Free Coffin Girls (Elegantly Undead: Book 1 of the Coffin Girls Witch Vampire Series) by Aneesa Price Page B

out,
the echo of the slamming door reverberated across the room.
    Anais groaned. This was infinitely worse than the hangover.
Courtesy of ‘the cure’, the hangover was gone to be replaced by a more
excruciating ache – for him. She fought the urge to run after him. It was
better for him to be hurt and angry now than to hate her later.  A soft
knock at the door yielded her self-depreciating tirade. She hastily
straightened the sheets. “Who is it?”
    “Sophie”
    “Come in.”
    Sophie came in and felt the remnants of desire in the air.
It felt like wolf and vampire with a low undercurrent of witch. Well, well,
well. There’d been some interesting developments here. Grinning, she turned to
tease Anais and stopped when she saw her face, felt the anguish. With the look
on Raulf’s face as he stormed from Anais’ room and the guilt reflected on her
friend’s face, Sophie connected the dots. She’d console their wolf later, for
now; she crossed the room to her friend.
    “Oh, Sophie, what a mess!” Anais sobbed into her friend’s
arms.
    Sophie knew that the pain came from ghosts of the past and
fear for the future. There was more to it than Raulf but Anais wasn’t ready to
hear it yet or to open her heart to understand it so that she could love and be
loved. For now, she’d just hold her friend. “It’ll be okay, Anais. Things will
work out.” Sophie comforted, not truly believing the words herself.
     
     

Chapter 7
     
     
    Conall lounging in an over-sized velvet chair, observed the
flagrant goings-on around him with disinterest, while contemplating Yves’
extension of friendship and the ladies of Papillion. He studied the swirling
multi-colored fae beverage. He couldn’t pronounce the drink’s name any more
than he could Sylvain’s true name. The fae were powerful, ancient and secretive
and their language was no exception; known only to its kin. 
    They were in the bayou fae hollow, one of many such fae
dwellings throughout this and other worlds that comprised the court of Sylvain,
King of Fae and was bespelled so that none other than those invited knew of its
existence.
    To other creatures, human and supernatural, nothing made
sense in the dwellings of the fae; they were a species, magick and entity unto
their own. The bayou hollow, for one, did not resemble anything remotely
related to its environment.  There was none of the hot humidity in its
climate, no mosquitoes, no gators – unless that’s what you wanted. It was each
individual’s Utopia and therein lay the danger – the old lore was true in that
many people became ‘lost’ in the world of fae. The activities and physical
environments within a court were just as staggering, catering to the
preferences of the faeries living in it. One fae home could be a snow-covered
resort-styled mansion and another’s could be a beach hut on the sand of an
island.
    The space they currently occupied looked like an ancient
Turkish harem, with a huge steaming bath taking centre stage where Sylvain was
receiving erotic caresses by females of other-world beauty. Jewel colors of
fabric alleviated by the lush green of plants that shouldn’t be flowering
indoors, light of the sunny outdoors present indoors, oversized furniture for
them to sink into and tables groaning under the weight of food and drink.
Unlike vampires and witches who possessed human DNA, the fae creatures
completely comprised of magick who used their magick unashamedly to live their
lifestyle in hedonistic pleasure.
     “After all these years it still astonishes me when I
visit the court.” Conall looked over to where Niul, his life-long friend, was
prostrate on cushions scattered around the steaming pool. Unfortunately, Conall
grinned, Niul had been in Ireland too long and his skin was gleaming luminous
white. “It’s a pity you can’t get a tan there Niul. Looking at you is hurting
my eyes.”
    “Sod off, Conall, I’m not as vain as you to self-tan myself
with magick,” Niul looked