Immortal Blood (18 page)

Izzy hustled through the bar, her costume making the work difficult. The skirt of her costume was much shorter than she liked, but
people were hard pressed to find costumes nowadays that covered more than a skimpy piece of lingerie would.

Sally and Ben had decided to go with a Victorian gothic theme
. Izzy was thankful. The new theme made her set up go smoothly. It wasn’t far from the haunted mansion theme they had originally talked about.

The cocktail waitresses were in red dresses and black aprons
, all sporting vampire bites on their necks. It had made Izzy grimace slightly after talking with Kale. She’d never feel the same about vampires now. The male bartenders were in Dracula costumes, fangs and all, and Sally, the one female bartender for the evening, was in a vampire queen costume. It was fitting.

“Izzy
, you’re like the anti-us,” Mark, one of the Dracula’s, laughed as Izzy rushed around, putting the final touches on the room.

She laughed and smiled
. “I’m no angel, Mark.”

Mark smirked
, a very sexy twist of his full lips. He was a good-looking guy, not to tall, but tall enough she had to look up at him, with dark hair and eyes, and rich, dark skin. He made a delicious-looking Dracula.

“If you’re no
angel, then you won’t mind if a
vampire
buys you a drink later.”

Izzy forced a smile.
Actually, she would mind, but he didn’t know about the otherworldly creatures and how real their presence was.

“We’ll see. If I survive the
night, I’m sure I’ll need one.”

Mark laughed, a deep sound coming from somewhere low in his abdomen. “You and me both
,” he agreed.

The night was going to be crazy. The line forming outside the bar lent credence to that fact, but that was how Izzy needed it. She needed to keep busy, but still needed things to be smooth.

After finally talking to Marie about Bain and losing it, crying for a good hour on her sister
’s shoulder, she was feeling a little better. Then seeing Kale, actually laughing and having a good time, well, that put her one step further into
better
territory. Not good by any means, but she was firmly set in better. As long as she was keeping busy, she wasn’t thinking too much about Bain and that helped to pass the lonely hours.

Marie and Marko were coming tonight
. Even Eppie and Samuel had a sitter so they could come support her. She had a feeling Marie had told Eppie about Bain and her heartache over him, but Eppie hadn’t said anything. She just seemed eager to come support Izzy.

Ben found Izzy just before it was time to open the doors, a Devil costume covering his frame
, and red face paint covering his square face.

Izzy looked over to Mark
. “I think we found the anti-me.” She smiled, and Mark nodded.

Izzy hadn’t wanted to be an angel for the night
. In fact, the thought of putting on wings had her wanting to cry again, but when you wait till the last minute to get a costume and you wear the most popular size, you take what you can get. She hadn’t been able to find anything in fact, so Marie came to the rescue with the angel costume.

She felt ridiculous in the white corset top and white
, petticoat-style short skirt, but it was the white thigh highs and white platforms that really had her feeling uncomfortable. At least the wings were easily forgotten. They were small, white feather wings that barely spanned the width of her shoulders.

Izzy smiled as her sisters and the men who made them so happy came through the line. Eppie and Samuel were in togas. Marie and Marko’s costumes got them a shake of Izzy’s head. Marie was dressed in a skimpy lioness costume
, while Marko dressed as a lion tamer.

Izzy led them to a table Ben had let her reserve for them. Ana, one of the waitresses
, took their orders as Izzy sat down with her family. She was mostly done with her part of the evening. The decorating was done, the bartenders were on fire, the servers looked great as they made their way through the crowd with the dollar Jell-O shots, and the menu was altered and ready for the night, Ben was mingling in the crowd, and the band was live.

“It looks great in here
, Iz,” Eppie told her as she surveyed the decorations and the crowd.

“Thanks, I’m glad you guys could make it
.”

“Well
, we’ve missed you. Are you planning to start coming to family dinners again?”

“I think so.” Izzy smiled at her sister
. “I just needed some time. The last month has been really complicated.”

