She picked up the empty cans of spiked seltzer Selene had left, and put away all of the dishes sitting on her counter. Evan's home was always so clean, she couldn't let him see her living in absolute squalor. Not tonight.

She changed her sheets to the best she had in the closet and fluffed the pillows. He wouldn't stay here tonight, would he? No, he wouldn't risk being out past daybreak. She hid dirty laundry in her closet, went to the bathroom to straighten her hair, and when she was satisfied, returned downstairs.

She found nothing but her shop, empty.

"Evan?" she called.

No answer. She turned on the lights and confirmed it. He wasn't there. She went out the front door and onto the street. There was nothing but darkness and trash floating on the breeze. Where did he go? And what was she supposed to do now? Go back to his place?

Why would he leave so suddenly? And without saying anything?

She leaned back against her door and looked up at the painting above the mantle. It was slightly askew. That tilt said someone had touched it and thought better of it. Like maybe it deserved to stay up there. Maybe it suited a place like this and a witch like her.

Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes and fell to the cold wooden boards under her feet. Phone. She needed her phone. She pulled it from her pocket and dialed the only person she knew could help her.

"Selene, please be sober enough to pick up..."

Each ring began punctuating her sobs, and finally, the boom of a bass echoed back at her along with a loud:

"Helloooo?"

***

It took her twenty minutes to get to the shop and join Vicki on her bed along with donuts and coffee.

"That bastard," Selene mumbled and patted Vicki on the back. She sighed. "He probably went to buy some condoms or something. This is why I packed your bag, so stuff like this wouldn't happen."

Vicki shook her head. He would have told her if that was it. He would have asked.

He would have...

Who the hell even knows.

She had known him for all of a month and all of two dates. She didn't have his phone number. She didn't even know if he had a phone. The closest she got to knowing the real him was in the garden, and what he told her there was that he had ran away from his family. Why wouldn't he do the same to her?

Would it have happened if she had kept her studio clean? How far would he have gone before stopping?

No. No. No!

Questions like those are what had her obsessing over Carter for so long. At least they had been friends before, but the vampire? She hardly knew him, he'd be easy to forget.

"I'm sure he has some kind of reason behind this, Vicki. He's an idiot, but he likes you," Selene said.

Vicki got up and went to the fridge to pull out whatever alcohol she could scrounge up.

"We'll see," she said, and even though she tried to keep the thoughts away, she hoped that he would come by with an explanation. But until then, she'd drown the pain until she was numb and couldn't feel anything anymore.

Part 2: Selene's Storybook Meet-Cute

Selene did as she was told. She flipped on some lights, unlocked the front door, and flipped the 'closed' sign to 'open'.

Selene also did what she wasn't told.

She tossed the black pointed hat behind the counter so she wouldn't screw up her hair, parked her butt on the edge of a table with her phone in her hands, and ordered a couple of burritos on Doordash. Poor Vicki was still marinating in her sorrow upstairs, but maybe she would eat something today that wasn't all carbs.

Selene peered through the window and stared into the shadows across the street. No Evan. What the hell was that idiot thinking? He was obviously into Vicki, so why not be into Vicki when he had the chance? Even small dicked men wouldn't trip up a chance like that, so what was his deal?

Damn it, if she didn't have the shop to look after, she'd go over to his apartment and give him a piece of her mind. She swung her foot in the air. Vicki was upstairs congealing in depression instead of anger. Let that be Selene in this position, she would have a set of underdweller balls in her pocket already. She'd have them dunked in silver and hanging from her charm bracelet by dawn.

The bell rang above the door. She didn't care, she was busy scrolling through her notifications. All of this lover drama had her behind and now she had tumbled down the trending list. All of those pictures on the beach and she had only a few new followers to show for it.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah?" she said and flicked away a few more notifications.

"Can I get some help over here?"

She looked up at the older woman in the corner of the store.

"Honestly, I'm just here because I have to be. If you want something I can take your money but that's about it," Selene said with a wave of her foot.

"So you can't do anything?"

"I can do what I told you I can do, lady, so do you want to buy something or not?"

The woman swept her bobbed hair back and adjusted her thin frames above a crooked nose.

"I'm trying to get something to ward off vampires, do you have something or not?"

Selene rasped her lips. Vampires, really? Everyone knew vampires didn't leave the circle, especially in winter, no matter how much she and every other able-bodied woman in town prayed for one.

