The Mark (Interracial Paranormal Romance) (Toil and Trouble) Read Online Free Page A

was plugged in numerous parts of my ear, my nose, and I even used to have my tongue pierced in my wilder days--but my piercer had been a friend who took care to ensure I felt as little discomfort as possible. I knew Sia was delighting in every shriek of pain she wrenched from the girl’s lips.
     
    I smirked when a couple at the register that were flipping through Sia’s portfolio slowly inched away, reconsidering their decision.
     
    "Wise choice," I murmured as I pretended I was looking at the tattoo catalog that hung on the wall. It was filled with the standard fare found in parlors--intricately drawn "Mom" hearts, dragons, pin-up girls, etc.
     
    A cold chill ran across my bare back as the girl and her posse breezed from the piercing room.
     
    “Stupid cunt!” the girl cursed through a mouthful of gauze. "I'm reporting this!" Her friends were at her heels, dead silent. I had a feeling none of them would be coming back to InK Tattoo and Espresso.
     
    “Jade!” Sia cooed, sipping on a steamer as she saddled up beside me. She still wore her latex gloves and they were smudged with thick goblets of blood. “What’s up?”
     
    I cocked my head toward the exit. “How the hell do you stay in business?”
     
    She finished her drink with one final gulp then let out a satisfied sigh. “It was just a damn tongue piercing.”
     
    I raised an eyebrow.
     
    “Look,” she began, her voice like cool water. “Whether that chick wanted to admit it or not, she came here for the pain. Everyone who walks through that door wants to feel the sting of living.”
     
    I gestured at her dirty gloves. “And those that bleed death?”
     
    “They die happy,” she grinned. Sia pulled off the gloves, finger by finger. I could see her true face rippling below her skin as her fingertips brushed against the blood.
     
    She tucked the gloves into her back pocket—a midday snack probably. Fairies don’t flit about pining over pre-pubescent boys after all…they were bloodthirsty, maniacal beings with a penchant for cream.
     
    “Want a coffee?” she asked, sliding behind the counter. A fancy espresso machine gleamed beside the register.
     
    “Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “I need something to shut me down, not wind me up.”
     
    She licked her lips, her purple eyes sparkling. “That handsome blood sucker keeping you up late, huh?”
     
    “Sia!” I hissed, my cheeks reddening. In most things, I’m not a traditionalist. My arms are colored with tats, my face covered in piercings. I talk to the dead and date a vampire for chrissakes. But I still believe that what happens in the bedroom should stay in the bedroom; what Jack and I did between the sheets was our business and ours alone.
     
    “Oh the things I would do to that vampire…” Her eyes closed as she drifted away and hashed out her x-rated fantasies.
     
    I leaned over the counter and pinched her trying to snap her out of her dream. “He’s taken. Also, last time I checked, you guys feeding on each other is the worst thing that could possibly happen. The whole star crossed lovers, suicide thing.”
     
    Vampires and fairies are cut from the same cloth, descendants from the same blood sucking supernatural creature. Apparently, because of their super close lineage, they can’t feed on one another or they’d be driven mad. But that’s not the kicker--their love becomes so all-consuming that it compels and drives any mortal they come in contact with insane with lust and blood. The ‘face that launched a thousand ships?’ Try fangs. You’d be surprised how many of the bloodiest wars in history can be traced back to a fairy or a vampire not being able to keep it in their mouth.
     
    Sia shrugged. “I like Romeo and Juliet.” She closed her appointment book, her face going serious. “I don’t have another piercing until after lunch, wanna talk about whatever's going on?”
     
    “I don’t want to be a bother-“
     
    “Of course you do,” she winked and