Josie Griffin Is Not a Vampire by Heather Swain Page A

away from the guys who’d absorbed Drey back into their huddle but then she looked over her shoulder. “See you around. And remember”—she pointed to her own eyes and then to him—“I’ve got heads in the back of my eyes.” I elbowedher and shook my head. “I mean, eyes in the back of my head,” she yelled. Then she turned to me and said, “That guy never learns.”
    Tarren led me to a huge, ramshackle Victorian house painted twenty different colors with a wraparound porch, crazy turrets, balconies, and intricate gingerbread trim all around the eaves. The front yard was a riot of wildflowers and butterflies. We climbed the crooked steps to the porch where five people in gauzy, flowing clothes lounged in various states of repose across wicker couches, hammocks, and big pillows strewn all over the place. I saw more people on blankets in the side yard.
    “Do all these people live here?” I asked.
    “Spriggans, no. This is the result of good old haerie fospitility.”
    “Hairy what?” I asked.
    She raised an eyebrow. “Hostility? No that’s not it. Hos-pi-ti-li-ty…”
    “Hospitality?” I asked.
    “Yeah, that’s it! Faerie hospitality. We can’t say no if someone asks to stay with us. Literally. We are incapable of saying no.” Tarren picked up a pitcher of what looked like lemonade from a little rickety table and poured a big glass. “You want something to drink?”
    “I should really be going…” I started to say, but Tarren picked up the glass and handed it to me. I took a sip of the sweet, cold nectar because I was parched and I didn’t want to be rude. As soon as it hit my stomach,the core of my body melted and I was so relaxed that the thought of leaving seemed ludicrous.
    Tarren smiled at me. “What’s your hurry, honey?”
    “No hurry at all,” I said and took another gulp of the shimmering liquid.
    Tarren draped herself over a gold silk chaise lounge beside the table. She patted the cushion for me to sit, which I did.
    “This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever tasted,” I told her and continued to drink. “What is it?”
    “Ambrosia,” she purred, as she reached for the pitcher then she laughed. “No, that would be what Helios drinks, right?” She poured me another tall one. “Sorry if I stepped on your toes back there.”
    “What? Are you kidding? You totally saved my butt.” I took the drink from her but before I sipped it, I looked her straight in the eye. “Why are those guys so afraid of you?”
    She lifted her shoulder coyly. “You know why.”
    I took the leap. If Johann’s mom was real, then Johann was real. And if Johann was real, then Tarren was, too. “But do they know?”
    “Humans, ugh!” she said with a dismissive wave of her small pale hand. “They’re so boring after a while, don’t you think? Anything I do, they just explain away as some strange coincidence or force of nature. They think they’re so smart but really they’re blind to ninety percent of what goes on in the universe. Bee-prains.”
    I sat up straight, ignoring her garbled expressionbecause I was ready to defend my species, but then I remembered, Tarren thought I was one of her kind.
    “Anyway why didn’t you take care of Drey yourself?” Tarren asked.
    “Remember?” I said. “No powers.”
    Tarren slung her arm around my shoulder and leaned close to my face. “Darling, we really must unleash your inner demon!”
    “Demon!” I said, pulling away.
    Tarren giggled and sipped her glass of the yummiest drink ever. “What? You don’t consider shape-shifters and vampires demons?”
    I hesitated. “Avis and Johann seem like nice guys.”
    Tarren nodded. “They are. I mean, Johann’s annoying and all, but he’s not evil.”
    I leaned in close. “His mother tried to take a bite out of me.”
    Tarren smacked my thigh. “Get out! Couldn’t she sense you were one of hers?”
    This caught me off guard. “I suppose the werewolf in me threw her off?” I said, but it came out like