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Oh. Yeah. That makes more sense. But before I’d admit just being a plain old human, I decide to make them give out some information first. “And just what are you two?”
The two women share a glance, as if not automatically knowing what they are is telling in some way.
“Of course. How rude of us. I’m Eden Vaughn, the Vampire Queen of this city.”
“And I’m Claudia St. James, the coven leader and head witch of the city.”
Vampires and witches. Sure. Why the fuck not, right?
I open my mouth to say something snarky, something disbelieving, but that’s not what comes out.
“I’m Lily DeCarlo, and I don’t know what the fuck is going on anymore. I’m just a human, but for the last two months I’ve been losing time. I weirdly kind of look forward to it because at least it’s a break from this shitshow, plus usually, I come back feeling better than before. Tonight, though, tonight takes the cake for weird shit.
“Not only have I been seeing weird shit—like you blurring around, Ms. Vampire, and your far too pointy teeth—but I also heard four distinctly different, male voices in my head just before I came back to reality today. So, if you know whether that makes me anything other than crazy, then I’m all ears.”
There. That’s better. I sink into the back of the seat, infinitely lighter now that I’d unburdened myself.
They probably didn’t believe me.
And they were definitely turning around and driving me right back to the hospital. But at least I’d gotten it off my chest.
“Sounds like demonic possession,” Claudia the witch says as matter-of-factly as if she’d recited her home address.
“Oh. Is that all?” I say flatly. I’ve taken so many punches lately, the new ones don’t even faze me.
“Yes, and it’s quite serious if there’s more than one possessing you at a time.”
Oh. Fantastic. More is worse, I guess. “OK, so what do we do about it?”
The car comes to a stop in front of a three-story townhouse in a neighborhood I’ve never noticed before. Standing dead center in the row of homes, the black siding and gingerbread architecture makes it the ugly goth stepchild of the street.
I half expect a massive spider toboingdown from one of the eaves.
“Where are we?” I ask, as Claudia opens the rear door for me. Her dark eyes connect with mine. “As if you need to ask,” she says, gesturing broadly to herself.
“Well, I didn’t want to assume,” I say and follow her up the steep brick stairs to the front door with the so-called queen right on my heels.
Claudia opens the large black door embellished with black quatrefoil stained glass.
“First things first,” she says while ushering me into the dark entryway. “A hot cup of tea and then we make sure there isn’t permanent damage.”
I’m absently swirlingthe completely cooled and rather bitter reddish tea in its bone china, wondering if all supe women are preternaturally beautiful like these two, when Claudia finally removes her fingertips from my scalp. She steps around to my front, inscrutable expression on her face.
Eden shifts in her seat, designer silk dress shifting with her. “Well?” Her stiletto taps against the carved table leg in double-double time, almost sounding like an impatient woodpecker.
Claudia falls heavily into the high-backed chair across from me and stares off into the distance. She does this long enough that Eden and I share annoyed glances.
Eventually, Claudia pulls her gaze toward me once more. “You’re sure you’re only human?”
I shrug. “Human and boring as they come.”
She shakes her head, clicking her tongue at me in admonishment. “Human… maybe. But boring, definitely not.”
“Just spit it out, Claudia. We’ve all got things to do and kings to fuck.”
I can’t help but give Eden a wide-eyed stare.
“What? We’re newly mated. It’s part of the whole mate thing.”
