“I… I don’t know what to say to that.” Cally chewed her lip. “I’m sorry—”
“What youdon’tneed to say is ‘sorry’. We can’t help it, can we?”
Cally gave her a strained smile. “I suppose not.”
“And you two will make cute little vampire babies.”
“We really won’t.”Not least because he can’t.Which was something of a relief, if Cally was honest. Kids were messy, in more ways than one. “So, um, I know you’re already busy, but I wanted to ask you something.”
“Uh-huh?” Eve focused on her screen again, and Cally envied her the ability to flit from an emotion-laden subject to shopping lists of illegal equipment like it was nothing. Unless she was just pretending, trying to hide her hurt.
“When Minh killed Joon… when he had me captive…”
Eve looked up again, her eyes large and round.
“… It got me thinking,” Cally pressed on. “I’m a witch, right? I’m supposed to have all this power. And I have no idea how to use it.”
“You want to develop your magic?”
“Yes.” Cally nodded. “If… if it means I can actuallydosomething, next time I’m captured by psychotic vampires.”
Eve stared at her. “And we’re just going with the assumption that’s a ‘when’ not an ‘if’?”
“Just being prepared.”If I can find a way to spend my power, I don’t have to get Gabe to feed on me. But she wasn’t ready to tell anyone that part, not even Eve.
“You want us to research witch magic?” Eve asked, a note of uncertainty in her voice.
“That’s what I hoped, yes. Why do I sense a lack of enthusiasm? I thought this was what you’d been wanting me to say since you found us the coven.” Cally frowned. “Is this because of me and—”
“Not at all,” Eve said, her tone sharp. “Don’t even think it.”
“I’m sorry,” Cally said quickly. “I don’t know where that came from.”
Eve rose, stepping around the coffee table toward Cally and taking her hands in hers. “I love you, and I’ll always love you.” She squeezed Cally’s fingers with each phrase. “One of the joys of unrequited love is that I can take pleasure in the small things, like helping you.”
Cally smiled ruefully. “That’s really morose. Can’t we find you your own hot vampire instead?”
Eve cocked an eyebrow. “Is Gabe single?”
“Uh, as far as I know. You want me to ask?”
“Kidding.” Eve shook her head quickly. “So look, the thing is, I’ve been researching witch magic formonths, and there’snothing. Really, nothing. Or if there is, I can’t find it in all the noise of modern Wicca.” She pressed her lips together. “The only theory I have is that the coven is key. All we’ve done—allyou’vedone—you’ve done with the coven, right? So what if witch magic is rituals and sharing and… sisterhood?”
“That actually makes sense.” Belle had told her that the first vampiric curse took the whole coven.And my vision of Minh’s nightclub was a coven spell.
“But that’s not really true, is it?” Eve mused. “At the end of the day, it’s your blood that triggered it, not the coven. Still…” she took a breath, “…I think we should tell them.”
Cally blinked. “What?”
“We tell the coven. We tell them everything.”
“But I suggested we told Priya, and you said she’d think we were crazy.”
“Well, yes… I did… but that was before Zoey told me you could bench-press SUVs and heal like Wolverine.”
“I don’t think I can bench press an SUV.”But then I haven’t exactly tried.
Eve released Cally’s hands and waved her own in the air. “Doesn’t matter. Point is, we canproveyour bond is magic, and use it to explain your witch power. And we can tell them about the vision.”
