Not their first truce. Not even their second…
Nina and Virgil declared several truces over the months since Nina started seeing Rhys Witherby. But a truce with Rhys’s vampire brother rarely held for long. This time, with her suspicions on high alert, banning Virgil from her café again feels timely.
But first, she needs to know why he keeps returning to the café. Far more often than usual. Each time, he glares at her, a part of their deal. But most of his attention remains fixed on the front door.
Expecting someone.
Virgil using her café for a meeting can only mean trouble. Nina refuses to allow him to endanger her customers. Whether their current truce holds now or not depends on what kind of trouble Virgil has directed toward her café.
And what price that danger demands…
NINA AND VIRGIL CALL A TRUCE AGAIN AT THE CAFE is available to read for free until the 1st of September, when another story will be posted. For readers who would prefer to read on a device of preference, or who would like their own personal eBook of this story, you can find it here.
***
Nina and Virgil Call a Truce Again at the Café
A Café Story
It wasn’t the first truce they’d called, of course. This was technically the second. Might have even been the third, depending on what counted as a “truce.” Nina had lost track. She’d let Virgil into the café so he could sit in a corner and glare at her while she ignored him. Something would happen. She’d ban him for a bit. And then she’d give in and let him return because when he was coming into the café and glaring at her, he stopped giving Rhys grief about dating her.
And since she was very happy dating Rhys, even though they were moving very slowly in their developing relationship, staying on neutral terms with Virgil was important.
She’d banned him once for throwing a temper tantrum on the street outside her café to “celebrate” the night he’d been turned vampire. She understood why he had a breakdown over the solstice. Being a wizard vampire hunter who’d been taken by a Master vampire and turned into a vampire was a terrible set of events for anyone. That Virgil had risen from dead, still with his wizard magic, and become the thing he’d hunted was always going to be a sore spot. He blamed Rhys, even though it wasn’t Rhys’s fault. Rhys blamed himself, even though it wasn’t Rhys’s fault. And Nina tried hard to stay out of the middle of that sibling…complication.
But because Rhys was “distracted” by her, she and Virgil had issues. Well Virgil had issues with her and she had issues with him having issues with her.
The glaring and ignoring deal had worked out well for them, though, before Virgil’s solstice tantrum. And after helping Rhys and Virgil fight the vampire who’d turned Virgil, she was feeling a little more kindly toward her boyfriend’s irritating brother. So she’d dropped the ward against him after that fight, and he’d started returning about once a week to sit in the corner of the café, pretending to drink tea, and glaring dagger at her.
The dagger glaring felt a little performative. Like his heart wasn’t really in it. But she appreciated his effort.
She was considering another temporary ban, though, because he’d been in the café three times already this week, and it was starting to bother the other vampire regulars. In particular, Greta, who came in to hide in the corner, read books, and hang out in neutral territory not claimed by any Master vampires. Nina liked Greta. Well, she liked all her regulars. But Greta was a nice woman and Nina didn’t want her feeling intimidated about coming into the café just because Virgil was there.
But she had a feeling Virgil was coming to the café so often for a reason, and that made her hesitate to ban him until she knew the reason he was there so much. With Virgil, it was impossible to tell if the reason was nefarious or not. He was a vampire, so she was pretty sure the reason was nefarious. She just wasn’t sure if that was directed at her and the café, or at something or someone else.
She’d have asked if he’d stuck around long enough for her to have a conversation with him. He always left well before closing, making it difficult to talk because her café served ordinary mundane people as well as members of the otherworldly community. She had to pretend to be a regular human doing regular things when the café was open. Her familiar Boo had to pretend to be an ordinary, if giant, Maine Coon cat when the café was open. And that meant the only time she had to really discuss Virgil’s reasons for being at the café so often was after closing.
The fact that he left well before closing every day made her even more suspicious.
Now, he was back for the fourth time that week, and she was tired for waiting for closing to ask questions. It was Saturday. She had a date with Rhys that night—they were going to an old-fashioned drive-in movie, a nostalgia event held at an old, refitted drive-in. Nina’s birthday was next month. She turned eighty-four. But because she was a witch, she looked in her mid-thirties. She still had the experiences of an eighty-year-old though, and she used to love drive-ins. Apparently, Rhys had remembered her saying that once, and he’d found this event for them. She couldn’t have been more delighted.
She was also looking forward to making out in Rhys’s car during the movie because obviously that was part of the fun.
But Virgil being in the café on a day when she and Rhys had plans could only mean bad news. Especially since it was his fourth visit in a week.
She couldn’t wait for closing to confront him. She was certain he wouldn’t hang around long enough for Rhys to arrive or her to close the doors. So she had to ask him what was going on during business hours and that was going to be tricky. And she was really annoyed at him for making things tricky.
When there was a lull, and she knew her Saturday assistant Akira could handle things if they got a little busy, Nina stomped over to Virgil’s table and snapped, “What?”
He scowled up at her. “What, what?”
He was dressed in a pale gray suit today, eschewing his usual darker grays and blacks, but he still looked sleek and wealthy, the suit cut perfectly to his long, slim build, his cufflinks, winking diamonds against the pale gray shirt. His dark hair cut short and modern, his pale skin with a little color in his cheeks. She ignored the reason that color was there.
“Don’t be obtuse,” she said. “You’ve been in four days this week to glare. I know we agreed you could, but that’s a lot even for you. You hate this place and you hate me. Why so often? What’s going on?”
“Making up for lost time,” he said, flippantly. But his gaze moved away from her and around the café.
