Page 44 of Charmed By Apollo

“If you see Lady Aphrodite, could you tell her that I miss her and still think of her?”

Now that he didn’t expect. “E-excuse me?”

A fond look crossed over the vampire’s pale face. “She was very kind to me back in the day. I still think of her.”

“Er, right. I’ll convey your message to her when I see her at the next council meeting.”

Dr. Rodrigo bowed. “Thank you.”

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to find Geri.” With a quick nod, he dashed away toward the direction where Geri went. He couldn’t find her, but after asking a few members of the staff, he finally found someone who had seen her slip out of the ballroom and out onto the balcony overlooking the gardens. As soon as he stepped out, he saw her standing by the edge, a faraway look on her face.

“Geri,” he called. “Hey…”

She stiffened at the sound of his voice. “I want to be alone, Apollo. Please.”

“Sure, but I need to tell you something.”

“And what’s that?” she said, not looking at him.

“I—” Something caught in his throat, as if stopping him from telling her what Dr. Rodrigo had said. He swallowed it. “You ran away before Dr. Rodrigo could finish.”

“Finish?” Her head swung to him. “Finish what?”

“He knows someone who could bring your grandmother back.” And so, he told her about Yumil.

A myriad of expressions passed over her beautiful face—disbelief, astonishment, fear, and finally, hope. “If that’s the case, then we should go right now,” she said. “To Mexico.”

The tension that had been stretching between them all night eased, and Apollo sighed inwardly with relief. “Of course, you would say that,” he said jokingly.

“I don’t want to waste any more time,” she said.

“Alright, but we should definitely say goodbye to our hosts. It would be rude to just disappear.”

“But—”

“Geri,” he warned. “We wouldn’t have known about Yumil if it wasn’t for Marley and Dr. Rodrigo. Plus, they’ve been so nice to us. They didn’t even try to eat us,” he pointed out.

That made her smirk. “Alright. I suppose we could at least say goodbye.”

“And maybe one drink? And a dance?”

“Don’t push it.”

He laughed aloud. “Alright, let’s go.”

Apollo led her back inside, feeling much lighter than he had since last night when they fought. It seemed that from this point on, everything would be going his way.

“Argghh…goooood…blooood…”

“What the hell?” Geri cursed. “Who?—”

“What—oh hey, Uriel,” Apollo greeted the vampire, whose decrepit figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

The ancient vampire’s eyes glowed red as he stared at Apollo, tottering toward them with his cane. “Diivvvinne…bloooooorddd…”

“I’m sorry, Uriel, I’m afraid I don’t speak senile vampire.”

“I must…have you…divine blood!” The weak and frail vampire suddenly lunged forward—straight into Apollo, face twisting into a demon-like mask.

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