Page 12 of Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie

Dampness filled my eyes. It took an embarrassingly long time to eliminate the quiver from my voice enough for me to answer, “I won’t forget.”

“I know you won’t. Goodbye for now, sweetie. As always, I’m sending you all my love.” Auntie Tandra ended the call before I could say the words back to her. Deep down she knew. The ones you loved should always know. After all, none of us knew when the goddess deemed our time up. Sometimes she granted decades. Sometimes she stingily doled time out in preciously packaged tragedies. Ultimately, the choice was hers. But I’d fight her on it. I’d fight tooth and claw to eke out as much time as I could greedily grab.

ChapterFour

Leon

My usual blood blend tasted stale. Reheating it didn’t help. Swirling it didn’t help. I had a sinking feeling nothing would. I hadn’t tasted Frost’s blood and yet, instinctively, I knew nothing could compare. Was this what Lucroy had felt? Was this what had driven him so hard to buck centuries of cautionary vampire lore?

Perhaps.

The sun would rise soon. I could feel it deep in my core. It was survival instinct, hardwired into every vampire. Lucroy said he could still feel it, knew when it was time to go to ground. The sun no longer threatened Lucroy’s life, but he also didn’t feel on friendly terms with her either. Lucroy said he believed the sun merely tolerated his existence in deference to his beloved.

I had no idea if Lucroy was correct or not. Gaia was not my mistress. Vampires had no god or goddess we prayed to. Perhaps in our first lives, but not our second ones. Gods and goddesses ruled the living. They cared not for the dead.

Red rimmed my otherwise clear glass, coating the edges as I swirled the warm blood, aerating it, hoping against hope that it would improve the flavor. Another sip proved my hopes futile.

Forcing the fluid into my mouth and down my throat, I drank my meal like a shot, grimacing when finished. Staring at nothing in particular, I thought back to the unusual pixie two floors above me. Frost was up there. Unlike me, he could leave the premises any hour he wished. Frost leaving without me rankled. It was ridiculous and completely unlike me. I’d known the pixie for less than an hour.

“Foolish,” I said into the empty room.

Allowing my stoic mask to fall, my lips pulled into a deep grimace. Fingertips dancing along the armchair, my mind refused to settle. This pixie should be nothing to me. Unlike other vampires, I hadn’t fallen on the pixie bandwagon. I didn’t frequent pixie bars, hoping one would grant me a sip or two. While I enjoyed Phil, Peaches, and Parsnip’s company, I did not seek them out either.

“Why this pixie?”

Expectedly, the room had no answer and my voice merely echoed in the quiet.

It was a puzzle. Typically, I enjoyed puzzles. While I’d managed to keep my life from becoming too stagnant, I could admit numbness had crept in, encroaching along the edges of my existence. I should welcome this new, tantalizing conundrum. And, in a way, I did. What I did not appreciate was theconcernthat accompanied it.

Frost was here by order of the Magical Usage Council. He was an agent. Frost wasn’t even his true, given name. I hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with Lucroy long enough to learn the general plan. He’d simply told me to expect an agent and that they would be working in the bar with Johnny. At the time, the details seemed trivial.

Not so now.

Sunrise inched closer, making my mind and limbs increasingly sluggish. If I didn’t make it to bed soon, I’d uncomfortably awaken in this chair come sunset.

Pushing out of my seat, I rinsed my glass and set it in a nearby drying rack. I’d essentially taken over Lucroy’s home. It was still decorated to his tastes. Only the blood in the mini-fridge spoke to my occupation. The space was safe and functional but didn’t feel like home. Honestly, nowhere inspired that feeling.

Slipping off my shirt and jeans, I crawled into bed in little more than my boxer briefs. Pulling the sheet up, I barely had time to cover myself before the sun’s arrival slowed my reflexes, muddying my thoughts and movements.

* * *

“What can you tell me about Frost’s mission?” Lucroy’s ass barely hit the booth seat before the words slipped past my lips.

With a slightly raised eyebrow, Lucroy settled into a comfortable position before answering. “I do not believe there are any restrictions I am aware of.”

Good. That was very good.Waking had not diminished my desire for more details. Watching Johnny show Frost around the bar had only fueled the need.

“Is there anything specific you wish to know?” Lucroy apathetically questioned.

Twirling the fresh glass of blood Lizbeth dropped off earlier, I attempted to mimic my old friend’s demeanor. “I was only curious how Frost’s presence might impact Dusk, our nest, and our customers.” Inwardly I congratulated myself on my logical reasoning.

“I see.” I could tell nothing from Lucroy’s tone. “That is reasonable. I should have considered this when I accompanied Frost here last night. It was an oversight on my part.”

I waved Lucroy off. I hadn’t meant to imply anything nefarious. “It is understandable. You needed to get back to Peaches.”

“Indeed. When it comes to my beloved, I am afraid I become singularly focused. It is fortunate I have you to remind me of my duties toward our nest.”

Lucroy was a different type of vampire king. As far as I was concerned, other kings and queens could take a few lessons. I couldn’t think of another nest where their ruler referred to the nest asours. Traditionally, vampires lorded over their territories and didn’t share power. While most had seconds and underlings that held more power than others, Lucroy Moony was the only vampire that I knew of that truly thought of those underlings as equals.

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