《My Vampire Assistant》13. The last piece
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After five minutes of vampiretherapy, Kirill was looking at JJ with big, teary eyes, exclaiming that he didn’t feel any desire to drink even a drop of alcohol now. That was another line to check from my list.
Technically, my shop was all set now, but with only two people to man the counter, that left someone working overtime to gather new merchandise or to cover for the one who would do it. I didn’t want to work overtime and wasn’t sure JJ would agree to that, either.
Hell, since he was working for free, he didn’t count as an employee, anyway.
With this in mind, I wrote to someone whom I knew would be interested in my offer. When I named my price, she only asked: “When I can start?”
I liked her. She was all business. Probably because she was too chronically tired to bother about pleasantries.
She agreed to be ready for work right next day. I didn’t need to check her for her skills, too—she worked in various retail places all three years I knew her, and knew her history as well as our college could teach it.
Next morning, for the first time in a month, I woke up early and took down the mourning drapes from the store’s windows. Today even the weather itself seemed to agree that it was the time to stop grieving. The sun was shining, instantly turning the weather from chilly spring into twenty-two degrees Celsius early summer.
The same sunlight made the insides of the store look like the store again. If before it was more of another dusty storeroom, now it looked the best it ever was—well, would look after a little cleaning. Sunlight that shone on the old wooden furniture, antique vases, paintings and locked cases with gleaming jewellery, making them look more alive at once. It was like an instant transmission into the past.
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JJ eyed the bright lines of light on the floor with visible apprehension, and I bit the inner side of my cheek. “Would the weather be a problem? I guess I can come up with something… Some thinner drapes on windows? I think there were some lying in storage…”
He sauntered to a patch of light, and I watched him put a hand in it. Nothing happened at first. Then, to my astonishment, it began to redden before my eyes, like from an extreme sunburn.
JJ took his hand back, and there, out of the direct light, it paled back as quickly as it burned. He gave me a smile. “It seems like my light tolerance grew while I was… indisposed. I think I will manage, as long as I don’t stay near the windows for too long.”
I gave him a thumbs-up. “Great! Now, as it’s your first day, you will help me clean up until my other recruit arrives and I will explain you two the ropes.”
Thankfully, JJ knew how to do basic housework chores, even if the last time he did anything like that must’ve been before humanity came up with modern brooms. For the sake of keeping him away from windows, I put him to dusting the merchandise while I busied myself with floors.
By the time my latest recruit arrived, the storefront was sparkling clean again. I probably should’ve asked her to come early and help too, but then I decided I did a good deed. The poor girl looked like a panda with her black bags under her eyes, as it was. Which was where her nickname, Panda, came from.
She was dressed in casual jeans and blouse, her greyish-brown hair cropped into an uneven bob. There was not a hint of make-up on her, and besides for hiding her eye bags, she didn’t need it. Panda was tall and lean, maybe even too lean, but her skin was clear and her blue eyes were bright and shone with intelligence.
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“Hey, Diana,” she greeted me with a half-hearted wave of a hand. “Reporting for duty.”
“Hey you too.” I gave a nod in response. “Panda, this is Jean-Jacques. JJ, this is Sveta. You two will be working at the counter.”
“Jean-Jacques?” Panda gave JJ, who was leaning on a counter, a wide-eyed look. “Are you French?”
To my surprise, even though I knew JJ wouldn’t have said he could work without causing mass panic, Panda didn’t look at all weirded out by JJ’s starved look, his slit pupils, or his paleness that was borderline paper-like. No, she was just surprised that he had a French name. I wondered if it was some magic, too.
“I’m not native to this country,” JJ explained with the same flirty smile he gave me earlier.
Somehow, I felt cheated by that gesture. I knew on a logical level that JJ probably gave these smiles to everyone, and I stayed away from him like Titanic should’ve stayed from the iceberg, but damn. Apparently, some part of me liked to imagine that I gathered attention from a beautiful and interesting man like him. Now this part just felt hurt.
On a good side, Panda didn’t show any intention to flirt with JJ back—she just nodded, accepting the information, and turned back to me.
Ha, jokes on him! She was lesbian (another reason to pick her of all people)! And she probably had too little time to sleep to want to share it with someone else. All of that, along with the fact that she was in a need of a job that could work with her college, I knew because before I took an academic leave, the two of us studied at the same college class.
I shook my head, pushing relationship thoughts out of my mind. “Alright, you know each other. Besides you two, I hired an appraiser, but he will only come at evenings, so I will introduce you to him later. Now, let me show you how everything works. JJ, you watch especially carefully.”
Panda grasped the inner workings of the cashbox and my documentation in a moment, and JJ was close behind. After that I explained to them about the merchandise I was selling. Panda knew a lot about history, but it was all from textbooks. JJ, though, would sometimes mention things that clearly (for me) came from personal experience.
By the time I walked them around the stock, Kirill had come to the shop. He had little of work today, though I asked him to look at some things my dad didn’t leave much notes about. I introduced him and Panda, and with that…
My antiquities shop was ready for its first evening of work.