During the day, his vampiric powers were banked. He was, for all intents and purposes, a human during daylight hours. So no mesmerism. And she could meet his gaze.
The problem with Virgil was that when his vampiric powers were banked, his wizardly magic rose to the fore. This reversed at night. And meant that unlike ordinary vampires, Virgil had not one single point in the day when he wasn’t powerful in some way.
She and Boo had started to speculate about the crossover times. When the vampiric stuff rose and the wizard stuff waned, and vise versa. Was he stronger or weaker during those transitions? Not that she intended on asking Virgil, because he wouldn’t tell her. And she was hesitant to bring it up with Rhys because she knew if he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t ask Virgil. And frankly, she didn’t want Virgil to know she was trying to suss out when he was weakest. That might send the wrong signal.
Or the right one.
But at any rate, it was firmly daylight hours, which meant she had to worry about his wizard powers at the moment, not his vampiric ones. And she was more than used to dealing with wizards.
Witches and wizards had a tumultuous history—they weren’t different gendered names for the same magic, they were different kinds of magic, and wizards and witches didn’t tend to get along. This added a complicated layer to Nina and Rhys’s relationship, another reason they were taking things slowly, but in the grand scheme of things, that was the least of their issues.
“You’re being an ass and I’d like to know what brought this on?” Nina said. “I helped you recently.”
“And I saved your store window.”
“Which I said thank you for by letting you come back in here to glare at me. But four days in a single week is a lot. Rhys and I have a date tonight. Is that what all this is about?”
“No.”
Virgil’s mouth flattened a little when she said the word date, but he didn’t glare at her. In fact, his gaze continued to move around the café.
And she realized suddenly, he wasn’t just avoiding looking directly at her. He was…looking for something. Or more like looking out for something.
Or someone.
She pulled one of the wooden chairs from a nearby empty table in the center of the café, spun it around and sat in front of Virgil’s seat. He’d chosen one of the comfortable cushioned chairs around the edge of the café, closest to the corner and with only a low table next to it, like a side table. There were several of those at the edges of the seating area as well as couches and little clusters of couches and chairs. The center of the café was all more traditional round wooden tables and comfortable, if firm, wooden chairs. Plenty of options for people to settle in.
Angling her seat so she was to one side of Virgil and didn’t block his view, and so that she could also scan the café, she said, “Spill. What are you expecting, anticipating, watching out for? Who are you worried about?”
He flicked a glance at her, frowning, and shook his head. “Of course he had to fall for someone clever.”
She wanted to preen at the compliment—especially one coming so reluctantly from Virgil—but all she allowed herself was a small, crooked smile. “You’re just very obvious. What’s going on?”
She lowered her voice, speaking more quietly even than she’d already been speaking. There were none of the usual vampires—Greta didn’t usually come in on Saturdays—or shifters in at the moment. Agnes sitting in her usual seat at the very center of the café ignored them. The goddess Diana wasn’t in. Neither was Frank the writer, or Boo’s favorite guitar player Jamar. Just a collection of mostly ordinary humans at the moment who weren’t regulars. Still, Nina didn’t want her voice to carry to any of them. She put up a small blocking spell so she and Virgil could talk. But she still spoke quietly knowing he could hear her just fine.
He glanced at her, at the front door, then at her again. “Rhys doesn’t know this.”
“I’m going to tell him if you don’t.”
“And if I say I won’t tell you unless you agree to keep it a secret?”
“I guess you aren’t telling me. And I’m going to ban you from the café again for being an asshole and hiding important things from your brother.”
“What makes you think it’s important?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’ve been in here four times this week. I know you like glaring at me, but even you have more of a life than that.”
The comment earned her a scowl but also a flicker of something akin to confusion and she was okay with that.
Virgil’s face did that vampire thing where all emotion gets wiped away and she could no longer read his expressions. It occurred to her that he’d always wanted her to read his irritation, anger, annoyance, and dislike, because he also, just as easily, could have hidden those emotions from her. In a way, she was sort of glad he’d let her see how he felt. She’d rather know she was dealing with a vampire who hated her than one who’s position she couldn’t judge.
After several moments, emotion flowed back into his stiff, statue like expression, his pale skin softening into living tissue again. “He’ll be upset.”
“Yeah, he’s going to be upset anyway. If you’re going to tell me, do. If not, don’t, but I’m banning you again if you keep secrets from me that are important.”
“You suck.”
“It’s not a secret that you feel that way.” Her lips twitched. “And you’re the vampire. Which one of us is the one that really ‘sucks’?”
She couldn’t help it. It was a terrible, terrible joke. But he left himself wide open for that one. Really, that was his own fault.
He rolled his eyes again, and let out an audible sigh which wasn’t required because he barely had to breathe. Vampires had to take in some oxygen every once in awhile but so infrequently it was almost like they didn’t need to breathe at all. Sighing was an affect. Something he did so she’d know he was annoyed with her.
“The wizard who…accompanied the vampire who turned me…”
He’d lowered his voice so much Nina had a hard time hearing him. But she got the gist. “I remember her.”
The wizard had been hired by the Master vampire who’d turned Virgil to try and help him kill Rhys and Virgil—the brothers were, of course, hunting this vampire. It wouldn’t save Virgil or turn him back human. But the Master was bad and destroying him would get one more bad guy out of the world.
The fight had taken place just outside Nina’s café and it had not gone as the Master or the wizard might have expected.
