His eyes traveled over my face. Gently, he brushed my hair back. "You're beautiful."
My smile faded. "So are you."
Wiggles chose that moment to get up from his nap spot and come over to lick Killian's face. I grinned as he wrinkled his nose, but accepted the love from my dog gracefully before he suddenly sat up, bringing me with him. "Come with me," he said.
I looped my arms around his neck. "Where?"
Shadows darkened his eyes. "I need to check on Kenya."
Oh, my God. I'd nearly forgotten about her.
"She'd like to see you," he told me. "To apologize for taking what wasn't hers to take."
"You kind of forced me on her," I reminded him.
He made a disgruntled noise. "I think you'd like her." Then he smacked me on the ass and lifted me off of him, standing me on my feet as though I weighed little more than the pillow from the bed.
"I need a minute," I told him. Picking up my clothes, I went into the bathroom to clean up. I didn't want to go with him to the swamp. Didn't want to "like" the vampire who would've killed me if Killian hadn't stopped her. And I had no doubt she would have. I wanted to stay here with Wiggles.
"Wiggles can come, too," Killian called from the other room.
Why did he always know exactly what I was thinking?
When I came out, Killian was dressed—all except his sweater, which was lying across the bed—and standing by the window, looking out at the city below. "I love this city," he confessed. "I always have. Despite the fact it's full of witches." He grinned at me over his shoulder, and my heart skipped in my chest.
"How long have you been here?" I asked as I joined him by the window.
"Since before you were born, off and on."
"I would think vampires would stick to places that had less sunlight, like in Twilight."
He gave me a bemused look.
"Oh, come on. You can't tell me you've never heard of those books. They even made them into movies."
"They're pieces of shite movies," he stated.
"I don't know. I liked them. Of course, I don't know how well they'd stand the test of time..."
"Lizzy."
I tore my eyes away from the city lights and looked up at him.
Killian was staring down at me intently. It took a long time for him to talk. "I'm about to lose one of my very best friends," he told me. I could hear in his voice what it cost him to say it out loud. "Are you sure there's absolutely nothing you can do to help her?"
I shook my head. "I'm so sorry, Killian. I can't. The only thing I've ever managed to do is destroy things, not save them. And I think if I had any sort of healing powers, I would've discovered them when my mom died. I didn't always like her, and she was completely weirded out by me most of the time, but she was my mom and I loved her. She was sick for a long time." I crossed my arms and looked back over the city. "There was nothing I could do. There was nothing anyone could do."
In retrospect, I wished I'd called my aunt sooner than I had. If I'd known what she really was, maybe she or one of my cousins could've done something to help my mother.
An idea suddenly appeared in my head. "Have you approached my aunt about this?"
"Actually, I have. She came to see me tonight at the club."
"She did?" I was surprised. "Is that a normal thing for her?"
He gave a derisive laugh and picked up a lock of my hair, rubbing it between his fingers. "No. As a matter of fact, the witches normally stay off of Bourbon Street." At my look of confusion, he dropped my hair and gave a little shrug. "They stay on their side and we stay on ours. We only ever cross those lines when something happens that's a threat to all of us." His mouth twisted into an ugly line. "Except for this time. This time, I was told by Judy the witches would not get involved."
"But, I thought it was a spell that made Kenya sick?"
