Page 10 of Call of the Blood

“Yes. Or other supernaturals, though you’ll only find ghosts here who were witches or plain humans with a touch more magic in them than they ever knew.”

“Wow, okay.” I wasn’t expecting that. “I’ll… do my best not to offend any of them,” I said, tugging at my sleeve nervously.

“Well, if any give you a problem, you just tell him.” She nodded her head back to the other room. “He knew them by name. Not all, but many. There are some in the city that not even we could help you with, but they don’t target people who are respectful of the area. Do you understand what I mean?”

She was clearly testing me. Leading me into a moment to test my knowledge. Her face had turned deadly serious, broaching no argument or change of topic. She would have an answer from me.

“I understand,” I promised. “There were people here before the coven, before Alexius, before the Europeans who founded Savannah.”

“Then you understand. Those ghosts, if offended, will not care who or what you are. And it’s their right to be angry. I don’t care where you stand with anything, but to live here as a supernatural, you must acknowledge that.”

“It is,” I agreed softly.

“Good.” Nancy smiled once again. “It’s not all altruistic. The coven doesn’t want to lose members of our families dealing with a problem like that. So, let’s not cause one.”

“Of course.”

“Now, your story,” she said.

I heard a lift in the soft chatter I had ignored successfully until that point. There was something about the spot and the person I was with that had made it easy to turn them into background noise. Now, it picked up.

“Where…” Alexius’ voice cut through.

“Alexius! It’s good to see you. Looking good as ever,” a woman said, the tone in her voice making it sound like she was flirting.

My fingers bit into the fabric of my turtleneck, and Nancy seemed to notice there was some change.

“Would you rather keep it to yourself? Don’t hurt your poor sleeve. It didn’t do anything to you.” She reached out and actually slapped the top of my hand, and I released the sleeve.

“Oh, sorry. No, I got distracted by the noise.”

“He finally came inside,” Nancy said, with a huff. “Dragging his feet. He started up with that about ten years ago. Ignore all that. I need to know the new vampire who wants refuge and safety in our city. How did a young woman like you, so nervous and fidgety, become a creature of the night?”

Nervous and fidgety… I’ve been working so hard not to be like that, and this old witch undid it in a second. She’s thrown me off this whole time.

“It’s a longer story than someone might expect. I grew up with vampires. I was related to one, several generations removed. He became a vampire, and his sister’s family, her children and grandchildren, all worked for the nest. I’m from that line, part of the active family that remained and kept working there if we wanted the work.”

“Fascinating.”

“It was mutually beneficial. They had humans who genuinely cared for them more than just the paycheck who could fulfill roles. In return, the family members were educated and well taken care of, unharmed by the vast majority of things that could happen to humans who work for supernaturals.”

“I’ve never heard of that… though I don’t spend much time around vampire nests.”

“It’s not that uncommon, but I think our family was one of the longest lasting. Over two hundred and fifty or so years.”

“What happened? And how did that work out for so long?”

“They worked for Jacob’s nest,” he answered without announcing himself.

Her eyes went wide, and she turned in the chair, looking back to the archway leading into the sitting area. I looked back as well, not having to twist nearly as much. Alexius stood in the doorway, his eyes shadowed.

“I see…” she said softly. “And Jacob’s nest is no more.”

“It was passed to new leadership for transition after his murder, and that was its own disaster,” Alexius explained.

“A disaster that my mother and I paid the price of,” I added for Nancy. “She didn’t have anyone willing to Turn her when the… new leadership decided she was too annoying to keep around.”

“Oh, spirits have mercy,” the old witch exhaled. She looked at me, almost incredulous. “And you survived and decided to become a vampire?”