and the Gods, to come and learn the fundamentals. From what Lusce has told me, the classes are extremely popular here and hard to get into.

The second floor is all books, some for sale, but most only available to be loaned out. The more controversial books aren’t allowed to leave the store.

Well, that’s what I’ve been told. I haven’t actually made it any further than the ground floor so far. Roaming around between the shelves and tables, it feels a lot bigger than what it appears outside. I’m not exactly sure how it works, and I’m even less sure I’d understand if I asked.

Despite how big it is, it’s still crammed full. Floor to ceiling shelves line every wall, all painted in dark jewel tones that look chaotic and gloomy, but it all flows well with the space.Makeshift shelves and display cabinets spring up everywhere available, making it an especially tight fit, every available space cluttered with items for sale.

The shelves are full of every type of magical item you could ever dream of. Not that I really have much knowledge about it all. As a shifter, it was all irrelevant to my existence and it feels even more irrelevant now. I mean, I know vampires exist because of some ancient magical secret, but that is well above my pay grade in life.

“Now, Finny, don’t make us feel too special or anything!” Jax’s booming voice echoes down the stairs. There is a mildly terrifying tremor in the floor when he jumps down the last three stairs, landing with a loud thud.

“Jax, I swear to the Gods, if you break anything in here, Uncle Egbert will flay you alive and wear your skin as a new coat.” Willan punctuates his threat by snapping the book in front of him shut.

Jax scoffs loudly, right next to my ear. I didn’t realise he was that close but it’s too late now, his beefy arms wrap themselves around my chest and he pulls me into a bear hug from behind. I squawk and flail in surprise when my feet leave the ground, making him boom with more laughter.

“Leave him alone, you’ll break him,” Lusce admonishes his best friend. Likehe’sthe arbiter of good manners and decorum. Maybe he’s just invoking the vibes of the floor-length, indigo kaftan he’s wearing. The shimmery star pattern matches his hair perfectly.

Jax listens though, and puts me back on my feet with a pat to the head, ruffling up my hair. How he manages to contain himself working in an office, I have no idea. Maybe that’s why he’s like an uncontrollable puppy sometimes—he has to keep it in for the nine to five grind.

“I hardly think I’m going to break,” I say to Lusce when I’ve got my bearings again. I may not have the muscles of an orc, but I’m not exactly delicate and lithe like Lusce.

Before Lusce can launch into some sort of commentary on my body, or maybe on Jax’s strength, I don’t know, Willan clears his throat. “Bedeer texted me and said he and Jez got caught up with something and they are going to be late.”

“Which is code for they got into the special mushrooms again and won’t be in because they are too busy doing it,” Lusce interjects. He’sleaning against Jax’s arm, but Jax still hasn’t removed himself from me, so he’s kind of leaning on me too.

“Thanks for the visuals, Lusce. I needed that, especially after Madame Bouvarouis detailed exactly what goes on in her knitting circle.” Willan shudders and rounds the long glass counter filled with all kinds of curios and magical bits. “Why don’t we go over to the sitting area. There’s a class in just over half an hour, so we can’t go out the back. I need to sign everyone in.”

He leads us to a little nook built into a corner that shouldn’t exist. A round table covered in sigils sits in the middle of the hexagonal space, lined with a padded bench where the others take a seat. I only hesitate because of the swords hanging right above their heads on the walls. Like, I know they are probably safe, but it seems like a risk to take.

“Sit.” Jax grunts and pulls me down next to him. The swords don’t move, even with his jostling, so I’m sure they are fine. Probably.

“So, how’s work been?” I ask him. Small talk has always been hard for me; I never know what to ask, but at least that’s an easy question to open with.

Jax settles in and tells us all about the latest at work. He talks like we know who everyone is, and to be fair, Lusce definitely does and Willan seems to have a grip on most of the players, leaving me to try and catch up.

As he talks about dumb office politics and arguments about milk varieties, I can’t help but have a pang of jealousy about what my life could have been like if I hadn’t been turned. I have to force myself to pay attention and not let the sour thoughts ruin my mood.

My phone buzzes when Willan takes his seat again. The students have just started filing in for the last class of the evening, so he’s been springing up and down to sign them in.

Without thinking, I pull my phone out of my pocket and check the message. My heart does a funny double beat in my chest when I see it’s a message from Kai. No one is paying any attention to me, so I open it up.

Big mistake.

My stomach swoops and dips violently when I open the selfie. Well, it’s not a selfie, more of a video, no more than a couple of seconds long. He’s holding up a cocktail with a trail of blood dripping down his thumb.

The world goes kind of fuzzy around me as I watch his tongue lick the mess on an infinite loop.

“Phwoar!” Jax exclaims, stopping his story about Oggy, his chermode pup—a creature that looks like a frog and an ugly, inbred dog had a baby—eating Lusce’s makeup, to snatch up my phone. He flashes the screen to Willan and Lusce. He puts on a voice, all paternalistic and Dad-like. “What’s all this then?”

I try to snatch my phone back, but Lusce is quicker. He is also a dick, and hescrolls. Who does that?!

“Look at all these messages! Gods’ balls, Finn! There are so many of them. Look at this one!” He spins my phone to show everyone a message from the other day with a very obvious dick print in his grey sweats.

How he didn’t notice it, I have no idea. We’d been talking about our favourite brands of blood and he sent me a photo of the bottle he was drinking at the time. It was right there in the shot, the shadows of it visible on his thigh where he was splayed on his couch.

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