The Vampire's Requiem [malexmale]

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three (Newell)

Two years later

Detroit was a city brimming with culture and life, even after the sun had gone down behind the tall buildings that sat across the Detroit River, the buildings towering in Canada. Cars moved steadily down the streets, occasional honking of impatience. People hurried along the streets to escape the nightlife of the city.

Though nightlife was a spectacle to behold, it was also the time to usher in the world's darkest of predators. The nocturnal beasts of the night crawled from their holes and stalked the streets in search of new prey, or something to pass by a life that had become meaningless.

The air was icy cold and stung my cheeks, blowing the hair from my face. I paused at the corner of a street, tugging my jacket closer to me as I scanned the signs of the multiple shops in hopes of finding a certain place.

Xed stood behind me, towering over the other people who'd gathered to cross the street, but kept a good distance from him. Xed wore a torn black t-shirt and leather pants, his boots crunching on the ice that'd collected on the sidewalk. He wasn't at all cold from what I could see, not even goose bumps. He stood there with eyes raking the streets and humans with a warning stare that dared them to approach us.

The lights blinked and the group of people began to move across the street. Xed stuck close behind me as we moved with the crowd.

The heavy scent of smoke, booze, car fuel, and cheap fast food coiled through the ice cold air, riding the wind right into my face and burning my nostrils. We came to a stop on the sidewalk, the ice crunching under our weight before my eyes landed on a sign just down the street.

A sign that read: Madam Selene's Crypt

We walked down the street toward the shop, avoiding the humans that watched us or tried to keep up. I approached the shop window, pausing to see the multicolored scarves that decorated the inside of the window. Statues of goddesses and gods from multiple pantheons brimmed the shelves, a cauldron sitting at the center with smoke brewing out of it. A blinking open sign hung at the top of the window. I opened the large wooden door, resulting in a bell ringing over my head as we came inside.

I was relieved by the warmth. The scents changed from the reeking city to the strong smells of herbs and incense. Several shelves were lined with bottles of herbal remedies, some shelves holding empty journals for Books of Shadows, another shelf lined with several dozen different incenses. At the front of the store was the register at a small podium. Beside that was a table with two chairs, a cloth with a pentacle spread out on its surface.

Xed and I stopped in front of the register, but only needed to wait a moment before the woman I'd been waiting for emerged from the back room, parting the beads that hung there.

Selene Bennett was a beautiful woman, petite and curvy. Her white-blonde hair was curled this evening and tied up into a ponytail so the curls fell over her shoulders, her straight cut bangs resting over her bright blue eyes. She wore a purple and brown peasant skirt and a matching white blouse. She wore plenty of bracelets and necklaces with earrings shaped like crescent moons.

But the moment she saw me, her expression dropped and she froze.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded, her British accent watered down after so many years in the United States. I sighed, reaching up to brush the hair out of my face with a frown.

"I've been looking for you. It's important." I responded, to which she snorted and shook her head before folding her arms over her chest.

"I have no reason to service you. You've caused enough trouble for my baby as it is." She answered. I rolled my eyes, rubbing my temples in irritation before lowering my hands and looking up at her.