The Season Finale

 

Episode Six

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

 

Television reporters get used to being eyed with suspicion, but usually, those doing the eyeing are human. Not this time. I didn’t think. The attractive man had stared at me the moment I entered the café. Soprannaturale, where all the nonhumans hung out. I glanced around at the framed pictures of pastoral Italian scenes and classic checkered tablecloths on two-tops scattered throughout the front of the café. Stepping closer to the man, the scent of flowers and earth reached me.

“You smell sweet,” I blurted out. “Is that some kind of cologne, or an essential oil you’re diffusing?”

The man’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “May I help you?”

Refusing to be thrown by his non-response to my question, I smiled wide and extended my hand. “Elizabeth Addison, reporter,” I introduced myself, smile faltering when he hesitated. An imperceptible sigh and then his large hand engulfed my smaller one. Breath caught in my throat at the tingles that raced through my body. I snatched my hand back and he smirked.

“Antonio DiMaio. Owner of this fine establishment.” His chocolate-brown eyes took in my appearance, a bit bedraggled due to a short rain. Contrary to the public perception of living in the desert, it rained in Las Vegas. And since it was spring, well, it had rained while I walked from my car to the door of his fine establishment.

I attempted to smooth down my short, curly brown hair, frizzy from the humidity, and then ran my hands down the sides of my simple blue shift. Antonio’s eyes followed the movement, the smirk morphing into something more complex.

His eyes snapped back up to mine. “May I help you, Ms. Addison?”

“Please, call me Liz,” I responded by reflex.

“Then call me Tony.”

I nodded. “Tony. I’m meeting Catherine Rodham. Do you know her?”

“Because all supernaturals know each other?” he asked, smirk back in place.

I flushed. “No.” A smart retort didn’t come to me, because now I wanted to know what type of creature he was. Given my instant attraction, I wondered if he was an incubus. I’d learned from Catherine last year that they could control you by sucking out your soul. Yuck. Though she swore her half-incubus boyfriend Alex didn’t do that.

He chuckled, his rumbly voice sexy. “Relax. I’m just teasing you.”

Was he flirting with me? His comment did not help me relax. If anything, my flush deepened. He ran a hand through his longish wavy black hair and smiled, a dimple appearing on his right cheek.

“But I do know Catherine,” he admitted. “She isn’t here yet.”

“I’ll wait for her before being seated.” I took the opportunity while I waited to consider his sinewy muscles flexing underneath a simple black shirt and pants. Probably his work uniform. His appearance placed him maybe late-twenties like me, but with supernatural beings, who knew? I desperately wanted to ask what he was, but that had to be a faux pas.

“Did you have any questions?”

My eyes widened. Could he read minds?

“About the menu,” he clarified, though I didn’t miss the quick smile.

If he was going to flirt with me, then I would be bold. “I do have a question.” Our eyes met. “Not about the menu.”

He tilted his head. “Ask away.”

“What are you?”

“Not fully human.”

I shook my head. “That’s entirely unhelpful.”

“I know.”

“Are you flirting with me?”

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Do you want me to flirt with you?”

My mouth dropped open, but nothing emerged.

He laughed. “I like you, little human.”

I bristled.

He held up his hands in surrender. “It’s a term of endearment where I come from.”

“Where are you from?”

“Originally Italy.”

“When was that, Tony?”

“Nice try, Liz.”

“It was worth the shot.”

“I have a question for you,” he said.

“I’m fully human.”

Tony threw back his head and belly laughed. “That’s not in doubt.”

“How would you know?”

“I know.”

“That’s mysterious.”

He smiled. “As a human,” he started, “how did you even know about my café?”

A voice answered from behind me. “I’d like to know that as well.”