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When Franny learns why former popular boy Tyler fell from grace, she gets thrown head-first into his dangerous world but also closer to his timid heart. *****Eighteen-year-old Tyler Madden used to have everything. He was captain of the football team, popular, high achiever, and was set to have a successful career. But when a secret too hard to handle comes to light, he turns to underground fighting to deal with the pain. Now, he's in too deep. And when Francesca Howard befriends him at school in the hopes of figuring out what went wrong, she unknowingly gets pulled into the criminal world he's now stuck in. As the two find comfort in each other, they find themselves faced with their impending future and trying to get Tyler out alive.Content/Trigger Warning: this story contains scenes pertaining to drug use, substance abuse, and violence.[#1 in teen fiction, romance and action]
8 81The Demon King said to call him Papa
Warning: There is abuse and extreme trauma in the beginning of this story."This is the first time I've seen a human as small as you." I lightly flinched at the cold words as I stared at the ground; to afraid to look up at the intimidating man. I could tell that he was different from the other monsters that circled around me.But I no longer cared about my life anymore. No one cared about me, no one will miss or even be sad about my death except for Five, but he was no longer here anymore."Human." The man speaks to me as I continued to stare at the ground. "Look up."I bit my lip and shook my head, I wasn't allowed to look at any adult- if I did, I would be hit. Dull pain started to prick my chest as I waited to die, I couldn't even felt the cuts on my legs from those people who left me here anymore.Suddenly, feet appeared in my sight and was joined by legs as the man kneeled down in front of me and curled a long white finger around my chin and gently lifted my head up.I closed my eyes tightly as my body started to tremble and curl up in preparation for the beating that surely was coming. Moments pass but nothing happens. I slowly open my eyes and met the vibrant purple eyes that stared into mine. I start to pull away as he reached up to brush my hair out of my face, flinching as he touched my skin and revealed the ugly burn that I had received two years ago. "Who did this?" He asks as he gazed at the scar.A girl who was abused and mistreated all her life has transmigrated into another world; only to have the same thing happen again. She was later abandoned as a meat shield against demons and thought that her second life was going to end.However, the powerful and indifferent Demon King meets her which changes her fate drastically.
8 150The Bridesmaid ✓
His finger traces my skin, his coffee brown eyes staring deep into mine as I feel chills run down my spine."Taehyung." I call out his name, close to a whisper, afraid that someone might hear us. Why did being with him make me feel so good even though he wasn't mine to keep?[Highest Ranking: #1 in Fanfiction]Warning: some sexual/mature contentStarted, 30 Nov 2018Ended, 25 Apr 2019© 2019 softaura ✓cover by: @eulu-xuria
8 157Devils Spawn
I never wanted the life of a biker, so being shipped off to live with an uncle who is the president of one of the most feared biker gangs in the country wasn't something I was looking forward to. I didn't think when I moved that I would learn to love the life they offer or that I would fall in love with a biker. I never thought for a second that the things to come would test me. This is the story of my love, my loss, and the shit I have to deal with living with these idiots!Interested in my life yet??
8 226GAMMA COLE & THE SILVER WOLF
"Hey Gamma." Alice giggles looking up to me, not even noticing that Jay has gone. Her cheeks have a pink hue to them from all the Vodka, her eyes are full of mischief as she goes to take another sip. I quickly grab the drink from her hand before it can reach her lips and throw it away into a nearby bush without a second thought. "Yeah, you're done with that, Wonderland." I grin at her as she scowls at me."Hey!" Alice protests. She gets to her feet, a little wobbly. Then stands on the log she was just sat on, so she is at my height. She puts her hands on her hips and scrunches up her eyes as if to try and get me into focus. "I'm not scared of you, Gamma! You can't just take a girls drink you know!" She slurs out as she pokes my chest now with an accusing index finger. Anyone else would be in a world of pain for talking to me like this, but all I want to do is pull her into my arms and kiss her till her lips are bruised and swollen. She's fucking adorable when drunk. Not giving a fuck if anyone's watching us or not, I step forward, crowding right into her space making her physically gulp at our proximity."I don't scare you huh?" I growl at her in a deep but quiet voice. She bites her lip, but not out of fear, she likes it when I talk to her like this. "You don't look like the big-bad-wolf to me." She whispers."What do I look like to you?" I rasp out quietly as her fingertips continue featherlight touches to my lips."I don't know...something..." She breathes, her eyes crease with both confusion and fascination.----------Labelled as having a dangerous wild wolf, Alice is left feeling isolated on her family's farm for most of her childhood. However, now she is of age, she can finally follow her dreams and compete to be on the elite enforcers squad and win the heart of long-time crush Beta Jay. That is until the packs Gamma, Cole, takes over her training and flips her life upside down. (This is a slow burn; I hope you enjoy x)
8 171Irresistible You
The last year of university should be fun. Parties. Friends. The eagerness to graduate. Megan has the friends, the grades, the parties and the boyfriend that is the star athlete of the football team, with scouts interested in him joining the professional league. She has it all. Her life appears to be perfect. Only it isn't. Just a beautiful, misleading cover to a miserable book. Josh isn't who everyone makes him out to be and it takes reuniting with one stranger from one vacation to make her feel free. Megan and Louis can't resist the temptation of being together and it's a risk that she is willing to take.
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