The Vampire's Fake Fiancée (Nocturne Falls Book 5) (2 page)

A sigh answered her. “Tessa, this is Nocturne Falls, not the dark streets of some crime-ridden city. It’s like Tim Burton’s version of Disney. I can’t even tell you the last time I took my gun out of its holster. I swear, you’d love it here. It’s very friendly to supernaturals. And really, considering who we are, you need to get over your fear of living a genuine life.”

“I am living a genuine life. And can we please not go into that again?”

Duncan was now climbing the side of the couch, claws digging deep in the ancient plaid fabric that covered the ugly thing. (The apartment had come furnished, but ugly was ugly.) Tessa put her hand over the receiver. “No. Bad cat. Bad.” She was never getting her security deposit back.

“Who are you yelling at? Did you say cat? Did you get a cat, Tessa? Holy Loki, please tell me you did not get a cat. You’re turning into a cliché.”

“Just because I’m a librarian,
possibly
with a cat, doesn’t mean I’m a cliché.”

“No, but when you also wear glasses you don’t need and generally seem to have your hair in a bun, the scales do lean in that direction.”

“I wear magnifying lenses because it helps me with my job.”

“You wear glasses as way to disguise your looks.”

“Are you saying I don’t look good in my glasses? That’s very cruel.”

“Had any dates lately? Or does that birth control bun effectively keep the men at bay?”

Tessa reached up and pulled the elastic out of her hair. “For your information, my hair is down right now. Besides, you wear your hair up all the time.”

“I have to, it’s a job requirement. You don’t have that excuse, but hey, if you want to hide yourself from the world by becoming a cliché, that’s your business. I love you, frumpy bun and all, you know that. I wouldn’t be trying to get you to move to Nocturne Falls to be near me if I didn’t love you. Right?”

“Right.” Tessa wouldn’t mind moving, even if the town was a tourist trap. She’d moved to Dayton, Ohio, only because it was where she’d gotten her first librarian job. And she’d love to be near her sister, but there was the matter of getting a new job. And quitting her current one. Not that her current one had turned out to be anything that fabulous.

“So listen, that’s why I’m calling. I just heard through the grapevine that the private school here is hiring a dean of library studies. And the money will be good. I don’t know how good, but Harmswood Academy doesn’t cut corners.”

“I have a job.”

“Are you the dean of anything?”

Now it was Tessa’s turn to sigh. “No. But I
could
get promoted.”

“The only way you’re going to get promoted is if that old battle ax that’s in charge dies.”

“Jenna, that’s unkind.”

“It’s true, though, isn’t it?”

Tessa frowned. “Yes.”

“And didn’t you call me last week and say that if you could find another librarian job, you’d take it in a heartbeat?”

Tessa took a breath. “Yes. But that was in the heat of the moment.”

“It still happened. Now you have a chance. So take a week off, come down here and submit your resume. What have you got to lose?”

“I’d have to bring Duncan.”

Jenna gasped. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Tessa pressed her hand to her forehead, the headache of confession surely on its way. “Duncan is my cat.” Who was now chewing off the end of the curtain pull.

“I
knew
you adopted a cat.”

“I didn’t adopt him, exactly. Someone dropped him in the book return slot, and Mrs. Unger was going to take him to the pound. Can you imagine? The poor thing. He’s just this tiny little ball of brown and black striped fur. Some dog would probably think he was a chew toy. Or a snack.”

“Told you she was a battle ax.”

“She
is
an enormous grump. Constantly nitpicking my work. And between us, she smells oddly like Lipton onion soup mix. All the time.”

Jenna laughed. “See? You don’t want to work there. You want to be in charge of your own library. The library dean. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?”

“It does.” Tessa closed her eyes. The library at a well-funded private academy could be a magnificent thing. “Do you have any idea what the library at this school looks like?”

“I’ve only been up to the academy once. They have their own security force. But the campus is gorgeous. I’m sure the library is great.”

Tessa bit her lip. A library like that could be really something. And to be in charge of it? That was a little dizzying. “I’ll have to put in for time off.”

Jenna muttered disgustedly, “What if Battle Ax says no?”

“I don’t think she’d do that. I have two vacation days coming. I just have to fill out the form and get them approved. Shouldn’t take more than ten days. Two weeks, tops.”

“Wait that long and the job could be gone by the time you get here. Just quit and come here. Bring Dumpling. Bring everything. Move.”

“Duncan.”

“Yes, him too. C’mon, Tessa. You can live with me until you get on your feet. I make enough money for both of us to live on. We’re not going to be taking a singles cruise anytime soon, but we’ll be okay until you start the dean position.”

“If I just quit my job, I’m not going to be able to use them for a reference.”

“You really think Unger is going to give you a decent reference? Doesn’t she blame you for the county deciding the library needed a Facebook page?”

“Yes.” That had been an ugly few weeks. Even with the four hundred likes they’d garnered. “But what if I don’t get the job? What if something happens and the interview doesn’t go well?”

“What’s the point of being a valkyrie if you don’t use what you’ve got? If you get a vibe that the interview isn’t going well, you can change tactics. Tell them what you think they want to hear. Or you could always become a deputy like me.”

“You know how I feel about violence and fighting and all that.” And about anything that might cause her to get upset, but seeing as how Jenna knew that already, Tessa didn’t see the point in bringing it up again. She stared at the pale scar that transected the last three knuckles of her right hand.

