One Soul To Share by Lori Devoti

Chapter One
    The bar was dirtier and darker than any dive
Nolan Moore had ever entered, even on a dare. Smoke clouded the
air, shrouding the bar’s patrons and decor, but Nolan could smell
the humans, each and every one, and hear them…hear the beat of each
of their hearts and the whoosh of every breath as it exited their
lungs.
    His nostrils flared, and his hands fisted. He
didn’t want to know that the man on his right, drinking beer from a
chipped glass mug, had a heart valve that was close to failing. He
didn’t want to know that the woman that man was standing close to
had slept with someone other than the man, only hours earlier.
    But, damn his vampire senses, he did.
    The man with the damaged valve moved his hand
to the woman’s ass and whispered in her ear. She giggled and rubbed
against him.
    Nolan, teeth grinding together, turned away
and stalked deeper into the stink, heat, and sound until he wanted
to spin in circles and growl and become the monster his family
already thought he’d become. His mother’s face flashed into his
mind, her relieved and welcoming smile twisting into distaste and
then horror as she realized he’d returned, not dead, but not alive
either. And his father —
    “Stranger.”
    The word jerked Nolan back to the
present.
    A man standing behind the bar, a short,
grizzled type with weathered skin and battered features, laid a
revolver onto the wooden bar in front of Nolan. On the back of the
man’s hand was a tattoo of an eye—the evil eye. Nolan glanced at
it, unimpressed.
    His fingers curling around the gun’s butt,
the bartender asked, “What or who are you looking for?”
    Straight to business, which suited Nolan
fine. The sooner he was out of the stifling stench of the bar, the
better.
    “I need a guide, one that knows the sea. I
heard this was the place to come.”
    The bartender’s index finger twitched, less
than a flicker of movement, but the vampire didn’t miss the nervous
tic.
    The man replied, “You’re feet from the docks.
Lots know the sea here. Some place in particular you’re looking to
find?”
    “The hag.” Not a place, but a person… or
being. Nolan wasn’t sure what the sea hag was, and he didn’t care.
His only concern was that the stories were true and she had what he
needed.
    The bartender’s fingers closed tighter around
the gun’s butt. “You have business with her?”
    “I wouldn’t need a guide to find her if I
didn’t.” Nolan leaned closer, meeting the man’s gaze.
    The wall behind the bar was covered with
objects Nolan recognized as attempts to ward off evil. But
considering they’d done nothing to stop him from entering the
place, the effort was wasted.
    “There’s… someone who might help.” The man
raised one bushy brow and slid his hand forward.
    Nolan dropped two bills onto the man’s palm
and waited.
    The bartender slid his fingers over the
bills, apparently checking their validity, then slipped them into
his pocket.
    “Talk to the mermaid. She’s been coming in
for months. Rumor has it she’s planning a visit to the hag herself
and looking for a companion.”
    “Mermaid? How did she come by that name?”
Nolan needed a guide, one tough enough to weather whatever journey
lay before him. He didn’t need a female looking for help of her
own.
    “Not a name. It’s her… breed.”
    “Breed?” Surely the bartender didn’t believe
whoever this female was that she was truly a mermaid. Mermaids were
myths like dragons and Pegasus and—Nolan flicked his tongue over
one canine—vampires. He growled. “Where can I find her?”
    “She was in the back earlier. Sitting alone.
Can’t miss her.” The bartender straightened his arms, ready to push
himself away from the bar, but then apparently thought better of
it. He reached out and grabbed Nolan by the arm. His fingers
digging into Nolan’s bicep, he whispered, “You ain’t the first one
what went with her. She takes ’em to the docks, and they never