Page 19 of Of Mercury and Mist

“What? For letting me go to the bathroom? Please.”

“Your attitude is unbecoming. I have a guest arriving soon, you would do well to calm down.”

Ashley’s fists clenched. “How will your guest feel about the way you treat me?” she challenged.

I scoffed. “He’ll wonder why I haven’t ended your waste of a life.”

“You don’t know a thing about my life!” She yelled at me. “You can’t even be considered human; with the way you act. You go around in your fancy clothes and fancy car, lookin’ all hot and hurting people and you don’t give a shit. You don’t even let them go to the bathroom or eat.”

“You think I’m hot?”

I’d felt her body’s attraction to me, but that was a given since vampires had that effect on humans—whether it was welcome or not. This magic was especially amplified given my demon blood. Lust was a powerful emotion and biology dictated we elicit that reaction in order to be sustained. It fed us.

She pulled at her curls, distracting me yet again with her fragrance. “You know you’re hot you conceited piece of trash. You’re surrounded by mirrors.”

I took a look around my office. She had a point, there were a lot of them. Typically, they were ignored, just as I ignored her insults. There was no reason to focus on the reflective surfaces, they stayed clean. Plus, Josiah and I would let each other know if we had splashes of blood or the random chunk of brain or skin stuck to us. If anything, I used the mirror in my personal bathroom to shave.

Rubbing the light stubble that graced my skin, I replied, “Compliment noted, thank you.”

Ashley’s legs began shaking again and she hung her head. “Come here,” I ordered her. Funny that the pretty little human thought I was “hot.” The idea amused and pleased me. Perhaps there was more to the way she’d physically responded to me last night? I’d have to find out.

She should’ve been terrified of me, repulsed. The day would come I’d be ordered to kill her, but she was making it harder and harder for me to follow through with our laws.

“Tell me something about your life,” I said.

Her eyes widened a moment before a hint of a smirk danced on her face. Her attitude instantly changed when she said, “I like stealing cars.”

I had files to organize on my laptop computer, but I would listen. “Go on,” I encouraged her, knowing she’d only given me that in an attempt to repel or shock me. Plus, the fact was in her file—it wasn’t news to me. We were anything if not thorough with background checks.

“Well, I used to. It's been a while. So, my friends and I in Connecticut, we’d steal cars. We’d wait in the casinos for someone to get taken by ambulance, usually an overdose or alcohol poisoning or something, and we’d pretend to be friends or family. So, we could follow. Or ride in the ambulance. It was usually both, someone in the ambulance and then a car.”

She took a breath before continuing, “Then when they were settled in, we’d go in their room and take their keys and see what kind of car it was. If it was a nice one, we’d check their address on their ID and, like, take a photo of it so we didn’t forget. Then we’d go to the parking garage and find the car.”

I snuck a glance at her out of the corner of my eye. It was the happiest I’d seen her since the night of Josiah’s party, in the limousine. She looked gorgeous, her skin glowed and her eyes were bright, her hands moving as if to accentuate her story. Her aura was shining, glittering around her, joyful and expansive.

“One time, we even got a Lambo. Anyway, we’d joyride, see how fast the car would go, how it handled, just race around blasting music.Somuch fun. And then, by around two or three in the morning, we’d take the car to a car wash—you know? One of those places with the super powered car vacuums and we’d wash and clean the car, wipe down the whole inside, and then fill the tank with gas and drive it to their house. If we had time, we’d wax it, too. Put new tires on it. Fill all the fluid levels, do an oil change. People always forget windshield washer fluid. We went through more of that than anything else. We’d replace serpentine belts if they were worn, timing belts. Hoses. We had tons of supplies from the chop shop.”

Now, Ashley was laughing, grinning from ear to ear while I neglected my work, caught in her spell.

“Who’s gonna call the cops and report their car in perfect condition, running perfectly, and with a full tank of gas? No one. Those were the days.” Her chest heaved with laughter. “Excuse me, officer? Someone did my oil change and put new tires on my car and my car runs good. I’d like to report a crime.”

I had to give it to her. That was diabolical genius. My lips curved into a smile that she caught, and I quickly looked away. “You’re not new to breaking people’s trust. Good to know.”

She sobered up immediately. “I didn’t even take anything from you, someone stopped me.”

For whatever reason, she hadn’t realized I was the one to stop her. I’d thought she’d known. “What were you going to do with the pills? You wouldn’t be doing anyone any favors, not in your crowd. Were you going to sell them?”

“I didn’t know. I never had the chance to decide what to do.”

She was inherently foolish. “Do you have even the slightest idea the magnitude of what could’ve happened? You don’t know which pills they were, what they were for, or the condition of them. What part of ‘experimental’ do you not understand? If one of my people ingested the wrong pill, the consequences could be dire. We could’ve gone to war, you could’ve killed the wrong person.”

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. Her eyes flickered around the room, and she wrung her hands. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I didn’t?—”

I interrupted her, “Ashley, be quiet. I don’t want to hear it.”

Her face tilted down. She looked so tiny and helpless I almost felt sorry for her. My desk phone buzzed, and I answered it. Kiam was here and heading upstairs.

Ashley was an adrenaline junkie, that’s what was wrong with her. Between benevolent car theft and pilfering prescription meds, she lived for risk and wasn’t overly concerned about the consequences. It was cute, in some ways, her free spirit. The light in her eyes as she recounted her adventures was enchanting, drawing me deeper into her vortex. She’d have to go back to remaining silent before she sucked me in any deeper.

---