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“Vampire?” I echo. “In Thorne Hill?”
“I’m afraid so,” Tabatha says.
Other than Lucas and Eliza, there are only two registered vampires in the town. They’re young and around last Halloween, I had Lucas meet with them, laying out the groundwork basically to say don’t fuck with any residents in Thorne Hill because most of us are witches and as new vamps, it can be hard to sense the magic.
The vampires seemed willing to abide by the unofficial rules and Lucas didn’t think they’d be a problem. And they haven’t been a problem. I’ve heard nothing about them, either good or bad, which means they’re blending in with the nons and have assimilated well.
“How bad?” Kristy asks, holding Olive close to her chest.
“Interestingly enough, there were no deaths,” Tabatha says, eyes narrowing slightly. “There were thirteen victims all admitted to the hospital for blood loss with no memory of what happened. Most were treated and released with everyone expected to recover.”
The new vamps in town are way too young to hold anyone spellbound. Lucas is the only vampire I know who is old— “Oh fuck. I think I know who did this.” I look at Kristy. “When was the last time you talked to Betty?”
“Um…this morning.” She texted me a photo of the display she was working on at the store.
“Thank god,” I say with a sigh. “If I’m right, we need to be really careful. This vampire is older than Lucas. Eamon. He came around the house looking for Lucas only a few days ago.”
I think. No, it had to be. The last week has gone by painfully slow but in the blink of an eye at the same time.
“Wait,” Kristy starts and her face pales even more. “He’s the vampire who wants to unite all supernaturals to rage a war against humans, isn’t he?”
“Yeah.” My blood goes cold. I was too focused on the bigger picture. I didn't see Eamon as a threat. Because he wasn’t—forme. “He knows Juliet is Lucas’s daughter.”
Everyone’s eyes go to me and I brace myself for anotherthis is why we don’t mess with vampiresspeech.
“How old are we talking?” Tabatha asks after a moment of awkward silence.
“Lucas guessed him to be around two-thousand years. They, um, were tight back in the Middle Ages. Fuck, that’s weird even for me to say,” I blurt. “Well, not Eamon, but his brother, Siobhan. He was the friend Eliza’s father ordered to kill, and why Lucas turned Eliza.” Might as well get the whole story out there. Everyone already knows Lucas turned Eliza for revenge, planned to leave her to fend for herself with her vamp-hating family, and was caught off guard with how much of a bond he felt toward his progeny.
“A two-thousand-year-old vampire shows up and finds out there’s a way to biologically procreate and you don’t think to mention it?” Kristy asks, looking almost hurt.
“I’ve been kinda busy.” I stumble over my words, trying to stick with my original thought that he wasn’t a big enough threat at the time to deal with. “He came over wanting to talk to Lucas but obviously couldn't. He attacked Eliza, I hellfired him and he ran away like a little bitch.”
“Only you would call a two-thousand-year-old vampire alittle bitch,” Tabatha says seriously and I let out a snort of laughter.
“Sorry. Totally inappropriate.” I move Juliet up against my shoulder. “I’ll deal with him. This was him trying to get our attention. He easily could have massacred half of Thorne Hill but didn’t. Thankfully.”
“If you know the full name of this vampire, you need to tell me so I can report it to the Grand Coven and let them deal with the Vampire Council. They will punish him according to their laws,” Tabatha says, honoring her sworn duty as High Priestess. Vampires and witches haven’t gotten along in centuries but have tried to be civil in the most recent years.
“I think that might make things worse,” I say slowly. “From what I’ve been able to gather about Eamon, the very fact that the VC exists makes him want to go to war. He doesn’t think vampires need to be regulated by nons.”
“Or it could be exactly what he wants,” Nicole says. “You just said it yourself, he wanted to get our attention. He only attacked nons and not witches, but this could still get him reprimanded by the Grand Council since Thorne Hill is a witch-town.”
“What are you getting at?” Naomi asks her twin.
“How else would a vampire like him get an audience like the Grand Coven?”
“Shit,” I grumble, thinking she’s probably onto something. “And then he can try and convince us all of his plan.”
Tabatha wrings her hands but doesn’t say anything. And she doesn’t have to for us to know what she’s thinking: there are a handful of covens across the country who would be more than willing to team up with vampires if it means putting those who used to burn us in their place.
I holdmy hand over the bottle of sweet red wine and pull the cork out with magic. It’s nearing midnight and I’m in the kitchen, standing at the island. My eyes fall shut when I bring the cork to my nose, inhaling deep. It hits me with memories from our honeymoon in California, where Lucas and I spent two glorious weeks at our vineyard. I mostly laid out by the pool, drinking wine while I tanned. We had a little incident with a few pixies, but the whole trip was perfect.
A big shipment of this wine came around Christmas. I couldn’t drink then, but we wanted to fill our wine cellar in the house so naturally, Lucas had his best wine delivered. Another shipment from France came around the New Year, and even though I was miserably pregnant, I still liked going into the wine cellar just because it blows my mind that I have a house with a wine cellar.
I set the cork down and look at the glass and the bottle on the counter. Depending on what I read, a little bit of wine is okay when breastfeeding. Juliet just ate after crying for nearly an hour straight and should sleep for a few hours if I’m lucky. Sighing, I push the bottle away from me and sit at a barstool at the island counter. The entire house is spotless, thanks to Eliza stress-cleaning while I was at the Covenstead. I almost wish for a sink full of dishes just so I’d have something mindless to do.
Not long after the sunset, Officer Maxwell, a Thorne Hill cop who’s questioned me before, came to the house wanting to talk to Lucas. I told him that Lucas was out of the country for work and reminded him that Lucas isn’t old enough to hold anyone spellbound. According to the age on his registration papers, that is.
