Page 32 of The Slayer Seduction

“Even though he’s a vampire?” I reply and I didn’t mean it rudely, just curiously.

“Yes. He’s not perfect, far from it, but he’s protected me from the Slayer and from the vampire council. He’s the one I’ve been waiting for. I don’t know how to explain it,” Ember says dreamily, and she actually sounds in love.

My sweetest oldest friend would fall that fast and I’m happy for her.

“I’m sorry, Ember, I don’t mean to question you. I haven’t slept much. Having a demon, well, something adjacent in your house along with other nuisances has me exhausted.”

“Wow. Okay. I thought my life was dramatic, but I think you two take the cake. So you both have supernatural mates of a…unique variety and they’re both trying to kill each other. Cool, awesome. What do we do now?” Violet says.

“For now, we go to the moon ritual. We act like everything is normal. You know your grandma is going to lose her shit when she finds out, Em. You being with a vampire may be the thing that sends her into an early grave. I’m sure some of the coven might have an issue with it at first, but they’ll have to get over it,” I say, trying to stay strong for all of us.

“What about you and your Slayer?” Ember asks me, like I have a single clue.

“I don’t know what to do with him yet. I just know that every magical particle in my body doesn’t want him hurt.”

It’s this bone deep thing I can’t control and it’s eating away at me.

“I can understand that,” Ember says softly.

“So we get through the ritual, then what?”

“I think Warin could maybe be reasoned with a peace treaty. The vampire council is another thing altogether though,” Ember says, and I can tell this council scares the shit out of her.

“He’ll be more difficult.” I sigh. “He’s not just the Slayer, he’s a human, too. The Slayer has more control, though, and he’s proven pretty fucking difficult to reason with. We’ll probably need magic to deal with him. We’ll need to hit the books and come up with a magical solution on that front. Maybe your vampire council, too?”

“Warin. He gave me some old grimoires. A witch who specialized in offensive and defensive magic against vampires. It’s come to me more naturally than I could have ever thought. Maybe there’s something in there?”

“That’s a good start. I’ll visit my aunt tomorrow, see if she has any suggestions. What about Delphine? Has she seen any of this?” Violet asks me.

“All she’s told me is that she’s sorry for my ancestral burden. She was right about that. I’m not sure she could see anything involving vampires or slayers, but I can ask,” I say, though I already have her working on the Slayer front.

“Okay, so in the meantime, you keep your Slayer. What’s his name?” Violet asks, being polite, and I sigh, not telling my friends that I’m literally calling him the Slayer in my head.

“It’s complicated,” I reply instead.

“Alright then. You keep your Slayer safe locked in your house, do whatever you need to do to keep him there. Keep him preoccupied so that he doesn’t go after Warin. And Ember, figure out if you can reason with Warin, and what would make this council fuck off?”

I scrunch my nose and nod.

“That’s it. That’s the solution? You should be saving her from the bloodsucker,” the garden fairy cries.

“Tabitha, if you don’t shut the fuck up,” I tell the fairy, taking out my wand, ready to roast her wings off.

“Tabitha, go back with the other fairies. Now,” Ember demands.

“God, how do you deal with them all the time? Someone constantly talking your ear off when all you want is for them to go the fuck away?”

“Iris, is there something else?” Ember asks and I shake my head.

“No, we’ve got bigger problems right now. Let’s just get through tonight, alright?” We don’t need to get into how bad my visions have gotten. Well, I mean, now that we’re dealing with all of this, they’re slowing down, anyway. It’s not a big deal.

“Alright,” she agrees.

“Just another standard day for the Celestial Coven.” Violet takes a deep breath. “Ready to get the show on the road?” she asks.

Scarlett doesn’t report anything about the Slayer and I go to the moon ritual, doing what needs to be done for my coven.

Yet, the whole time I think about what it would feel like if the Slayer was taken out by the vampire council. Even if I don’t want a mate, even if I don’t particularly like him, I don’t want him dead.