They hadn’t heard anything from either since that night. But the wizard had been seriously injured. Possibly died. Nina had assumed the Master went back into hiding to figure out his next plan to kill Rhys and Virgil.
“She’s not dead,” Virgil said, bluntly, “and she has a husband whose…less than happy that she was nearly killed.”
“And that husband is after me and my café? You and Rhys?”
“He’s after the Master vampire.”
Oh. Well. That wasn’t what she was expecting. She’d have assumed the wizard’s husband would blame the people fighting the wizard and vampire, not the vampire the wizard had teamed up with.
“At least that’s what he’s claimed,” Virgil finished.
Ah. There it was. The possibility of a double cross, a scheme to get to the brothers in a different way.
“You’ve arranged to meet him here?” Nina made the logical leap.
“And he’s made excuses each time.”
“I wouldn’t have thought you were patient enough to wait for him,” she said.
“I’m not.” He scowled at the door. “This is not waiting for him. This is watching what they do and plan.”
“If they attempt to harm my café or any of the patrons inside, I will not be a happy witch.”
“I assumed.”
“Then why arrange to meet him here?” Because if Virgil was responsible for anything bad happening to her customers, she’d not only ban him, she might actually do something worse. Which would affect her relationship with Rhys. And she’d be unhappy about that, too. But her customers came first.
“You have a number of spells and wards on this place that make it significantly safer than any other place I might meet him during the day. There are other…people here who will aid you if these people try to use the café for revenge. And it gives me an excuse to sit here and glare at you.”
He said the last with perfect seriousness, though he wasn’t meeting her gaze when he did, and the truth of it startled a chuckle from her. She gave her head a little shake. Finding Virgil even a little charming was not something she intended on doing. So cleared her throat and ignored his smirk.
“So,” she said, “what’s been happening in the four days you’ve come in and glared at me. The husband obviously hasn’t shown. What were his excuses to reschedule?”
“The first, that his wife’s condition had worsened overnight and he had to stay with her.”
“I’m a little sorry to hear she’s still doing poorly.” A little. But the woman had gone to work with a vampire to kill Rhys and Virgil, so maybe not entirely sorry. The wizard been hurt by her own magic in the end, a combination of a spell Nina had cast and a vampiric suggestion that Virgil had made. Honestly, given the amount of power involved, Nina was still a little surprised the wizard had survived. “Is her husband a wizard?”
“He claims not to be. But I haven’t met him in person yet to get a sense of whether he’s got any magic at all. He could just be the human man he’s claiming to be, looking for revenge.”
“How’s he been in touch?”
“Text.”
For some reason, Virgil having a cellphone and getting and sending texts had always seemed…anachronistic. She wasn’t sure why. He’d been turned relatively recently, in human terms. Of course he used cellphones and texts.
“And how did he get your cell number?” she asked.
“One of the questions I wanted to ask him.”
Virgil didn’t show any signs of annoyance or anger, but she had a feeling his curiosity hid his anger.
He glanced at her and said, “It’s a cellphone I will be discarding after this…situation is settled. In case you were wondering.”
“In fact, I was sort of. So now what? Is he due in today finally? What were the other excuses to cancel?”
“No real excuse the last two days, just that he needed to change the meeting.”
“Sounds very dodgy.”
Virgil huffed a sound that might have been a laugh from a less obnoxious person. “I’m not sure if he’s incompetent, scared, or thinks I’m stupid. But it’s been telling to watch.”
“Any sign of the Master vampire, that this is a trick he’s orchestrating?”
This earned her another glance and raised brows from Virgil. An expression she wasn’t sure how to interpret but made her feel like a performing dog who’d just pulled off a particularly clever trick. The condescension probably would have annoyed her more from anyone else, but she expected it from Virgil.
“He’s not made it obvious, no.”
“Are we sure this person claiming to be the wizard’s husband is even related to her? She could be dead and this is just the next hired magic wielder working for the vampire.”
“All of that’s occurred to me. I can’t get any definitive information on the wizard, whether she’s alive or not.”
“Why haven’t you discussed any of this with Rhys?”
“He’d have resisted involving your café. And the café is the safest neutral ground to use to draw out the enemy. After last time, he’s made clear he doesn’t want that to happen again.”
“So you’re doing it behind his back.”
Virgil’s mouth flattened but he didn’t try to justify lying to his brother. A good thing since there was no justification and also Rhys knew Virgil wasn’t trustworthy anymore.
“Well, you’re proving his instincts right,” she murmured. “Is this wizard’s husband still coming in today?”
Virgil scowled at her, probably for her first comment. Then looked back at the door. “That’s the current plan.”
“Are you expecting him to really show up, or are you expecting something else?”
“Both.”
Well. That didn’t clarify things, but it did give her something to work with. “I’m adding layers to the wards while you wait. When he arrives, or whatever else arrives, I expect you to ensure none of my customers are hurt. If anyone gets hurt, I’ll take that out on you.”
She rose and walked away before he could comment on her threat. She was quite serious and didn’t need to see his scowl because she didn’t care how he felt about her threat.
Only that he knew she meant it.
***
Nina considered texting Rhys as she and Akira dealt with the afternoon rush, Nina working the espresso machine while Akira handled the customers. Rhys should have a heads up that something was happening well before he arrived. But she was also curious what Virgil intended, why he really hadn’t told Rhys about all this.
Oh she got that Rhys would disapprove of the café being used as “neutral” ground. And maybe that was all it was—a place Virgil had no real ties to so the Master vampire or this husband of the wizard wouldn’t be able to figure out his resting location—but she suspected there was more to it than that. Her wards were good, and Virgil did like to glare at her. But that seemed a weak reason to get on Rhys’s bad side when their relationship was already strained and difficult.
