Magical Midlife Dating - K.F. Breene Page 0,124
on his bony shoulder, then thought better of it. I swayed into Ulric. “Oops. Sorry, don’t mind me. The basajaun came into the bar, and he spoke to me like we were old buddies, and then everyone was awestruck and bought me drinks—it was cah-razy. Anyway, sorry, Edgar, this is your show. Why are you crying? I didn’t even know vampires could cry.”
“Why wouldn’t they be able to?” Ulric asked with a grin, his hand on my shoulder, stabilizing me.
“Shh, I’m good.” I removed his hand and drifted into Jasper, who’d just shown up on the scene. He still lived at the house, and I still meant to get to know him, but he was so quiet that I constantly forgot about him. If Mr. Tom was white noise, Jasper was a potted plant that had just shown up one day, never seemed to need water, and seemed content to be part of the scenery. He was the gargoyle equivalent of a succulent. “I don’t know, because water doesn’t flow out of their eyes or something? They don’t have emotion, maybe?”
“He’s got plenty of emotion,” Ulric whispered, back to focusing on a sobbing Edgar.
“He’s downright hysterical. What is the meaning of this, Edgar?” Mr. Tom demanded.
“We’ve been robbed, I tell you.” Edgar grabbed Mr. Tom by the lapels and started to drag him toward the back door to go outside to check out the cause of his hysteria.
“Unhand me, vampire! This is a freshly pressed suit.” Mr. Tom struggled out of his grasp.
Outside, following a wailing vampire, we finally caught sight of what had been stolen.
The whole back garden, from one end of the house to the other, had been picked clean of Edgar’s award-winning flowers. Petals littered the ground, like the blood of the lost. The perfume of their crushed bodies, having met their end within the basajaun’s teeth, still lingered in the air.
It belatedly occurred to me that I should’ve given Edgar a heads-up as to what was coming. Thankfully, he hadn’t been outside and tried to stop the creature.
“Oh, for heaven’s sakes, they’re just flowers.” Mr. Tom scoffed.
Edgar brought himself up to his full height, his fangs gleaming in the moonlight. “How dare you!”
“Sorry, buddy,” I said, this time breaking down and patting Edgar’s shoulder. I regretted it almost immediately. He felt like a bunch of sticks tied together with twine and overlaid with a rubbery mat. I definitely should’ve made an exception for Edgar when I made the call on the age thing. “Let’s go look at your doilies and I’ll explain everything. I’ll help you fix it, okay? I’ll put a couple of doilies in the house, even.”
“No, you most certainly will not.” Mr. Tom stomped after us. “Don’t give in to this display, miss, it’ll just encourage him.”
“This is my life now,” I heard Ulric say as he followed us. “I hope my mom never visits, because I have no idea how I’d explain this part.”
I had to agree with that. I sincerely hoped my parents didn’t get a wild hair to visit, either. That would be some mess.
It wasn’t until the small hours of the morning that I made it to my bedroom. Mr. Tom followed me up shortly thereafter with a steaming cup of tea.
“There now, miss.” He set the tea tray down, a black envelope resting on the outside lip. “That was nice of you to console Edgar, but really, you shouldn’t trouble yourself too much. That vampire has long since gone Froot Loops. It’s best not to get too involved in his lunacy.”
He was one to talk.
I leaned back tiredly, the buzz from earlier having worn away. “I should’ve warned him that I’d traded away his favorite hobby. Poor guy will have to start over. What’s that?” I pointed at the envelope.
“Oh. This came for you an hour ago.” Mr. Tom handed it over before preparing some cheese slices on a plate.
An interesting sort of red seal stuck the flap down, though I couldn’t quite make out the design. A cream card waited on the inside, and in a lovely delicate hand was written:
My dearest Jacinta,
Congratulations on acquiring your wings. What a triumph! I look forward to seeing for myself.
Sadly, it seems I have underestimated your polar bear alpha, or I might’ve already had the pleasure. How shortsighted of me. I must say, I am half delighted someone has been able to surprise me. It has been so long since that has been the case.
I assure you, however…it will not happen again.
Until we meet, I shall think of you fondly.
— Elliot Graves
I stared at it for a long moment before handing it to Mr. Tom and sending him away so I could change for bed. So Elliot Graves, Mr. Magical Mob Boss, was the one who had posted the contract. This didn’t necessarily mean he was the man in black who’d waited for me outside of Ivy House a couple of months ago, but it certainly suggested it.
Life was about to get even more interesting.
. ~ . ~ . ~ .
Interested to see what happens when Jessie’s parents come to visit? Preorder book three, Magical Midlife Invasion now!
Magical Midlife Invasion Preorder
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Also by K.F. Breene
Leveling Up
Magical Midlife Madness
Magical Midlife Dating
Magical Midlife Invasion (Coming Soon)
Demigods of San Francisco
Sin & Chocolate
Sin & Magic
Sin & Salvation
Sin & Spirit
Sin & Lightning
Sin & Surrender
Demon Days, Vampire Nights World
Born in Fire
Raised in Fire
Fused in Fire
Natural Witch
Natural Mage
Natural Dual-Mage
Warrior Fae Trapped
Warrior Fae Princess
Warrior Chronicles
Chosen
Hunted
Shadow Lands
Invasion
Siege
Overtaken
Darkness Series
Into the Darkness
Braving the Elements
On a Razor’s Edge
Demons
The Council
Shadow Watcher
Jonas
Charles
Jameson
Stand Alone
Secret of McKinley’s Mansion
Finding Paradise
Fate of Perfection
Fate of Devotion
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About the Author
K.F. Breene is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Amazon Most Sold and #1 Kindle Store bestselling author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy and fantasy novels. With over three million books sold, when she's not penning stories about magic and what goes bump in the night, she's sipping wine and planning shenanigans. She lives in Northern California with her husband, two children, weird dog and out of work treadmill.
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