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“You can tell that from here?”
“Yes. And when you’re informing the council about the vampire, then perhaps you can also mention—”
“No. Not without proof.”
“So you’d rather risk this place becoming untenable than trust the word of a witch, however tenuous her link to magic?” I shook my head. “I hadn’t pegged you as someone who was so closed-minded.”
His gaze narrowed dangerously but he didn’t say anything. He simply strode past me and headed down the hill. About halfway down, energy stirred and the air shimmered as the internal magic of the wolf—a magic that didn’t cause the change, but merely hid the transformation that came from evolutionary DNA adaptions, as well as neatly taking care of everything he was wearing or carrying—swept him effortlessly from one form to another. His wolf was as lean and powerful as his human, and his coat rippled with silver at every movement.
Even in animal form, the damn man was attractive.
He leaped off the road and disappeared into the trees. I pushed upright and began the long journey back to town. It was close to one by the time I arrived back at the café and the sunshine that had been out until that point disappeared behind a gathering bank of dark clouds. I couldn’t help hoping it wasn’t an omen of some kind.
The bell above the door rang as I entered the café, but the merry sound was almost lost to the babble of conversation. All but three of our tables were full, and the air held a happy resonance that spoke well for our future. I greeted the couple who’d come in for coffee yesterday, and nodded at the rest as I headed toward the back of the room. Belle glanced up and gave me a cheerful grin, even though she’d been aware of my arrival well before I’d even stepped through the door.
“Do you need a hand here?” I asked
“Not immediately.” Go secure things and then have a shower first.
I raised my eyebrows. Are you saying I stink?
Eau de sweat is strong on you.
I snorted and continued toward the reading room. The air sparked briefly as I entered, a clear indication the spells encircling and protecting the room were active. Incense burned in each corner of the shadowed room, filling the space with the warm scents of cinnamon, clove, lemon, and sandalwood—all of which provided either protection or enhanced focus and concentration. There was a simple wooden table in the center of the room, along with four mismatched but comfortable chairs. A large rug
covered the floor and bright lengths of material were draped from the ceiling, not only providing the otherwise drab room with some color, but also hiding the spellwork engraved into the wood. The spell stones we’d placed in each corner backed these up; only an entity of extreme power was going to get into this room.
I walked across to the full-height bookcase that had been built along the right wall. Once I’d moved a decorative candle and a couple of pottery dragons, I placed my hand against the bookcase’s wooden back. Energy immediately crawled across my fingers, and after a slight pause, there was a soft click and the wooden panel slipped to one side, revealing an eight-inch-deep empty compartment. The entire bookshelf was actually little more than a cover for thirty-six of these storage compartments, each one matching the size of bookshelf that fronted it. They could only be accessed via Belle’s hands or mine. Fingerprint scanners might be the latest evolution in physical locks, but witches had been using a magical version for decades.
I swung the backpack around and placed the foul-feeling necklace into the compartment. Once it was securely locked away, I quickly stored the rest of the pack’s items and then headed upstairs to clean up.
The rest of the afternoon passed by relatively quickly. While we weren’t inundated with customers, there was a steady enough stream to keep everyone busy. Once the café was closed, I sent Belle upstairs to relax while I finished cleaning up and made us dinner—steak, eggs, and vegetables. While a lot of false witches tended to be vegetarians or even vegans, those of us who dealt with real stuff had to be carnivores. A spell could only be as strong as the practitioner, and that meant getting the full range of minerals and vitamins from all available sources, be it from fat, dairy, vegetable, or animal.
I carried our meals upstairs. The day had gotten colder as the afternoon had progressed, so instead of eating on the balcony as usual, Belle had dragged the table and chairs inside, squashing them into the small space between the sofa and the TV.
“I,” she said, as she grabbed her cutlery, “am famished.”
“You’re in a café surrounded by food. If you don’t take the time to eat, you’ve no one to blame but yourself.”
I straddled a chair and then picked up my knife and fork and tucked in. The only sound that broke the silence was the clink of knives against the china.
Belle finally pushed her plate away with a contented sigh and then said, “So, we are dealing with a vampire.”
“Unfortunately, yes.” I gathered the plates and rose. “You want coffee?”
She nodded. “Do you think you could use the necklace you found at Marjorie’s to track him?”
Once I’d dumped the plates onto the bench, I grabbed a couple of mugs and made us both an espresso. “That will depend on what sort of spell he’s placed on it.”
I had received some training in spell unraveling, but—as usual—I was nowhere near as proficient as either my parents or my brother.
“Juli is a smug wanker,” Belle commented. “And you have no idea how often I’ve thanked the spirits for making me your familiar rather than his.”
Juli was the nickname she’d given my brother, Julius, when we were both still kids, and it was one that seriously pissed him off. I grinned. “Oh, I don’t know—imagine the fun you could have had making his life utter hell.”
“As delicious as that prospect might be, it fails to make me in any way nostalgic for what might have been.” She leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs. “I didn’t get the impression that what you were feeling from the locket was magic, per se. More a cold inhumanity, which in itself suggests we’re dealing with an old vampire rather than one who is freshly turned.”
I picked up the two coffees and walked back over. “Just because I couldn’t feel a spell doesn’t mean it’s not there. Especially if he’s a strong blood witch.”
