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When I arrived at the class, I was informed that participation was mandatory, and any refusal to join would be noted in my assessment and might go against me. I am assuming this is one of those situations, so I rack my brain for a solution, clicking my tongue as I think. An idea comes to me.
“Is there a way you could use your magic from a distance so you wouldn’t actually be breaking the restraining order since you would be far away?” I ask with a tilt of my head as I address Jeremy. He seems to perk up at the idea, lifting his head in interest.
Coughing causes me to glance over, and I find Cyril looking flustered. “Emily—”
Not taking notice, I allow him to recover from his coughing fit as another idea comes to me. “Or you could use your magic to do something that couldn’t be traced back to you. For example, you could make their milk go sour, or use it to give them a flat tire!”
I think I’m getting the hang of this advice malarkey, and my enthusiasm for the topic grows. There are so many things he could do with his magic and never once have to approach them.
Cyril jumps forward in his seat, and for a second, it looks like he’s about to spring to his feet, his face flustered. “Emily, don’t give him ideas. This isn’t what I meant.”
“I’m not telling him to do anything dangerous, just stay away and use magic at a distance so he doesn’t break his restraining order.” Smiling as I give my explanation, I feel pretty good about myself.
“She makes a fair point,” one of the females to my right comments, looking thoughtful. Several grumbles of agreement follow, and I notice how Jeremy is now sitting upright, his eyes gleaming with ideas.
Finally reaching the end of his tolerance, Cyril stands and spreads his hands wide in the universal gesture to calm down. “No, this is not helpful. Restraining orders don’t work that way. He can’t have any contact in any way, that includes using his magic on them.” That comment is directed at me, but thankfully he turns his attention to the witch in question. “Jeremy, you need to keep away from your ex and her new family, or you will end up in jail. When you get those urges, why not use your magic for something productive instead? What about gardening?”
I’m not the only one to wrinkle my nose at the suggestion, and Jeremy outright snorts, shaking his head in disbelief. The male has major anger issues, and Cyril wants him to turn to gardening when he feels the need to use his magic? While I might not have a PhD in conflict resolution, even I can tell that’s not going to work.
“I’ll let you think on that,” the leader suggests with a tight smile and shifts his gaze to the next person, who happens to be the male with the wings. “Gabriel, it’s your turn to share.”
He glances at Cyril with a look of disgust, and I get the impression that he has personal issues with the male.
Grumbling, he moves in his chair, his huge wings shifting position so they don’t get trapped. Blowing out a frustrated breath, he clears his throat. “My name is Gabriel, and I’m here because I was caught stealing.”
“Thank you, Gabriel,” our leader comments with fake appreciation. There is definitely some history between those two, and while Cyril is able to mask it better than Gabriel, it’s still pretty obvious there is no love lost between them. “Could you share why you committed the crime?”
He grins, looking straight at me. “Because I wanted to. I get a thrill out of doing it.” He’s speaking to the room, so why do I get the feeling that he’s directing his comment towards me? His grin becomes wicked. “The harder the target, the greater the thrill.”
Okay, that was definitely aimed at me. Is he… Is he flirting with me? Or is this a warning?
“Petty crimes wouldn’t have gotten you locked up here. Tell them all what you stole.” The comment comes from a young male with a spotted tail protruding from his lower back. It might sound like a reprimand, but from the male’s smile and the amusement dancing in his eyes, it seems more like pride.
Snorting, Gabriel leans back in his seat, the plastic groaning as he pushes it to its limits. “I broke into Blanchard’s and stole their safe.”
There is muttering around us, and everyone looks at him in a new light. Some seem surprised, but most simply look impressed—everyone except for me. I have no idea what Blanchard’s is, nor the significance of why this safe is so much more shock worthy than any other safe.
Merrin, the vampire I was told to sit beside for this class, leans over to explain. “Blanchard’s is a supernatural bank. It’s the biggest in the country and is spelled to protect it and the people within. To steal that safe, he would have had to get past the spells and the armed guards. It’s supposed to be impossible.”
I’m grateful for the explanation and nod my head in understanding. While I’m unsure why there needs to be a specific bank for supernaturals, I can appreciate the difficulty of what he did. It sounds like an impossible task, yet somehow, he managed it.
Staring at him, I examine his body. Other than his wings and amber eyes, he could pass for a normal human, so I cannot imagine he’s strong enough to lift a safe by himself—not to mention that safes are heavy, so I doubt he would be able to fly out with it.
Trying to get the attention of the room and pull us back to the topic at hand, Cyril claps his hands together. “And what could you have done to avoid getting into this situation you find yourself in today?”
Gabriel looks at Cyril, and his body language changes. Gone is the smirk, and in its place is a look of bored disdain. “Not get caught?”
I snort a laugh, and it catches his attention. While his expression doesn’t change, I can see intrigue shining in his eyes. In fact, the sound caught everyone’s attention, it just took me a second to notice as I became lost in the winged male’s gaze. “He’s not wrong,” I reply with a shrug, trying to defend myself from Cyril’s narrowed gaze.
Sighing, our leader turns to face me and slowly walks my way. While he looks fairly calm, I get the feeling I’ve upset him. “Emily, you’re new here, and I don’t usually ask people to share for their first group, but seeing as you are so… vocal, let’s give it a try. Tell us why you’re here.”
Oh boy, this is what I get for opening my mouth. Okay, come on, Emmy, you can do this.
“I’m an orphan, and I grew up not knowing I was a vampire. It was my twenty-first birthday a couple of days ago, and I transformed. Unfortunately, I also killed my boyfriend in the process.” The words flow out of me in a rush so fast, I’m not even sure they make sense. With the number of times I’ve had to tell this story, you’d think I would get used to saying those words aloud, yet it’s not getting any easier to accept.
Vampire. The undead. Murderer.
How my life has changed. Never in my wildest dreams did I think any of this would ever happen to me. Planning my future wasn’t anything I really did as a kid, thanks to my life constantly changing as I was moved from home to home, but any thoughts of a normal life are now destroyed, all because I’m a vampire.