"I think you're mistaking this place for a grocery store," Selene mumbled and went back to her phone.

"All this shit and you don't have something for vampires of all things?"

"If you think there are vampires hiding in your closet at home, you need a shrink, not anything here."

The lady scoffed.

"So you think you're smarter than the West Moon?"

Selene didn't even waste her energy rolling her eyes at that wet rag of a werewolf paper.

"Sweetie, I know I'm smarter than the puppies typing that shit out."

"Funny, I didn't know succubi could read."

Her ears began to burn at the insult. She could read, and she was half mortal, but she wasn't going to pound that into the woman's thick skull. Selene knew idiocy and bigotry went way beyond DNA, but was just as permanent.

"If you're really worried about vampires, just take off a few layers of clothes and you'll be just fine. I hear vamps like their blood fresh, not aged."

The woman stomped out after that.

Oh well, it's not like Vicki expected much from her as an employee anyway.

Damn werewolves had nothing to do but post random conspiracies now? Vampires in Elara, that was ridiculous, but if there were...well that would be interesting. Visiting royalty would certainly be front-page news, and if there was something Selene could get behind, it was being set up with a vampire or getting one of those elusive blood contracts. At least then she wouldn't have to bother with relying on weirdos online to pay for her father's medication.

After an hour, her food finally arrived and she headed upstairs. The room was empty and smelled almost...wet. She pushed a window open and dropped the food on the table.

"Vicki! You aren't drowning in there, are you?"

"No," came a pitiful garble from the other side of the bathroom door.

"I bought food. Come eat!"

"I'm taking a bath!"

At least she was doing that. Selene noted the ripped-up novel in the trash. So, it looked like Vicki was moving into her angry breakup phase. She wanted to be happy about it, but at the same time, no book deserved to be treated that way. Besides, it was her copy, not Vicki's.

She sighed and wondered if there was still hope for Vicki and Evan. He was crazy handsome, tough, and had a touch of insanity and impulsiveness, what wasn't there to like?

Just yesterday.

How the hell did it all fall apart so quickly? He was practically stalking her and she was having sex dreams about him. All that tension and nothing came from any of it. Literally!

That's it. She was pissed, too pissed to babysit a store. She stole the store keys from the table, went downstairs, and locked Vicki inside. She was going to do her friend a solid and keep her from making a mistake. If Evan really was a dick, then she would make sure he didn't come back like Carter did. If he was a nice guy, she'd make sure he made up for it. Either way, she'd protect her friend's fragile heart.

***

Half-succubus's are good at a few things: getting attention, avoiding hairy situations, and finding expensive men. Selene had no problem finding Evan's apartment again, and when banging on the door didn't work, she was able to get a spare key from the super in exchange for a few photos.

The lock gave and the door opened as she was adjusting the strap of her blouse.

She nearly walked into a knife.

"The hell?!" she yelled.

Who was this guy? Not Evan. Not even close. This guy had hair nearly as red as hers, curly, and swept to one side above light green almost silver eyes. His jaw was set and sharper than the blade he held at her throat.

"I'm not really dressed for knife play," she said with a toss of her hair.

The man drew the knife back and smiled.

"Not really dressed for burglary either." His eyes scanned over her. "Are you a friend of Evan's?"

"Are you?" she asked back. She couldn't get a read on this guy, which was typical for her when dealing with an incubus. She could read a regular mortal like a book, and other underdwellers like tarot cards, but incubi were blank screens.

And yet she still felt attracted to this one.

"You're mixed, aren't you?" he asked.

He noticed. Not many people did.

"And so are you," she said back.

"Guilty as charged. So, what do you eat?"

She measured him up and down then gave him a slight smirk. She liked what she saw and appreciated he didn't jump to conclusions about her.

"Mortal food," she said slowly as she leaned against the wall and crossed her legs.

"So where's your succubus half?" he asked.

"My skin doesn't care for the sun much if that's what you're asking."

He tilted his head at her.

"That's too bad, there's nothing like a morning run."

He did look like he was in shape.

"So then, where's your incubus part?"

"I can show you, if you're interested," he said with a suggestive wink.

Well, this was one heck of a development. Now she had to fix up Evan and Vicki's disaster—her own love life depended on it! This screamed to be the beginning of her romance novel.

It was time to put pencil to paper.

And some things in other places.