Which is when I noticed, with the tiny portion of my brain that wasn’t entirely vaklempt, that the pointy tips of two very sharp-looking fangs had just begun to peep out from under his top lip. Holy shit! thought the part of me that was trying to remember where I kept our Band-Aids. Meanwhile, the part of me that was really attracted to Ryu was wondering, Does that mean he likes me?

Every last one of my conflicted feelings went entirely silent, however, as Ryu’s lips brushed my own: just the faintest touch like that of a feather. He likes me! I thrilled. And, if I was honest, I liked him right back… so I braced myself for what was coming.

But before Ryu’s lips could again touch mine, we were interrupted by a voice choked with anger and contempt.

“Nice display, slut.” It was Stuart, of course.

Ryu’s arms turned to steel around me, but I managed to extricate myself from his grasp and turn around. Stuart was standing behind me, his gang spread out behind him like some Wild West posse. He looked at me as if he would like to hit me, which he probably did.

“Look, man,” he said to Ryu. “I don’t know what this bitch told you, but I hope you have good life insurance. She kills her boyfriends.”

I got a glimpse of Ryu’s face as he took a step toward Stuart, and I couldn’t believe Stuart was so dumb as to challenge him. Ryu didn’t look scary, he looked terrifying.

He really is a vampire, after all, I marveled.

One of Stuart’s few good points is that he’s consistent. And in this case, he was consistently stupid. Instead of backing away, as his friends were doing, he didn’t notice the warning signs.

Stuart looked back at me, staring me full in the face. His voice dripped with vituperation as he said, “It should have been you who died that night, you stupid cunt.”

He’d only just articulated the t in “cunt” when he was on the floor, knocked out cold by a single punch from Ryu. All but two of Stuart’s friends fled.

“Get him up, and get him out of here,” Ryu growled. Something told me he didn’t need to use a glamour to make them obey. “And if you hang around waiting for us, I’ll break your legs.”

Stuart’s friends each grabbed an arm and dragged him out of there as fast as they could. The bar was silent for another second, as Ryu watched their progress out the door, and then everybody went back to their private conversations. People were used to Stuart acting like a dick.

“Are you all right?” Ryu asked, taking my hand and peering into my eyes.

“Yes,” I lied. It had been such a nice night, and Stuart had ruined it.

“Can I get you anything?” he asked.

“No. Can you just take me home? I’m sorry.” I suddenly wanted very much to have a good cry. Then a good swim. And then maybe another cry.

What were you thinking? Rockabill will never let you forget…

“Of course,” Ryu said, although he didn’t look happy about it.

I went to stand by the door while he settled the bill and collected my things. I merely waved good-bye to my new friends. I didn’t want to go over and have them apologize for Stuart. It was too embarrassing, and too depressing, and it made me fear that this glimpse of freedom, this opportunity to escape my past, that I thought I had glimpsed tonight was just an illusion.

Ryu made me walk out ten seconds after he did, so he could make sure Stu and his gang hadn’t waited to wreak vengeance in the parking lot. While I was standing at the door, I noticed that the greasy academic from that morning was sitting at a little table tucked away in a corner, behind the big table where Stuart had been sitting. Creepy must have liked the Sow enough to stay the night in Rockabill. The light reflected off his glasses with an eerie flash, but I could tell he was watching me. I felt the bitterness churn inside my belly. I hope we gave you a good show, jerk.

I pushed open the Sty’s door to join Ryu, figuring there would be no trace of Stu or his buddies. Stuart’s friends, at least, were smarter than him.

Ryu and I drove the short way from the Sty to my house in silence. When we arrived, he got out of the car to walk me to my door.

“Thanks,” I said. “I had a really good time. I’m sorry that Stuart ruined everything…” I felt tears hovering and I lowered my head to try and hide them.

But Ryu put his finger under my chin, again forcing me to meet his gaze. “I feel like you’re trapped here,” he said. “And I hate it.”

I shook my head, blinking back the wetness in my eyes. “I’m not trapped,” I lied. “There’s my dad, and Grizzie and Tracy, and now I know about Amy and Nell…” My voice trailed off. I realized I was protesting too much.

