Page 1 of Fangs with Benefits
1
BLAIR
Planet, sign, house. Those three things are key to the interpretation of the vampire clan leader's birth chart, something that I have been working on in this dark room for over an hour now.
Being a cosmic witch means that, in addition to interpreting the stars, I have the added benefit of being able to create my own light source in the palm of my hand whenever I wish, a trick I learned in my younger years when my mother taught me how to harness the luminous power of starlight. But as I sit here in the quiet darkness with nothing but the small glow emanating from the palm of my hand—enough to see the celestial birth chart—I can't concentrate on what I'm doing.
My secret meeting here with my informant in the vampire clan is nothing more than a guise. I may be here inside the bowels of the vampire den under the premise of doing a favor, but in truth, I'm here for other reasons. And I'm nervous,for all the wrong reasons. A smarter witch would be nervous to be inside this place at all—this place that reeks of blood and death, whose inhabitants wouldn't blink twice at the thought of sucking me dry. But my pounding heart comes more from exhilaration rather than fear.
I look back down at the paper laid out on the table in front of me and try to stay focused on the birth chart. This chart is a gift from my informant to his clan leader, though I'm sure there are political motivations behind it too. But it's not my place to question why he wants it or what leverage he seeks to gain from it. It's my job to oblige him in return for all the secret information he has given me, and to enchant the chart with the kind of magic that only a witch with strong planetary connections can wield.
But the harder I try to concentrate, the less I'm able to. I shift in my seat, nearly spilling the small bottle of indigo ink on the chart.Thatwould be a disaster. I've already put so much work into it. Creating a birth chart is no small task. It involves intricate knowledge and meticulous drawing. The rising sign creates the architecture of the whole birth chart, and if the placement of the planets in the houses is off, then the whole chart is rendered irrelevant. Concentration is vital, and yet I am struggling to maintain it, thanks to the nerves that are making me feel like I have beetles crawling beneath my skin.
I fidget with the necklace that hangs around my neck, running my fingers across the flat silver words carved into its pendant.
"We are all made of stardust,"the inscription reads.
When the door to the dark room opens, I nearly jump out of my skin. A small amount of dim light pours into the room, and I reactively close my palm to stifle my own light source. My eyes adjust enough to see someone standing in the doorway, and my heart pounds so strongly I can feel each beat like a thump against the bottom of my throat.
It doesn't help that there is a lunar eclipse approaching. The moon cycles affect the power of all witches, but cosmic witches are disproportionately influenced. All of my energies and emotions are feeling particularly strong and easily triggered right now.
Again, a smarter witch wouldn't have come here.
But when the figure in the doorway walks toward me, letting the door fall closed behind him, I open my palm to release the glow of light to create enough illumination to see him.
And when I see him, it's all I can do to keep my breaths steady.
Treyton is more than just my inside connection to the vampire den. He is also the most intoxicatingly handsome vampire I have ever set eyes on. He's the only man I've met in my thirty-seven years who makes me feel like I am having an out of body experience every time I rest my eyes on him.He'sthe reason I'm here—screw the birth chart.
What started out not that long ago as a mutually beneficial "business" relationship between the two of us that allowed us to keep our fingers on the pulse with each other's supernatural factions has quickly turned into more. Angst hangs in the air every time we are in the same room together. This particular room is very small, and very dark. It's the kind of room where one could easily hear the breathing, and maybe even lips parting, of another person.
Treyton asked me to create the birth chart for his clan leader as payment for the most recent secrets he told me. My birth charts are renowned for the great powers of foresight imbued into them. They are a pain in the ass to make but are powerful tools of prediction once completed. And although they usually take a good deal of time to complete, I'm drawing the creation of this chart out so I can spend more time around Treyton.
He sits down in the chair beside me, glancing only briefly at the magic light emanating from my palm, and then looks down at the birth chart.
"It's stunning," he says with a look of awe on his chiseled features. "I had no idea that these things could be such beautiful works of art."
I can feel myself blushing, even in the dark. Most birth charts have illustrations on them—zodiac symbols at least. But I like to make mine more decorative, with drawings of the planets and stars, and the creatures and figures that represent the zodiac signs. It helps the magic sink deeper into the paper, I think.
I thank him for the compliment and then spend a few minutes pointing at various things to explain them. This way, he will be able to relay the chart's interpretation to his clan leader in a way that will sound impressive.
"What is this?" he asks as he touches the side of my forearm.
The slight caress sends a sizzle sliding up my arm. I look down at the place on my skin that he touched and realize that because I have my long sleeves pushed up so the fabric doesn't drag across the ink, the tattoo on the side of my arm is visible.
"As above, so below," Treyton reads, reciting the words of my tattoo under his breath. The way that he says it sounds sultrier than it should.
"It's a phrase that reflects the tie between things in the spiritual plane and things here on earth, and the tie between things that happen in the celestial bodies and things that happen within us," I explain. "Like how the seasons change and the phases of the moon affect us. It's derived from an ancient Hermetic tablet."
"So, likekarma?" he asks with a raised brow.
Normally, I would shoot down a simplified explanation of such a complex and meaningful phrase. But somehow, his simplistic reference to karma makes perfect sense to me.
"I guess I've never thought about it quite like that, but yes, in a way I suppose it's very much like karma."
Treyton looks at me and smiles, pleased with himself that he gave a witch new insight on her own tattoo. But I am too disarmed and enchanted by the way his jawline is half covered in shadow in the dim light, and his mouth is curved upward, to be vexed about it.
"What kind of witch are you, anyway?" he asks. This time his raised brow looks more inquisitive than playful.