“Because you are so much fun.” Belle tapped her lips with one fingertip. “I had thought to claim you for myself, but it seems I am again too late.” She gestured toward Gabe, who leaned against the bar.
“Well… sorry, I guess.” It didn’t hurt to be polite to the crazy psycho vampire everyone was scared of.
“He has fed from you, I see. Tell me, do you believe in magic?”
The abrupt subject change was jarring. “Of course I do. I’ve seen Cally cast spells.”
Belle flicked her eyes skyward, like that somehow didn’t count. “Before. Have youalwaysbelieved in magic?”
“Anyone who has eaten seedless grapes believes in magic.”
This declaration was met only with confusion, Belle blinking slowly.
“Otherwise, how can they grow more grapes?” Eve nodded sagely. “Magic.”
“Are you deliberately avoiding the question?” Belle asked, her tone chillier by tens of degrees.
Eve swallowed nervously. “It’s… Humor is a defense mechanism,” she muttered. She was conscious that Gabe was watching and listening, leaning on the bar, but she gave Belle the answer she wanted to hear. “In truth, yes. Magic has always interested me.”
“Aha!” Belle said, like she’d scored a major point. “And you are Cally’s age, are you not? Tell me, which part of Boston is your mother from?”
That segue was no coincidence, and Eve remembered what Antoine had said. Had Belle bitten her mother too? No… if she had, Eve would’ve performed her own magic by now. “Cambridge. She taught at MIT.”
“Cambridge,” Belle echoed with a frown and tapped her lip with one finger. Then she looked disappointed.
“Why the interest, Lady d’Aubigny?” Gabe asked.
“It is no matter,” Belle said. “It is simply that there is dormant witch blood in so many women in this city. I just thought…” She waved her hand dismissively. “As I say, no matter.”
“I think she has it,” Gabe said slowly.
Eve’s head whipped around to stare at him.
“Oh?” Belle pressed. “What makes you say so?”
“She tastes like…” He grimaced and shot Eve an apologetic look. “I drank from Cally, and her blood was… different. Since then, no one I’ve fed on has tasted as good, nor fully satisfied my cravings. Until I fed fromEve, last night.”
Belle chortled. “You took Cally’s blood? How many times?”
“Twice,” Gabe said slowly.
“And Eve? How many times?”
Gabe looked away. “A few.”
Four times in two nights.
“Does her blood call to you, like no other?”
Gabe tightened his jaw, then nodded once.
“The power of the vampiric bite.” Belle smirked. “My favorite… newest witch.”
“I’m no witch,” Eve said quickly, and she couldn’t help but glance at Gabe, only to see the shock in his face.
“No?” Belle arched one eyebrow. “Have you tried casting a spell?”
“No…” Aside from hours spent in vain to make crystals glow in the privacy of her room, once she’d seen Cally do it. But she wasn’t about to admit that.
