Page 26 of Unholy Gambit: Checkmate in Blood (A Paranormal Halloween #5)

Axel breathed in the humid, slightly fishy air. Humans wouldn’t scent it, but it told him the river was significantly healthier than most of its European counterparts, and absolutely, one thousand percent healthier than the Nile.

It was warm for late October — low eighties, soft wind rising off the Tennessee River. A lazy, dreamy night that brought to mind slow kisses and slower hands, the sounds of live jazz echoing over the water adding to the effect as they walked across the parking lot.

Aury had worn a pale green sundress that hugged her waist and floated around her legs like it had nowhere better to be. Her hair was pinned back with pearl clips, a nod to the Southern Belle aesthetic, but her eyes were sharp, amused, fully herself.

Axel was in charcoal dress pants and a white shirt rolled to the elbows, the top two buttons undone.

No tie. No jacket. Dress shoes polished but not flashy.

A timeless look. One only needed to update the style of pants and shirt every couple of years.

A dip into his Aurélie’s head told him she thought he looked dangerous, like a gentleman with a past and too many secrets.

Perhaps it was time he started letting her know more about him.

He held out his hand with a little bow. “Mademoiselle.”

She giggled and took it, but before she could step forward, he blocked her path with two hands raised, palms flat against an invisible wall.

She blinked. Frowned.

He fashioned his face into slight arrogance and leaned against the imaginary wall he’d felt for.

She laughed again, richer this time. He felt around for another wall. Discovered the door handle, opened it. Stepped through the door, and let his face go back to normal. Another bow with a slight flourish, and he stood with his arm out, so she could hold it while they walked.

She curled her warm fingers around his forearm, and they made their way across the parking lot together.

“That was incredible!” Her voice softened. “And unexpected. Thank you for showing me that side of you.”

The old riverboat was a reminder of different times, and the lights strung up like stars didn’t detract from the history.

They boarded in time to get good seats, and he guided her to the upper deck, where café tables waited near the railing, and a small dance floor gleamed under strings of lights. A trio in vintage suits played jazz standards, the kind of music meant to be swayed to.

Axel didn’t rush to sit.

He pulled her in.

Their first steps together on the dance floor were quiet. Natural. He led wordlessly, and she followed like her body already knew the rhythm. He spun her once, slow, careful of her knee, but enough to make the dress swirl, and she smiled up at him, flushed.

The music shifted into something slower. Smokier.

He drew her closer, one hand at her waist, the other lifting her palm like a prayer.

“Tell me something real,” she whispered, breath against his collarbone.

He considered. Thought about teasing. Decided against it. Put a barrier around them so no one would overhear.

“A few decades of my third century was spent running. Literally. From priests. From my own kind. I fed on whoever I had to, and stayed just enough in the shadows not to get staked or worse — the peasants used silver to weaken someone they thought might be a vampire, and then put them into a pillory on a stage to await the sunrise. To see if they burned.”

She looked up, surprise flickering across her face. “That’s more than I expected.” She rested her cheek back on his chest. “Thank you for trusting me with more of you.”

“You asked for real. Before I was terribly strong, being brutal and terrifying kept me alive, but over the centuries,” he caressed over the top of her hair, took a second to bring them back to the music. “I made myself too much of a nightmare. I had to go into hiding from my kind after…”

Why had he started this story? “I was safe under the master I’d oathed to, but when he was challenged and lost, I wouldn’t have been safe under the new master.”

He rubbed her back again. “I survived until I could find another coterie who’d accept me, but it was a bad time to be a loner living outside human villages.”

Her fingers tightened on his shoulder.

“I’m glad you survived. Glad you were there to save me and my mom. Glad you’re here. Now.”

He didn’t respond, not out loud, but his hands pulled her in closer, and when he kissed her, it wasn’t the teasing kind. It was slow. Deep. A seal pressed by moonlight.

They swayed together on the slow-moving, historic paddleboat until the band took a break.

He pulled her toward the railing, gestured for her to lean out over the water so her hair blew in the wind, and was happy for the huge smile it brought to her face. When she straightened, he reached behind her ear and produced one of the wrapped chocolate mints available at the bar.

She laughed and took it. “How did you do that? More vampire tricks?”

“Just old-fashioned showmanship.” He unwrapped it for her, held it to her mouth. She wrapped her lips around his fingers as well as the treat, and slid them away to accept the chocolate.

“Your home’s in Egypt. Are you planning to move here?” she asked quietly once she’d swallowed the treat.

He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to? To get permission, I mean?”

“I’m doing everything in my power to make it happen. I think the odds are in my favor, but there are no guarantees.”

He let the silence stretch between them, anchored by jazz and starlight.

Until she frowned. Glanced back over her shoulder.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I thought I felt something. Probably just paranoia after…” She sighed.

“Now that I know ghosts are real, and aren’t nice, it’s a little freaky.

Ruby told me about sage, and walked all around her apartment while burning some, waving smoke into every corner, even the closets.

She assured me it would make sure no ghosts or bad spirits or whatever came into her space.

I’m going to smoke my cottage all to hell and back with it the next time I go home. ”

He tensed beside her, looking out over the river, the banks, the parking lots and buildings. Too many places for someone watching them to hide.

“Thankfully, one doesn’t regularly run into ghosts. Maybe try not to go places where they’re supposed to be, in the future, and you won’t have any more run-ins.”

She nodded, but a dip into her head told him the feeling hadn’t passed.

He ordered wine for her at the bar, whiskey for himself, and they sat to drink them, and to rest her body a little before dancing away the magical night once again, watching the city lights reflect on the water when the old riverboat finally returned to its dock.