Fae of the South (Court of Crown and Compass Book 3) by E. Hall (libby ebook reader .txt) 📕

“Thanks for the pie.” I get another almost-smile from her.

Since my parents died, Lea hasn’t said thank you for anything and it fills me with hope despite the crazy world we live in.

Chapter 3

Leajka

I park in the underground garage as if tucking the Lamborghini into bed. I linger in the driver’s seat, sliding my hands over the smooth steering wheel. I moor myself to the tangible over what I cannot begin to understand or explain. Demons who looked like humans.

Tyrren rubs a chamois over the interior and pulls the key out of the ignition. He replaces it on the pegboard along with dozens of others including Audis, Jaguars, and BMWs. “I’ll have to wash and polish the thing.”

“Want help?” I ask.

“Nah. You should get home—you’ve had a long day.”

I know he refers to the thing with Lucas. I don’t dare look at my phone. I’m sure there are posts capturing my humiliation. It wasn’t lost on me that Tyrren said he’d have said yes. Of course, he would, we’re best friends. That’s what we do for each other. Like in a movie, if we’re still single when we’re fifty, we’ll just get married because why not.

He puts on the parking-security-attendant jacket and we bump fists. His biceps and forearms flex. I hadn’t noticed how strong he’s gotten from working at the forge. Where there were once noodle-like boy-arms, now there are man-muscles. I certainly felt them when he hugged me. Somehow he always knows what I need.

“Next Wednesday I heard we’re getting a new Stingray,” Tyrren says, referring to one of my favorite cars.

As I walk into the night, I leave him with a smile, unable to tell him I won’t be returning. Not to school for sure. It’s time to leave Brooklyn. No one will miss me. Especially not Lucas. Maybe Tyrren, but he doesn’t count.

When I get home to the penthouse I share with Ivan, my uncle, I breeze into my room. I don’t leave for the entire weekend. I guess he doesn’t notice—why would he? It was only this past autumn that I returned to the land of the living. If you could call having a vampire for an uncle living.

Despite my long dark hair, tawny skin, and deep, dark eyes, I’ve always been different. There are things in the past that I force myself to forget. Things more recently that are harder to block from my memory. Unfortunately, events at the end of my sophomore year made my attendance spotty until my uncle decided I ought to graduate.

It’s not happening now.

On Monday, I don’t go to school. I don’t pick up my phone. I don’t do anything other than plan my departure. I’ll probably get fired from my job at the bookstore. Then again, my favorite coworker, Aina, put in her resignation a couple of weeks ago.

After exactly ninety texts from friends spilling tea about Lucas rejecting me (turns out Saundra ambushed him outside the locker room before the game), thirty-one voicemails (including several reporting me truant), and an email reminder that there are only fifteen days until I’m supposed to collect my diploma, Ivan enters my room without knocking.

I ignore the click of heels echoing from the living room—probably one of the many women who fawn over Ivan. He’s tall, dark, dangerous, and handsome. Devastatingly handsome hence the many dates. When I was a little girl, I thought I had a lot of aunties. When Tyrren and I were old enough to become aware of what was going on, we guessed that maybe he was involved in something untoward. Nope. Not unless you count vanquishing demons a bad thing.

Ivan’s expression is grim. No surprise.

He wants to talk. No thank you.

To his credit, he doesn’t bite any of the women he goes out with. Ivan and the Brooklyn Vampire Club are humane vampires. They adhere to a strict code of only drinking human blood that’s been voluntarily donated. In other words, he has his own version of a blood dispensary. He also rehabs bloodsuckers (vampires who feed on humans) and helps them end the cycle of violence. Usually, they end up joining him to keep the streets clean and safe. Though there’s no shortage of bloodshed since there are rival, brutal vampire gangs who do feed directly on humans along with regular non-vampire gangs that are territorial. If only they knew how Ivan protected them, they’d be grateful.

“We have to talk,” Ivan says, moving a pile of books from a chair in my room and sitting down. He rests his elbows on his knees.

“You want to know what happened?” I ask.

He shrugs.

We’ve never been the mushy, emotional kind of family who talks about our feelings.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. I thought Lucas liked me. He didn’t.” I’m sure the video of my promposal and subsequent rejection even reached his social media feed. As part of his job, he keeps his finger on the pulse of what’s happening locally.

Ivan claps his hands lightly together. “I’m not meddling in your personal life. No, I’m referring to the incident a few nights ago. By the canal off 2nd.”

“Do you mean the borrowed car and the demons that were disguised as humans?” I figured that would catch up with me eventually. After all, I did sign my name in the dirt.

“No, I mean the two humans who were killed by—”

I know the word he stops himself from saying starts with the letter M and rhymes with tragic. It’s something we never talk about and not because we don’t believe that it exists.

“I’m referring to the couple, Lea.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” For once, I’m not lying.

Ivan’s expression softens and he moves as if he’s going to pull me into a hug then stops himself. We