Note: Genetic anomaly. Subjects possess no internal magic but can consume external sources. Highly unstable. Hunted to extinction.
Moro.Marrow.
He wasn't just a Null. He was a descendant of a bloodline that was supposed to be dead. A bloodline thatatemagic.
"Oh gods," I whispered, the book trembling in my hands.
He didn't want to regulate the bonds.
He wanted to feed on them.
4
"Stop slouching," Ivy hissed. "You look like a suspicious shrub."
"I look like a person trying to hide behind a decorative fern," I whispered back. "Because that is exactly what I am doing."
We were huddled in the back corner ofThe Daily Grind, Northcrest’s busiest (and only) magical coffee shop. It was a cozy chaos of a place—mismatched velvet armchairs, floating lanterns, and air that smelled permanently of espresso and roasted hazelnut.
Usually, I loved it here.
Today, however, I was wearing sunglasses indoors and spying on a vampire.
"He's wiping the counter again," Ivy narrated, peeling back a fern frond to peek at the bar. "Look at his forearms, Lina. The sheer efficiency. The vascularity. It’s devastating."
I craned my neck to look.
Behind the massive espresso machine stood Jax.
He was... well, Ivy wasn't wrong. He was devastating. Tall, lean, with skin the color of alabaster and hair as black as araven's wing. He wore a black t-shirt that fit him like a second skin and a barista apron that somehow made him look more dangerous, not less. He moved with a blurred, supernatural speed, frothing milk and pulling shots with a bored expression that only added to the mystique.
"He knows we're here," I said, adjusting my sunglasses. "Vampires have super-hearing, Ivy. He can probably hear your pulse."
"My pulse is chill," Ivy lied. "My pulse is a steady drumbeat of indifference."
At the counter, Jax paused. He didn't look up, but the corner of his mouth ticked up in a smirk.
"He definitely heard that," I sighed.
Ivy slumped back in her armchair, crossing her arms over her chest. She was wearing a violently orange sweater today, probably to compensate for the loss of her broom. "I need to talk to him, Lina. He’s the only one who can get the ingredients for the stabilizers without flagging the Registry. But if I approach him, he’ll think I’m... interested."
"Youareinterested."
"I ampragmatic! There is a difference!"
Jax finished making a latte, slid it across the counter to a terrified-looking freshman, and then finally looked up. His eyes—crimson-flecked obsidian—locked straight onto our fern.
He winked.
Ivy made a noise that sounded like a dying kettle. "Oh god. He winked. Did you see the wink? It was mocking. He’s mocking my pain."
"He’s flirting," I corrected. "Go talk to him. Ask for the ingredients. Flirt back. Use your chaos."
Ivy took a deep breath, smoothing her electric blue hair. "Okay. Chaos mode activated. I’m going in."
She stood up, marched toward the counter with the determination of a soldier going to war, and?—
The bell above the door chimed.
