The Accidental Kiss (The Kiss Book 1) (16 page)

My mom had the set the table with a white tablecloth and a vase of fresh flowers. Our best china was laid out next to gold plated forks. The lights were dimmed low and candles flickered. It was overkill to the ninth degree.

I groaned. “Is this really necessary?”

Laura bustled into the dining room, holding a steaming pot of stew. As she passed, she whispered in my ear. “It makes her happy. Be nice.”

I turned to look over at my mom and saw Laura was right. My mom had a glow to her I hadn’t seen in awhile. Her cheeks were pale pink, her eyes were bright, and the lines around her mouth had faded. Back in Los Angeles, my mom hosted a weekly book club that she had left behind when she moved here. I guess she missed the art of entertaining.

“Stupid thing,” My mom cursed as she tried to uncork a bottle of red wine. She placed the bottle between her legs. Before she killed herself, Daemon rushed over and offered his help. “Thank you,” She handed it over to him with a grateful smile. “It’s nice to have a man around for times like these.”

I tried not to drool over Daemon’s bulging biceps but it was near impossible not to do so. He effortlessly uncorked the bottle and set it on the table next to the pot of stew.

Laura clapped her hands together. “Ok let’s eat.”

Daemon took a seat next to me while Laura and my mom sat opposite. I never would have believed it if somebody told me a week ago a zombie would be joining us for dinner.

“By the way, I’m Laura.” She gave a little wave to Daemon who flashed her a smile.

“I’m Laurence, it’s nice to meet you.”

My mom’s hand flew to her heart, as her eyes grew wide. “Oh my, I forgot to introduce myself as well. How rude. As you figured I am Sky’s mom, but you can call me Dee.”

He trained his green eyes on my mom. “It’s nice to meet you, Dee.”

Once the introductions were done, I greedily helped myself to a bowl of stew. After the encounter in the store with Parker, my appetite was gone.
Nothing like a death threat to chase away your hunger.
However, after the crying fest in the backyard, it had returned with a vengeance.

My mom placed her napkin over her lap. “So what’s your relationship with my daughter?”

The spoonful of soup I had eaten lodged in my throat. Sputtering, I took a sip of water and cleared my airway. “What the… are you serious, mom?”

Daemon laid his hand on top of mine. “No, it’s ok.” He swung his gaze over to my mom. “We’re friends.”

Oddly, although that’s what we were, I felt stung by his comment because weren’t we a little more than that? Friends don’t get to second base and friends certainly don’t conjure up dirty thoughts. Nonetheless, I had no idea what other label to slap on us.

Laura raised her eyebrows. “Friends? Huh? Is that what you kids call it these days?”

Leave it to Laura to call out bullshit when she saw it. Daemon took a sip of soup and remained quiet. An awkward tension hung in the air. A couple of seconds went by with only the clatter of silverware ringing out.

Due to my random intellect, the silence didn’t last long. “Did you know kangaroos have three vaginas?” All three pairs of eyes landed on me. I shrugged. “What? It’s true. I can draw you a photo.”

“I have an incredibly weird daughter,” my mom muttered.

“Hey…I am not the one who dresses up dead people,” I said.

Daemon’s spoon paused at his lips. “You dress up dead people?”

The horror on his face was almost comical. It was as if he was afraid my mom would bust out the eye shadow and make him into a pretty little princess. Although, come to think of it, Daemon’s pale complexion could use a dash of rouge.

My mom nodded. “Basically. I am a beauty mortician.”

“She doesn’t give herself enough credit.” Laura jumped in. “She can cover scars, make bullet wounds disappear, and bring life back into the dead.”

My mom wasn’t a fan of self-promotion, which was obvious by the blush heating her cheeks. “Thank you for those nice words, Laura.” She cleared her throat and re-focused her gaze on Daemon. “So, did you grow up in Castor?

“No, I moved here about two weeks ago.”

“So did we, from California. What brought your family here?”

My mom had the skills of an investigative reporter. Under normal circumstances, it was be embarrassing but my desperation to know more about Daemon caused me to let it continue.

“It just seemed like a cool town.” The lie was evident on his face.

“What side do you live on?”

“The north side near downtown.”

“That’s a nice area. You can walk everywhere but I like the quietness of a neighborhood,” my mom mused out loud. “And what do your parents do?”

Daemon’s parents were a sore point in his past and a tinge of guilt stabbed me in the stomach. This line of questioning needs to stop. “Mom,” I said in warning.

She looked at me innocently. “What?”

Daemon cleared his throat. “No worries. My mom was a philanthropist and my dad was into the oil business.”

My mom picked up on the use of past tense. “Was?”

Daemon turned a paler shade of white when he realized his mistake. His fingers nervously tapped against the table. “They’re taking a break from things.” He looked over at me. “Where’s the restroom?”

“It’s down the hallway and to the left.”

“Thank you.”

My mom’s eyes narrowed with suspicion as he bolted out of the room. Poor Daemon was being put through the ringer but that wasn’t anything. Usually by the end, my mom knew everything about my friends, down to their social security number.

