16. Barnaby

Chapter sixteen

Barnaby

I did not enjoy watching Louise talking with Maisie in front of the shop. The mayor was so animated, who knows what secrets of mine she spilled while chatting Maisie’s ear off? When she’s gone, I grumble and go back to my reading. At least Louise didn’t feel the need to come in and bother me.

No, the last thing I want is for the mayor to ruin my good mood. Since drinking real, sweet, human blood again, I feel light and airy. My body is strong, and it’s as if a fog has been lifted from everything. The world is sharper, clearer, and brighter. I see possibility and potential everywhere. First thing this morning I swept the whole shop, then dusted the tops of the shelves, not having realized how dirty they were.

And then when Maisie came in to visit after her trip around the cove? I wanted to drag her over the counter and kiss her, and then probably make love to her again. Even though the mark on her neck is now covered with a bandage, seeing it there made my cock shiver.

That was me . I claimed her, I drank from her, and now she’s—

I stop myself before I can even finish the thought. Now she’s what? Mine?

The possessiveness of this phrase makes me growl. Maisie isn’t mine. She can’t be. She’s human, and she’s temporary.

Unbidden, I remember how Eleanor spoke of humans. Prey . In her eyes, we were superior to them, and they served no greater purpose than to feed us.

I shut my eyes. I’m not that version of myself any longer.

But it’s still true that she is temporary here—that she plans to leave after the results of the investigation. I know it’s not wise to get attached, but I couldn’t stop myself from agreeing to meet with her again.

The rest of the day, I’m lost in a daydream about what tonight will be like. I think of reading quietly into Maisie’s ear, about taking her clothes off again, about sipping from her like a glass of sweet wine while our bodies speak to each other.

I serve a few customers, but no one comes in after eight. Eventually I close up shop, turn off the lights, and step out onto the sidewalk. Then I knock at Maisie’s door.

When she appears, she’s like magic incarnate. She’s wearing a dress , which seems very unlike her. It’s robin’s egg blue, has a swooping neckline, and a frilly skirt that ends just above her knees .

I unabashedly stare at her.

“Do you like it?” she asks, playing with the skirt. “One of those things you buy and then never wear. But I thought, reading a romance novel in front of the fire? Seems like as good a time as any.”

I’m enchanted. Gone is the baggy camisole with the bulky pants. This number hugs her body closely, showing off every last curve of it, and instantly I want to tear it off her.

It will be more of a challenge tonight to keep the monster locked up. Already it’s thirsting, drooling as I gaze upon her. Her face is expectant, waiting.

“I love it,” I finally say. I trail a finger from her bare shoulder down to her hand, and she trembles in the night air. Cradling her fingers in mine, I drink in the sight of her a second time. “I can’t say that I have a meal planned this time, though.” I didn’t think Maisie would invite me to spend time with her again so soon.

She flaps her other hand at me. “No worries. I’ll get something to go from the diner.”

We walk there side by side, and Lerana unabashedly stares at me as Maisie and I enter with our hands twined together. She hurries over to take our order, and I wish I could tell her to at least attempt to hide her shock and awe.

Maisie snorts next to me. “She looked like her eyes were about to pop out of her head.”

It’s truly adorable, that snort.

We wait for Maisie’s food, then take it in a bag back to my house with us. We drive in her car once again, but this time she navigates the potholes a little better. When we reach my manse, she hops out like a rabbit and retakes my hand, as if she can’t bear to be apart.

She doesn’t eat her dinner until a few hours later, after we are both soaked in sweat and Maisie is shivering from the fierce power of her orgasm. This time, I sank my teeth into her breast as I was sucking on it, and she clamped down around me so powerfully that I came on the spot, still drinking from her while I spilled inside her.

I don’t think there’s anything in the world like consuming fresh blood while a beautiful woman screams underneath you. Then I pumped her so full that it dripped out all over the comforter, and I realized I would need to wash it myself if I didn’t want Adeline to bear witness to my erotic activities.

After Maisie eats and we’ve cooled the heat in our veins, we sit in front of the fire on my Queen Anne and I read her the next two chapters of our book, until she’s fallen asleep in my arms.

Should I tell her the truth about me? Or can I simply hide it until our time together is over, and she never has to know what monster lurks deep down inside?

The harder I fall for Maisie, the more wrong it seems to keep it from her. My true form longs to rise to the surface whenever we’re together, and it’s growing more and more difficult to hold it back.

Would she run in fear? Or is she, perhaps, stronger and sturdier than I give her credit for, and I should let her make the choice for herself?

Maisie

A week goes by in a flash. I’m trying to hold onto time, to keep it from slipping through my fingers, but it’s like trying to catch a jellyfish. It oozes through, going onward without stopping and only moving faster the happier and more at home I feel here in Hallow’s Cove.

Still, I await the results of the investigation, wondering if I’ll still have a job when this is all over.

A clear change has come over Barnaby since he began drinking my blood. His skin is warmer to the touch. He smiles far more and has even become less snappy with his customers.

Yep. I’m definitely falling for that fucking vampire. And I think his good mood says he might be falling for me, too.

But I won’t hope. That’s not what either of us needs. We haven’t talked about it yet, but we both know I’m leaving in a couple of weeks, and that’s when all of this will come to an end. Though sometimes at night, when I’m curled up at Barnaby’s side, my head resting on his smooth, naked chest, I wonder if it has to.

