"You've been right every time I've been here."
"I'm sure I get it wrong a lot actually, but I think people just play along for fun."
At that moment, Charla and Angie came over to say hello, and Gabriel left after shooting a nasty look at Angie. Victoria was grateful for the interruption. Lying always made her nervous.
The girls ordered two sodas, which Victoria gave them on the house despite a dark look from Tony. Charla was her talkative self as usual, going on and on about her weekend in Boston, and Angie spoke in monosyllables, giving no indication that they'd had more than a civil conversation just a few days before.
In the midst of listening to Charla's breakdown of a guy she had met in Boston at a baseball game, Victoria felt him come in even before she saw him. She kept her face calm—a fair feat, given the fact that her body felt like it was on fire. She was already red-faced from the heat of the bar and hoped that Angie wasn't using her "second sight." She refused to acknowledge him and busied herself serving a round of drinks to the people at the far end of the bar.
Christian Devereux means nothing to me.
Victoria saw him nod to a few people he knew, waiting and watching her openly. She tried to ignore him but his heavy-lidded stare made her feel cornered like she was in some cat-and-mouse game she didn't really understand. He tore his gaze from her lips when she glared rudely at him and stomped down toward his end of the bar. As she approached, she heard his attempt at casual conversation. "I hear there's a birthday special here." She instantly tried to turn around and duck out the back, but it was too late as the chanting began, sung by the overzealous bar patrons.
"Birthday! Birthday! BIRTHDAY!"
"Okay, fine," Victoria said. "Last one tonight though, okay?" She looked at Christian, and fought an involuntary urge to flee. In that single glance, she could see his remorse, but instinct together with the amulet scorching her skin, warned her not to give in. Victoria knew she could not fall prey to whatever lay behind those compelling eyes.
"Stop looking at me like that," she hissed under her breath.
"Like what?"
"You know exactly well like what! Like ... like I'm ... something to eat!" His smile deepened, transforming the austere planes of his face and catching her by surprise.
"Is that so bad?"
"Is it really even your birthday?" she countered, ignoring the question that had started a slow burn in her chest.
"Tori, what happened a few weeks ago, it's not what you think." His voice was quiet, for her ears only. She resisted its velvet undertones.
"Wait, don't answer that," she said. "I don't care."
She steeled herself against his gaze and focused her mind toward his. She was met with the same brick wall as before. Without a second thought, she looked at him head on and released the full force of her power, engaging everything she'd learned about herself and her magic over the last few weeks. Christian's lips parted and his eyes widened in astonishment. Within seconds, it was over and she deftly mixed a drink, placing a Bloody Mary on the table in front of him.
"It was the closest thing we had to what you wanted, and you're underage so virgin it is."
An amused smile crossed his face but he picked up the drink and inclined his head toward her. Everyone cheered. He sipped it as she disappeared out the back yelling to Tony that she was going to take a few minutes to herself.
Victoria sat in the small break room holding a glass of water and took a deep calming breath. The Bloody Mary had been a wild guess, because for some reason, she couldn't get past the feeling that he wanted a drink with the word blood in it. She cast her thoughts back. She wasn't sure how she'd done it, but when she had pushed past Christian's initial defenses, she'd seen a lot.
What had really surprised her was the barely discernable energy she had sensed, as if he possessed special abilities himself. Something told her that he was hiding more, deeper still, because just as she'd withdrawn, she'd felt something else, but it was so brief she wasn't sure what it'd been.
She'd also seen his regret for how he'd behaved but he'd been wearing that on his sleeve the minute he had walked through the door. It had gone some way to mollifying her hurt, until she understood something else inside his head, something that had made the breath whoosh out of her in a painful rush; a thought he'd wanted to keep hidden but still flashed loud and clear—they could never be together.
Enough is enough, she told herself fiercely. You have your answer. Move on.
When she came back out to the front, she felt Christian watching her, but she deliberately did not look at him and walked down to the opposite end of the bar where Charla and Angie were saying their goodbyes.
"You guys heading out?" Victoria said to Angie.