Page 70 of His to Hunt

I try to work in the occasional bath because of how I feel afterwards. I don’t get that from a shower, but a good soak seems to do wonders for me.

I’m finishing one now, and slipping on a pink nightgown that’s similar to the blue one Victor seems to like so much. I like this one because I have some lipstick that matches it, but I’m not going to bother with that. It’ll be smeared off way too fast.

When I step out of the bathroom, Victor is in his boxers, sitting on the edge of the bed. He seems to brood while I bathe. Sometimes, it reminds me of a gargoyle, turning to stone because I leave the room.

“Feel better now?” he asks, his dark gaze roaming across my body enough to make me tighten my stomach muscles.

“Yeah, I feel a lot better,” I exhale sharply. “Which is surprising, considering how much you wore me out this morning.”

“Was that this morning? Time is getting fuzzy,” he says, patting the side of the bed. “The frenzy is coming in a matter of hours. Sit down so we can talk for a minute.”

The seriousness in his tone worries me a little, so I quickly move to the bed and sit down beside him. Victor can be as quiet as a stone gargoyle unless he’s inside me, so if he’s got something to talk to me about, it concerns me. The fact the frenzy is hours away should concern me more, but I’m feeling that too. I just didn’t realize how close it is.

“What’s going on? Is it about the frenzy?” I ask.

“We’re going to talk about that, but first there’s something else we need to discuss,” he speaks quietly, leaning down and opening his backpack. I didn’t even realize it was there.

I look down and my eyes widen when he pulls out the book of spells. I thought it was gone. Already in the hands of the Witch Hunters, and far from Covington.

“Wait, why do you still have that?” I ask, looking up at him in confusion. “Didn’t you give it to the Witch Hunters?”

“No, the Witch Hunters are dead,” he tells me without preamble. “I planned to give them the book, but it was an ambush. Well, it would have been an ambush, but I had some help.”

“Saul and the rest of Silver Pack?” I ask, swallowing hard, feeling strangely drawn to the book.

“No. This is going to sound fucking crazy, because I’m still asking myself if it actually happened, but one of Mother Fate’s emissaries just…showed up,” he shares. “He just walked out of thin air. He told me you have to keep the book.” He stares at the book for a moment, then places it in my lap. “There. Put it wherever you want to put it. It’s yours.”

“I don’t understand,” I say, looking down at the book. For a moment, it looks like there’s a faint shimmer, but then it’s gone. “Why? I’m not going to cast anymore spells.”

“They’re not spells. They’re rituals. When you do them all, it will cast a spell,” he sighs, shaking his head. “One that will reincarnate Mother Nature.”

Victor goes into more detail while I’m asking a million questions, trying to put it all together in my head, because it sounds like madness.

“Whaaat??!” Seriously, what the hell did he just say? “Ishtar? How is that possible? How can I possibly bring her back?” My eyes widen even more. “And won’t casting spells attract attention.”

The questions keep coming, and I don’t understand why Victor isn’t freaking out like I am.

“It could. I’ve been thinking through that,” he answers me calmly, but I am not calm. “It’s about all I’ve been thinking about whenever I stop breathing your scent in. I don’t think we should do them in Covington. Maybe we move around, avoid leaving a trail.”

“Oh…” I begin, looking around. Then, “What about our stuff?”

“We’ll take what we need. Look at it like a vacation. We travel, do a ritual, then come back here,” he suggests. “I don’t think the rituals will give off the same kind of energy as a spell would, but I’m not taking any chances. You have to do seven of them.”

“There are seven rituals?” I gasp, flipping through the book. A few of the pages look different now, like the cipher is partially gone. I can almost read them. Weird.

It feels like too much, too fast again, but even with my mushy brain, what he says makes sense. Or maybe sense isn’t the right word. Logical, maybe? In a world where there is a real Mother Fate who sends me my mate, after I cast a spell that turns out to be a curse, with my childhood friends in the basement, using a book that turns out to be an incredibly ancient book of druidic rituals that my grandmother supposedly found at a yard sale, I guess anything is possible. Hopefully vampires aren’t real. Or car-sized spiders.

“That’s what he said. He also said you’d be able to read it once your druid sight develops,” he answers.

“I’m not a druid! How would I have druid sight!?” I shriek, my hand flying to my mouth. I process that for a stunned moment, realizing that maybe I am supposed to be some kind of druid. “Do I have other druid… things?”

“I don’t know. Finn mentioned the sight and that was it,” he huffs, looking more annoyed than frazzled, like I feel. “Then he just fucking disappeared, so it’s not like I had a chance to interrogate him after we killed the Witch Hunters.”

“Damn,” I mutter, trying to let it all sink in. Then, “Damn.” I mean, what else is there to say?

“For now, just put the book away. Once the frenzy starts, we won’t care about anything else,” he tries to get me back on track, but seriously… WTF?

I stand up and look around. Where should I put a book that can apparently reincarnate Mother Nature? The closet? A drawer? The drawer seems to make the most sense to me for some reason, so that’s where I put it. I place it in the bottom drawer of the dresser. It used to be kept in a cardboard box, so I guess even my grandmother’s book gets better living accommodations now. Thank you, Victor!