Queens and Monsters: A Vampire Shifter Romance (The Blood Falls Book 1)

I dropped the last of the files on the final desk and sighed with relief. I didn’t normally work my internship on Mondays but they called and begged. They were backed up and needed someone reliable to clear the backlog.

I was the lucky winner of the extra work. At least it came with extra pay. Now I just had to survive my evening shift at the bookstore…and then do it all again tomorrow.

Ugh.

“Rhysa!” My favorite professor and guardian angel waved at me as she hurried over. “Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this.”

“I was happy to help, Dr. Ling,” I lied. I was exhausted from writing two essays over the weekend and taking a test this morning. What I needed was a good night of doing nothing. Unfortunately, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

“How is the cottage working out?”

Dr. Olivia Ling taught my first psychology class. I adored the way she taught and I ate up everything. Every lecture and assignment. She put up with my endless questions and eventually took me under her wing. When she found out I was working three jobs and on scholarship, she made sure I was the next tenant of her friend’s backyard cottage. The rent was practically nonexistent and the yard was like a little garden oasis.

I loved it there.

“It’s perfect. I can’t thank you enough.” Also thanks to her, I now only worked at the bookstore and this internship at the law firm where she was a consultant.

“It’s nothing. What kind of educator would I be if I didn’t help my students?”

It was so much more than help. She might single handedly be the reason I graduated. “Well, I’m still going to say thank you every chance I get.”

She waved me off. “Where are you off to next?”

“Shift at the bookstore.”

She frowned. “You’re exhausted. I shouldn’t have asked you to come in. I’m making you dinner this weekend to make up for it.”

My mouth watered immediately. “I’m really okay, but I will also totally accept your offer.”

“Wonderful. Remember, there’s only two weeks left in the semester. You’re almost there.”

She was right and I kept those words in mind as I dragged my tired ass to work. I took over for Maggie and set about stocking the new releases that would officially go on sale in the morning, just trying to get through the shift.

I completely forgot about Gigi. Honestly, she was such an effervescent personality I assumed she bounced from idea to idea like an ADHD Cinderella and would probably forget about me before that strange night was over.

So I was pretty surprised when the bell tinkled and she walked in carrying an enormous cake. “Rhysa?” she called out. “I come bearing cake and no bodyguards!”

The students in the corner looked on with interest but mostly stuck to their coffee and political history debate. I slipped down the aisle and found her dressed very differently. Instead of a cloak and curls she wore jeans and stick-straight golden hair, just a touch of makeup, and a button-up shirt cut to her figure.

She seemed so sophisticated and put together for someone who didn’t seem to be much older than me. I brushed my hands against my boyfriend jeans. “Hey there.”

Her face lit up. “There you are. I have cake. I hope you like chocolate. There are four different kinds in this baby.”

And even though I wasn’t as cake obsessed as my “new best friend” my stomach growled in anticipation. “I told you I didn’t need cake.”

“Nonsense.” She placed it on the counter and removed the lid, then held out a fork.

I stared at it. “Are we going to eat right off the platter?”

She brandished a second fork. “Of course. It’s the best way to eat cake. Here, take it.”

I took it and watched as Gigi pushed her fork through what appeared to be a very moist cake and shoved it into her mouth. “Oh my god, so good!” She mumbled around the food, eyes rolling back, shoulders dropping.

I couldn’t resist even though this all seemed weird to me. Eating from opposite ends of a giant cake? Strange, right? But what wasn’t weird was how delicious it was. That was just amazing.

“So how was your week? What are you studying?”

I swallowed yet another bite of delicious cake. “Pretty busy actually. I’m exhausted.”

“Maybe the sugar will help.”

“Maybe. I’m a psych major.”

“Oh!” She smiled brightly. I swear every time she did that it was like someone turned a spotlight on. It was just so damn sincere. “I’m a grad student in anthropology.”

“What are you doing with it?” I studied a little anthropology and sociology as part of my degree.

“It’s complicated, but basically I’m working on ancient DNA. So I work a lot with the biology department as well. It’s why I’m here at all. It’s one of the only places they’re doing genetic research of this scale in this part of the world.”

“And now that I know you’re crazy smart I’m mildly intimidated.”

Her phone bleeped and she pulled it out of her back pocket, groaning. “So I may have lied a little. My brother Dray might stop by and drag me home.”

Drag her home? Like a caveman? “What’s going on? You don’t have to tell me,” I added at the last second. Gigi was just so easy to talk to I forgot I didn’t actually know her.

She sighed much more dramatically than I ever would have. “There’s some shit going on with the company and he’s afraid I’m not safe on my own.”

My eyebrows hit my hairline. I mean, I figured after the ball gown and tuxedos they were kind of a big deal, but really? “Why wouldn’t you be safe? What does your family do?”

For the first time Gigi didn’t bubble over with more information than necessary. In fact, she was downright cryptic. “Real estate.”

“Real estate is dangerous these days? Or is that code for the mob? Are you in a crime family?” A really well-dressed crime family, but still.

She laughed nervously. “Uh, no. Nothing like that. But you know how people get when millions or even billions of dollars are at stake. Cutthroat. A few years ago, a friend of mine—Lou—she was kidnapped and ransomed.”

My jaw hit the floor. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack. It was so horrible.”

“Is she okay?”

Gigi frowned. “She’s different, but yes, she’s alive and well.”

I’d be different too after being taken and used as leverage for money. How horrible. “Over real estate?”

She didn’t look at me. “Yep. Her family was the only other bidder in a massive property development scheme.”

I couldn’t even respond to that. “So Dray thinks you might be in trouble now, too?”

