Eighteen
The vampires had a lot more humans that lived with them. According to The Immortal Laws, vampires could drink from humans. They could also turn them. But it had to be consensual. They also could not kill a human by drinking their blood. Being a vampire was one of the easier ways to become Immortal. Although, like werewolves and witches, you could still be killed.
No one knew if you could kill fey. No one had tried. They were more reserved. They kept to themselves. Their secret city was allowed human visitors, but the laws around them having humans that swore fealty were a lot more complicated.
When I went shopping with Holly, this was all I could think about. Everyone who worked in the shops of Calix’s coven were all humans that had sworn fealty to them. If I managed to get out of this mating situation with Desmond, I could end up being one of them.
Every, single one of them was stunningly attractive. As if the vampires had collected them for their prettiness. It didn’t matter their gender. All of them could have been models. I noticed it first when Holly and I went to the salon to get our hair done. We had already found dresses.
I ended up with a silver, glittery, off the shoulder dress that, according to Holly, “Fit me in all of the right places.”
I always found it difficult to be nice about my looks. I didn’t think I was gorgeous, but I had always known that Nina was the sister that everyone fell in love with. Even before Desmond, she’d been the one to have boyfriends, both human and immortal.
She never took any of them seriously though. She knew what our mom wanted for us. Jenna Westmore had wanted her daughters to marry important men.
“You’re going to be Alpha Desmond’s luna?” the girl that was doing my hair seemed to know everything about me. I shared looks with Holly, who nodded at me to talk. Holly had no secrets to worry about, so she’d been happily chatting with the girl doing her hair since we got there.
I nodded. “Yes. We knew each other before he disappeared. When he finally came home though, I knew he was supposed to be mine.”
The girl made a face. “Huh. That’s surprising.”
I stiffened. “Why is that surprising?”
She was in the middle of pinning my hair into an intricate updo. “I’ve seen you at the Night Owl. I also saw you here the night that you…I think someone tried to hurt you. Calix, the leader of the coven, he brought you back here. He had me do your makeup to cover up some bruises on your face the next morning. I was under the impression that there was something going on between you and Calix.”
Holly looked over at me. “Oh no! You’ve got it all wrong. The only reason Calix watches over her so intently is because um…Calix and I…we’ve well…. we have a history together. It’s complicated, though. But he knows that Iris is my best friend. He won’t let anything happen to her because of that.”
I smiled at Holly. “That’s exactly right. Holly and Calix are the ones that have had some pretty intense moments together. I’m nothing but an employee to him.”
The hairdresser shared a look with the other woman who was working on Holly’s hair. It was clear neither of them believed us. “Well, perhaps it’s Calix that doesn’t know what he wants, then. You should know though that we support whoever would make Calix happy. He’s very important to our coven.”
I blushed. “Uh…. that’s nice.”
That was all I could think of to say. I fiddled with my phone after, not knowing how to talk with them after that. I knew Desmond needed me to pretend to be his luna. I knew that there had been a decree from the gods about us. All of which added up to me needing to be careful about what I said. It wasn’t anything new to me.
Being the daughter of a traitor meant that I had to be careful about what I said. The last thing that you wanted to as a human living in a secret city was to piss off a group of immortals. Or, for that matter, humans loyal to them.
There was no one scarier.
When I was done getting my hair and makeup done, I noticed that there was something pointing out of my hair. It was silver. “What’s that?”
The hairdresser smiled. “I know you’re literally being thrown to the wolves tonight. I wanted you to have something to remind you to be strong. I put a little sword hair pin on there.”
I smiled. “Thank you. What’s your name again?”
“I’m Alyssa Myers,” she answered.
I nodded. “You’re very loyal to your coven, Alyssa. You’re also very talented.”
She grinned. “Good luck with your engagement party. I’m sorry about your mother and your sister. I knew Nina. She came here a few times.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Nina came here a few times?”
Holly looked as shocked as I did. As far as we both knew, for the past few years, she’d been completely in love with Damien.
Alyssa’s eyes widened. “Whoops! Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Anyway, enjoy your party.” Both her and Holly’s hairdresser were gone before I could get another word. We had already let them know to charge it to Calix, but we sat there for a minute, open mouthed and stunned.
“Did…did she just say what I think she said?” I looked at Holly, who nodded in confirmation.
“Yeah, that totally did. What the hell was Nina doing here?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”
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