Page 6 of Call of the Blood

“I was. Bored.”

“You and Everly have been bored for a couple of months now,” Rupert said diplomatically. He was putting it lightly. Every day, it was a little worse. He and Everly were quietly going crazy near each other, but without anyone else to regularly engage with, they suffered through it just for contact. Vampires weren’t magically required to be social, but there was something about spending even a modicum of time with one’s own kind. Less holding back than around humans.

And while he had the perfect humans who he genuinely cared for… they were older, and they needed sleep. He and Everly couldn’t keep them up on a vampire’s schedule and expect them to also get their tasks done and remain healthy. It was too much. He was protective of them in his own way, and keeping them in his life as long as they possibly could be was important to him. He would guard their health even if they didn’t want to look after their own.

Alexius stopped writing his first draft and cracked the wax seal to read the message. It was as he thought. Since he had started allowing Everly to roam, they watched her and made sure she seemed under control, letting her find her feet. But since it had been a few months now, that implied there was intent for her to stay long term. They just wanted to meet her and understand a bit more about her presence and where she came from. There was, however, no reassurance that they weren’t planning on asking her to leave.

He trusted the coven. They’d had this deal for a long time, and no one outside of himself and Isaiah knew the real details of it now. His humans knew there was a deal, and it had always been honored. That was all they needed to know, though Rupert knew more details than he’d ever told anyone. Jacob had known, but Jacob was gone. His son had been his second when he had diplomatically met the coven back when Savannah was a young place but had the water he needed. He had never lived in a place that was landlocked, but it was hard finding a nice place that didn’t have too many other vampires. He’d liked the warm air and knew it was the place for him.

So, he had come to Savannah very early, and the coven was also just settling into the place. They came together. He would keep out all other vampires or keep them in his home and warn off the moon-cursed. An errant werecat on the outskirts wasn’t a problem for them, but they didn’t want a werewolf pack, so there wasn’t one. The witches would shroud the city and keep out enemy witches and most of the fae. Some slipped in but could never settle long enough to cause problems. Only a few were allowed to really stay and do business, under the understanding that the witches could and would throw them out. Every other supernatural being was forced to answer to the coven, and if the coven was attacked, he was more than willing to help deal with that threat as well, since they were his allies.

The Shroud, though, was an impressive piece of magic and the only reason he wasn’t attacked at any point over the last few centuries. It obscured the location of certain supernaturals in the city. Even the fine noses of the werewolves couldn’t properly track a protected supernatural’s scent in Savannah. No spell would pinpoint a protected supernatural, either. And his home was completely obscured, no matter who was in it. His home wasn’t the only place so obscured. So was the coven’s main home, where they could retreat if enemies found their other homes in the city and its outskirts.

He knew, in the grand scheme of things, he came out better in the deal in many ways, but when things got bloody, the witches were basically human. They needed his power in Savannah. The first hundred years were rough when it came to other supernaturals trying to come in and claim the city for their own or to defeat those who lived there. Now, everyone knew to drive right through and not stop.

He pondered all of this as he rewrote his message back to the coven. He would take Everly to them two hours after full sunset, with her well-fed before being in their presence. He also added a simple line about how he was sorry for putting off them meeting a member of his household for as long as he had.

“Household…” Rupert hummed. “They’re going to notice that choice of words, Alexius.”

“They will. It will tell them before we’re even in the same room that her presence in Savannah is nonnegotiable. A member of my household can’t be sent away.”

“But they can force you to restrict her to the property, and that won’t be healthy for her, not now, after she’s gotten herself to the place of being able to rejoin the world. She’ll go mad.”

We are already going mad.

“I want her added to the spell,” Alexius said, sighing. Rupert’s eyes went wide. He’d surprised the old man with that. It was a surprising thing for Alexius to say. He hadn’t really known he was going to say it until he did. But it felt right.

“We’ll see if I can pull that off. She’ll be the first vampire ever added to the spell.” He sealed the letter back with his own wax, a little kit he rarely brought out. Only for the witches did he think it was mandatory. Savannah was ruled by him on one side and the witches on the other. Day and night. They did certain things on principle.

“Good luck,” Rupert said, taking the envelope. “Get some sleep, please. Clearly, you’ll need it.” He quietly shut the office door without waiting for a reply.

Alexius only grunted and turned on the app to watch Rupert pass off the reply to the witch at the door.

There was so much he needed to tell Everly in the first hour of the night. He made a list so he wouldn’t forget anything before heading to bed himself.

3

CHAPTER THREE

When I woke up, I decided to drag my feet, not wanting to face the night ahead too quickly. I was going to take a long shower and enjoy it. Alexius and I were planning on sitting quietly in front of a TV, and I was going to have to pretend it wasn’t the most agonizing thing to be stuck in a dark room next to the guy I had a giant crush on. I had no real options for anything else for the night. Training… which would be with him. Inventing something I needed to deal with, which he would need an explanation for since it was his house.

“Isaiah, you can call anytime,” I muttered as I stepped out of the shower to find a note on my bed. “What the fuck?” I frowned as I grabbed it, having never heard anything.

It was from Alexius.

We had somewhere to be in an hour.

The witches wanted to meet me.

Feeling panic run through me, I threw the note to the side and went to the door, not bothering to change first. “Alexius!” I yelled out, hoping he would hear me wherever he was. “I haven’t even fed yet. Can we take just a little more time?”

“I can’t give it to you,” he said, leaning out of his own room. He blinked several times, and I looked down to see the towel was riding up, and my entire bare leg was also visible.

Oh my God. Someone kill me now.

“Why not?” I asked, adjusting everything so I could continue the conversation without further feelings of wanting to die on the spot.

“It’s the traditional meeting time between the witches and myself. It’s customary. Get ready, and I’ll have your blood ready for you to drink before we leave. It takes twenty minutes to get there, so you are running out of time.” He closed his door first, going back to whatever he had been doing. I hadn’t been able to see much of him, so perhaps he was still getting dressed too.