Page 35 of The Mermaid's Bubble Lounge
We started to walk, Fergus’ leash in Clive’s left hand.
“Can I see?”
He knew what I wanted, so he lifted his right hand. It was still red, with small sections of skin missing. “By the time we get home, it’ll be back to normal. Not to worry, love.”
“My neck is just sitting over here, doing nothing.”
The look he gave me made my knees weak. He leaned in, brushed his nose against my temple, breathing me in, and then kissed my neck. When his fangs slid in, my eyelids drifted closed. Each draw inflamed my body. When I felt his tongue, I knew he was closing the bite wound.
“Thank you, darling.”
I reached for his hand. The redness was mostly gone. Only the spots where new skin was coming in still looked tender.
He held my hand and pulled me along. “I’m fine and I don’t like leaving you here exposed longer than necessary. You hurt him. You and Benvair are the only ones who have accomplished that. I want you out of this area.”
We jogged back, made it to the car quickly, and then Clive tapped the in-dash screen to call Dave.
“What?” Dave sounded especially snarly, which made sense. We’d probably woken him up. He got up early now to bake.
“Sorry if I woke you,” Clive responded.
There was pause and then Dave asked, “Why are you calling me on Sam’s phone? Where is she?”
“Here with me,” Clive told him.
I leaned forward. No idea why. “Hi, Dave. My phone is the one paired with this car.”
“Okay,” he grumbled.
Who knew Dave didn’t trust Clive? That was a new one. “Remember that thing killing people we talked about?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s fae. He has the swirling eyes they do, and he can shift between people and animals.”
“Sam stabbed him, so she has some of his blood under her nails,” Clive informed him. “We’re hoping you can use that blood to track him.”
We heard grumbling and the sound of movement before the call clicked off.
“I assume that means he’s coming.” I held my hands fingers up in my lap as Clive drove us home. “We need to make sure it’s Dave before we open the door to him.”
“I was thinking the same,” Clive said. “We’ll need to impose security questions on our friends.”
I thought about it a moment. “We need to text them the question when they’re at the door. We don’t want them giving out private info when a grasshopper could be overhearing. Which reminds me.” I lifted my right hand and spoke into the queen’s ring on my pinky.
“Hello. It’s me. Sam. We’re having a problem. There’s a person here who is killing innocents. He’s doing it in a way that looks like a vampire, but he’s not one. He has swirly fae eyes—black and gold—and he can shape-shift into people he sees or into animals. We don’t know what he is or how to stop him. Any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated.” I dropped my hand and then quickly lifted it again. “Thank you. Over and out.”
Clive shook his head on a grin.
SEVENTEEN
Eww
“The wards on the house cover the garage door, right?” That was all we needed. I didn’t want a shape-shifting cat to sneak in when the garage door opened.
“They do.” Clive reached over and rubbed my knee.
I used my knuckle to tap the screen, calling Vlad. It rang once.
