Chapter 5

Sexy ass vampire.

Hm.

It was concerning really, how just a little more information—such as my mother's life being at stake—made the truth of the description Roseline had given for Parris so much easier to admit.

To myself.

Before cracking open that grimoire, sure, I'd certainly admired the Black brothers for their looks. The obligation the pages held though, written by some seer in my family's distant past, had flipped some switch in my brain, making me reject the idea that there was some benefit in connection to him.

My body, however, had not gotten that memo.

But now, knowing that attaching myself to him would put the seal on some ancient promise of restoration?

Yeah, sexy ass vampire was correct.

An understatement, even.

Parris was draped in the doorway, looking specifically unamused as I moved closer. I started to ask why he hadn't simply come inside. The shop itself wasn't a private residence, so he didn't need to be invited like he would to get upstairs.

Then I saw the rune work around the door.

A trap.

"You did that?" I asked Roseline, turning to find her with her arms crossed, wearing a smirk as she nodded.

"Yep. Came to me in a dream last night, and I had no idea why I might want to trap a vampire, but… here we are."

I nodded, moving to where Parris was still stuck there in the doorway. Examining the spell piece by piece, I deciphered each part—keeping him in place, forcing his silence, suppressing his power.

It was beautiful.

"Should I let him out?" Roseline asked. "He might be pissed."

Parris hiked an eyebrow at her, and I laughed. "Might is wild. He definitely is. But that's okay." I nodded. "You can let him out."

From beside me, Roseline reached out, dragging a finger through the runes to create a smudge that broke the spell.

Immediately, Parris stepped in, chest heaving, fangs extended.

"What the fuck was that about?!" he asked. "Why the hell is that even something you can do?" He pointed that question at Roseline, but before even giving her a chance to answer, he'd already looked back at me. "Don't you ever fucking think about it."

I smiled. "I don't know… I can definitely think of a few applications of a spell like that where you'd have quite a good time."

His eyes narrowed at me, processing what I'd said for a moment before he grabbed me at the wrist. "We need to have a conversation."

Before I could object, he"d already pulled us out of the shop in such a whirlwind of speed, I lost my bearings. Luckily, I knew my city well enough to be quite familiar with my surroundings, any surroundings. Once we'd finally stopped, I looked around with a smirk before I met his eyes.

"Is this supposed to scare me?" I asked, gesturing at the labyrinth of above-ground tombs that comprised St. Louis Cemetery No.1—a necessity due to the geography and terrain.

Parris returned my smirk. "You ain't the only with roots around here, witch," he said in a teasing tone as he let go of my wrist. "I have people interred here as well. I never found occasion to visit, but since this was your chosen fleeing ground, I figured I may as well pay my respects."

He gestured to the tomb behind us—ornate white marble free of any type of ugly overgrowth or water stains from flooding. There was a symbol carved into the entryway, a simple stylized wolf with the letters B.L.A.C.K. chiseled in block lettering.

"Fair enough." I shrugged. "But, what would you like me to do with this information?"

He shook his head. "Damn. I"m trying to extend an olive branch here," he said. "Offer you something about me. Usually the way it goes is that you would, in turn, offer something about yourself."

"Oh, so this is… what, an icebreaker exercise?" I asked.

"I guess so, since you decided to make shit awkward."

My head reared back. "How did I make shit awkward?" I questioned. "You showed up at my house stealing from me, right out the gate."

"I already told you I didn"t steal it. I found it," he corrected. "I just happened to know what you were looking for."

"Because you were digging around in my head!" I accused.

And instead of an answer, he looked down, which was, of course, an answer.

"See what I mean?" I asked, and he huffed.

"You"ve hexed me like three times," he argued. "But I made it awkward?"

"I hexed you once! The first thing was just a little power pulse to get you away from me. And then I hexed myself once. And Roseline was the one who put the trap on the shop door," I defended. "It"s not my fault she put it there, and it"s not my fault you walked into it." I shrugged. "Don"t blame me. Blame yourself."

"Whatever," he said. "Enough of the bullshit. You and I need to talk."

"So talk!" I crossed my arms.

Did I know full well what I was supposed to be accomplishing right now, which was definitely not antagonizing him?

Of course I did.

But that wasn"t the point.

My nature just wouldn"t allow me to make things easy for him.

We may have been fated to be together, which, fine, I could accept because of what I would get in return. But that didn"t mean I was going to do it without a fight.

"And before you start, just know… we can skip all the extra shit," I told him, shrugging. "We both know what's up."