Or maybe that’s what Virgil wanted. To continue to push the boundary of the relationship with Rhys, to push Rhys into finally cutting ties. It was so hard to judge with Virgil because, well, he was an asshole and he could have a lot of legitimate asshole reasons for his behavior.
During another brief lull, she did text Rhys. She gave him a quick run down of what she knew. And added :You don’t have to turn up immediately. Usual time is fine.
:I’ll be there soon. Don’t trust Virgil.
Hard to tell from that if he was telling her not to trust his brother or if he was saying he didn’t trust his brother. Probably both. :He may leave before you get here. Knows you’re expected.
:That’ll work too.
She sighed as she tucked her phone back into the front pocket of her green apron. This was probably a bad idea. But also, Virgil being here was probably a bad idea, so things couldn’t get that much worse.
She winced the minute she thought that, knowing things could always get worse.
As the late afternoon wore on, people coming and going around the café, Virgil continued his vigilance, watching the café’s front door and bookstore entrance, pretending to sip at a very cold and old coffee—he could have at least gotten a second one!—and generally being pretty unobtrusive for Virgil.
They were getting close to closing time, the café was still quite crowded, but mostly everyone had drinks and were settled at tables, with few people coming up to the counter. Akira took a break to go next door and check her schedule with the bookstore—her primary job; she only worked at the café on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays during busy seasons—and that left Nina staring contemplatively at Virgil. Rhys was later than she’d expected him to be after he said he’d arrive soon. She assumed he had reasons for that and would ask after he got there. And Virgil didn’t show signs of leaving before Rhys arrived. He didn’t show signs of leaving before closing time.
Talking to him again probably wouldn’t get her any more answers. She did lean in and explain what was happening to Boo while Akira was next door, though. Her familiar couldn’t contribute out loud to the conversation during opening hours, but he did grunt and lick his paw as a sign of acknowledgement.
It was all a bit “waiting for the next shoe to drop” for her. She preferred action. And while the café was busy, she had plenty to do. But she was on edge waiting for that second shoe.
She also didn’t trust Virgil as far as she could throw him. Given he was a vampire, that wasn’t very far.
The long early summer evenings meant the sun was still out when the café closed, and in the last hour, it was still much too bright out for a Master vampire to make an appearance. So Nina wasn’t really expecting the Master to show up.
The man who did walk in during that last hour was not a vampire. She knew instantly he wasn’t a vampire. And that he was a wizard.
And not at all what she’d been expecting.
He was a smallish white man with what remained of his brown hair cut short and neat, though the top of his head was bald. Clean shaven. Dressed casually but not too casually in khakis with a belt and a short sleeve t-shirt that was neatly tucked in. He wasn’t heavy or skinny or particularly muscled. She probably wouldn’t have looked very closely at him if she wasn’t already expecting a stranger.
She also now knew he’d lied to Virgil about being a wizard. He was definitely a magic wielder. Now the question was, was he actually the injured wizard’s husband?
The man scanned the café, spotted Virgil and startled. As if he hadn’t been expecting him to really be there. Then he headed directly and decisively to the vampire, not stopping at the counter to place an order so he didn’t look suspicious or rude.
Rhys walked in right after the man, which Nina found curious and too coincidental. He did come directly to the counter, however, glancing at his brother and the new wizard, but not so long as to be obvious about it. He scanned the entire café with one sweeping gaze before reaching the counter.
“Hey, Boo.” He gave her familiar his hand to sniff, then a scratch on the head. Boo purred in response.
Her familiar mostly approved of Rhys, so that had also made at least one part of this strangely complicated, budding relationship easier.
“Were you following the wizard or something?” she asked quietly.
“I’ve been keeping tabs on the one who joined up with the Master vampire,” Rhys murmured, his voice low.
“Virgil said he hasn’t been able to find her. Did he know you had and were keeping a watch on her?”
“No.”
Ah. So they were both keeping secrets from each other.
“Is that guy really her husband?” Nina nodded toward the newcomer as he sat, carefully, in a chair across the table from Virgil. Virgil’s expression never changed as the man joined him.
“He is,” Rhys confirmed.
“He here for revenge?” That seemed the most obvious answer. “Virgil says the man’s reason for being in touch is revenge against the Master vampire.”
“But no one really believes that.”
She shrugged. “Could be true. Could be a lie.” Either option was very much within the realms of possibility.
She couldn’t hear the wizard and Virgil’s conversation from across the café, but she did open her senses to the wizard’s magic so she’d know if he tried to use it.
From behind the counter, she could see Virgil’s expression clearly—which was about as useful as wiping up a spill with a soaking wet towel—but she couldn’t see the wizard’s face so it was difficult to know how the conversation was going. Virgil wasn’t doing much of the talking either. No hope of lip reading.
To Boo, she said, “Can you hear them?”
He gave a little purring growl, so she quieted to let him listen. His hearing was a lot better than hers. She wanted to ask Rhys more questions, too, but now that she knew Boo could overhear the conversation, she didn’t want to distract him. There were some big hand gestures from the wizard, and a raised eyebrow from Virgil, but no magic build-up or spells cast. Nina had added the layers of wards to help defend against wizard magic earlier, before she’d known the husband was a wizard. She was glad she’d taken the extra step.
Akira came back into the café from the bookstore then, spotted Virgil talking to a stranger and Nina and Rhys watching the conversation from the counter, and then angled toward Virgil and the wizard.