She shrugged. “It’s possible. Usually they fight in the boardrooms but sometimes shady stuff happens. Tracking devices on cars, someone getting jumped in an alley. Stuff like that.”

She said all of it so casually, as if it were totally normal. “Why were you so dressed up last week?”

“Charity,” she said, hand over her mouth to cover the cake she’d just shoved inside. She swallowed and put her hand down. “Our family is very involved in charity work. It was one of the biggest, glitziest events of the year. Honestly, I think it’s fun to get dressed up.”

“What do your brothers think?” I remembered how uncomfortable Dray looked, even though he slayed that tux.

“Bo complains but he secretly loves all of it. The clothes, the parties, the glamour. But Dray is a mountain man at heart. He can wear the clothes, he knows just how to behave, but he does it begrudgingly.”

Mountain man. Yes, yes that’s exactly who he was. I could see him swinging an axe or building something with his bare hands. And even though he was nowhere near, I felt my pulse kick up a notch, and I swear I heard whispers again. Faint ones just barely there. I hadn’t heard them once since Dray walked out the door a week ago.

I changed the subject. “And how did you enjoy the latest installment in Mysteries, Mayhem, and Murder?”

She set her fork down and sighed. “It was amazing. Gah. I read it twice and then read The Rake because I thought I might die from despair. Then I re-read the whole Triple M series. I think I’m finally recovered from the fact that I have nothing new to read for at least six more months.”

The Triple M books came out every six months like clockwork. “I enjoyed it as well.” But I didn’t have time for book depressions or for re-reading entire series in a week.

“Is it always this quiet on Monday nights?” She looked around at the empty half of the bookstore.

“Pretty much. The coffee bar is the only reason they have their Monday study group here. Otherwise the entire place would be empty.”

“I guess I don’t leave the lab enough to notice which nights are busy and which aren’t.” She looked truly perplexed.

“You’re a nerd, aren’t you,” I teased.

She gave me the same kind of glare she gave Bo. “I adore my research. I’d do nothing else if it were up to me.”

“So no Thursday nights at the club for you?” I was feeling oddly close to this near stranger. We had a lot in common if you didn’t look at our vastly different wardrobes.

“Charity balls are about all the dancing I do. I’m not a particular fan of loud music, sweat, and handsy men.”

Maybe we did become instant best friends last week. “I can’t eat another bite.” There was so much sugar in my system I was almost ready to turn on some music and dance here in the bookstore.

Suddenly the air was filled with screeching tires, several booming sounds, and screams. Gigi froze. The students from the corner ran to the windows.

“Fight! Fight!” One of them shouted. They all plastered their noses to the windows.

Gigi frowned and tilted her head to the side. “I need to go.”

That was sudden, but the look in her eyes told me she absolutely meant it. “Use the back door so you don’t get caught up in whatever is going outside.”

She began to move toward the storage room and then stopped, turning toward the windows.

“Knife!” Someone yelled. “Dude, that’s a cool knife!”

“Gun!” Another screamed.

Gigi ran for the door that led to the street just as the unmistakable sound of a gun firing filled the air. “Dray!” she yelled.

My heart stopped. No, it couldn’t be. Nothing interesting ever happened at Books and Brews…until Gigi and Dray walked into my shop.

I moved like I was swimming through water. The students had been too shocked to film the fight, but now they all yanked out their phones and began calling for help.

I pushed through the door and took in the scene. In the street were two wrecked cars and Dray lying on the asphalt, blood gushing from a hole in his shoulder and dripping down the side of his face.

Gigi went right to him, screaming for help.

But I couldn’t move. I was frozen. Not from the shock of seeing the accident or the wound, but from something else entirely. I had no control over my body at all. I couldn’t move. It was like I was trapped inside my own skin. I stared at the blood as my heart beat faster and louder. My skin sizzled with electricity. The whispers returned louder than ever.

Wake! Wake! Wake!

Dray moved, blinking his eyes open. He turned and looked directly at me. It was as if the world split apart the moment our gazes collided. As if I split in two. Like lightning struck and sent a shockwave out from my center, flattening everything around me.

Except the only things that appeared affected were Gigi and Dray. Their hair was blown back, their eyes wide with shock, like a wall of wind or energy had blasted them.

Ambulances and police cars flew into the intersection, blocking my view of the pair. I remained frozen where I was, but after a few moments I saw Dray loaded onto a stretcher. He tried to wave them away but they forced him down. His eyes found mine again, filled with a million questions I had no way of answering.

The ambulance doors slammed shut and suddenly I could move, not that I wanted to. Everything hurt. Everything. My head, my muscles, my bones. “Gigi?”

I looked everywhere but she was gone. I knew she didn’t get into the ambulance. Was she in a police car?

With great effort I glanced inside each one, only finding them empty. The pain I felt grew worse so I gave up and returned to the bookshop. It was completely empty now and there was no chance of more customers with the scene outside, so I locked up and dragged my ass home.

Every step was worse than the one before it, but I managed to text Gloria and tell her what happened and to expect an odd morning. My stomach growled so I went to the kitchen. Was I hot? Yes. Feverish? Maybe. After grabbing a roll, I went to the bathroom and pulled out a thermometer. My temperature was totally normal somehow. I slammed two pain relievers and prayed for it to help.

But the pain and the heat only grew worse. Nothing I did seemed to help. No amount of food filled me; no amount of water relieved my thirst. I stripped down and stood under freezing cold water in the shower until the pain was so bad I had no choice but to curl into a ball and cry myself into the terrifying, lonely darkness.