Vampire Enchanted: Real Men of Othercross Read online

  Vampire Enchanted

  Real Men of Othercross

  Celia Kyle

  Marina Maddix

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  About the Authors

  Blurb

  She wants help catching a thief. He just wants to catch...her.

  The life of an Enchantress isn't all love potions and seduction spells. For Kiki Beelze, it also involves assuring suspicious women that she won't steal their men, ordering the exact right brand of Eye of Newt for her witchcraft supply shop, and trying to catch a pesky thief. Thankfully, her bestie offers a solution to the latter that just might work.

  As a devoted member of his vampire clan, Thayne Nicolaides eagerly agrees when the Master's Beloved asks him to help her friend catch a criminal. When he learns the friend is an Enchantress, it's too late to change his mind. Thayne had a bad experience with one in his youth, and that's all he's going to say about that.

  The moment they lock eyes in Kiki's shop, Thayne's soul aches for her. As far as he's concerned, it's proof she's cast a spell on him, despite her objections. But that doesn't stop him from shoving his tongue down her throat...or other things into other places. Can the sexy vamp accept his tie to the enchanting Enchantress or will his past dictate his future?

  Chapter One

  So help her, the key was going to work or Kiki would cast a spell on the tiny hunk of metal. Oh yes she would. An evil one. A spell that would teach the dumb key who was boss.

  “Come on,” Kiki mumbled through gritted teeth.

  She knew from painful experience that if she wasn’t careful, she’d snap the key off trying to lock up her store, the Witch Way Supply Co. Yet, in that moment, she really didn’t give a shit. Pulling on the knob, she leaned back and used her body weight to hold the door closed as she twisted the key until her knuckles turned white. “I’m already late. Just give up, you son of a bitch!”

  “Who are you talking to?” The voice came from right by her left ear, the mint-scented breath wafting across her face because the speaker was so close.

  Kiki yelped and started, losing her grip on the doorknob as she scrambled to remain upright. “Holy crap, you scared me.”

  “Yeah,” Sara gave that bemused half-smile of hers, eyes sparkling. “I can see that.”

  Sara Wilcox was one of Kiki’s closest friends, and she loved her to bits when Sara wasn’t scaring her half to death. But they hadn’t seen much of each other since Sara had moved out of the house they’d shared until very recently. Marriage seemed to do that—pull friends apart a little bit. Even in that moment, Kiki had to remind herself that her friend wasn’t Sara Wilcox anymore. Nope, she was Sara Nicolaides now, and wasn’t that going to take some getting used to?

  “Here,” Sara sidled past Kiki, her mid-pregnancy belly brushing against Kiki. “Let me.”

  Stepping to the door, she pulled it closed and lifted up on the knob at the same time. Under Sara’s steady hand, that bastard key slid in and turned, smooth as anything. Whipping out the soon-to-be-cursed hunk of metal, she tossed the jumble of keys to Kiki, who fumbled to catch them.

  Kiki had a lot of things going for her, beauty being the one most recognized her for, but grace was not one of her strong suits.

  “So, what are you late for today?” Sara grinned and Kiki frowned. Okay, just because Kiki was late ninety percent of the time didn’t mean her friend should assume she was always late.

  But who was she kidding? She was totes late.

  “We’re interviewing a potential roommate tonight because somebody just had to find her Resonate, get married and move out.”

  It was gentle ribbing but with a kernel of truth because Kiki hated losing her friend—especially to the vampires.

  “I wonder who that horrible person could be,” Sara drawled. “Come on. I’ll walk you back to the house.” Nearly every ten feet, Kiki looked over her shoulder to see the Witch Way Supply Co. sign under the streetlight, reassuring herself with every step that the door was locked. Sara had seen to it.

  “What are you looking at?” Sara nudged her with an elbow.

  “Just looking,” she murmured. When they rounded the corner, Kiki opened up a bit. After all, why hide things? Especially from Sara. “There have been a couple of thefts at the shop, and I feel really stupid about it all.”