Nina wanted to raise a hand and wave her back to the counter. What the hell was she doing?! But then Akira stopped next to the table and it was too late. She had her usual customer service smile on, friendly and professional. She looked between both men, though she didn’t meet Virgil’s eyes—Akira was mundane but she still knew about the supernatural world around her, which made her and excellent employee for the café—and clearly asked if they needed anything.
The wizard glanced around, as if just realizing he was in a coffee shop, then looked up at Akira and spoke to her. She gave a friendly nod. Her “coming right up,” audible across the café. She strolled back to the counter as if not in a hurry, stopping to check on other customers along the way, but the slow progress had Nina antsy. She looked between her part-time employee and Virgil and the wizard. The wizard was talking again, and Virgil was watching Akira walk away, but then he turned his attention back to the wizard. No other sign that he was aware Akira was trying to eavesdrop on the conversation.
When she reached the counter, Akira said, “Some intense conversation going on over there with your brother.” She swept behind the counter. “The guy he’s talking to ordered a black coffee. You want to take it to him?” This she asked Nina, her eyebrows raised.
“Yes,” Nina said with a grin. “Thank you very much. Yes I do.”
Rhys scowled. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea. Bringing yourself to his attention.”
“Is he that dangerous?” She lowered her voice to ask, leaning close and hoping the loud hiss of the espresso machine hid her question from anyone close enough to overhear.
“I’m not sure, honestly. But you were part of the reason his wife was injured in that fight. The wife will have told him that.”
“Maybe. If she realized or remembered what happened.” Nina glanced at Virgil and the wizard. “I’m still going to bring them the coffee.” Boo couldn’t tell her what they were talking about yet anyway. And Nina was too curious to stay behind the counter.
Akira handed her the coffee. She carried it to Virgil’s table, her attention on both men. Virgil didn’t glance up at her when she set the coffee down in front of the wizard, though. She arrived in time to hear, “He won’t let her go now. And I’m afraid of what he’ll do—” Then the wizard cut himself off and looked up at Nina. Smiling faintly as he said, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Can I get you anything else? The croissants are excellent today and we have a few left. And there’s exactly one slice of chocolate cake left.”
“I’m okay.” He glanced at Virgil, his brows raised in question.
Virgil’s sardonic expression brought out a blush in the wizard. The wizard gave his head a little shake, and he looked up at Nina again, smiling. “We’re good. Thanks.”
She nodded, gave Virgil a look that he ignored, and went back to the counter. “Best I can tell,” she whispered to Rhys, “is that he’s worried about what the Master is going to do to his wife. At least that’s what I thought I overheard.”
Boo grunted, a noise that she took to be confirming her assumption.
“What does he expect Virgil to do about that?” she said, half to herself, half to Rhys who was leaning on the counter, close enough they could whisper.
“Kill the Master, probably,” Rhys said. “Only way to keep his wife from being tempted by the Master’s offers.”
“Master’s offers?” That didn’t sound good.
“I’m guessing,” Rhys said, his gaze dancing to Akira, who was on the opposite side of the counter, talking with one of the customers Nina thought might be a friend of hers. “But at a guess, based on the wizard’s injuries during that fight, the Master would offer her either death or a chance at vampiric life.”
Neither sounded great to Nina. “Think the husband is trying to prevent her from picking either of those options?”
“He seems to care for her. During the time I’ve been keeping an eye on them, he’s done nothing but ensure she gets the care she needs to recover. He even brought in a healer witch—something wizards avoid most of the time.”
Wow. Yeah, the ancient animosity meant the wizards didn’t often come to healers, even when they could and should, for help. Healer witches were much more likely to help wizards than turn them away because healing was their calling, but most wizards weren’t convinced they’d get a helpful reception. Hard to blame them, really.
In this case, though, the fact that the injured wizard’s husband had gotten in a witch healer to help his wife was a sign of his desperation.
“She’s a powerful wizard,” Nina murmured. “And she got hit with her own magic. I can only imagine the damage that did.” She’d also caught on fire and Nina had had to call the rain to put that fire out. The Master had whisked the injured woman away too fast for the rest of them to check on her, to know if she’d survived or not.
Obviously, the wizard was in a bad place. Likely still in a bad place.
And if the husband was here talking to Virgil, one of the people responsible for his wife’s injuries, and asking for help rather than calling him out for…single combat or something, then the husband was desperate.
Meant his wife was going to take one of those two offers from the Master soon. If Rhys’s guess was right.
Nina’s feelings were mixed on this, big time. On the one hand, she understood completely why the husband wanted to save his wife’s life. She understood that choosing to become a vampire was a really bad decision when the Master who’d control the wife was an asshole—and to be fair, most Masters were. Nina understood that choosing death was something the husband would very much object to as well.
But she also thought that these were the injured wizard’s choices to make. If she wanted the Master vampire killed, was on the same page with her husband, well… That would be something else. That was something Rhys and Virgil wanted too. The Master was vicious, and Nina didn’t much care if he was killed by a bunch of vampire hunters, especially if that gave Virgil and Rhys some sense of…closure.
She just…hesitated at the idea of all these people coming together to take away the injured wizard’s choices. Not that her historic choices were great, based on the one decision to work with the asshole Master vampire. But they were still her choices to make. Nina felt very strongly about people being able to make their own choices for their own lives.
And all these people trying to make a decision for the wizard… What they should be doing was asking the wizard what she wanted.
