Richelle Mead: Succubus Shadows

“Where’ve you been?” asked Roman.

I hadn’t landed in Seattle until later the next day. Turns out getting flights from Mexico to the Pacific Northwest can take a little longer than immortal teleportation, particularly on short notice.

“To the edge of the known world and back,” I said, falling onto the couch. Both cats came to me, which I took with some smugness, seeing as they usually fawned all over Roman.

“So, what, South Dakota?”

I made a face and covered my eyes with one arm. My trip to locate Seth had only taken twenty-four hours, but really, that was a lot to endure in so short a time. “I found Seth.”

“Oh.” Roman’s enthusiasm dimmed considerably. “I guess his disappearance wasn’t as milk carton–worthy as Maddie made it sound.”

“Well, I had to—literally—call in a demonic favor to hunt him down.”

“And? Are you guys running into the sunset together now that he’s free?”

The mention of sunset made me flinch, recalling how Seth and I had held each other on the beach. “Not quite. I…left him.”

“What’s that mean exactly?”

I tried to explain all that had gone down with Seth, but it wasn’t easy. It was almost too much for my brain to wade through, let alone articulate to someone else. When I finished, I felt even more exhausted than before.

“So that’s it? You’re never going to see each other again?” Roman’s voice was skeptical.

“He said he’s not coming back, and I didn’t stick around. So, yeah.”

“I have a hard time believing that. Is he just going to live at that hotel permanently? Even he can’t make that much money.”

“No, he mentioned at dinner that he’d be settling down somewhere else. He just hasn’t decided where.”

All was quiet between us for a minute or so. The only sounds were the traffic outside and Aubrey purring near my ear. At last, Roman asked, “Are you okay?”

I glanced over at him in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. This can’t be easy on you. I mean, you haven’t even had any downtime since the Oneroi.”

I don’t know why his words caught me by surprise. I guess it was because amidst all the woes that were always going on in my life, few people ever asked if I was okay. Maybe they’d given up asking because depressing things were so commonplace for me. How weird, I thought, that Roman had swung from sociopathic to compassionate while Seth had fallen down a darker path. Of course, I had no hard evidence that Roman wasn’t actually a compassionate sociopath. Still, I gave him a smile of gratitude.

“I am okay—or will be eventually. Thanks.”

There must have been something in my smile that gave him hope or just made him feel inspired because his own smile grew radiant. I’d forgotten just how beautiful it was, the way it could light up his face. We left dangerous topics alone after that but spent the rest of the night hanging out together. I wasn’t totally okay by any means, but it was nice to simply be ordinary for a while and free of drama. I wondered if that’s what my life would be like now—and what role Roman would play.

Still, adjusting to a world without Seth wasn’t easy over the next few days. Even when he’d been with Maddie, even when the sight of him had caused me pain, he’d still been there. And I’d known he was there. Now, the knowledge that he was gone and that he wasn’t coming back left a strange emptiness in my heart, even as the rest of my life began to stabilize.

I returned to work, a good thing for the store because Maddie had taken some much-needed time off. I checked on her via Doug and offered to go to her if needed, despite knowing I wouldn’t enjoy listening to her mourn for Seth. Of course, since I was doing the same thing, maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to turn down commiseration.

“She just wants to be alone right now,” Doug said, leaning in my doorway. He had no joke today, none of his usual wackiness. “Still upset—but she’s a trouper. I’ll let you know when she’s ready to see anyone.”

“Okay.” My heart went out to her. “Keep me posted.”

It was nearing closing time, and I went out to the store’s main part to help with some of the evening tasks. A few of the staff members were already going home. One of them was Gabrielle. And she was leaving with Cody.

“What’s going on?” I whispered to him while she went to get her purse. He wasn’t even wearing black.

“We’ve gone out a couple times since…well, while you’ve been distracted.” He sounded apologetic for his happiness.

“That’s fantastic,” I said. Love was managing to survive somewhere in this world. “What changed her mind? The concert?”

“A little. I think that opened the door. She’s really excited that I’ll only hang out at night. And that I can show her real vampires.”

“What? You managed to convince her Peter was a vampire?” To the average human, that would be even less likely than Cody being a vampire.

“No, of course not.” His lovesick expression hardened a little. “But Milton—you know that vampire from Eugene?—he’s been in town this week. Claims he’s visiting friends.” Vampires were very territorial about their hunting grounds, even ones like Peter and Cody who rarely took victims and didn’t kill when they did. “He hasn’t caused any trouble, but I don’t buy that vacation thing. It’s as ridiculous as Simone just visiting.”

“She is gone, right?” That had been the rumor, and seeing as there’d been no wacky mishaps with two Georginas, I had to believe it was true. I’d never know what her motivation had been.

“Yup, as far as I know. Anyway. Milton. He sure does look like a vampire. Have you seen him? He’s like a modern-day Nosferatu. I took Gabrielle when I went to spy on him at a dance club, and she got really excited. She thinks I have some special knack for finding vampires—at least wannabe ones.”

“Huh,” I said. “That’s somehow bizarre, funny, and cute all at the same time. Maybe a little disturbing.” He grinned at that, showing his fangs. “What’s she think of the teeth? You can’t hide those if you’re up close and personal all the time.”

“Told her I had them cosmetically done.” He looked very pleased. “She thinks it’s hot.”

His new romance left me in a good mood when I finally took off. I stepped outside into the chilly night, surprised I didn’t mind it so much. Something about the clean, brisk air seemed refreshing to me, and for the first time in a while, I regretted moving out of Queen Anne. It would have been nice to walk home on this early winter evening, instead of climbing into the plastic and metal of my car.

There was nothing to be done for it, though. I turned the ignition and checked my cell phone before heading out of the parking lot. I often left the ringer off while working, and three calls had come in for me. I had a voice mail for each. The first was from a few hours ago, from Erik. He spoke in his usual genteel tones, but I could hear some urgency underneath. He told me he’d come up with some theories about my contract and wanted to talk to me soon.

The next message was from Roman, from about an hour ago. He knew my work schedule perfectly and was calling to see what kind of takeout I wanted. If I called as I was leaving, he said, he’d probably have food by the time I walked in. I felt my lips turn into a smile at that—one that promptly dropped when I heard the last message. It had come in five minutes ago and was from Erik again.

“Georgina—”

That was it. Just my name, tense and strangled. After that came static, what sounded like the phone dropping, and then the voice mail ended. I stared at my phone as though it were a totally foreign object.