  “Wait, what? Someone has been breaking into Witch Way?”

  “I guess so, but it’s hard to figure out how they’ve been getting in and out with the merchandise. That’s actually why I’m running late tonight. After everyone left, I closed up, and gave the place a thorough looking over.” Kiki huffed with lingering annoyance. “Just to see if I could figure anything out.”

  “And?”

  “No dice.” Kiki shrugged as if it was no big deal, but it really chapped her ass. “The funny thing is, whoever it is, they’re taking stupid stuff. All the low-priced crap we stock just in case some clueless human wanders in to buy a gag gift.”

  “So, none of the thunder stones or dead man’s hair?”

  Kiki snorted. “More like Yes, Margaret, Witches Are Real and You Are One. Crap like that.”

  “I always hated that book.”

  “It’s a bestseller among humans who think they can develop powers.” She shrugged again. “There’s no telling what people are going to buy. Mostly, it just frustrates me that someone is getting in. And, it’s not just one time—that would be bad enough. It’s happened multiple times in the last week.”

  “Why haven’t you put a spell on the shop?” Frustrated, Kiki just huffed and walked faster. Sara wasn’t letting it go that easy. “You’re an Enchantress, girl! Just put a vetiti ingressum on the place when you leave at night, and cast it off again in the morning.”

  “I tried that after the first time things went missing.” She had actually tried it the first two times. The second time she even pulled out the book to make sure she had cast it correctly.

  “So, the spell didn’t work?” Sara was more than a little surprised and Kiki could understand her friend’s reaction. She was a very experienced caster.

  “That’s what I’m saying. The whole thing is crazy. If someone has the ability to get through one of my spells, why would they waste their time stealing all the crappy stuff?”

  “Are you saying you’d rather them steal the big-ticket items?”

  “I’m saying it doesn’t make any sense!” Only after she’d said it did she realize Sara had intentionally wound her up. As much as that little habit needled Kiki, in that moment it only reminded her how much she missed her friend. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. How’s married life?”

  “Wonderful!” Sara threw out her arms and did a spin that would have looked silly for anyone else but suited her perfectly. Then she cradled her baby bump and smiled serenely under the light of the full moon. In that light, her skin looked almost golden, and Kiki harbored a little bit of envy for her friend. Not just for her looks—Kiki was a stunner herself—but for finding someone to settle down with.

  “Do you think you’ll ever become a vampire?” The question fell out of her mouth before Kiki had the chance to stop it. It seemed like she was always doing that—speaking before thinking. To her credit, Sara was great about it, like she was with everything.

  “Someday, when we’re both sure we don’t want any more kids.” The pair walked quietly for a second. “I’m a little worried about missing the sun, but everyone says I won’t. You know wh
at Orrin says he misses the most? Drinking tea.”

  “No way!”

  “It’s true. Isn’t that weird?” They laughed at the sheer absurdity of it, but when they fell quiet again, Kiki’s mind immediately tied itself up over the thief again.

  “Man,” Sara said, “this thing really has you bugged, huh?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “We’ve been walking for two blocks and you haven’t said a word. If you keep your brow furrowed like that, you’ll be old before your time.”

  “Witches are supposed to be old.” Kiki tried to blow it off, but Sara wasn’t about to let it go.

  “Girl, please. First of all, you’re an Enchantress, not just some run of the mill witch, so you can give that shit up right now. An Enchantress is beautiful by definition. Second, you can’t live with roommates for the rest of your life. Eventually, you’re going to have to stop running away from love. Your Resonate is out there. I know it.”

  “I’m not running away from anything!” Quickening her pace, she stuffed her hands in her pockets and hoped the moonlight wouldn’t reveal the blush that burned across her cheeks.

  “You’re an Enchantress, Kiki. Get yourself a man.”