Tricky.
All this flew threw her mind as she watched the wizard talking with animated hand gestures to Virgil and Virgil watching him with barely any response.
Finally, the man finished his coffee, said something with a hand cut of a gesture that looked final, stood, and gave Virgil a head nod. Then he came to the counter.
Nina straightened away from Rhys and plastered on her professional smile. “Hope you enjoyed the coffee.”
“It was great.” The wizard frowned a little. “Actually, yeah, it was really really good. Thank you.” He paid for the drink, gave Rhys a passing look, then did a double take, and a small frown formed between his brows. “Are you…?” His frown deepened. “You look familiar.”
“I have that kind of face,” Rhys said with a casual shrug and a small smile. “Lot of people think they recognize me. Maybe I have a lot of doppelgangers.”
The wizard nodded, still frowning a bit, then tapped the counter, thanked Nina again, and left without looking back.
Okay. Well. That was a thing.
She glanced at Virgil, who hadn’t moved from his table, either to join them or to leave. Then she glanced at Rhys.
“I think we’d better give the drive-in movie date a raincheck,” he said, his eyes narrowed as he looked at his brother.
“Yeah. I’m afraid we’d better too.” Because they definitely had some things to talk about now.
***
Turned out Rhys was mostly right. The injured wizard was considering death or vampire. And her husband desperately wanted to prevent those two possibilities.
But he hadn’t come to Virgil looking for Virgil to take out the vampire. And that part surprised Nina.
“He really just wanted advice on how to keep the Master away?” she asked, frowning. “Not how to kill him? Not help with killing him? Does he know you’re a vampire?”
Virgil shrugged. “Seemed to, though he never said so outright. I assume his wife told him exactly who and what I am.”
The bookstore had long closed and the owner left for the night. Akira had left with the friend she’d been talking to, on her way to a concert of a band Nina wasn’t familiar with but both women had been excited. The café was locked down, the only lights left on the ones behind the counter, which put Nina, Rhys, and Virgil into dim shadows. Virgil’s vampire nature was in control now, and his eyes were glowing faintly, but not very yellow. There was just more light behind his brown eyes.
Boo sat on his stool near the counter, watching and listening closely. He didn’t like being too near Virgil if he could avoid it. And the stool meant he could pounce if needs be.
The traffic outside was heavy, a regular stream of cars passing by. Fewer pedestrians on the street than Nina might have expected of a Saturday night, but it was getting late, and the late-night restaurants and clubs weren’t on this block.
She’d made herself and Rhys coffee, their cooling mugs on the table in front of them. Virgil had dropped all semblance of “human” as soon as the bookstore owner had left and so didn’t bother with a mug of anything.
That he was more vampire than wizard at the moment was a little unnerving and worrisome. Nina really really didn’t trust Virgil at all. But he didn’t appear to be playing games with them at the moment, his full focus on the Master vampire who’d turned him and the wizard spouses mixed up with that Master.
“How close is Lira to turning?” Rhys asked.
The injured wizard—who they finally had a name for, Lira Babich married to Philip Babich—had already allowed the Master to drain her and exchange blood with her to help her healing. But the Master hadn’t gone all the way to turning her. Unfortunately, the healing hadn’t been complete and the wizard was now stuck in a sort of halfway place. Not fully healed, but she hadn’t died and risen. She was light sensitive. Could only take in liquid. And her access to her own magic was patchy at best.
The witch healer had claimed there was nothing to be done and left without being of much help, which Nina found appalling. To not even try? That felt very odd for a healer. But then, Nina wasn’t one and she hadn’t seen the state of the wizard’s injuries. Maybe there hadn’t been any options a magical healer could offer.
“She’s close,” Virgil said, answering Rhys’s question. “But her husband insists there’s a way to help her, to keep her from dying before the vampire’s blood leaves her system. If she dies while that blood is still circulating in her, she may rise. She might also stay dead. She will definitely not have her magic.”
Virgil was an unusual, maybe even unprecedented case, because wizards who are turned into vampires—and witches for that matter—do not carry their magic into their new risen bodies. They lose that magic as they die and rise. Virgil did not. Virgil brought his wizard powers into his new vampiric life. And the Master vampire who’d created him out of spite had not counted on that.
“You know for sure she’ll lose her magic?” Nina asked. “What if she turns out like you?”
“She’s already lost access to much of her magic,” Virgil said. “It won’t cross into her afterlife with her.”
“I have to ask, though I’m not sure that Philip would have said, but do we know what Lira wants in all this? She’s the one injured, dying, losing her magic… I know she’s not great with decisions since she chose to fight with a Master vampire, but… What does she want out of all this?”
“Philip didn’t say,” Virgil confirmed. “And, like you, I feel she should be the one to make that choice.”
Nina blinked, a little startled that Virgil agreed with her. But then she realized, he hadn’t been given a choice in his turning. The Master had turned him to a vampire as punishment. He’d taken Virgil’s options and choices away. That Virgil would value self-determination and someone else’s right to make their own decisions shouldn’t have surprised her actually.
“So what do we do, then? Ignore his plea? Or help him keep the Master away?” Rhys looked between them. He was frowning a little, though Nina wasn’t entirely sure why.
“Well, helping him keep the Master away isn’t exactly taking away Lira’s choices,” Nina said, slowly. “All that does is give her space and time to make the choice.”
“Bad choices, though,” Rhys said. “Death or vampire.”