“We’re pretty smart,” Eppie said, her hand gesturing between herself and Marie. “You can tell us about it.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I did tell you, and mostly what went on isn’t my secret to tell.”

“Wait
, there are secrets now?” Marie piped in after taking a long draw on the straw of her Long Island.

Marko laughed. “Let’s go get some more drinks
,” he said to Samuel. “Looks like the sisters might need a minute.”

Samuel nodded, dropped a kiss to Eppie’s
temple, and the two men sauntered off.

“I shouldn’t have said anything
,” Izzy said, trying to wave the comment off.

“Well
, I want to know what happened. You didn’t give many details, so tell us what happened with Bain.”

Marie and Eppie both leaned in closer to Izzy so they could hear her over the band.

Izzy sighed. She was going to have to give up a few details, or they weren’t going to leave her alone.

“It feels complicated to me, but I guess it’s actually pretty simple
. I met this amazing, though arrogant man, things got hot and heavy too quickly, we came back from the trip we took—the one when I missed the first family dinner night—he dropped me off, and he left. The truth is, I don’t have any details to give. I don’t have any answers to what happened.”

“So
, what did he say?” Eppie asked. “I mean, really, from what I heard, he stood his ground with Dad, and he couldn’t take his eyes off you that night at dinner.”

“And how hot and heavy was it?” Marie asked. Izzy glared at her
. “Right, sorry, open wound.” Marie waved the question off, returning her lips to the pink straw in her drink.

“He said it was over
, that I wouldn’t get to see him again, and that it was
fun.
”

Pity shone from both Marie and Eppie’s eyes.

“
Fun was a poor choice of words on his part.
”

Izzy felt cold fear run down her spine as she spun to the voice behind her
. Her eyes widened as they fell upon the Light Fae leader and a very handsome man who stood beside her, not one of the brothers, but an intimidatingly gorgeous man, whose long, black hair and stunning diamond eyes seemed to scrutinize every inch of her.

“Rowan
, what are you doing here?” Izzy asked. Her sisters were finally silent as they watched the two intruders carefully.

That cold fear Izzy felt wasn’t because of seeing Rowan
; it was the why of her presence that scared Izzy. Was Bain okay?

“We need to talk
,” Rowan said simply.

“Is he ok
ay? I just saw Kale the other night. He said he was…
fine
.” She stumbled over the word a little. Kale hadn’t actually used the word
fine,
but he was physically fine as far as what Kale had told her.

“Ah
, again, I believe Kale has made the same mistake Bain did.
Fine
is a poor choice in words.”

“Uh
, Iz, you gonna introduce us?” Marie asked.

“What? Oh
yeah sure, um… Rowan, these are my sisters, Marie and Eppie. Ladies, this is Rowan.”

“And who is Kale?” Eppie asked. She looked to the man standing next to Rowan
. “Or more importantly, who is this?”

Izzy shook her head and turned back to Rowan with an expectant look on her face. She had no idea who this guy was.

“Izzy, this is Makyle. He’s here to speak with you about Bain. Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

Izzy took one more look at the man standing next to Rowan
, and then turned to her sisters. “I’ll be back in a few.”

“Izzy
, what’s going on?” Eppie’s eyes were a little wide, a testament to the discomfort she was suddenly feeling over the situation.

“I don’t know exactly, but Rowan is Bain’s sister and I trust her, so I’m going to go talk with them.”

“You barely know her,” Eppie whispered.

“And dude looks a little scary
,” Marie added in her own whisper.

Izzy shook her head
. “It’ll be fine.”

She walked
off, leaving her sisters to glare at her back as she moved to the back of the bar. She passed Sally and asked if she could use her office real quick. Sally nodded, and Izzy led Rowan and Makyle into the small, plain square of an office.

She had no idea what she was walking into, but that was how everything that involved the Fae worked. She had to go off faith and instinct, and her instinct was telling her she was going to want to hear them out.

