Kiss The Flame: A Desire Exchange Novella (1001 Dark Nights) by Rice Christopher

Author:Rice, Christopher [Rice, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: romance, Desire Exchange, New Orleans, Christopher Rice, 1001 Dark Nights
Publisher: Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated
Published: 2015-11-10T05:00:00+00:00

8

LILLIANE

“What’s her name?” Lilliane asks, as she watches the young woman hurry off into the night.

“Lilliane, don’t—”

“What’s her name, Bastian?”

When she started searching, Lilliane assumed there was very little chance she’d actually find the shop. It rarely materializes in the same place twice and she’s fairly sure it vanishes as soon as Bastian delivers his special gift to his latest victim. So the shock of seeing it all again—the round black marble-topped table, the vase of strange yellow flowers, the ribbon wheels above the tiny, makeshift desk, all of it looking exactly as it did on that long-ago afternoon— has left her stunned.

Nothing, however, could have prepared her for the act of witnessing an exchange just like the one that changed the very fabric of her being decades before. It was one thing to know they’d been happening every so often over the past fifty-six years, but seeing one unfold right before her eyes has filled her with a strange blend of sadness and anger for which she has no name. Part of her is terrified the woman will meet a fate similar to her own, the other is filled with bitter jealousy over the prospect that she will not.

“Laney,” Bastian says. “Laney Foley.”

“Do you know their names before you appear to them? Is that how it works?”

He doesn’t answer. He just stands there in the middle of his rapidly assembled stage-set of a shop like a perfectly put-together street performer. “Did you know my name, Bastian?”

“No.”

“I see. Well, I’m going to keep an eye on her.” Lilliane descends several steps until she can spot the girl’s shrinking silhouette blending with the bright smear of lights of Bourbon Street. “I’ll make sure she makes the right decision.”

“It’s possible your intervention will be of no use.”

“Well, if you’ve taught me anything, Bastian, it’s that anything’s possible.”

“Lilliane, don’t let your anger guide you.”

“Don’t speak to me of my anger!”

She whirls to face him, finds herself staring at the grimy front door to an abandoned store. Just a few inches from her nose, a dusty FOR LEASE signs tilts to one side against the filthy glass.

Bastian is gone. The candles are gone. It’s no use arguing with a being who can stop time.

Fair enough. She’s got work to do.

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