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Sky placed his hand on the lid and paused. “Nolan, do you want to go with Christoph?”
“N-no. I…” Nolan hesitated and lowered his voice to a whisper. “It feels like he’s pulling me to him. Like I have to go.”
“You don’t have to go anywhere with him, I promise. If you wish, you can go rest in the house. I’ll get rid of him.”
“No.” The single word was sharp as a knife blade. “I’m staying right here with you. Not leaving you.” But even as Nolan spoke, Sky’s sweater tightened from the back as if Nolan had grabbed a fistful.
“Of course,” Sky agreed easily, even as he twisted his lips in a snarl at Christoph. “Could you hold this for me?” He lifted the lid off the jar and held it out over his shoulder toward Nolan. He accepted the lid, but it came with a choking, gagging sound. Even Sky’s stomach roiled and rebelled as the first whiff hit him. So nasty. But totally worth it. This fuckstick deserved what Sky was cooking up for hurting his sweet Nolan.
“This is your last chance to leave peacefully,” Sky hollered even as he stuck two fingers into the jar.
“Give him to me now, witch!”
That was what he was hoping for.
Sky turned his attention to the yard and made a clicking sound with his tongue as if calling an animal to his side. “Time to wake up, babies!” he cooed in between the clicking noises. “Wakey-wakey! Daddy has nummies for you!” He pulled out a rancid, purple pickle that smelled like he’d fermented it in rotting flesh, and flung it into the bushes right in front of the porch. He pulled out another and tossed it into a different bush, repeating the process about half a dozen times.
Each time a pickle landed, the bushes twitched and shook as if something was moving. But that was nothing compared to the sharp crunching and smacking noises that also rose from the dark shadows.
“Holy shit,” Nolan whispered. Sky glanced over his shoulder to find Nolan’s wide eyes locked on the shifting bushes. The same bushes he’d walked past at least three times now and probably had never paid a bit of attention to. Not that Sky would expect him to. During the daylight hours, they appeared to be pink old-fashioned roses in neat, rounded mounds. But they were a gift from Mad that had gone a tiny bit wrong thanks to Sky’s special touch with dirt.
“Hey, Christoph! Catch!” Snickering to himself, Sky fished out another evil pickle and flung it over to the vampire. He stupidly caught it, though the bloodsucker had just barely torn his eyes from the twitching and crunching bushes as the pickle twirled through the air toward him.
As the pickle cut through the air, the bushes caught the scent and sent out vines lined with long thorns, chasing after the pickle. All along those vines were roses. Each had a center that opened up to reveal sharp, daggerlike teeth that wanted to steal the pickle and chomp on anything that smelled like that pickle.
Christoph screamed as a dozen vines shot at him. He threw the pickle into the yard, but that only deterred about half of the vines. The other half continued to him, trying to wrap around his limbs and pull him into their domain. Christoph cried out, backpedaling and fighting off the vines. His handsome face was pale and sweaty in the neighbor’s porch light. Strands of his formerly perfect hair now stuck to his face.
So maybe the petty, insecure side of Sky felt better to see him looking less than perfect.
The driver jumped into action and rushed to Christoph’s side as the vampire fell on his ass in the neighbor’s yard. The poor man batted away a couple of vines and helped Christoph to his feet as a new laugh echoed from the sidewalk.
Sky’s head swung about in time to see two figures appear from nothingness on the sidewalk. Sky flinched and Nolan swore behind him. He’d heard whispers surrounding Winter Varik, but this was definitely a new level of creepy. How the hell did you protect yourself from a vampire who could be invisible? That was not good.
It was a little more settling to see his witch mate, Fox, standing behind him with his arms draped over his shoulders.
“Holy shit! I want to grow roses like that!” Fox cried.
“Not a fucking chance,” Winter growled.
The driver helped Christoph to his car, but there was no missing the icy stare that passed between the two vampires. It was like a pair of feral cats happening upon each other by accident. The wrong word, even a tiny twitch, and they’d launch at each other.
“Better watch who you bite,” Winter taunted as Christoph climbed into the rear seat.
“That’s what you get for trying to come into a witch’s garden uninvited!” Sky shouted before he took the lid from Nolan and slapped it on the jar.
The door slammed shut, and the car tore down the street with more squealing tires and smelly exhaust.
Winter chuckled. “I’m not sure I want to come in, even if you do invite me.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to leave again,” Nolan muttered under his breath.
Sky smiled up at him. “Then you can stay here forever with me. Just think of all the muffins I can make you.”
Nolan’s smirk seemed shaky, but it held. “Sometimes I don’t know whether you’re scary or adorable. I never knew someone could be both.”
Sky’s heart flipped in his chest. “I’m only scary when someone tries to hurt those I care about. But for you, I’m a kitten.”
With fucking sharp claws.