“So what’s going on?” Izzy asked as soon as she shut the office door.

“We’ve come to talk to you about Bain.” Rowan smiled softly.

Izzy nodded and smiled back. Yes
, she knew that much.

“I want to help fix what happened between the two of you
. Makyle is one of the Immortal Four, and he has come to make you an offer.”

Makyle sized up Izzy
. He gazed, studying her. “You’ve fallen in love with an Immortal, and one of the Immortal warriors has fallen in love with you—a mortal human.”

Okay
, first, weren’t all human’s mortal
? she thought fleetingly,
and second, this guy didn’t waste any time getting to the point, but he was not entirely correct.

“Not exactly
,” Izzy corrected. “
I
fell in love. He had
fun.
”

“Izzy, I know what happened
. Bain told me what he said to you, and that just isn’t the truth. He misses you; he’s been either sulking around or reckless when he’s not holed up in his room. Kale can barely get him to come out.”

Izzy’s eyes locked on Rowan. “Reckless how?” she asked.

“The influx of Fae activity in your world has kept the brothers very busy.” She waved a hand. “It’s not important, what is important is that he misses and loves you.”

“He never said he loved me, never even said he cared about me. He said I had needed protection and now that I don’t need that protection anymore, I wouldn’t be seeing him again.”

“But you knew better, you knew he didn’t really see your time together as merely fun.” Rowan needed Izzy to acknowledge the truth of what she and Bain had shared.

“What do you want from me
, Rowan? Do I love your brother? Absolutely, I fell hard and fast for that arrogant jerk, but I kind of started to see him as
my
arrogant jerk. Did I think he loved me or at least cared about me? Of course I did. If I had thought it was just about having a little fun, I wouldn’t have let my heart or body into any of those situations.”

“There’s so much you don’t know, but I know he wants to tell you
,” Rowan said, her eyes asking Izzy to just believe this, to take it on faith and if need be, to really search her heart.

“I’m sorry
, Rowan, I don’t have the patience for this, and my family is waiting on me, so what is it you two want from me?”

Makyle smiled
. “I like her, she’s feisty. No wonder Bain… well, moving on. I’m here to make you an offer. The needs of the warriors are always a high priority for Rowan, myself, my brothers, and my sisters. But as you can imagine, it’s not easy to have a Fae—an Immortal Fae for that matter—to fall for a human.”

Izzy was listening, but she didn’t want someone else attempting to convince her of Bain’s intentions and reasons for turning his back on her. However
, this was one of the leaders of the Underworld speaking to her, so she bit her tongue and continued to listen.

“
It has some to do with your lack of magic, but in this case, your mortality is the bigger issue. It’s messy and devastating. So it is, of course, frowned upon. And because of your mortality, lack of magic, and the appearance of the Light Fae leading family, the night Bain brought you back home ended in a distasteful outcome.”

Distasteful?
Izzy had narrowed eyes pinned on Makyle.
What was he saying exactly? Did Bain think less of her because she was a human, non-magical mortal?

“So
, I’m here to try and fix at least one of those problems, while Rowan has already dealt with the others.”

Izzy’s gaze darted to Rowan.

“What’s he talking about? Bain has an issue with my mortality and me not being magical, and your family has an issue with me being human? Is that what you’re here to tell me?”

“No
,” Rowan said softly. “I am here to explain that Bain didn’t care that you were human, mortal, or non-magical. He left things the way he did that night because someone else cared about those things. He was given an ultimatum that really gave him no choice at all but to walk away from you. I have since dealt with that issue, and Makyle is here to help with the mortality issue.”

“
Mortality issue?
” Izzy asked softly.

“You must understand
, Izzy, that while Bain doesn’t care that you are mortal right now, he will eventually and so will you… if you want a future with each other.”

“I don’t understand
,” Izzy admitted, her patience wavering.

“I’m here to offer you Immortality
, Isabelle Moreno,” Makyle stated.