Destiny United by Leia Shaw

clueless.
You’re just stealing stuff already taken. And the part about Sage killing her
father? Helloooo… Star Wars called and they want
their movie plot back. Can’t you come up with something more original than
that?”
    Marcelo’s eyes narrowed as his lips pursed in irritation.
He grabbed her phone from his pocket and shoved it towards her. “Text your
sister.”
    Erin took the phone with a shrug. She texted Sage, asking
if she was a real life version of a Twilight Zone episode. Erin was shocked, and a bit dismayed, when she confirmed every word,
down to the Star Wars ending rip off.
    “Sorry. Wish I could have told u myself. Now get your skinny
butt over here! I have wicked awesome tricks to show you!”
    She sighed and slipped the phone into her pocket. Marcelo
watched her but didn’t demand the phone back.
    “Now do you believe me?” he asked.
    She nodded. If Sage confirmed it, then Erin believed it –
unless this was all one big hoax. If so, there was going to be hell to pay. The
phrase “mind fuck” seemed appropriate. It was crude and not to her taste but
perhaps everything about her was changing. Resolving not to think about it too
much – lest her head explode – she studied her new claws instead.
    “So, if you’ve lived in the Underworld so long,” Erin
asked, “how did you learn to drive?”
    He shrugged. “Not much to it.”
    Not much to it? It had taken Erin six months to be
comfortable behind the wheel. Did everything come easily to vampires? How
annoying.
     “Explain this prophecy you mentioned. And what’s the
part about the witch? And who are the dark fae? Is that like ‘give yourself to
the dark side Luke’?” she said in her best Darth Vader voice. Jimmy was good
with impressions. According to Marcelo’s puzzled expression, Aila was not. “I
guess vampires don’t watch movies.”
    “Underworld, querida ,
remember? There are no movies there.”
    “So vampires don’t have movie nights with popcorn and
cozy pajamas?”
    “Sure we do. Right after we braid each other’s hair and
read gossip magazines.”
    She swung her head to give him a dry look. “Ha, ha. The
big, bad vampire made a funny.”
    “Big, bad vampire?” he repeated with dark brows raised.
“I should throw you in the mall fountain for that. Teach you some manners in
dealing with big, bad vampires.”
    She smiled only because she knew he was bluffing. “So
what do you do for entertainment? Kill things?”
    “Don’t ask questions you don’t – ”
    “Oh, never mind!” It was quiet for a few minutes as she
wondered how Marcelo knew his way around the city without a GPS, or at least a
map. “So, you never came…up here – ”
    “Topside.”
    “Right. You haven’t been Topside in two hundred years?”
    “I have. To feed. But not to go to movies.”
    She cringed at the word “feed” and tried not to visualize
it. “Well, you’re missing out.” She sat up straighter in her seat, her mood
temporarily improved. “I’m a big movie buff. I can quote all kinds of movies
from The Little Mermaid to Die Hard to Lord of the Rings to The Notebook . I’m very eclectic.”
    He cocked an eyebrow but his lips curled in amusement. “I
have no idea what you just said but I’m happy to hear more just to see your
beautiful smile.”
    She couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off her face even
though she should have. Flattering comments were dangerous, especially when she
had a boyfriend. The word “mate” hung thick in her head. Jimmy was a good
boyfriend. Mate though? For life?
    “Am I immortal, Marcelo?”
    He sat in silence long enough for her to discern the
answer. “Yes, querida , you are.”
    “Why do you keep calling me that? And the other one
too…cosina?”
    “ Cosita ,” he corrected.
“That means ‘little one’. Querida means ‘dear’.
Terms of endearment, nothing more.”
    “Oh.” She’d recognized querida from her beginner Spanish class. “Well, you probably shouldn’t say