(Dianne) Fox Writes

It took Dean another half hour to get back to the bar, but even that was a good three hours before I would normally get out on a weeknight. I was glad of the break, because Thursday nights were killer in a college town like this one.

I don’t know who had decided that Thursday was the start of the weekend for college kids, but every twenty-one-year-old vampire, leprechaun, and mage in the city had claimed the God of Wine as their bar of choice on Thursday nights. I guess coming here made it easier for them to find someone they had something in common with.

Me, when I looked for people I had something in common with, an affinity for alcohol wasn’t the first thing on my list.

When Dean finally came back, I headed upstairs. I lived in one of the apartments over the bar; Dean lived in the other one. He had the top two floors of the building all to himself. My place wasn’t nearly so big and, being right over the bar, it wasn’t particularly quiet, but it worked for me.

Before I even got the door open all the way, I could tell I wasn’t alone. Proximity to other people made my libido sit up and beg. It was one of the pitfalls of being a succubus, but my self-control was pretty good, otherwise I couldn’t have worked in the bar. They’d be all over me like I was a bitch in heat.

Fortunately, there was only one person I knew who was good enough to get past the magical wards and locks on my apartment. Torsten. “Tor, damn you, I took your key back for a reason.”

I heard Tor’s laughter before I could see him. He came sauntering out of my bathroom, all power and sleek, feline grace. Tor was a bounty hunter, but he didn’t hunt bail jumpers. He hunted magical creatures, like the ones downstairs in the bar. Our regulars weren’t the type he was usually hired to go after, though. On the one hand, that meant he wasn’t poaching my customers. On the other hand, it meant he was usually out of town.

I wasn’t one for being left alone, which was why we’d finally parted ways last year. Tor still dropped in now and then to say hi, though. I didn’t mind, but it would’ve been nice to have some warning.

“You couldn’t come in downstairs and say hi like a normal person?”

Tor raised his eyebrows, smirking a little. “I could’ve, but what fun would that be?”

“Now I remember why we broke up.”