Page 95 of Fall into Place

“It’s obvious that the vampires are trying to escape.” The haughty older woman spoke again. “And we’ve all heard the rumors that one already has—rumors I can personally corroborate based on the vampire I saw in my hotel room.”

Oh shit. They weren’t just talking about vampires—they were talking about her. That was the old bat Octavia had terrified in the penthouse of The Georgia!

“Please, Mrs. Harriman, what are the odds an escaped vampire showed up in your hotel room of all places?” another woman asked.

“I know what I saw.”

“Well—maybe it’s time we let them come back,” said another woman who sounded considerably kinder than the others.

“You can’t be serious, Flora,” said Mrs. Harriman.

“I am!” Flora sounded a bit huffy. “We took unprecedented action when we created the Isle and trapped them there, but that was because we had to, because people’s lives were in danger—they were too powerful, the natural order was too far out of balance. But now they’ve been gone eleven years, and it’s possible one is back and we haven’t heard of a single murder. If not now, when? When will it be long enough to know they’ve learned their lesson?”

Octavia felt a great deal of kinship for this Flora person, whoever she was.

“Maybe they should never come back,” came another voice, stern and prim.

“Give me a break, Fern,” Flora muttered.

Fern! That was the woman Joni had been in touch with—she wasn’t a literary agent, she was a fucking witch trying to capture Octavia and send her back to the Isle!

“They’ve been locked away for eleven years,” Fern went on. “Do you think they’re going to come home quietly? Does that sound like vampires to you? Or do you think they’re going to go on an absolute killing spree—starting with seeking revenge on all of us?”

Octavia hated to admit it, but that was a pretty good point. She was sure almost any vampire would kill Fern if they knew she was arguing for their permanent captivity.

“Please, the humans are doing an absolutely fine job of killing each other already!” Flora argued. “And there are far fewer vampires now than there were when we sent them to the Isle—there are only a couple hundred left. And some of them are pretty decent creatures—I’m the one who keeps tabs on them from Bar Between! It’s not right that they’re all being punished equally for crimes they didn’t all commit.”

There were murmurs of agreement from the group, and Octavia felt a surge of hope—was it possible that these women were about to end the Isle, and that Callum was about to come home?

“You’re being naïve,” Fern said coldly. “Our coven is meant to protect order between the mortal and magical realms. The best way we can do that is to shut down the portal to the Isle for good—and trap the vampires there forever.”

“I agree,” Mrs. Harriman piped in. “Shall we put the matter up for a vote?”

Octavia started to panic—she was out of time. If she had a shot at rescuing Joni, she needed to do it right now. She didn’t know if going up to the attic would work—or if Joni was even there—but it was the only plan she had. And if it was really possible that she was about to lose her brother for good, she damn sure wasn’t also going to lose the only person on Earth that she still trusted.

She moved quietly up the last few stairs—

But she stopped dead when she heard a noise behind her—was someone there?!

“There you are, Octavia,” came a deep, quiet voice. “I wasn’t sure you would make it.”

Octavia raised the wine bottle to try to fight, but she knew she didn’t have a prayer—before she could land a single blow, a dark shadow sped toward her and a hand closed over her mouth.

Chapter 24

Tess knew she and Callum should be focused on figuring out their portal problems, but they just couldn’t seem to get out of bed. They’d spend hours talking and having sex, then Callum would glamour up some outrageous food, then they’d sleep, then they’d shower, then they’d have sex again, and it was all a very difficult cycle to break.

“You’re turning me into a hermit,” Tess joked, luxuriating in her big sleigh bed as Callum grazed his fingers over her body. “I’m the only human ever to visit this magical island, and all I’ll ever see is the inside of this bedroom.”

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” Callum teased, leaning over to kiss Tess. “Would you prefer I arranged some sort of historical group tour? A vampire with an umbrella leading us to various spots of interest and giving dry lectures on who was murdered where?”

“Shut up. You know full well I’d fucking love that.”

Callum laughed and started kissing her again, and she imagined what the tour guide would say about this particular room.

Now, this is the bedroom of the first and only human who ever visited the Isle. In this very spot, a woman who thought she might never be happy again realized just how much she’d been missing.

“All right,” he said nearly an hour later, reaching for one of Tess’s library books. “Let’s see what mysteries of the universe we can uncover.”