During the day I go on hikes, and now that I’m done with my second fantasy novel, it’s time to tackle the Anne Hadron. I sigh while lugging it up the mountain, hoping it’s not as tedious as the “romance” novel Barnaby reads to me in the evenings. We’re nearly ten chapters in and they still haven’t shared a kiss, and all the old-timey writing is boring. But I do it for him because he clearly enjoys reading to me, and I’m happy when he’s happy.

I’m surprised when the Anne Hadron novel isn’t at all what I thought. It has dark themes but a bright setting, and instantly I’m immersed in the world of the late nineteenth century, when the book takes place. Hadron is a good writer, and I think I know why Barnaby likes it. She takes care with the details while weaving a fascinating story about an elderly woman whose husband has just passed away, and she’s traveling Europe looking for the answers to her life.

After a few hours, I realize I’ve sat there so long that now my skin is burned, so I reapply my sunscreen and head back down the mountainside.

When I reach the bookstore, I find Barnaby and Mayor Louise standing outside, discussing something rather intimately.

“Ah, the tenant!” Louise pivots when she sees me. “I was just speaking to Barnaby about the next street fair, and how lovely it would be if he opened up his antique shop as a display room. Don’t you agree?”

I shoot a look at Barnaby, not sure what he wants me to say. He appears resigned.

“It could all use a good cleaning,” I hedge. “What if we cleaned it together, Barnaby? The street fair would be a side bonus.”

He searches me with his eyes, then rolls them and turns back to the mayor .

“Fine. Since Maisie is helping me, I’ll do it. But it will be no children allowed . I cannot have them getting their sticky hands all over my priceless valuables.”

“Of course, of course,” Louise says, but I don’t think she has any plans to enforce that. “It will be so lovely to see all your treasures out in the open.”

She winks at me and then trundles off, calling out to someone else down the street.

“Thank you for nothing,” Barnaby says to me when she’s gone, but he’s smiling. “I guess that means we’ll spend the next two days dusting furniture.”

“Then you can tell me about each piece!” I follow him into the bookstore. “I’m sure there’s so much history there.”

He shakes his head, chuckling. “Endlessly curious.” A hand with long, thin fingers curls around my waist, pulling me to Barnaby’s side. He kisses the top of my head. “Always wanting to know the truth of things.”

“It’s the bug-hunter in me. I want to know all the whys and hows. It helps me understand the world. And I really don’t like surprises.”

Barnaby’s hand tightens around mine as we pause in front of the door at the back of the store, which leads into the room where he keeps his antiques.

“Maisie...” He hovers there, not looking at me. “Will you come over tonight so we can talk?”

I blink at him. “Well, I was planning on it, just like every other night so far.”

He nods sharply. “Good.” Then he releases my hand and opens the door, leading me into the darkness. He flips on a light switch, illuminating the sprawling collection of furniture. It’s going to take a lot of legwork and elbow grease to clean this up, but I’m excited about the prospect of spending that much time with my vampire.

Mine . I know he’s not, but I’m going to keep living in my fantasy world as long as I can.

Barnaby

The longer I wait, the worse it will be when I finally show her the creature—so I should do it sooner rather than later and let her judge me.

Maisie and I work for a good portion of the afternoon and into the evening, clearing dust off desks and dressers, vacuuming cushions and upholstery, and sweeping the floors. Maisie works hard, and even the scent of her sweat is utterly intoxicating. All I want to do is bend her over a couch and slide inside her. Her warmth has become home to me, and I long for it all day long as we labor over this room full of memories.

That, at least, dulls the ache in my chest as we uncover more and more of my past. Each item in my collection is linked to some event or person, many I want to forget. But somehow, with Maisie’s light in the room, the shadows connected to them are much less dark. She asks me about each piece as we clean, and I offer what I can. I obtained a mirror from the early twentieth century that came from a duchess whose husband left her, and she had to sell off everything she owned to pay her bills.

Maisie gasps when she sees the image of us both standing in front of it. “I thought vampires didn’t have reflections!” she says, awed.

I stare at her. “What?”

“Well, you know the myth, right? That someone’s a vampire if they don’t have a reflection?”

“That is physically not possible.” I squint at her. “You believed this? You are good at math and science, or so I thought.”

Maisie huffs. “Well, yeah. I didn’t know any better. But I guess you’re right—you’re flesh and blood, so of course you have a reflection.” She cocks her head at me. “Are you afraid of crosses?”

She really believes all these silly rumors?

“Why would I be afraid of a cross?” I ask. “It is merely a physical object.”

She sighs. “Okay, never mind.”

I’ve always found these superstitions about us terribly fascinating, especially the cross. I wasn’t a religious man when I was alive, but I have thought about how I might be greeted in the afterlife after all I’ve done, all the heinous crimes I’ve committed against humanity, and I don’t like to think about it.

“Wait, wait.” Maisie stands up straight. “What about garlic ?”

Wrinkling my nose, I lift the desk and place it off to one side, then open the drawers to check them for any other lingering remnants of my former life. “I don’t care for it, but human food doesn’t do much for me anymore.”

She just shakes her head, giggling. “Of course. It seems like nothing I know about vampires is true.”

Little does she know.