Symbiosis_A Vampire Psycho-Thriller by Louise Atkins

Author:Louise Atkins [Atkins, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Venture Press
Published: 2017-12-13T18:30:00+00:00

Thirty Nine

‘This begins with tea and cake and ends possibly in wine.’ She’d rehearsed the line over and over in her head as she’d taken great effort to look casual for their ‘not-date’ as she was referring to it in her head.

‘Sounds great, but I might have to forgo the glass of wine at the end. My boss has called me into work at seven. Meeting with a big, big client. Vampire. I tried to get out of it, but no good. I’m sorry. I really am.’

‘Oh. Oh well. Never mind.’ Her voice sounded far too bright and cheery to be convincing. Still, she had no right to feel like that, she knew that.

‘Emily, I feel bad now. Maybe I should have let you know earlier, but, I didn’t want to cancel.’

‘No. It’s fine.’ She checked her watch. She could do this. ‘It might be better anyway. I don’t know what your tolerance is.’

‘What?’ She was taken aback by the cutting edge of his reply. She frowned, then recovered again.

‘Your ST.’

‘My what?’

‘Your Shopping Tolerance. That’s where the tram is taking us, in case you hadn’t guessed.’

He laughed, seemed relieved.

‘No, I hadn’t figured that out, although I probably should have done.’

‘Lady’s choice. Your idea, remember?’ she felt obliged to point it out.

‘Fair enough. Shopping it is.’ He laughed. ‘Hmmm, maybe I’m glad I have the work thing now.’

Emily opened her mouth to protest and then caught the smile hiding in his eyes.

‘I think you should feel very privileged. I may be about to impart some of the best kept secrets of girlie shopping.’

‘I’d offer to trade you some bloke’s shopping secrets, but I don’t think there are any.’

‘Then you should count yourself extra lucky.’

‘I do. I do.’

The tram dropped off in the heart of the Retail District. Each shopping sector was specialised into different areas, all spiralling out from the tram terminal where they now stood. It was just like the Entertainment District in that respect, Emily reflected. She turned to Lucas.

‘I like the hat,’ she said. He’d removed it on the tram, but was now looking expectantly at her from under its peak.

‘Thanks. I think.’

‘It’s cool. And more than that, it’s cold out here. The Net said we might get more snow.’ Which would be perfect. She glanced up at sky, which was the colour of white chocolate.

‘Where first then?’ Lucas asked. He was still smiling at her. She tore herself away from the darkness of his eyes. Focus, she commanded. This is not a date. She had to remember that.

‘First, we make a plan.’

Lucas looked around him and shrugged.

‘There’s hundreds of places here. How do you even begin to do that?’

‘That’s where the tea and cake come into it. And there’s a great place, just over there.’ She pointed.

Although he had refused cake, Lucas had insisted on paying. Emily chose seats by the window and was delighted to see that the skies had obliged her and snow had indeed started to fall.

‘There you go. Tea and cake.’ Lucas said as he set the tray on the table and turned to remove something from his chair.

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