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MY FINGERS WRAPPED firmly around the steering wheel as I took to the highway. I was on a mission to find a girl. One that stirred up my insides just a pinch. I’d met her in a coffee shop called the Groove Brew. A funky little place that had a super retro style my best friend Ryane would love. I’d have brought her with me, but she was a newly turned Vampire now, and I wasn’t sure how all those fresh clean necks would affect her. Besides, who brings a girl with you while looking for another? That would be crazy.
I’d had the girl’s number. She’d given it to me after a snarky exchange and some hard flirting. She told me to call her, and I would have, but the cup got damaged and I couldn’t read it. So, on Ryane’s suggestion, I’m driving forty minutes into town to see if I can catch her at work.
***
IT TOOK ME TWENTY MINUTES to find a parking spot, as it was, it was a block away. I walked briskly, but not fast enough to raise my heart, although it was already racing. Last thing I wanted was to be running in there looking for her like some dammed deranged stalker Dragon. The shop came into view and I steeled myself. Took a couple deep breaths and opened the door. The smell of the coffee hit me first, relaxing my nerves. I loved the scent of fresh ground beans. It reminded me of growing up.
My parents had owned a boulangerie, and always served the freshest coffees and finest teas with the pastries. I used to love being in the shop when they worked, I loved to help them. It always made me feel good... Useful.
There was a line. Fuck. It figured. It was like seven in the morning on a Sunday, shouldn’t these people be in a church or something? I scented the air, it was faint but I could still smell her. I lifted my head, looking over the crowd in front of me. I didn’t see her. Just a few guys at the counter. Damn. Maybe she’s in the back. I hoped. I stepped out of line looking at the décor, waiting to see if she’d show up. A lot of the stuff was price tagged. Good, at least I looked like I was shopping. I did spy an old fashioned record player that was bundled with a band from the twentieth century called The Doors. I wondered if they were any good. Maybe Ryane would like it. I picked it up, and since the line had filtered down to stragglers I took my chance. By the time I got to the counter there wasn’t anyone left behind me.
“Hey there man, what can I do you for? Welcome to the Groove Brew,” the fellow behind the counter greeted me. He couldn’t have been more than seventeen, but like the girl I was looking for, he wore black pants and a red shirt with the company name on the chest.
“This contraption, a double espresso with milk, and what kind of pastries do you have?”
“Today’s specials are lemon honey scones or chocolate almond biscotti. Both are pretty rad.”
Rad? Really? He’d said rad. I smirked. “Gimmie three of each, and throw in two large light and sweet coffees if you could.”
“No problem.”
I was flipping through the records that were stacked with the player when he started talking again.
“You pick that up for your girl?”
“A girl, not my girl.”
He looked me up and down with a keen smile.
Really? Do I vibe that way all of a sudden? I cleared my throat. “Speaking of the fairer sex. I was in here yesterday, there was a golden blond working.”
“That would be Aella. What did she do now?”
“Oh, nothing. I- I didn’t have enough on me for a tip, so I was wondering when she’d be back into work.” I hoped my thinly veiled lie would seem legit.
He laughed. “Well, Late August, early September I suspect. She left for Europe last night. Taking a summer in Amsterdam. Lucky bitch.”
“Fuck.” I couldn’t hold it in. He looked up at me with a shake of his head as he crated the coffees and bagged the sweets.
“Sorry, man. Guess you missed your window. That’ll be fifteen even, for the foodstuffs and a hundred twenty for the record player and the tunes.”
I handed him a hundred and forty. “Keep the change.” I stacked the coffees on top of the player, and took my bags and my disappointment out of the shop.
Amsterdam? The Seelie Court was in Amsterdam. Perhaps she was a servant to the Fey. It wouldn’t be so farfetched, but if that were true, what was she doing here? Gone until September. That was right, I forgot that it was June. With the upheaval of normal life from Keegan’s kidnapping, time had moved on without us. We wouldn’t be required to go back to the University until the Fall. The students of Grigori University would be going home until then, making ghosts of this town.
It was good though, it would give Keegan and Ryane time to adjust to their new situations. She had the Pepper Pot restaurant to attend to and decisions to make about her living arrangements. She had the townhouse on campus that she was renting through the school and the house left to her in Samuel’s will, along with all that money. Hell, she didn’t even need to finish school if she didn’t want to, she was set.
A sudden fear gripped me. What if she dropped out? What would I do? What would Keegan do? I sped up the truck, I had questions for them that needed some answers.