“Not all men are slugs, Fifi,” Bea argued, in her sing-song voice. Bea was the eternal optimist and sometimes it was hard to be around her. Especially when lately my optimism was pretty much nowhere to be found.

  “That might be true,” I answered as an image of Marty Zach dropped inside my mind’s eye. Marty was a human, but he was immune to the powers of the supernatural. And he was also the perfect man in my perception—humble, kind, handsome and good-hearted. He was everything I wanted in a man, but the sad truth was… I didn’t think he thought of me as anything other than a friend. At least, he’d never really given me any indication that he thought of me as anything but.

  And, no, I wouldn’t have been able to fully feed from Marty. Even though he was a ‘null’ and couldn’t be swayed by the powers of the supernatural, he was still just a human.

  “Besides, the realty office needs all of my focus,” I continued. “I want Hallowed Homes not only to be successful, but spectacular,” I finished, feeling pensive for a moment as my eyes drifted toward the wood on the bar, my thoughts bouncing between excitement over recently opening Hallowed Homes Realty and Marty’s blue eyes.

  “So, you won’t even try?”

  I swallowed hard as I looked at her. “I sort of… kind of… have a crush on someone already, actually.” Then I laughed at my own embarrassment.

  Bea’s enormous grin returned and she leaned in closer. “That’s great! Who?”

  “I don’t want to jinx it by saying.”

  It was Bea’s turn to laugh. “Jinx it? Are we in high school now?” I shook my head as she continued. “Tell me who you have your eye on!”

  “Fine!” I answered as I felt heat overcoming my cheeks. “It’s um… It’s Marty, okay?”

  Bea’s eyebrows reached for the ceiling as a look of surprise claimed her features. She didn’t respond right away but just frowned. “Marty, Marty, Marty,” she repeated his name, as if doing so would bring an image of him to mind. “Wait… you mean Marty Zach?”

  “Right.” As far as I knew, there was only one Marty in Haven Hollow.

  “The ghost-chaser guy?”

  I nodded.

  “The one who drives Lorcan around during the day in that black hearse?”

  “Yup.”

  Bea shrugged, but still held onto her shocked expression, even if it was more resigned now. “Well, I didn’t see that one coming, but okay... Is he into you, too?”

  I shook my head. “No. I mean… I don’t think so.”

  “Are you sure?” Bea asked, frowning at me again. “I mean, how could he not be into you?”

  I shook my head at her. “Bea, there are plenty of men who aren’t into me.”

  “Um… I doubt that’s true. Have you seen yourself?”

  I gave her a quick smile for the compliment. “I’m pretty sure Marty doesn’t think of me as anything other than a friend.”

  “Did he say that?”

  “Well, no, but it’s the feeling I get.”

  “Hmm,” she answered because she was one of those people who strongly believed in listening to one’s intuition.

  “It just sucks because… Marty is pretty much the nicest guy in Haven Hollow, and he’s exactly what I’m looking for. Doesn’t that just figure?” I asked on another laugh, tipping my drink back and emptying the contents down my throat in an attempt to soothe the depression that was already creeping back over me.

  “Doesn’t what just figure?”

  “That I find someone who’s the perfect guy to settle down with and he isn’t the slightest bit interested in me.”

  “Well, first of all, we don’t know whether that’s even true. He might like you.”

  “Let’s just assume he doesn’t.”

  “Well, then… you know what they say. ‘If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.’”

  “That doesn’t help me either because I’m not with anyone,” I answered, shrugging as I called the bartender over and ordered another Long Island Iced Tea. “And, besides, that’s a dumb comment.”

  “Don’t take everything so literally, Fifi. What I’m saying is that if Marty isn’t interested in you the way you wish he were, you should forget him and find someone who is. Someone to get your freak on with.”

  “I don’t want to get my freak on with anyone!”

