Chapter 8

Gertrude

A s the alarm on my phone goes off, it's evident that one or both of us didn't stay on our sides of the bed. Waking up, I find myself in a tangle of bodies. A strong arm holds me to a firm chest, my cheek pressed against a cool pec and my left leg is slung over a thick, muscular thigh, my core dangerously close to his manhood. I open one eye experimentally and look up. Vlad is still asleep, dead to the world, his mouth open slightly, showing off his long fangs. Good. At least he doesn't know that apparently I tried to climb him like a tree in my sleep. I'm not surprised at how good it feels to be this close to him, however. He's a very attractive vampire and I'm just a hot-blooded witch; I'd have to be a fool to not enjoy being held by him.

My alarm is still going off, blaring in the early morning air, the pale autumn sunrise coming through the balcony doors. If it weren't for that fact, I'd be tempted to just go back to sleep, to stay exactly where I am. But it's time to get up and Vlad probably will wake up because of the alarm soon and I don't want another awkward moment with him where it looks like I'm coming on to him.

Gingerly, I extricate myself from our embrace, sliding out from under his arms and then grab my phone from the nightstand, hitting the off button on my alarm. Turning back, I see that Vlad is still asleep. Poor guy. He must be really tired after our crazy day yesterday. I'd be tempted to let him sleep some more, but I have to pee and can't go all the way to the bathroom without him.

As gently as I can, I start to shake Vlad's shoulder. "Vlad, time to get up . . . Vlad . . . ."

It feels surprisingly domestic to be waking him up. Almost as intimate as the position that we woke up in, just in a different way.

Friends, I remind myself. We're just friends that are tied together by a potion.

Slowly, his eyes screw together and his brow knits.

"Five more minutes . . ." he groans and then turns over.

I laugh. Who knew that the charming, affable Mayor of Halloween wasn't a morning person?

"C'mon, Vlad," I say louder, shaking his shoulder again. "You've got to get up. I want to take a shower." And relieve myself, but I'm not going to say that.

My words are like magic. "I'm up, I'm up," the vampire says, opening his eyes. They take a moment to focus, but then they find me and a smile grows on his face that puts the sunrise outside to shame.

"‘Morning, sweetheart."

My heart goes pitter-pat . I like it a lot when he calls me sweetheart. More than I should, because I'm sure that he doesn't mean anything by it. He's just a flirt and can't help being charming. It doesn't mean anything, I remind myself.

"Good morning," I reply instead, keeping my hammering heart to myself.

"You said something about a shower?" he asks, sitting up. The blanket falls down his body and I get an eye-full of his bare chest. Then he stretches his arms above his head in a deep stretch that pulls on my wrist and makes me see all the delicious movement of his muscles in his arms and pecs. Those muscles make me think decidedly unfriendlike thoughts about the vampire, so I look away.

"Yeah, I didn't get to take one yesterday because of . . . well, you know. I'm starting to feel grimy and want to rinse off."

"Do you think that we can, with this?" he asks, holding up his wrist.

"It'll stretch it to its limit, but I think we can manage. When I changed in your bathroom yesterday, I was almost in your shower anyway."

"Alright, let's get you showered, then," the vampire says, climbing towards me on the bed, so that we can both get off the same side together and not pull on the string. But seeing him crawl toward me on a bed makes my brain short-circuit for a moment.

Friends , I repeat desperately in my head, just friends.

We make our way to the bathroom and I enter and close the door behind me. Using the toilet briefly, I then pull off the rest of my clothes and step into the shower. It really is a stretch and my left arm has to stay out of the stall or I can't make it all the way inside. It's a super awkward shower, but I make do, even though my left arm can't get under the spray. Outside of the door, I hear Vlad humming. It's a pleasant, mindless tune that I don't recognize, but he has a nice voice. Everything about him is nice, a rebellious little thought says in my head. And the thought is true, but it's also true that as soon as I figure out how to break the curse, we'll probably go back to being just friendly acquaintances: a customer and a shopkeeper. The thought is a little depressing, so I shove it to the back of my mind and finish rinsing my hair. I have to use Vlad's shampoo and conditioner and now I smell faintly like him, which I like more than I should. Man, my crush is just getting worse and worse.

Once I'm done showering, I step out and do a little drying spell, making my hair and body bone-dry in an instant. Then I pull out another hair and summon an outfit from home. If this hex is going to go on much longer, I really need to get some of my stuff to leave here; summoning stuff every time I need something is a pain. Getting dressed, I look up and see an invisible finger writing in the steam in the mirror, "Welcome, Gertrude," with a little smiley face. I smile. It seems the house does like me. Or at least enough to welcome me and not pelt things at me at least. Finishing up with my outfit, I resolve to stop thinking romantically about Vlad. I just got out of a relationship and I'm clearly a mess. The glowing red string on my wrist tells me that. I should get my shit together before I try to pull a perfectly nice vampire into the mix.

With a nod to myself, I go and knock on the door, like Vlad did last night. "I'm coming out," I say and open the door. Vlad is right there as it opens and I get another eye-full of his chest. His very, very lickable chest.