“That boy sure is handsome but there is something off about him,” she remarked.

I waved away her worries with a flick of my hand. “You’re so paranoid.”

“You have to be careful of the good looking ones. They’re usually the murderers and rapists. I saw a report on
Dateline
about it,” Laura said.

Daemon was a zombie but he wasn’t evil. “Those are two things he is not.”

At that moment, Daemon re-entered the room but didn’t take a seat. His mouth was set into a thin line. “I have to leave. Something came up.”

He had killed two blood hungry zombies last night, but couldn’t face my mom a minute longer. She had ruffled his cool demeanor.

“Is everything ok?” my mom asked.

“Fine. It’s just a small family matter.”

I pushed back my seat and walked over to him. “I’ll show you out.”

“Thank you for dinner. It was delicious,” Daemon said as I ushered him out of the dining room.

When we got outside into the cool night air, his polite exterior cracked and anger showed. “What just happened in there? Your mom is like a bloodhound.”

It was slightly hilarious to me that Daemon had fallen apart under my mom’s relentless questioning. Nonetheless, he clearly didn’t see the humor in it.

I touched his arm. “I’m sorry. I really am, but it wasn’t that bad.”

“Not that bad?! Your mom treated me like I was a suspect in a murder case.”

My mom was intense, there was no denying that, but Daemon was being over-dramatic. “She asked you normal questions most people don’t have a problem answering.”

“But I’m not normal. Don’t you remember? I am a fucking zombie without a soul.”

“Hey, you have more soul than anybody I’ve ever met.”

His features softened. “You don’t know me. You don’t know the things I’ve done to get where I am or what I’ve done in the past.”

“And whose fault is that? How can I put my life in your hands when I have no idea who you truly are? Or why you conveniently ended up in Castor the same time as me? Or how you got out from under the voodoo priest’s thumb? There are a thousand other whys with no answers because you don’t trust me.”

Daemon stepped into my personal bubble and stole the air from my lungs. Warmth flickered in his gaze. “You sound like your mother.”

I playfully smacked his chest while a grin tugged at my lips. “I’m serious.”

“I know you are but some of those questions can wait.”

“Why? You were more than ready to answer them in the janitor’s closet at school.”

“My eagerness to talk to somebody overrode my rational part of my brain. It would have been a mistake to answer those questions. Correction: A huge mistake because then you would have hated me and I really need you to not hate me right now.”

Daemon had a rhythm to the way he talked which was to dance around the truth until you grew exhausted and threw in the towel. “Can’t you just be straight with me?”

“I am being straight with you. Those answers you want me to tell you are not covered in glitter and slapped with a bow. They’re messy, complicated, and will cast me in an unflattering light to say the least.” Irritation knitted his brows together. “Can we just focus on stopping the voodoo priest?”

I huffed out a breath. “I would like nothing more but can you at least answer one question?”

Daemon knew it wasn’t a request. “I am guessing I don’t have a choice, so go ahead.”

“Why did you move to Castor? You could have easily gone somewhere else to get your good deeds in.”

He looked over his shoulder, then back at me. “Do you see another girl about five feet tall who has been cast as the chosen one? Because If I am not mistaken you’re it, baby.”

Rolling my eyes skyward, I crossed my arms over my chest. At least he gave me a tiny piece of the puzzle. “So you moved here for me?”

“You said one question.” He groaned at my steely resolve. “Fine, yes I moved here for you. Happy?”

My brain started to place the pieces together. “If you moved here for me then that means the Priest of Santeria has been following me for awhile. How else would you know where my mom and I moved? But then why is the voodoo priest just now starting to break out the big guns in order to steal my blood?” Deep in thought, I pressed my fingers over my lips and proceeded with the one-sided conversation. “I don’t remember seeing anybody in Los Angeles who was remotely zombie-ish. Then again how can you tell? At first glance, Parker and you both seemed like normal humans.”

“Parker?”

Daemon’s harsh tone snapped me back into reality. I blinked rapidly as the haze cleared. “Yes, Parker. He paid me a visit at the mall today to warn me of my fate. I’m guessing he is one of the voodoo priest’s zombies?” A muscle in Daemon’s jaw twitched. “How do you know him?”

“Know him?” He barked out a harsh laugh. “Parker was the one who tricked me into selling my soul.”

I gaped at Daemon. “Are you kidding me? Parker is the dude who’s responsible for….” I waved my hands around his body. “This?”

His mouth scrunched to the side. “I don’t know if I should be insulted or not.”

I couldn’t believe I had met the person who had fundamentally changed Daemon’s life. When I’d laid eyes on Parker in the store, it was obvious he was a psychopath.

“So you’re telling me you had to live with him for the past sixty years?” Daemon nodded. “Holy shit. Didn’t you want to kill him?”

“Of course, but it’s not like I had anywhere to go. I was a dead man, literally, who had no family left. The voodoo priest gave me a roof over my head, fed me, and basically took care of me.”

“In exchange for his evil doings?”