Davy Harwood

chapter two

I called my empath sponsor and planned to meet her for coffee. When I pushed through the glass doors of Coffee Java, I inhaled the freshly brewed aroma and felt like I'd just touched a piece of heaven.

Blue looked up and waved an arm from a back booth tucked into the corner with bookcases and empty tables surrounding it. I liked how private it was. Blue got her name for her graying hair that she dyed with blue highlights. She liked that it gave her an out-of-this-world quality although she was very much an earthly woman. Every one of the bracelets jangling on her wrist stood for a cause – pollution, cancer, save the forests, happiness from an orgasm.

I smiled widely as I weaved my way through the book cases. "Blue-cheese, how are you?"

She laughed with her raspy deep-throated voice. "That never gets old." Nudging forward a coffee, she added, "Take it. You know it's for you."

I nabbed it and closed my eyes when the liquid touched my lips. It was so good, so yummy, and I knew I really was in heaven.

She closed the novel she'd been reading and pushed it to the side. She wasn't one for idle talk. "Okay, girl. Out with it."

"I have a problem."

She arched a perfectly outlined eyebrow and rested her chin on her hand.

"I have vamp problems," I said further.

Understanding dawned in her grey eyes. All empaths understood that statement. Sometimes we felt too much, but when we felt a vampire our senses went haywire from what they felt. "Are you still practicing your blocks?"

I nodded. I'd upped my level since I joined the hotline.

"That's good. Keep at it. Now, tell me about the vamp problem."

What could I say? "It's nothing really, but a feeling. He saw me in the library today with my roommate. I asked her about him and he heard the whole thing."

Blue frowned. Her purple lips rubbed together. "What's the problem? Vamps are used to that."

"I was watching him when I asked her about him. I didn't realize that he'd been watching the entire time."

"What do you mean 'watching'?" She narrowed her eyes.

"He knew that I knew what he was. It was like a challenge or something. I didn't like it."

"Oh, girl." Blue frowned deeply this time. "What'd you do?"

I took a sip of my coffee, but the flavor didn't taste heavenly anymore.

"Girl."

"I might've said something like 'I know what you are' ...or something."

She pursed those purple lips together and reached for her coffee. I felt her disapproval coming at me in waves. "You did what?"

"I couldn't help it, alright? It was like he was challenging me or something."

Blue sat her coffee down and leaned forward in a matronly way. "You know better, Davina. You have issues with vampires. We all do, but you've got more. You gotta fight that. Now what's gonna happen? You know vampires. They love challenges. He's going to be all over you now. Then what? How are you going to get away?"

In a small voice, I murmured, "I could always do what I did before."

Blue let out a disgusted sound and rolled her eyes. "I would not recommend lighting a vampire on fire. It didn't help you back home. It won't help you this time. Learn from your mistakes, child."

My back stiffened at that. I hated being called Davina and I really hated being called 'child'. "You know, maybe moving here and having you so close isn't all that great."