  “I’m not just going to cast a spell over the next guy I see to make him believe I’m his soul mate. I couldn’t live like that. It wouldn’t be right.”

  “Other girls do it.”

  “I’m not other girls. Besides, if I couldn’t keep a thief out of the store, how can I keep a man at my side?”

  “Enough with the thief,” Sara butted in. “Look, we can take care of this. With that off your plate, maybe you can relax enough to let a man find you. I’ll see if Orrin will put Thayne on your little problem.”

  “And who exactly is Thayne?” Kiki had to chuckle. Why did vampires all have such extravagant names?

  “Thayne is Orrin’s right-hand man. Let me tell you, that man knows how to Get. Shit. Done. He’s got a knack for it.”

  “Wait a minute. You’re saying I ought to bring in some kind of vampire ‘fixer’?”

  “He’s really something, but there’s a catch.”

  Ugh. There always was. “What is it?”

  Sara stopped walking and squared up to her friend. “You can’t be around when he’s there.”

  “What? Why not? Is Thayne the kind of person who needs absolute privacy to work his secret vampire ways or something?”

  “You just can’t be.”

  “But it’s my shop.” And Kiki wanted to see this person caught.

  “Look, I’ll have to get Orrin to talk him into it as it is. He’s not going to want to do this in the first place.”

  “Sara, what the hell are you talking about?”

  Sara heaved a sigh as if she hadn’t been the one to volunteer Thayne in the first place. “Because he hates Enchantresses. Like, he hates them. With a passion unrivaled.”

  “That’s funny. Passion is what we do,” she quipped.

  “I’m serious.” Sara gave her a firm stare. “If he’s going to do this favor, we’re going to have to sort it out so you’re not around.”

  “So, what’s the deal with this guy? Why does he hate us specifically?”

  “Nobody knows,” Sara put her hands up. “Whenever anyone even brings up Enchantresses, he gets all dark. Shit, it took him a while to warm up to me, and I’m just a regular witch.”

  “He never talks about it at all?”

  “The most I’ve ever heard him say is that he had a bad experience with one. That’s it. After that, he clams up.”

  Kiki hated it but wished his case was unique. By virtue of the kind of magic they practiced, Enchantresses tended to inspire strong feelings in people. Sometimes they created those really strong feelings, which was part of the problem. All it took was one bad Enchantress to give them all a bad name.

  “Here.” Kiki took the key to the shop off of her ring and handed it off. “If you think we can make this work, he can have tomorrow. I’ll need to be in on Thursday to handle deliveries. After that we can set up a schedule of some kind.”

  “What’s up with Thursday?”

  “I’ve got a shipment of free-range Eye of Newt coming in that I’ve got to sign for.”

  “Can’t someone else do it?”

  “In blood.”

  “Got it,” she jerked her head in a quick nod and then after a beat gave a little shimmy. “Mmm… Blood.”

  “You’re ridiculous.” They were still laughing when they got to the house they used to share. Hearing voices coming from the kitchen, the two headed back to see how much of the conversation they could catch.

  “Hey! You made it.” Hazel beamed from her seat at the table. As a fae, she was nearly always shining, but tonight there was something extra.

  “Yeah, sorry to be late.” Kiki waved at the group. “Trouble at the shop.”

  “Again?” The other roommate, Trinity, was in full-on wolf mode. Of course, they had scheduled the interview for a full moon. Werewolves could be among the more divisive roommates, so if the new girl at the table was cool with it, she might just be a winner.

  “Yeah. I really don’t want to talk about it right now.”

  “I’m sure.” Hazel rolled her eyes. “Anyway, this is Gayle.”

  “Hi.” Gayle gave a funny little wave. “This is a really great house.”

  “It is,” Sara agreed. “I really hated to leave.”

  “We really hated to lose you,” Trinity added. Even in partial-wolf form, she was the absolute sweetest.

  “Why did you move out, if you don’t mind my asking?” Gayle questioned with a curious smile.

