Solving the Vampire Murders

twenty-one

Torren blinked and he was back at Mazia's swanky apartment in Ann Arbor. The memory of her chestnut hair sprawled out on his lap hauntingly perfect. She was giggling as he traced a line up her hip.

She twisted to face him, red lips quirked in a grin. "I like being around you. You make me feel..." Mazia closed her eyes. "Fun. Like I am not having to be serious all the time."

Torren combed his fingers through her hair. "You are fun," he said softly. "But I get it. When there's so much pressure to be perfect, when you have to take care of the people around you, it kinda sucks the fun out of things. Doesn't it?"

Mazia's grin slipped, but somehow the sad look on her face only made her more lovely. There was a glow to her, a light Torren hadn't noticed before. She lifted a hand to his cheek, her touch gentle.

"Maybe we can make our own fun, da? You and me. Just for tonight."

Her words were like the gunshot before the Kentucky Derby. His barely leashed desire bursting out of the starting gate. It was all he had been waiting for, every minute since he had met Mazia.

"I wouldn't just want you tonight," Torren whispered, leaning in close. Her peppery scent intoxicating. "I'd want you every day, every minute, for as long as you'd let me." Torren let his nose brush against hers, and excitement tore through his body. "I'd make it my job to make you feel fun again."

Mazia wrapped her hands around his neck. Pulling him closer. "How about we start with tonight?"

Torren grinned like an idiot before letting his lips brush against hers. "Tonight it is."

He kissed her again. And again. And didn't stop until they were lying in her bed, stripped bare of everything except intention, and he was confident that the word fun had been explored to its fullest extent.

He had taken in every inch of her and nothing about Mazia made him believe she was anything other than human. She was real in a way he hadn't understood before.

Torren shook off the memory. His flushed face saying more than he intended. But, another memory floated to the surface. This morning—he had heard her voice. Saw her face. Mazia had told him to come find her. Maybe this was a task to see if he was worthy of her.

I'm waiting for you. Mazia had said. Come find me.

When Torren's gaze left the floor, Jones was handing Austin a t-shirt and a pair of women's track shorts—both of which were too big.

"What?" Jones snapped.

Austin wore the look of someone who had just stepped in dog crap. "What decade did you pull these out of?"

Jones rolled her eyes. Zach knocked his shoulder.

Torren ignored them, replaying Mazia's coy words.

Come find me.

"Do you think she's testing me?" Torren asked over their raised voices.

The three quieted, the disagreement momentarily forgotten and turned to look at him. Torren cleared his throat. "Could Mazia be putting me through some kind of test?"

"That doesn't make sense," Jones said slowly. "The Gift chose you. That should've been enough to bind Mazia to you."

"Bind her to me?"

Her voice came again. You and me. Just for tonight.

Had she known—known what was going to happen?

Zach pushed back his hair, inky strands sticking up every direction. His eyes a little glassy. "This summer, when Zia was at that internship, Davey would sometimes say he could call her back. You know, summon her if he needed to."