  “You might not want to, but you need to. Your body needs to.” I couldn’t argue with her there. Because I hadn’t fed properly in the last five years, I hadn’t felt fully healthy in the last five years either. Instead, I was prisoner to a constant sense of fatigue. Yes, that fatigue lifted for brief moments when I was able to feed from a man while kissing him or the like. During those brief moments, I was able to absorb some of his life force, but those impromptu feedings still weren’t enough. And there was always the threat that the succubus within me would overpower my reasoning and logic and suck a man dry.

  “If you feed, Fifi, it will improve your focus and you’ll feel better,” Bea continued, giving me an expression of pity. “You look like you haven’t slept in two weeks.”

  “It’s just… not that simple.”

  “It is that simple,” she argued. “You pick a guy from this bar, take him home, get your rocks off, and you kick him out the next morning. Hell, you can kick him out when you’re done if you want. No strings, no regrets.”

  “It’s… too dangerous.”

  She waved away my concern with her small hand and then took another sip of her spiked cherry lime-aid. “Please tell me you’ve at least given up trying to divorce your succubus side?”

  I swallowed hard because it was a subject that left me cold. I’d told Bea about it, only because I trusted her. There was a time, not long ago, when I’d contemplated visiting a witch who practiced black magic because she’d told me she would be able to separate me from the succubus side of me. Poppy and Wanda had done their best to talk me out of it and they’d succeeded, but only because Poppy had been able to come up with the repelling potion that had basically changed my life.

  “Yes, I’ve given up trying to separate my succubus side,” I answered, embarrassed I’d even contemplated it in the first place. Looking back at it, that decision could have been fatal. Now, even though I didn’t like my succubus nature any more than I did back then, I also had accepted the fact that I couldn’t change what I was. No, but I could… curb it.

  “Thank Tatiana for that,” Bea said, mentioning the name of the fairie Queen of the Spring Court. “And what’s the deal with Angelo? Is he still living with you?”

  I groaned as I thought about my brother. Angelo was an incubus and although demons were supposed to have tight family connections, my brother and I were anything but. Recently, he’d done his best to ruin me by trying to prove to our parents that I wasn’t feeding and therefore, not representing my family name with dignity.

  Angelo was hot-headed, selfish, rude, impulsive and the quintessential womanizer. And he was also sharing my house with me at the moment, something I was less than thrilled about. “Yes, he’s still living with me.”

  Bea shook her head. She couldn’t stand Angelo and wasn’t shy about it. “I swear you let that awful brother of yours walk all over you, Fifi.”

  “I have responsibilities to my family,” I answered. “And loyalty is one of them.”

  “Yet, he shows you no loyalty at all!” she responded, her eyebrows knotting in the center of her face.

  “Well, that’s just how Angelo is…” I knew I was making excuses for him, but he was my brother and I always hoped things would get better between us. “At least, he won’t be staying with me much longer.” Angelo was in the middle of replacing all the floors in his house and needed somewhere to live for a couple of weeks while the floors were going down. Why in the world he’d wanted to stay with me was anyone’s guess, but when he’d asked, I hadn’t turned him down.

  “I can’t think about your brother because it ruins my good mood,” Bea answered as she spotted a group of men when they laughed loudly. They were sitting at a table near the fireplace at the far end of the bar.

  Before I knew what she was doing, she seized my hand and pulled me off the bar stool. She was surprisingly strong for such a little thing. Then she marched over toward the group of guys and I felt my cheeks heat up as a few of them turned to look at us. There were six of them, three with their backs turned to us. As we drew closer, I noticed there was a girl sitting between two of the guys on the backside of the table, but she was looking down at her hands so I couldn’t see her face.

  “Hey, guys,” Bea said as she gave them all a big smile. “Have you met my friend, Fifi?”

  Chapter Two

  “Hi,” the men answered in unison as I felt my cheeks continue to burn. This was just so… embarrassing.

  The lively conversation they were having died abruptly as soon as they made eye contact with me, four of the six taking a quick interest, by the looks of it. That was when I remembered I’d forgotten to anoint myself with my repelling potion this morning. That meant my pheromones were stronger than usual. Shoot.