“Maybe she won’t die,” Virgil put in. “Injured and ill, yes. But her death isn’t a foregone conclusion. At least according to Philip. He thinks given enough time and space she’ll recover. He thinks the exchange of blood with the vampire actually slowed things rather than sped them up, because she’s a wizard, and she just needs more time to heal now.”
“There is another option,” Rhys said. “Well… Not really an answer for Philip and Lira, but it would satisfy a long injustice.”
“Kill the Master,” Nina said.
Virgil raised a brow. “We’ve been trying that for a long time.”
“We’ve been looking for him for a long time,” Rhys said. “He went into hiding. He’s made one appearance now. He’ll be back.”
“That isn’t what Philip asked us for,” Virgil pointed out. “He’s no interest in killing the Master.”
“But we have an interest in killing him.”
“True.” Virgil pursed his lips and nodded, the glow in his eyes brightening briefly yellow. “And that would keep him away from Lira.”
“It would prevent her from turning, too,” Nina said quietly. Before a victim died, if the vampire who was trying to turn them died, the victim wouldn’t turn. Once someone rose as a vampire, the life or death of their sire didn’t affect their new nature. But before they died, they could be saved from rising as a vampire if their potential sire was killed. “If she doesn’t want to turn.” Again, the choice should be Lira’s.
“And if the vampire just goes back into hiding?” Boo said from his stool. He didn’t often talk in front of Virgil, but obviously this was an exception. “Which is likely given that he couldn’t beat you two even with the help of a powerful wizard.”
“Philip seems to think the vampire will be back for Lira,” Virgil said. “Which is why he came to us…to me in the first place.”
“Probably just have to hang around the wizards’ house for a few nights to scare the Master back into hiding,” Boo said. “He won’t want to face both of you without some added magical help. And obviously Philip and Lira aren’t going to help him.”
“I’d rather kill him than send him back into hiding,” Virgil said.
“Agreed,” Rhys said without hesitation.
At least the brothers were on the same page about that. “If the Master doesn’t get scared away, you can kill him,” Nina said. “If he does go back into hiding, Lira has the space to make her own decision on whether to tough out the healing or allow herself to die and possibly rise as a vampire. The choice would be hers and wouldn’t be forced on her by the Master. Or even her husband.”
Nina looked at Virgil, avoiding his direct gaze now that it was full dark, but focusing on an area just to the right of his ear so that she was almost meeting his gaze. “Either way, it would be her decision. And if you get to destroy the Master vampire in the process… All the better. Lira really wants to be a vampire, she can always go find another Master to change her.”
And that would really be a clear and definitive choice on Lira’s part. But Nina suspected that the only reason Lira was considering the change was because she had lost access to her own magic. Most magic wielders of Nina’s acquaintance would always choose their magic first.
Virgil and Rhys exchanged a long look during which Nina suspected much unspoken communication happened.
“A week,” Virgil said. “If he doesn’t show within a week, we’ll know he’s gone back into hiding.”
“You’re sure it will only take a week,” Rhys said.
“For this particular vampire…” Virgil’s eyes narrowed and the glow came up. “Coward that he is. Yes. I’m sure.”
In that moment, Virgil looked even more vampiric than usual. His pale skin faintly glowed from within, his eyes were now fully yellow, and while his mouth was closed and his elongated teeth carefully hidden, it was still easy to see the preternatural danger he posed in his expressionless stillness. A silent predator, barely contained, just waiting to pounce.
“Philip will agree to letting you stake out his home,” Nina said but also half asked.
“If it keeps the Master away,” Virgil said, “or if we kill the Master, both things will accomplish what Philip wanted out of our meeting. Time for his wife to heal more. Time and space for her to make a clear-headed decision. He could ask for nothing else from us.”
“We’d be helping him,” Rhys said. “Without taking away Lira’s choices. And maybe even helping ourselves.”
That was mostly true. Nina exchanged a look with Boo. He licked his paw, a clear indication that he felt he’d offered the best choice and now everyone should listen to him and do as he suggested.
“So you’ll camp outside the Babich house for a week, then?” Nina asked, looking back at the brothers.
Rhys and Virgil exchanged another look. And then Rhys nodded.
“Longer raincheck on that drive-in movie date?” Rhys asked.
“I’ll be here when you’re ready.” She smiled.
Rhys smiled back. Virgil rolled his eyes, and in a flash that was both rude and startling, he left the café, the closed-open sign swinging wildly against the door glass as the door closed in his wake.
“If he broke my door lock with that stunt,” Nina said, “I’m going to ban him again.”
***
Nina got regular texts from Rhys as the brothers spent their nights outside the Babich house, waiting for the Master vampire to show. In that time, Philip found another witch healer, and this one was actually able to help ease some of the physical pain Lira was in, taking the edge off the slowly mending burns, soothing her skin’s recovery.
Nina still wasn’t sure why the first healer had walked away without helping, but if she ever found out who that healer was, Nina intended on asking them. In the meantime, she was glad the new healer could do something for Lira. Nina found it odd that she was hoping the wizard made a full recovery. Lira had aligned herself with a vampire against other wizards and that didn’t make her a good guy. But still. Nina didn’t like when people were in pain and she was glad Lira was getting some relief.
Rhys and Virgil spent two full weeks outside the Babich residence in the end, just to be sure. Long nights, and a long vigil. But at the end of the second week, Lira said she could no longer feel the Master vampire. No call. No pull. Nothing at all.
He’d gone back into hiding.
Which meant Virgil didn’t get his revenge. At least not yet. But Lira did get the space and time she needed to make her choices.
