“Says the oceanpriestess who doesn’t own a phone.”
“Phones don’twork at the bottom of the ocean, and my tail doesn’t come withpockets.” She wriggled her toes and admired them, like she alwaysdid when she chose to transform her tail into long legs. “And it’smermaid,” she corrected.
Harper laughed,but joking aside, she suspected it was why her dating agency wasfailing. Big time. She was down to only ten clients on her books.Ten, and none of them were matches for each other—another reasonshe’d agreed to date the vamp. She didn’t have a suitable match, sorather than lose a client, she’d flirted a bit and it had worked.She had to face it, she needed new clients from the supernaturalworld, and lots of them. “I’ve been thinking about getting awebsite designed for Magik Dates for a while now. I did someresearch, and there isn’t an online dating agency specifically forsupernatural beings.”
“Fab, that’syour USP then.”
Harper frowned.“My what?” she asked, imagining some sort of computer virus thingy.Computers were not her forte.
“Unique SellingPoint; something that makes your business different from another. Idid a course on it once.”
“Oh.” Maybe sheshould take the course too. She focused. One thing at a time. “I’vegot an appointment next week with some kind of techno-wizardwebsite designer who’s going to help me set up the agencyonline.”
“A wizard, asin a real one? Or is it warlock? What do you call a male witch,anyway? Wizard always reminds me of Harry Potter, and a warlockmakes me think of a demon with powers only used for evil.”
She shrugged.“Either, I guess, but it’s female witches who have more power.”Except for her, unfortunately. “And the tech guy is a vampire.”
“Anothervampire? Why the sudden interest in bloodsuckers?”
“No reason.”Harper applied her lipstick. “Anyway, hopefully, once the newwebsite is up and running, I’ll get more clients.”
“Good for you.Maybe your luck is about to change, starting with your date withthe vamp tonight. What’s his name?”
“Damon…” Shepressed her lips together, pretending to touch up her lipstickwhile donning her best serious face. “Salvatore,” she finished.
Zarya chokedagain, spluttering the last of her wine down her chin. “No way! Areal live—or technically undead—vamp with the same name as thatgorgeous guy from The Vampire Diaries? You have to bekidding.”
Harper couldn’thold back her laughter a second longer. “Of course I’m kidding, butit was so worth it to see your face. Talk about pot, kettle,getting all riled over inaccurate portrayals of supernaturals on TVand in the movies. And you have dribble on your chin, by theway.”
“I do not.” Shechecked her chin all the same. “Just because I don’t approve,doesn’t mean I don’t watch them.”
Harper rolledher eyes in despair. “And I thought I was the gullible onehere.”
“I’ll get youback, you know.”
She knew.
“So, what’s hisreal name?”
“It is Damon,funnily enough, but his surname is something French-sounding Ican’t pronounce.”
“French? Ooh,la, la. Very chic,” Zarya said, failing epically in her attempt ata French accent.
“That’sterrible.”
Zarya grinned.“Maybe I could break my rules for a French vampire. You know I havea thing for accents too.”
“Damon is mydate, remember?” she pointed out to her man-eater friend. “Hedoesn’t have a French accent, not much of one anyway, morewell-spoken English with a few sexy Rs rolled in for good measure.”She glanced at her watch. Time to go. “Not the type who likes to bekept waiting, I would imagine.”
“You best getgoing then,” Zarya replied, laughing. “If this Damon guy isone-tenth as good looking as Damon Salvatore, you’re going to beone lucky witch.”
Harper checkedher appearance in the mirror one last time, then spoke to her petfrog. “What do you think, Prince, is my backside the size ofJupiter?”
Prince croakedfrom inside his glass tank positioned on a shelf to the side of herbed.
“Thank you,Prince.” She smiled at her frog—she couldn’t understand him, but hewas a cute fellow with big bug eyes. She’d even kissed him once, tosee if he’d turn into her very own real-life prince, but alas, herfrog hadn’t become her gallant prince, and his slimy skin hadn’ttasted too good either. Not to mention the nasty rash that appearedon her top lip shortly after. For a whole week, she had to goaround looking like she’d had an accident at the waxing salon.
Zarya shook herhead. “So, you listen to a frog’s opinion over mine? You do knowit’s weird to keep a frog by your bed, even for a witch?”
“He likes itthere.”
“Stillweird.”
“Says the oceanpriestess, sorry, mermaid, who lures men into sleeping with herwith her siren song.”
“I don’t lurethem, they come of their own free will. Anyway, what did thehandsome Prince say?”
“I’ll tell youlater; after my date.” She headed for the door of her basementflat, smoothing down her black dress. It remained to be seen if itwas still her lucky dress or not.
Her luck had tochange sometime, right?
Zarya followedher to the door. “Have a fab time, Harper, and I want to hear allthe juicy details when you get back.” She paused, her expressionserious for once. “Be careful, okay? He is a vampire, afterall.”
“I will. I’mnot completely naïve. If I get even an inkling he wants to have mefor dessert, then I’ll use this.” Harper showed her the crystalvial dangling from a chain around her neck. “It’s got a spelledsleeping powder inside. I got the recipe from The Wicked Witch ofthe West, aka, my mother. It’s powerful stuff, this—it can knockout any magical creature, even a vamp, for hours.” She didn’tmention to Zarya she wasn’t sure it would work since her magicpotion-making skills left a lot to be desired.
“Let’s hope youdon’t need to use it.”
“Like I said,he’s a newbie—it’s the ancient vampires who are more dangerous.”She slipped on her jacket, stuffed her keys in the pocket andhooked her huge handbag over her shoulder.
Zarya peckedher cheek. “Bye, Harper.”
“Bye, Zar,don’t wait up.”
* * *
Harper paid thetaxi driver and stepped out of the car.
She looked upat the impressive architecture of the Mayfair restaurant andswallowed.
Oh,shit.
Sudden panicswept over her entire body. She questioned her sanity. A blind datewith a vamp? Perhaps she was mad.
The