No, bad, Gertrude, I chide myself. Very bad, Gertrude.

"Do you need a shower?" I ask, trying not to think of the mental image those words create.

"Sure," he replies. "I feel bad making you wait outside for me, though."

"It's not a big deal," I say. "You did it for me. I'll just wait here."

"Okay," he agrees. "But remember, the mansion is alive and has a mind of its own. You might see something spooky."

That makes me laugh. "I think I can handle ‘spooky.' Besides, the house likes me. It'll be fine."

Vlad chuckles in return. "Alright, I'll just be two shakes of a bat's wing."

He closes the bathroom door and I lean against the wood to give him the most room possible with the string. In moments, I hear the shower going and relax into my lean. This is good. Safe. Taking turns with the shower feels like something roommates would do.

As I wait, the door behind me occasionally quivers like the shutters did last night. It shakes against my back, like someone trying to get my attention.

"What is it, house?" I finally ask. "What's up?"

Without warning, the door suddenly opens behind me and I tumble backwards, landing on the bathroom floor in a heap. Looking up, I see the door swing shut by itself and hear a click as it locks. What the hell?

"Gertrude?" I hear Vlad behind me ask, the shower turning off. "What are you doing in here?"

Immediately, my hands are covering my eyes. "The house is playing tricks I think. It opened and closed the door, trapping me in here. I didn't mean to interrupt your shower. I'm so sorry!"

"You have nothing to be sorry about," the vampire says, sounding amused. "I told you the house has a mind of its own. I wonder why it wants to trap us here together, though?"

"I don't know," I say truthfully, still with my hands over my eyes.

"You can open your eyes, you know," Vlad says, still sounding amused. "I'm in my robe."

"Oh," I respond, a tad sheepishly. "Right. I just didn't want to invade your privacy."

"No harm done," the vampire says lightly. "I'm as decent as I ever am."

Letting my hands fall, I open my eyes to see Vlad bending over me in a plush gray robe. His hair is wet and some strands have fallen into his eyes. I'm extremely tempted to push them back for him, stroking through his hair, but that's an intimate gesture, especially when one of us isn't completely dressed."You aren't hurt are you?" he asks, sounding concerned.

"My tailbone is a little sore and my dignity wounded," I tell him. "But like you said, no harm done."

"Good," Vlad says, standing up. "Let's see if we can't get out of this room."

The vampire turns toward the door and tries the handle. Locked, just like I thought. Vlad rattles the knob a little more and then finally says loudly, "House, can you let us out? Your prank was very funny, but we have to get to work soon."

Nothing, not even the smallest quiver at his words. Vlad tries the knob again but it's still locked. The vampire sighs. "Alright, house, what do you want in exchange for us leaving?"

A tapping sound echoes in the bathroom coming from the mirror. We both turn to see an invisible finger write out, "KISS," in all capital letters in the steam.

"What?" barks out Vlad. "House, you can't be serious."

The invisible finger just underlines the word for emphasis.

I can feel myself blushing. Why does the house want us to kiss? After all my resolve to keep Vlad at a friendly distance?

"House," Vlad says sternly. "You can't just make Getrude kiss me. She has her own will and feelings."

"I don't mind," I hear myself say.

"What was that?" Vlad asks, turning around. He looks a little dumbfounded.

I blush some more. "I said, I don't mind. It's not like we have to make out, right? Just a little kiss. We can think of it like a childhood dare or something."

"Are you sure?" Vlad asks. "You don't have to if you don't want to. We'll find another way out."

"Like I said, I don't mind. Let's just get this over with."

"That's what a man wants to hear before he kisses someone," Vlad teases, putting out a hand to help me up. I let him pull me up and he pulls me closer, our faces only inches away.

"Last chance to say no, sweetheart," he murmurs, tilting his head.

"Yes," I say instead and then Vlad is kissing me. It's sweet and soft. He doesn't try to push his limits and there's no tongue, but butterflies erupt in my belly and my core goes molten just the same. His head tilts the other way, deepening the kiss ever-so-slightly. Time seems to stand still as we kiss each other until a creaking sound interrupts. We pull apart and see the door to the bathroom is open.

"Well, at least the house kept its word," I say, my voice a little breathless. My mind is reeling and all I want to do is kiss Vlad again. So much for just being "friends."

"C'mon," Vlad says, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the bathroom. "I'll get ready and then we'll fly to your shop, okay? You're supposed to open soon."

That dumps some cold water on my amorous thoughts. I'm a little disappointed that Vlad doesn't seem as affected as me by our kiss, but I'm glad that one of us is thinking straight. Gretchen would kill me if I was late today after she had to watch the shop all day yesterday by herself.

So I let Vlad pull me to his closet where he closes the door and I'm careful not to lean against the door this time. I wouldn't want the house to get the idea to play another trick. But as I stand by myself outside of his closet, my fingers go up to my lips with a mind of their own, the ghost of Vlad's kiss still tingling in my nerve endings. My resolve from earlier is crumbled to dust, my heart beating with excitement and longing. I don't think I can just be friends with Vlad.

Not at all.