Nina was a little surprised when Virgil arrived at the café in the days after he and Rhys stopped watching the Babich house with two other people in tow. She recognized Philip from his last visit to the café, but Lira didn’t look as she had when Nina had last seen her during that nighttime fight outside the café, so it took her a moment to realize the woman wearing the dark wig was the same person.
She still carried herself with all the same confidence she’d had the last time. Taller than her husband, maybe a little over six feet. Slim but wide through the shoulders. She’d been in jeans and a bright yellow rain slicker last time. This time she wore wide-legged linen slacks in deference to the warm weather and a loose tunic style blouse. Her pale skin was puckered here and there, where visible, with the scarring from the burns, but the white and red bumpy skin looked to be healing.
Nina had expected worse given the extensiveness of the burns. But, at least from the outside, Lira looked like she was on the mend. She’d always have scars unless she paid for plastic surgery with an added boost of magic from a healer, but scars could be really pretty if your perspective was right.
Since Nina had no idea what kind of person Lira was or what her relationship to the scars would be, she had to trust the woman to do what was best for her own life.
Lira kept an arm threaded through Philip’s, but stood tall and seemed able to walk on her own without pain, which was excellent. They all took a seat near the back, out of any of the direct light flooding the café through the front windows. It was a weekday and a quiet time for Nina. She didn’t have Akira’s help, but that was fine. She could get back to the counter if a customer stepped in.
She did get Lira an ice tea and Philip a hot black coffee before joining them.
“Where’s Rhys?” she asked Virgil.
“On his way.” Virgil’s mouth flattened. “He had a meeting.”
Rhys had chosen his job—and an important non-profit case he’d been working on—over going to hunt the Master vampire with Virgil, and that’s how Virgil ended up at the Master’s mercies. Virgil still got salty about Rhys’s day job.
Lira studied Nina for a moment, her hands wrapped around her tea mug. “That spell that forced me to spill my magic… That was you.”
“It was. And it wasn’t supposed to turn back on you or…have the end result it did.” She glanced at Virgil. “But I was trying to protect my people.”
Lira nodded. “And I was doing a job for money. It’s different.” She went back to drinking her tea and didn’t mention the fact that Nina and Virgil were the ones responsible for her injuries after that. In fact, she didn’t seem to blame them at all and took responsibility for her role in the end result.
Virgil could learn a lesson from that.
Lira glanced at Philip and then to Nina. “The witch healer helping me is doing an excellent job. I don’t have issues with witches.”
Nina smiled.
“And I won’t be working with vampires again. We need the money, but not that badly.” Lira glanced at Virgil briefly before focusing on her tea.
Rhys came in then, and the conversation shifted to the Master. Everyone felt certain that he was gone. Lira didn’t seem interested in taking the options of death or vampire anymore. In fact, she seemed pretty content to be healing her body. And when Nina brought up her magic, Lira shrugged.
“It will come back or it won’t. But I already feel more strength in that area. I’m hopeful.”
She was so relaxed about it all, Nina wondered who this healer was who’d helped her. Definitely a powerful witch, who seemed to be working healing magic on more than just Lira’s body.
The consensus was that the Master was definitely back in hiding, Lira and Philip would not work with him again, and that if he came out of hiding and approached them, they’d contact Rhys—not Virgil, but Rhys this time, which Nina found interesting. Neither Virgil nor Rhys made any comment on that difference.
After some small talk, Philip and Lira left, though Lira asked if Nina would mind them coming back to the café occasionally since the tea was good. Nina welcomed them. Regulars who liked the tea were always welcome, even if they were wizards.
Once the couple left, Virgil stared at Rhys for a long silent moment. Nina had no idea what unspoken conversation was happening between the brothers, so she sat quietly and waited them out.
But rather than say anything aloud, Virgil turned back to her and said, “Am I banned again? For your door lock?”
She considered him. “No. But only because you had it fixed the next day.”
He raised a brow but didn’t confirm or deny sending the locksmith to fix her door the morning after he broke it with his dramatic exit.
She didn’t push him to admit it. “You can keep coming back to glare at me. For the time being.”
“Good. I hate this place. But I do enjoy glaring at you.”
He left at a more reasonable pace this time, but that was because it was the middle of the day and he was more wizard than vampire now—no super speed—and there were a lot of people around.
Nina met Rhys’s gaze. “I think I’m growing on him,” she said.
Rhys sighed. Then leaned on the table so he was closer to her. “So. About that drive-in date…”
She grinned and leaned in close to him, resting her chin in her hand. Rhys smelled a little like his office, which was a combination of ink and coffee, mixed with the spicy soap he used. She really loved that smell. “About that drive-in date… I’m free this weekend.”
He smiled at her. She loved that smile even more than his scent. He had a really great smile. And she was looking forward to their rescheduled date.
Without Virgil getting in the way this time.
***
Thanks for reading NINA AND VIRGIL CALL A TRUCE AGAIN AT THE CAFE. I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like your own personal eBook copy of this story, you can find it for sale here. You can also peruse the previous Café stories that are individually available for sale here.
If you'd like to catch up on a bunch of the Cafe stories all at once, be sure to look out for the collected Volumes of Stories from the Cafe. VOLUME THREE releases on August 18th and is either a preorder or out now! Depending on when you read this. <grin>
Don’t forget to check back on September 1st for the next Free story from The Café!
NINA AND VIRGIL CALL A TRUCE AGAIN AT THE CAFE Copyright © 2026 Kat Simons
All Rights Reserved. No part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This story is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.