  Rather than paying the guys any attention, though, my focus was drawn back to the girl. She looked completely dazed—her eyes unfocused and when she spoke, her words didn’t make any sense. She also seemed to be having a tough time just sitting upright. Maybe she was drunk, but I didn’t think so.

  “Is your friend okay?” I asked, nodding toward her.

  “Yeah, she’s fine. Too much wine,” one of the guys replied immediately—a little too quickly, as though he didn’t want her to try to answer for herself.

  “Hmm,” I said with healthy suspicion. Not taking the guy’s word, I continued to look at the woman. She didn’t look back at me, so I had to reach out to get her attention and lightly touch her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  Bea was quiet now, her determination to get me laid forgotten as she too began to take an interest in what was going on with this woman. The girl didn’t respond, but she did finally look up at me. And when she did, I definitely ruled alcohol out. This didn’t look like inebriation, instead, her eyes were hollow and unfocused, as if she were looking through me—as if she couldn’t see me. And when she glanced around herself, it appeared she had no sense of her surroundings. Whatever was going on with her was a lot more than too much wine.

  “She’s fine,” one of the men growled, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There was something threatening in his voice, an unspoken warning to mind my own business. He obviously didn’t know who he was dealing with, or what he was dealing with.

  If he thought I was going to leave a vulnerable woman, in her present condition, with a bunch of men I didn’t know, he had another think coming.

  “Do you want to get some air?” I asked the girl, continuing to ignore the men.

  “Mind your own business,” the same man said in an even more menacing tone. He turned to face me squarely.

  “Yes,” the girl barked back, suddenly coming to life. When she looked up at me this time, there was some semblance of coherence in her gaze. “Please,” she continued, nodding repeatedly. “I... I need some air.” The words sounded like they were coming out in slow motion, almost like she’d had a stroke and her mouth wouldn’t work properly.

  “Come on,” I said as I reached down and took her arm, helping her to stand, which wasn’t easy considering she was sandwiched between the two large men. “Let’s go outside and hopefully you’ll feel better.”

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” One of the men barked, glaring at me as he stood up and towered over me.

  “Our friend is fine. Like we said, she just had too much to drink,” the man on the other side of her added, standing up to reveal his equally large stature, as if to intimidate me. But, I didn’t easily intimidate.

  The bigger they are, the harder they fall, I thought.

  “Oh, yeah?” I asked. “What’s your friend’s name?”

  The guy swallowed hard because he clearly didn’t have an answer for me, just like I’d known he wouldn’t. If I had to bet, he’d only met this woman in the last couple of hours and had promptly spiked her drink with whatever substance was now making her so loopy.

  I gave him a glare and then walked around the table, pulling out her chair so she could bypass both men. She held onto me as if for dear life as I helped her take a few wobbly steps. Bea joined me, balancing the woman on her other side as we began to walk away from the table, toward the back entrance of the room. Another of the men stood and started to follow us as we talked quietly to the woman, attempting to determine what had happened to her and if she was concerned about the men she was with. For all we knew, she’d been roofied.

  “My… name is… Alice,” the girl managed.

  “Okay, Alice, if you’re in trouble or if you just want to go home, we can take you,” I told her.

  “Hey, this doesn’t concern you,” the large guy who stood up first yelled as he gripped my shoulder, none too gently.

  “Don’t touch me,” I growled at him as I released Alice and Bea did her best to keep Alice upright.

  “Mind your own business,” the man answered, not making any motion to release me.

  “You go back and mind your business!” I responded through gritted teeth.

  The unfortunate part of the whole situation was that if this guy decided to get physical with me, I wasn’t at my best since I hadn’t fed in too long. Sure, I was still stronger and more powerful than any human on his best day, but I would’ve been much more powerful if I’d fed.

