Frost Burn (The Fire and Ice Series, Book 1) by Erica Stevens Page A

nothing like me,” he said. “They have to be stopped.”

CHAPTER 9
    “Do you know everyone who was involved in the fight?”
    Quinn barely paid Julian any attention as she kicked her shoes off and walked toward the kitchen. Her feet ached, her jaw was sore from a punch she’d taken. The only thing she wanted to do was lie down and sleep until sunset tomorrow. Instead, she had an extremely angry, large vampire hovering in her doorway. She grabbed a can of soda and the whole bag of peanut butter cups before slumping into one of her wobbly kitchen chairs.
    She opened her soda, before peeling the wrappers from ten peanut butter cups and placing them on the table. She methodically began to eat each one as she tried to ignore Julian’s nearby presence. Maybe if she ignored him for enough time he would simply go away. She knew it would never happen, but she was going to enjoy her snack before she had to deal with him.
    She popped the last candy into her mouth and lifted her right foot into her lap. She rubbed at her foot and braced herself. He’d left her alone for this long, she knew it wouldn’t continue, and she was right. He pulled out the chipped white chair across from her and plopped into it. Quinn bit on her bottom lip as she waited for the chair to break apart beneath him.
    “So do you know everyone who was involved?”
    “I know most of them,” she admitted. “I’m sure there were a few I missed or don’t know. Clint and Angie would probably know the ones I don’t. I can always ask them.”
    “Good, we have to find the people involved.”
    “Most of them will be back to the bar, eventually. Whenever there’s a fight some of the people involved go to Hawtie’s for a week or two to give Clint a chance to calm down. The rest either go to the bonfire usually held a couple of times a month, or they go to the Mitchum’s.”
    “What are Hawtie’s and the Mitchum’s?”
    “Hawtie’s is the strip club on the other side of town. Mitchum’s is an old movie theatre the couple bought and renovated.”
    He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. It groaned beneath him but still somehow held his weight. “What goes on there?”
    Quinn dropped her foot down to lift her left one up. A groan escaped her as she rubbed at the sore extremity. “I don’t know. They have parties every weekend there. I always assumed it was normal party stuff, but I’ve never been.”
    “Maybe it’s a key party?” he suggested with a wink.
    She frowned at him. “What’s a key party?”
    “It was something that was popular in the seventies with the swinger crowd.”
    “Do I want to know what they did with those keys?”
    He gave a small laugh. “The men put their keys into a bowl and the women picked them out later. Whoever’s key they picked was who they spent the night with.”
    Quinn’s eyebrows rose. “Seriously?”
    “Yep.”
    “That sounds… awful, but I don’t think that’s what goes on over there. I hope,” she added in a mutter. “But way to date yourself with that reference.”
    “Dewdrop, I was already old in the seventies.”
    She shook her head at him and lifted her soda. She held his eyes over top of the can as she took a swallow and dropped her drink back down. “You do emit an ancient aroma.”
    “And what is an ancient aroma exactly?”
    “Kind of musty with a hint of mushrooms, and…” she paused to scent the air. “Vinegary.” It was a complete lie, he smelled delicious enough to eat or at the very least lick. The fresh scent of soap and the peppery scent of power emitted from every one of his pores.
    He smiled at her as he dropped his arms and leaned toward her. “I may smell like an ancient vinegary mushroom, but I can assure you I don’t taste like one, if you ever decide you’d like to take a bite.”
    Despite her best intentions, her mouth dropped and her body flushed at his words. “I… uh… never ,” she sputtered in protest.
    “Again your mouth is saying