He turned to glare at the vampire, who held up his hands in mock innocence.
“Don’t blame me, Asher. You heard the woman. She said I’m so brilliant she could kiss me.”
“Maybeshecould kiss you, bloodsucker,” Ash sneered. “ButIcould kill you.”
“You could try.”
“Time and place, brother. Time and place.”
“Simmer down, boys.” I glanced around the room, exasperated. “Where the hell did my underwear end up?”
“Pretty sure the bloodsucker stashed them in his pants pocket,” Ash said.
“What?” Darius blustered. “I did no such… Well, this is just preposterous. I demand a trial of my peers.”
Glaring at Darius, I picked up his jeans from the couch, fishing my underwear from the back pocket. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Where are you going, Gray?” Ash stood up and grabbed my elbow, steadying me as I stepped into my underwear. “Seriously.”
“First? The kitchen. I need supplies.”
“Supplies?” he asked.
“Water, candles, crystals, salt, a glass bowl, and some herbs.” Picking up my T-shirt, I answered his question, but I was mostly talking to myself, figuring it out as I went. “I’m thinking mugwort—it’s good for clairvoyance and ancestor work. Maybe some wormwood as well. Oh, and something sharp and pointy.”
“Mmm.” Asher tugged the T-shirt out of my hands and dragged me back into his embrace, kissing his way up my neck, damn near convincing me to stay. “Kinky little witch, aren’t you?”
“You don’t… know the… half of it.” I closed my eyes, temporarily sinking into the pleasure of his mouth on my flesh. Each kiss unlocked another image of the two of them inside me, a fantasy, maybe taking both of them in the same place at the same time…
Oh, God…
No. No, no,no. Ihadto concentrate.
“Pause button,” I breathed. “I… I mean it. I need to find my… Oh, fuck. What was I even talking about?”
“No idea,” Ash replied. “Do you remember, bloodsucker?”
“Funny, incubus. I seem to remember everythingbutthat.”
“Sisters!” I shouted, forcing myself to stay focused—a task that was growing more impossible by the second. Damn, Asher’s mouth was something to behold. “You guys need to wake up my sisters and tell them to meet me in the kitchen.”
“Why?” he asked. “I think we’re doing just fine on our own.”
I finally wriggled out of his embrace, yanked my shirt from his hands, and pulled it on over my head.
“Because as skilled as you guys are in the carnal arts,” I said, grinning, “blood magic is not in your wheelhouse.” I kissed each of them in turn, short and sweet, then called Sparkle and Sunshine and headed to the kitchen. “Don’t wait up, boys. This might take a while.”
Eighteen
GRAY
The flames of a dozen candles flickered around us, throwing eerie shadows on the walls and illuminating my sisters’ faces in the darkness. The three of us sat together inside the salt circle we’d drawn on the kitchen floor, grounding ourselves, tapping into the magic of the earth and air, fire and water, silently calling forth the elements to help us on our quest for answers.
Behind us, Darius, McKenna, and Verona stood guard, ensuring no one disturbed us—from within the lodge or from wherever our visions took us tonight. Verona had been especially concerned about outside interference, and had insisted we place black tourmaline, labradorite, and black obsidian in every corner to help shield us from psychic attacks, just like we’d done during the blood spell we’d performed on Darius.
That night, Haley and I had inadvertently tapped into a vision with Trinity and Georgie. It was short-lived, no more than a side effect of the blood magic intended to restore Darius’s memories, and we hadn’t even recognized what it was at the time. But my hope was that by doing the spell together, with the full intention of connecting with our mother and sister—our blood relatives—we could hold the vision long enough to get some solid information.
“And so we begin,” Haley said, calling us back to the moment. Verona had prepared an incense of wormwood and mugwort, and Haley lit it now, fanning the smoke with a raven’s feather before setting the bowl to her left.