  I managed to shrug out of his hold and giving him one more warning glare, turned to face Bea and Alice. Taking Alice between us again, the three of us stepped onto the sidewalk that ran between the bar and the street. Two of the men followed us. From my peripheral vision, I saw the quick glance between the two of them and knew what was coming next, steeling myself for an attack. Bea apparently noticed it too, and released Alice, looping her arms around a nearby streetlamp. No sooner had Bea released Alice, then the two men charged us, their expressions full of venom. No doubt they thought Bea and I were easy targets, but that’s where they were wrong.

  Bea launched herself upward, her wings shooting out from her cotton-candy pink dress as she hovered overhead for only seconds before dive bombing the first guy. She may have been tiny, but like most fae, she was powerful and then some. I squared off against the other guy, who was only slightly larger than the first, sidestepping his attempt to land a punch to my cheek. I was quick, but not quick enough and his blow impacted me on my shoulder, throwing my balance off.

  “Now you’re pissing me off,” I ground out, getting my feet back underneath me as I rushed forward to grab him by the shoulders. He couldn’t break my hold and was forced to face me, his eyes going wide as he witnessed the strength in my grip. But, before he could figure out what I was doing, I yanked him down and stepped up onto my tiptoes, pulling him into a kiss. There were two reasons for that—first, to take him by surprise and in taking him by surprise, to disarm him. Second—to boost my own strength by stealing some of his.

  He appeared confused for a moment and then his male side kicked in and he immediately kissed me back, wrapping his arms around me as he pulled me in closer, clearly oblivious to what was happening to him. He grabbed each side of my face with his mitt-like hands and thrust his sour-tasting tongue into my mouth, which immediately made me want to heave up my dinner and drinks.

  I was so disgusted and angry, I was tempted to drain him of all his life energy, right then and there. But I kept my inner demon under control and decided against it. Instead, I released him, only having absorbed enough of his energy to make him feel like he’d gotten hit with a strong flu, which, in turn, bolstered my own strength.

  Stunned and now weak, he dropped to the sidewalk, onto his hands and knees, and looked up at me with a frightened expression. When his friend collapsed beside him, out cold, thanks to Bea, his eyes only went wider.

  “What are you?” he managed.

  “Someone who won’t allow you to take advantage of innocent women,” I answered.

  Looking toward the back door of the bar, I worried we might have eavesdroppers. But, I was relieved to find we didn’t. The rest of the men had remained inside, which was just as well. But Alice was now wandering down the sidewalk, weaving back and forth and looking like she wasn’t going to remain upright for very much longer.

  “I’ll get her,” Bea said, taking off in Alice’s direction and grabbing her arm to steady her. I caught up to them and helped Bea hold her up as Alice looked at both of us and smiled halfheartedly, clearly still completely out of it.

  It was clear that we had to take her to the hospital, but it wasn’t a good idea for Bea or me to step foot inside a human hospital—there would be too many questions. And we definitely didn’t want to have to deal with the police. But we could drive Alice there, all the same.

  “Alice, we need to take you to a hospital. Is there someone you know and trust who can meet us there?” I asked.

  “Yesh,” she answered, her voice sounding slurred.

  “My shister,” she finished, looking like she was about to pass out at any moment.

  “Okay, that’s good.”

  “Do you have a phone on you, Alice?” Bea asked.

  Alice nodded and began fishing around in her wallet-purse which I noticed was strapped around her body, messenger bag style. And, good thing too, because if the purse hadn’t been strapped to her, no doubt it would have remained back at the table with those jerks. Before long, Alice produced a large phone in a pink silicone case, complete with bunny ears.

  “What’s your sister’s name?” I asked.

  “Joanne,” she answered, a little giggle escaping her.

  “Okay,” I said and scanned through her phone until I found the name “Joanne.” Then I called the number and a woman answered.

  “Alice?”

  “Is this Joanne?” I asked.

  “Um, yeah. Who’s this and why do you have my sister’s phone?”