Page 59 of Malice

“So,” she says, picking up her tea. “Why are you so interested in the demon your family trapped?”

Chapter

Twenty-Four

“How was lunch with Delphi?” Xavier asks as soon as I step foot in the house. He’s leaning against the doorframe in the kitchen, waiting for me. Oh, shit. I can tell by the look on his face he knows I wasn’t with her. Knowing I don’t want to dig myself deeper into a lie, I take my shoes off and cross the space between us.

“I didn’t have lunch with Delphi.”

“I know. I had a phone conference with her pack. She was there.”

“It’s not what you think,” I rush out, knowing that lying about meeting up with a girlfriend usually means someone is cheating.

“Really? It seems exactly what I think. You met a witch.”

My mouth falls open. “How did you—were you spying on me?”

“I was worried, Wren. I sent Nina to check on you.”

I look at him, not sure if I’m warranted in my anger. Yes, I lied, but I didn’t have someone sneak around. “How did you know I was with a witch?”

“Marie Dubois is a well known witch in the south,” Theo says, instantly annoying me for getting involved. “We heard a rumor that she was spotted in Charlotte. You knew she was here.”

“What’s wrong with that?” I ask. “Are witches not allowed in your precious city either? What about me then?”

“It’s not witches,” Xavier goes on, and his calmness is worse than him being angry. “She showed up and then we were attacked by reanimated corpses.”

“Oh, come on, she is not responsible for what the demon did!”

“She’s related to Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen of the south,” Theo presses. “But she didn’t tell you that, did she?”

I swallow hard. She didn’t specifically say that, but she did tell me she was named after a prominent member of her family and did tell me that her family’s specialty was voodoo.

“They basically invented the zombie,” Theo goes on.

“I’m telling you, Marie did not create the zombies that attacked us. That would make no sense,” I counter.

“What makes no sense is a group of witches moving into vampire territory,” Xavier states calmly.

“Well why not,” Theo snaps, turning on his brother. “The hunters already have because obviously we’re just letting anybody move in now.”

“She didn’t move in. She came here to help me and I needed her help,” I say, not needing to go into telling them that her day job is writing articles for a historical magazine and she was able to get them to pay for her to stay a week at the Duke Mansion for “research”.

“Her help?” Xavier echoes and I know he’s taking it personally, that needing her help means he’s incapable in some way.

“What could you possibly need from a voodoo witch?”

“Voodoo is a type of magic. She’s a witch, like me. And I need help dealing with the demon,” I start. “It’s in my head and I needed to figure out a way to keep it out. Especially if Antonio is right and the demon is trying to use me so it can stay one step ahead.”

“The demon is in your head?” Xavier asks, clearly taken aback. “For how long?”

“Just the last couple days.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” His brows go up and I hate that I might have accidentally hurt him by trying to protect him. I can’t stand here and say he had so much else going on that I didn’t want to add to it, and I don’t know how to make him understand I’m just not used to having someone to share the burden of my life with.

Not yet.

“I didn’t even know what to think about it,” I confess. “Or if I was really hearing the voice of just thinking I heard the voice. I’ve been a little stressed lately. We all have.” I close my eyes and exhale. “I can’t believe you spied on me!”