Six weeks ago, I was living in Seattle in a condo I had won from my ex in our divorce settlement. I was also bored out of my mind. On a drunken dare from my best friend Sandy, I decided to take a look at an old mansion on Bedlam—an island in the San Juans.
The look turned into the decision to buy. From the moment I laid eyes on it, all I could see in the decaying old mansion was a beautiful bed and breakfast. I admit, not all of my reasons always came with the best of intentions. Selling the condo and using the money to buy a dilapidated old house would piss the hell out of my ex, Craig. That alone was enough to make me hand over the check. Anything I could do to thwart his scrawny, pompous ass, the better. But something about the mansion also charmed me.
Moving to Bedlam had been an eye opener. As I said, Bedlam’s both an island and a town—in fact, the entire island is the town. Founded by magical folk, it’s a wonderland for the Pretcom—the preternatural community. All sorts of Otherkin live here—Weres and shifters, witches and Fae. In other words, just about anybody with magical powers or a supernatural background is welcome, though there were a few humans around, too. Although vampires are kept under strict observation. They aren’t exactly welcome, but neither are they shunned. They just have to mind their manners and not feed on the locals. We do have a local vampire queen living here, which is a tad bit scary, but there’s not much we can do as long as she follows the rules.
It’s not that Otherkin avoid humans. In fact, some of us like humans a lot. Hell, I married one, till that went south. But one bad human doesn’t mean they’re all bad. However, Bedlam offers us the opportunity to be ourselves without feeling like outsiders. We need a place to call our own. In this corner of the nation, Bedlam is it.
When Sandy convinced me to move back and I bought the house, I wasn’t aware that a vampire came attached, as well as a ghost. While I can handle Franny, Aegis and I had a few scuffles about whose house it actually was. We settled the argument in bed and that’s all she wrote. Instant connection: instant sparks. We seem to have a connection that goes back a long ways. Past-life stuff, perhaps. But the end result is that he’s my boyfriend. He’s also a rock star. Or at least an up-and-coming one. I try to balance my natural antipathy toward vamps with my attraction for him.
Franny, of course, is the house ghost. She also came with the mansion and I don’t have the heart to chuck her out. And Bubba—well, he came with me. Bubba’s a cjinn, but more about that later. He’s a little butthead, mostly, but I love him and he loves me, as much as a cjinn can ever love anybody but himself.
End result? The four of us are settling in, trying to learn to live together as one odd little family. Aegis and I are overhauling the mansion into a bed and breakfast fit for a king. Or at least, a guest with a fat wallet. And I’ve named it “The Bewitching Bedlam Bed and Breakfast.” It only seems fit.
I GLANCED AT the clock. It was going on seven-thirty. Outside, the dusk was deepening. “You’d better get a move on. You know that Jack-Az doesn’t like the entertainment to show up late.”
“Jack-Az can bite me,” Aegis said with a smirk. He slid out of bed and wandered over to where his clothes were scattered together with mine.
I couldn’t stop staring at his butt, which was one of the finest butts I had ever seen. Tight, muscled…firm ass. Oh yes.
“Or rather, I wouldn’t mind taking a bite out of him,” Aegis continued. “He’s a pain to work with.”
Jack-Az was the owner of Utopia, Bedlam’s biggest nightclub. He wore his name well, although his real name was Johann Azrial B?hr. He was a bear shifter who had been active in both World War I and II. He had a crusty temperament, but he provided free eats on the side, and right now, the Utopia offered a continuing gig for the Boys of Bedlam, Aegis’s band.
The Boys of Bedlam were in the process of making a demo tape, but they were having trouble making the connections they needed in order to get it in front of any big-name DJs. They planned on releasing their first CD under their own label but getting airplay, especially among the growing surge of indie bands, was even harder than it had been before the big labels started to fall off in popularity. It didn’t help that Sid, the band’s bass player, had just had his fifth kid. His wife needed him around a lot, so it was difficult to tour while he was in the throes of being a new father again.
I let out a soft sigh, wrapping the blankets up around my shoulders to keep warm. “Jack-Az has a good reason for his issues. He still suffers from PTSD from World War II. You know how rough it was over there. He lost a lot of family members who were part of the Black Forest Pretcom Resistance.”
The Black Forest Pretcom Resistance had been a united group of Otherkin who were connected to the Yugoslavian resistance movements against the Nazis. A lot of them had died, but they had been instrumental in fucking over the German troops who entered the woods. They had helped sabotage Hitler’s war machine in ways most people never knew about. They had also run an underground railroad, aiding the escape of a number of humans who were targeted by the Nazis.
Aegis grunted. “I know, and you’re right. Jack-Az deserves to be as crusty as he wants, given his service. We could use more like him. I’m just talking trash. I don’t mean anything by it.” He began to squeeze into his leather pants.
I watched as his balls and dick disappeared under the front of the tight jeans. “Um, aren’t you going to shower first?”
“Nope,” he said with a wicked grin. “I like having your smell on me, you gorgeous witch. You smell like honey and cream and peaches.” He zipped up, then turned around. “Dust me off for the show? It sucks not being able to use a mirror.”
I laughed. “At least I can play your personal stylist. Come here, you big lug.”
I slid out from beneath the silk sheets. I was happy with Egyptian cotton, but Aegis liked silk. With a critical eye, I circled him. His pants were clean and still a little too new. They hadn’t reached that creased-comfort zone yet. His jacket was heavily adorned with hardware—studs, chains, zippers. I adjusted a couple of the zippers and he stroked my face. On his right index finger, he wore a large square ring. Gold, it was engraved with a sunburst pattern on the flat surface, and a carnelian cabochon nestled in the center. The ring was a memento left over from the time when Aegis had been a servant of Apollo.
Aegis had been cast out on the whim of a god, turned away from the sun, which he worshipped, and changed into a vampire—one of the Fallen. But he hadn’t let it destroy him, nor would he destroy others through his powers. Not willingly. The other thing Apollo left him besides the ring was his voice. Aegis’s voice was as sensual as Jim Morrison’s when the lizard king was at his best. Aegis actually looked a lot like Morrison, too—only with longer hair, larger muscles, and a vampire glamour.
“Do I clean up well?” he asked, tapping my nose with his finger.
“You clean up so yummy that I’d yank you back into bed if we had time.” Satisfied that he was ready, I stepped back and patted his chest. “You’re good to go, gorgeous. Remember, we’re having the after-show party here. We may not have much furniture, but we’ve got the space and it’s the first time…”
I paused. I had been about to say it was the first time we had planned a party together, but that sounded way too clingy, considering we had only been together six weeks. But he understood.
“I’m excited too. The boys in the band know you, but now I get to show you off. And maybe this will help the neighbors quit being so prissy about having a vampire for a neighbor.” He laughed, then zipped up his coat and headed for the bedroom door. “You’ll have everything ready when we get back?”
I nodded. “Sandy’s coming over to help.” Sandy and I had seen the bottom of way too many wine bottles together. She was the friend who would help me hide the bodies in the middle of the night.