Ryu took my hand and raised it to his mouth. I felt his lips press against my palm.

“You deserve more,” he told me. “Much more. More life, more happiness.”

“Maybe I don’t,” I whispered. And then the tears came.

He used his thumbs to brush them away and then he cupped my face in his hands and I felt his lips against mine. When I didn’t respond, he backed away.

He straightened my coat and gave me a sad smile.

“Good night, Jane. I’ll see you tomorrow, after work. I’ll pick you up from the bookstore.”

I nodded, too weary to reply.

When he’d gotten into his car and pulled away, I let myself into the house. My dad was already asleep, and all was quiet. I walked in through the front door and then right out through the back.

I needed a swim.

CHAPTER EIGHT

At work the next day, all I could think about was the night before. Even my dreams had consisted entirely of stylized revisions of my “date,” if that’s what it had been. My sleeping mind would flash from abstract image to abstract image: Ryu and I wearing fancy dress clothes—tux for him, puffy princess dress for me—in the Trough, eating a lobster that kept asking me “why” and weeping into a lettuce leaf. Then we’d be in his car, dressed in PVC unitards like warriors from some sci-fi movie, motoring to the moon while we discussed rescuing Peter from an enemy known only as the Sow. Then we’d be back in the Sty, and Ryu would be fighting a duel with Stuart, using Star Wars lightsabers. Then Ryu and I were naked, in a sea of red velvet, and I was falling into his arms…

And then my damned alarm clock went off… the story of my life.

Tracy was working with me that day, and she didn’t mention Ryu. I understood what Ryu had done, glamouring Grizzie not to mention his appearance at Read It and Weep. After all, if Grizzie had gone home to announce the arrival of my great friend from college, that one I always talked about, Tracy would think Grizzie had lost her mind.

But it also made things difficult. I had so many secrets rattling around in my empty little life that I hated adding any more. Plus, I really would have appreciated being able to talk to Tracy about the whole situation. In the warm light of day, my evening with Ryu was far less ruined by Stuart’s outburst than it had felt like at the time. Instead, I was mostly thinking about the good stuff. Like dancing with Ryu. And holding Ryu’s hand. And being in Ryu’s arms. And Ryu whispering in my ear. And the brush of Ryu’s lips against mine.

Not to mention my tuna melt had been particularly tasty.

It didn’t help that a few of the customers coming in for their newspaper and morning coffee were giving me the stink eye, having heard about—or witnessed for themselves—my dinner with Ryu or the little spat between Stuart and me in the Sty. Villages like Rockabill have long memories. Jason may have died eight years ago, but in the collective unconscious of the town it had happened just recently.

Luckily, that morning we’d gotten nearly our entire inventory for that month delivered in one fell swoop, so we had a lot to keep us busy. Tracy and I took turns taking care of customers and stocking shelves, making the day go by quickly. I bunked off at a quarter till closing, to change my clothes, at which Tracy only raised an eyebrow. I never bothered to change at work unless I was going out with them after. But I’d just go ahead and let Ryu explain everything.

When I emerged from the bathroom, freshly deodorized and changed and variously brushed and touched up, Ryu was at the counter, already whammying Tracy with our fake backstory. She was nodding her head agreeably, although, being less omnivorous than her life partner, Tracy wasn’t nearly as impressed by Ryu’s good looks as Grizzie had been.

I watched the exchange, shivering at the touch of his power. It felt like someone had turned on a fan somewhere in an already chilly room.

It’s so easy for him, I thought. He manipulates us so effortlessly. His kind must find it easy to hold humans in contempt…

The idea was disturbing. Equally disturbing was that I had just used “us” and “humans” as synonymous but I wasn’t sure what I was anymore. Was I human, or supernatural, or both, or neither? I had heard myself called a halfling by the supes, but that seemed a rather loaded term, like the words “mulatto” or “quadroon” from the slave days.

The more I find out about this world, the more questions I have…

My reverie was interrupted by two sets of eyes staring at me inquisitively. Tracy and Ryu were waiting for an answer to a question I hadn’t even heard. “Sorry, off in my own world,” I apologized.