“For crying out loud, do I need to mention
again
that we’re valkyries? Warrior goddesses. Protectors of the worthy. Fierceness is in our DNA.”

“Maybe for you, but that’s not the life I’ve chosen to lead.” Not after the incident. Not after she’d figured out what she was really capable of.

“I know.” Jenna exhaled in the sort of long-suffering way she did whenever they had this conversation. “You probably don’t even remember how to swing your sword, do you?”

“I do.” Probably. “I chose not to.” Or ever again, actually. At the thought of her sword, a small trill of energy zipped down her spine. She ignored it. Like she always did.

“When’s the last time you had it out?”

“I’m a librarian. The opportunities to wield a sword are few and far between.” Which made this job perfect for her. “Now, back to what I’m going to do for work if this job doesn’t pan out.”

“Something will turn up. There’s plenty of other stuff you could do in this town.”

“But I want to be a librarian. It’s what I went to school for. It’s what I’m good at. It’s where my heart is.” She loved books. In a book you could escape and be anything you wanted, no risk involved. No chance of hurting anyone else.

“You’ll get the job, Tessa. How could you not?”

“Because someone with more experience could come along.”

“Yes, but you have to also be a supernatural to get this job. And you don’t get much more supernatural than being a descendant of one of Odin’s shield maidens.”

Tessa tapped a finger against her lip. Duncan leaped off the couch and headed for the kitchen. By the quiver of his tail, she could tell he was up to no good. So the usual. “True.”

“And I know this is a risk, and you don’t take risks. But just this once, please take a chance. Mom and Dad are going to be touring Europe for the rest of their lives. We’ll be lucky to see them at our weddings, if we ever get married. Wouldn’t it be nice for us to be close enough to hang out whenever we wanted? We could spend Christmas together if you lived here. We could go shopping and do spa days and all that kind of stuff together.”

Tessa’s librarian’s salary didn’t allow for much shopping or any spa days, but she got what her sister was saying. “It would be nice to be closer.”

Jenna went on. “Also, isn’t Ohio like completely covered in snow and ice? Winter in Georgia isn’t nearly as bad.”

“I don’t mind the snow, but it would be nice not to have to scrape my windshield every morning.” She looked around at her cramped apartment that her job barely paid for and thought about her sister’s house in Nocturne Falls. She’d seen pictures. Not only was it pretty and on a street with big trees, it had a backyard, which meant Duncan could go out and run around. Fresh air. Sunshine. A chance to wear himself out.

And the chance for her to be near her sister.

“Come on, throw that cat into a carrier and start driving. I’ll talk to one of the Ellinghams and see about getting you a tour of the school before your interview so you can see for yourself exactly how amazing it is.”

“I can’t just leave like that. There’s a ton of things I’d have to take care of first.”

“Like what?”

“I still have to give the library my notice that I’m quitting and turn off my water and electric and let the landlord know I’m breaking the lease and—”

“Find your inner warrior and make it happen. Besides, I already submitted your name. They’re expecting you.”

“What? Why did you do that?”

“Because you never would have done it.”

“I might have.”

“Tessa. This is the kind of change you need. The kind of job you
deserve
.”

Tessa squeezed her eyes shut. She and her inner warrior hadn’t really communicated in a long time, but she knew Jenna was right. She needed a change, and being near her sister would be great. “I can be there in four days.”

“You can be here in one.”

“Impossible. Two is the absolute minimum.”

Jenna whooped into the phone. “Yes! I knew I could talk you into it. See you in two days, sis!”

“Wait—” But Jenna had already hung up. Like she knew she’d just talked Tessa into something she’d only change her mind about.

Tessa blew out a breath. She was already having doubts. What had she just gotten herself into? She shook herself. No, this was a good thing. She really wasn’t happy at her current job. And this apartment was dreadful. A change would be good. Being near her sister would be great. Jenna was so brave and daring and didn’t let a thing stand in her way. Tessa wanted to be more like that. In theory.

She walked over and pulled Duncan out of the trash can, then hugged him against her chest for a second before holding him up to look him in the eyes. “I realize you’re just getting the lay of the land, but don’t get too comfortable. Change is afoot.”

He meowed at her, a loud, squeaky sound that made her grin. “I know! This is a big step for both of us, but Jenna will be there and she’s got a yard you can play in. Plus, I promise you can take all of your new toys, too.”

He tried to eat a piece of her hair.

She pulled it out of his mouth and shook her head. What on earth had she just agreed to?

Sebastian would be lying to himself if he tried to deny the slightly righteous pleasure that he’d taken from keeping Evangeline waiting. It had been only three days. And after all, she’d kept him waiting nearly three hundred years. Seventy-two hours seemed a drop in the bucket in comparison.

It had been a calculated move. Not just to keep her waiting, but to time things so that his meeting with her happened the morning of interviews at Harmswood. He’d be dressed sharply and have a place to go afterward, giving him a reason not to linger.

He also wanted her to know he was a busy man. Occupied with many things. None of which were her. He sighed. If only that were true. She did occupy some of his time, which irritated him to no end, but it was a responsibility with which he’d learned to live. A duty.

A chore.

And then of course, there was the matter of the time they were meeting.