  “Not at all. I got married!” She waved her ring and flashed those fangs again. Even in a world full of real magic, rings still had the power to make a table full of grown women get all giggly.

  “So, what shop is it?” Even though she was trying to be polite, Gayle had been eyeing Kiki since she’d walked in.

  “Oh, I own Witch Way Supply Co. We’ve been having some issues…”

  “Witch Way?” The new girl blanched. “Rumors say the owner is an Enchantress. You’re not…are you?”

  “I am.”

  Dammit, they could all see by Gayle’s horrified expression that this wasn’t going to go well.

  Gayle stood, clearly trying not to fly out of her chair. “I knew it. When I saw you, I knew you were. This isn’t going to work.”

  “Sure it is,” Trinity tried to keep things smooth. “It’s not a big deal. Kiki is the most chill, nearly asexual Enchantress you’ll ever meet.”

  Kiki wouldn’t exactly call herself asexual. She was just in a dry spell—pun not intended.

  “Look, I’m really sorry, but I can’t. Not to be rude, but I can’t live with an Enchantress.”

  “We do,” Hazel spoke up. “It’s totally fine. She’s great.”

  “I’m sure she is,” Gayle gathered her things together. “It’s nothing against you personally, really. But I’ve got a boyfriend, and I’d really like to keep him.”

  “It’s okay. I get it.” Kiki was doing a banner job of not getting offended. “Just so you know, I would never do anything to take a man from anybody. I’m not like that.”

  “That may be true, but once he saw you, it wouldn’t matter. I can’t have that. I’m really sorry, but goodbye.” With that, she practically vanished in a puff of smoke.

  “Well,” Sara closed the door behind Gayle. “If all it would take was one look, she’s probably going to have trouble keeping her boyfriend anyway.”

  “Got that right,” Trinity snarled.

  “Oh well.” Exhausted by the scope of her day, Kiki slumped into the chair the panicked young woman had just vacated. “Is there any more of that wine,” she asked pointing to their glasses.

  “You’d better believe it.” Hazel was up in a flash. Taking out two glasses, she waved one at Sara. “Don’t feel like joining us for a couple of drinks, do you?”

  “Are you kidding,” Sara
smirked. “I never drink wine.”

  Chapter Two

  Thayne hated it.

  Everything from the little charms strewn across the counter to the old, ornamental brooms that hung from the walls. It all seemed to elicit displeasure from within. Hiding in the shadows behind the counter with a clerk’s apron tied around his waist, a deep scowl overtook his face.

  Had anyone told him he’d end up in this ridiculous attire, stuck inside an Enchantress’s shop, he would’ve laughed until his stomach hurt. Of course, Sara hadn’t been laughing when she’d asked him for a favor. And how could he have said no to his Master’s Beloved? He couldn’t. Which was why he was in the last place anyone would’ve expected Thayne Nicolaides to be found.

  Thankfully, it didn’t seem like the Witch Way Supply Co. was in for a busy morning. He’d only assisted one customer since opening the shop—a loopy Othercross University first-year. It had been easy enough to find the dusty textbook the girl had asked about.

  Now bored, he paced the length of the shop, taking in the myriad of items that littered the room. A few bottled concoctions occupied a glass case in one of the corners along with wire baskets brimming with silver charms—he kept a healthy distance from those—and the wall shelving was packed with ancient books, two rows deep.

  While most of the items were serious witch material, some of the displayed merchandise was directed at the humans who wandered in on accident. There were faux charms in a pot sitting by the counter, keychains with broom-flying witches, and tongue-in-cheek books with names like Life’s a Witch and Then You Die and Yes, Margaret, Witches Are Real and You Are One.

  Thayne couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to shoplift anything as useless as those items, especially considering their low prices. It was far more effort to dodge an Enchantress’s spell than it was to fork over a few dollars. Then again, some people just liked the thrill of shoplifting, and he figured stealing from an Enchantress was double the thrill.