Page 21

Finn

“I hope it wasn’t too hard to get here.” Willan wraps up what he’s doing behind the till. He’s writing in what looks like an ancient looking ledger in tiny, illegible writing. “Lusce and I just couldn’t get away from the shop tonight, so we figured we could all hang here.”

I wave him off, not wanting to explain that it was a perfect excuse to stop by Bloody Temptations on my night off on the way.

Since Kai and I started this whole friends with, well, not benefits yet, but extra, I feel a bit weirded out going to hang out at the bar like I used to, even though it seems to be the only way we can get together.

Everyone there seems to know that something is going on between us and I don’t really want to see them doing the mental math on how someone like him is with someone like me.

“Too easy, I had the night off and nothing to do anyway.” I pick up an old jar filled with something unidentifiable floating in neon green liquid and put it back down. The shop—which I’ve since learnt is called The Magnifitestique Mage, which explains why they just call it The Shop—is really cool.

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 the city 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. Like he’s the 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’s leaning 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 he scrolls . 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.

His dick, not the bottle. No, the bottle was near his face, the actual point of the photo.

“Do you have something to share with the class?” Willan asks, but only after inspecting the photo on my phone thoroughly .

Realising they’ve pushed the boundaries a little far, Lusce slides the phone back to me sheepishly. He mouths an apology, but I shake him off. I mean if I’m shocked that Kai’s sending me these photos, I’m sure they are absolutely dumbfounded.

“You’ve been texting with the guys from the bar? And didn’t tell us? I thought we were friends!” Lusce is immediately over his guilty conscience and back on his bullshit.

He throws himself back into his seat, scowling at me. I’m not sure if he’s actually upset or not. I quickly flick my eyes to Jax, who is staring at his friend with loving affection, so I figure it’s just him being dramatic again.

Willan has the same look on his face he always gets whenever we mention Bloody Temptations, like he’s smelt something awful, though he’s trying hard to not.

It’s why the group hasn’t been back to the club since the last time we all went.

Though, now I know that he knows Nikolo, I figure there is probably a good reason for his reaction.

“Um, yes? Well, no actually. It’s just Kai. Like, you guys know I’ve been by the bar, and we were chatting there. You were there when he gave me his number, Willan. But we went for coffee, and now we’re texting and stuff.”

“So, you’re dating?” Willan’s voice is almost judgmentally neutral, completely skating around my point about him knowing Kai had my phone number.

I scoff, and take a sip of the blood in my tea cup, trying to hide the burning red of my face. The last thing I want is for anyone to think I have the wrong idea about this. I mean, what if Kai found out? Awkward.

“No. Like, I said. It was coffee. And we hang out when I go visit him at work. That’s it. ”

Well, and we kiss. Like, a lot. I haven’t made out like this since high school.

Well, actually, no. That's a lie. It’s probably more than high school if I’m being honest. But I know they will make a bigger deal out of it than it is, so I keep my mouth shut.

Literally—rolling my lips over my teeth to seal them tight and stop me blurting anything out.

“Um, excuse me, mister. I saw those pictures. They were thirst traps. Thirsty, thirsty, thirst traps.” Jax points his tea cup in my direction then drinks it down, as if to demonstrate his point.

I quickly shove my phone back in my pocket, and pull at the collar of my tee shirt. It suddenly feels uncomfortably tight and too small.

“It’s really not like that. I swear.”

Willan drops his usual tense demeanour about all things Bloody Temptations. He opens his mouth, drawing in a breath to say something and then thinks better of it, shaking his head and smiling reassuringly at me. “Well, that’s his loss then, isn’t it?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Jax agrees, giving me another shake, this one rattling my teeth a little.

“And look, if you need someone to explain the error of his ways, give me his number and I’ll sort him out.” Lusce winks at me over his cup.

I have to force myself not to roll my eyes again. They are nice to play along like this to try and boost me up.

“Yeah, nice try, but that’s not going to happen.” When Lusce huffs and sighs melodramatically, I let myself laugh at his antics with everyone else.

The teacher finally arrives, drawing Willan away again. Lusce also has to leave, considering he’s meant to be taking this class tonight and my moment in the spotlight naturally passes.

I don’t open my message thread with Kai again until I’m safely at home on my couch, where I reply to his other messages and replay the looping lick of his tongue until I can’t take it anymore and stroke myself off in the middle of my living room.