Page 62 of Soren

His inner vamp really,reallydid not like the thought of Gabe dying.

Well, what do you want us to do? Scare him away? He finally thinks of us as something other than a monster. You want to ask to take his humanity away and reverse all that progress?

Ugh. This was terrible. Soren had been reduced to a poor man’s Roman, actually talking to his “demon” like it was a separate entity.

“Soren, we’re up!”

Soren was pulled out of his maudlin thoughts by Jay’s enthusiastic warning. Alicia was at the counter again, and Soren nodded his greeting before opening his mouth to order—he was graciously inducting Jay to the world of overly sweet coffee drinks—but Jay spoke first. “You guys are hiring?”

Soren looked to where the other vampire was pointing. There was indeed a “Hiring Now!” sign propped up on the counter.

Alicia smiled warmly at Jay. “We are. You interested?”

“No,” Soren answered for the other vampire. “He’s not.”

Jay turned to him, his gray eyes full of dismay. “Why not?”

“Jaybird,” Soren explained, the very picture of patience. “You’ve never had a job in your life.”

“Ohh.” Jay’s eyes widened in realization. He turned to Alicia. “I’ve never worked before.”

The redheaded barista cocked an eyebrow at him. “Good for you, man.”

“My friend here has lived a very…sheltered life,” Soren offered.

“Hm.” Alicia looked Jay over—Jay who was currently staring at the café menu like it was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen. “It’s really not all that hard to learn. And being that adorable does half the work for you when it comes to customer service.”

She turned to the back, where there was a door leading to what Soren could only assume was the staff lounge or office or whatever. “Colin!” she shouted, making Jay jump. “Colin!”

After a few seconds, the door opened, and a tall, lanky guy with purple hair and an eyebrow piercing stepped out. “Damn, Alicia. Don’t yell like that in front of customers.”

Alicia seemed unfazed by the rebuke. “We have an applicant.” She pointed to Jay, who smiled broadly.

When Soren smiled like that, it unnerved people.

When Jay did it, people thought he’d fallen straight from heaven.

Colin looked the little vampire up and down. “Got any barista experience?”

“Nope,” Jay answered sweetly.

“Food service experience?”

“Nope.”

“Customer service experience in any way, shape, or form?”

“Nope.”

“Big fan of coffee?”

“I’ve never had it,” Jay said sincerely, smile still firmly in place.

Colin stared at Jay, who stared right back at him. Finally, the tall man ducked beneath the counter before coming back up with a form. “Fill out this application. Come back Tuesday for a real interview.”

He turned back, returning through the back door.

Alicia was doing her best to hold back laughter. “Oh my God, you actually charmed him. I didn’t think it was possible.”

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