He raised an eyebrow. "We do?"

"Don't we?" I countered, feeling much less certain about that than I had twenty seconds ago. "I…wow. I actually don't know what's up with you. I know why I'm willing to do this, to bind myself to you. But… why are you?"

"Because it's my birthright," he answered immediately, taking a seat on a stone bench in front of his family mausoleum. "Foretold well before I was even here. We were each told—me and my brothers—on the eve of coming into our full powers, adulthood. The fulfillment of that destiny was framed as gaining a final missing piece. Back then… it sounded like some burden. Eternally bonded to a stranger sounded like hell. What if she was ugly? Boring? Hated sex? I made it a mission to either find my own ‘missing piece', or live it up as much as I could before she was revealed, so I would at least have the memories, the experience," he said, then scoffed. "Honestly… I believe I was making it worse. My brothers were content to let it happen naturally, not to seek anything out. While for me… the missing piece felt like a gaping wound. Especially once I knew exactly where it was."

My eyes went wide. "You mean… exactly where I was?"

"Yes." He nodded. "I saw you once… in your shop. I knew immediately what you were."

"A witch?"

He smiled. "Yes, that too, but… what you were to me. You were oblivious to it. Selling something olds to brides, hunting down people's family heirlooms, all kinds of priceless treasures on display. You were a target. Somebody owed me money… they told me they were gonna get it from you."

I shook my head. "I have a great security system, and a license to carry."

"Neither of which would've made a difference with what was targeting you. They wanted everything. Your money, your things, your body. Everything."

"How do you know this?"

"Because I deal with lowlifes," he chuckled. "Of all incomes, classes, human and inhuman alike. I'm very cultured, baby."

I laughed. "Interesting way to put that. So… what, you told them to leave me alone? Offered to erase their debt to leave me alone?"

"I don't erase debts, Larivye. I erased them."

There was silence for a moment, a cool breeze floating through the dark cemetery as I sat with those words, processing them.

"Do you mean…"

"It means exactly what you think it means," he said, leaning forward. "And I'd do it again without a second thought."

I blew out a sigh, really considering what he'd just said before I spoke. "That"s intense," I told him. "Knowing that, to you, I'm important enough to protect in that way… it feels like a lot of pressure. I have to live up to whatever ideal you"ve created around your missing piece."

"I don"t need you to live up to anything, I just need you to be you," he replied. "You having a smart mouth, hexing me and shit… getting yourself into dangerous situations with your treasure hunting, making me chase you… all of that, it makes the shit fun. None of that shit is a deterrent for me."

"Of course you would find all that entertaining," I laughed. "But… still… just being transparent… okay, from your end, I"m some soulmate that"s supposed to be fulfilling some completion ritual for you. From my end, our bond is supposed to restore power in my ancestral line. It"s not romantic, it"s —"

"Mutually beneficial," he filled in for me, nodding. "But, you can"t say I"m not romantic, you haven"t given me a chance to show you romance."

"You"ve been inside of me twice," I countered, eyebrow raised.

He smirked. "That was sex, and it was good as fuck, and you know it."

"I never said it wasn"t," I replied. "And I guess at least there"s that, right? We're sexually compatible, both easy to look at. I"d say we"re doing better than a lot of supposed forever connections, just based on that alone."

Parris chuckled. "Well yeah, but I still feel like you"re trying to play me off. Like there"s no possibility of a real connection, or real commitment, between us."

"Of course, there"s a chance of it," I said. "But that"s not exactly the most reassuring thing in the world. When you think about being together with someone forever, you want to believe in the love part of it too. I mean, don"t get me wrong, I"m practical. I don"t need that. But I need my mother, and this connection with you… it"ll give me the power to maintain her presence in my life, and that's enough. But it's… bittersweet, almost. I"ve had little crushes, boyfriends… I"ve done my share of sleeping around. But I've never had that… madly in love feeling, you know. And with this, it's like… accepting that it'll never happen."

He nodded. "I mean, you"re a witch though," he said. "So you could do something about that at any time."

I laughed. "What, like a love spell? They"re all actually lust, or they backfire, or… you"re basically holding somebody against their will. It"s dishonorable, and I couldn"t do something like that in good conscience."

Parris shook his head. "I"m not talking about a tourist's spell and I"m not talking about doing something without the knowledge or consent of both parties," he explained. "You want us madly in love… we can make that happen without a problem."

My eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

He stood, grabbing my hand again. "Let me show you."