"Yeah. I've met her." I didn't need to say anything else. Dae knew as well as any other vampire that we could sense the magic within the witches, once you knew how to recognize it. And we were around them enough that it had become second nature.
"She agreed to help her? Just like that?"
"Not exactly." I admitted. "But I'll talk her into it. Or not. Either way, she'll help Kenya."
"Maybe I could convince her. I do have a certain animal magnetism with the ladies."
How he said things like that with a perfectly straight face I would never know. Still, even though I knew he was only messing around, my gums burned as my fangs lengthened, instant fury rising within me. I caught myself right before I hissed a warning.
What the hell was that?
I ducked my head and pretended to study the books to hide my reaction. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll handle it."
"All right. But just let me know if you change your mind. I'm always available." He sat back in his chair, but I felt his eyes on me, watching me more closely than he was trying to let on. "What if you can't talk her into it?"
"Then I won't give her a choice."
He sat forward again and slapped his hand down over the page I was pretending to study. "Man, you know we can't do that to a witch. The rest of them would be on us like flies on a carcass. They'd make our lives miserable...chase us out of the city. Or worse. What are you trying to do to us here, Killian?"
Slowly, I raised my eyes to his. I knew his reaction was out of worry and not meant as a direct challenge, which was the only reason his head wasn't on the other side of the wall right now minus the rest of his body. "There won't be any trouble," I told him. "Honestly, I don't think they'd give a rat's ass." I shrugged. "Maybe they'd even be grateful to us for removing her from their territory. By bringing her to join us, it would, in reality, protect her just as much as it would help us."
He sat back again, his hand sliding off the book and across the desk until it fell into his lap. "Where is the witch?"
"Not sure. I went by her store and her apartment before I came here. She wasn't at either place. I'll go check again after I leave here."
He made a quick sideways movement with his head. Dae's way of conveying his approval. "Well, good luck with that."
"Thanks," I told him. "I'm going to need it."
An hour later, I headed back over to Lizzy's apartment. This time, I knew as soon as I got there that she was home. Even before I heard her thoughts I sensed her there. Smelled her scent. Heard her blood singing through her veins.
I was at the front door of her building without realizing I'd moved. My body hardening, muscles tensed to the point of pain. I touched my tongue to the sharp points of my fangs, desperate for a taste of her. It seemed every time I was around her, I became more sensitive to the essence that was Lizzy. It made me wonder if she had, indeed, cast some sort of spell on me.
Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply in an attempt to differentiate the smells in the air as I tried to get a grip on myself. It was only then I recognized it.
A wisp of smoke coming from Lizzy's apartment building. And not from someone burning a late night meal. I'd smelled this before, many years ago.
When someone had tried to burn down our home.
Chapter 7
Lizzy
Earlier that day
"Hello! Aunt Jude, are you home?" I let myself into the backyard, knowing that's probably where I would find her at this time of the afternoon, winterizing her garden.
My Aunt Judy was my father's sister and my only living relative on either side. At least as far as I knew. I'd called her "Aunt Jude" since I was little, because apparently, three syllables were one too many to say.
She and my mom hadn't had a very good relationship when she was alive, but when I'd needed to leave New York my aunt had welcomed me back with open arms, even though we hadn't really spoken since I was twelve. That was when my mother had taken me out of Louisiana and moved us both to the northeast, eventually settling in New Jersey and, later, New York City. At first, I'd been too young to think of asking for my aunt's number or if I could call her, more concerned with fitting in at my new school and whatever guy I had the latest crush on. And later, when my life had been consumed with acting and dance classes and vocal lessons, I'd always meant to get back in touch but just could never find the time. It wasn't until my mom passed that I dug up her contact info from my mom's stuff and called her.
She'd come to the city for the funeral, but only stayed long enough to make sure I had everything handled before she had to go home. Buried in grief, I didn't realize how much I'd missed her. But when I'd needed a place to go, she was the first one I'd thought of.
"Oh! Hi, honey," she greeted me when she saw me there. Sure enough, she was bent over one of her raised beds with a little shovel in one hand and what looked to be a bulb of some sort in the other. Her short, salt and pepper hair was covered with a hat, and her pale blue eyes were protected with sunglasses. "Where's Wiggles?"
"Napping," I laughed. My old boy was always napping these days. "I didn't want to wake him up."
"He'll probably still be right where you left him when you get home."
