Page 16 of A Dream of Stars and Curses

I laugh. ‘Buffy isn’t any ordinary human, though. She’s special. Besides, she should have been with Angel. Look how that turned out.’

I’d rather not be the reason all hell breaks loose just because Leverett and I slept together once. Although—

Bonnie gives me a stern look. ‘She’s a vampire slayer, and he’s a vampire. They made it work. And you’re special, too, Miss Super Veiled Vision.’

I snort. I guess I can follow her reasoning, but Buffy is fiction. My life isn’t. These stories are fiction because someone wants them to be real. For a moment, I feel kinship towards the writers—what if they were like me? A human in love with a vampire? Or maybe a vampire in love with a human. That seems even more unlikely, though. How could a human possibly be interesting or exciting enough for someone like the Spikes and Leveretts of this world to fall in love with them?

‘That’s different,’ I say. Not a strong reason, I know, but I don’t want to keep justifying why Leverett will never feel the same for me.

‘Okay,’ Bonnie says. ‘But we’re still going dress shopping, right?’

I smile. ‘I do want to make a good first impression. But if we’re getting me a dress, we’re getting you a new bikini.’

It’s Bonnie’s turn to blush. ‘We’ll be underwater for most of the date. It’s not like she’ll see it.’

I shrug. ‘I don’t care. If I get to dress up, so do you.’ Visions of us going on a double date with Leverett and Sunitha flash through my head. Now that would be interesting—especially because Sunitha has no idea about any of this and I have every intention of keeping her out of it. I haven’t forgotten the conundrum the Dreamcatcher gave me. Maybe one day Bonnie will choose to tell Sunitha about the Veiled, but that’ll be her call. Right now, it’s beyond unnecessary... and unless something happens to change either Bonnie or her date into one of the Veiled, it’ll technically never be necessary.

‘So, what were you doing when I found you?’ Bonnie asks. ‘Were you actually daydreaming about your date? No judgement from me if you were. Very understandable.’

I wish I’d brought tea with me, but I didn’t know I’d be doing anything other than cloud watching when I came out here today.

‘I don’t even know where we’re going,’ I say. ‘All I know is that this gathering is very laid-back and at his friend’s place.’

Did Leverett say something about a mansion or did I invent that part? Perhaps I was daydreaming a little.

‘And there’s no dress code?’ Bonnie gazes at the sky. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll see the kind of house I’m going to. ‘You don’t want to be the only one who’s overdressed, either.’

‘He said some of the guests use the opportunity to dress up.’ Therefore, it’s okay for me to get all dressy. Not that I’m going to buy some expensive ball gown—my gallery job doesn’t pay that well.

‘Hmh.’ Bonnie stands. ‘Shall we go inside?’

I can see in her eyes that there’s something she doesn’t want to discuss out here, though I’ve no idea what it might be. Maybe she’s just tired of tip-toeing around words like vampire and Veiled? Of whispering every other word? Whatever her reason, I nod and follow her into the house.

As soon as we’re in and the door is shut, Bonnie hugs me.

‘What’s wrong?’ I ask. The gesture puts me on high alert. It’s not like we never hug, but this feels too sudden.

‘Be careful, okay?’ She pulls away to look into my eyes. ‘Your last encounter with the Veiled didn’t go so well.’

Bonnie saw some of the nightmares the Dreamcatcher put me through—Kate brewed her a tea that allowed her to join me, and we kicked ass together. We convinced the Dreamcatcher and the Mara to hear us out in our living room, but only after we dodged a small army of zombies and had to knock them out without killing any of them. I’m not surprised she’s wary.

‘It’ll be fine,’ I say. ‘Leverett will be with me, and I’d say my last encounter went plenty well, all things considered.’

I would probably be dead now if my sister hadn’t thrown a shoe at my boobs. Clearly, it wasn’t their original plan to let me go, but here I am.

She nods. A small smile creeps onto her lips. ‘You’d better tell him how you feel.’

I freeze. ‘I don’t know. We were joking about the date thing.’

Weren’t we?

‘Would he have just laughed it off if that’s the case? He didn’t have to agree with you when you called it a date.’

I swallow. ‘I guess I’ll see.’

The spark re-enters her eyes, and my shoulders relax. ‘Make sure you’re home by midnight, and call me if you need backup.’

I roll my eyes. ‘Yes, mama.’

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