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“Me, too.” I gave her a little smile. “My in-laws are very nice.”
“That’s why you’re back early and filling drink orders even though you’re not on the clock? You know Jo won’t pay if you’re not scheduled.”
“I don’t care about that right now. I just want all of us to go over what we know already and what we need to find out. We don’t know how much time we have left. The person who killed Diana is probably quite old if they are still alive.”
“She,” Valentina said. “I didn’t get to give you all the details on the phone in our limited time. But we believe it’s a female vampire who brutally murdered Diana. She drained her dry, knowing that she was the mate of another of their kind. That’s not something that’s handled well among them, which is why she didn’t want to be found out.”
“But who is she?” Raven demanded. “Can’t we just go take her out?”
Good question, but nobody seemed to know the answer. And if Erik did, he’d have ripped her throat out by now for sure. We stayed for a while, Onyx and Valentina mixing drinks while the rest of us caught up on everything. It was nice to be at home with our chosen family. Better than nice.
Our version of heaven.
Chapter Nineteen
Valentina
“I’m disappointed again. This is twice you’ve shown up in my presence without the dresses on,” I said, throwing the door open to our apartment. The boys only let me open the door because they smelled Onyx, Raven, and Asher on the other side. It would take a while before they relaxed completely but I didn’t blame them.
“Already? That’s a new record. We just got here.” Raven’s smart mouth was what I missed the most.
We all hugged and then went inside for dinner. We had gone the easy route tonight and made steak and potatoes since they were Asher’s favorite, and that meal would always bring up fond and smoky memories.
“You’re so funny with this, V.” Onyx nudged me with her elbow. “Now, what’s going on with Erik and Diana?”
“No!” I held up my fork. “No fucking way. I get details about the two of you in ball gowns first and then you get to hear about Erik.”
Raven and Onyx shut their mouths but didn’t say a word. I broke them.
It was Asher who cleared his throat and broke the silence. “Valentina, both of my mates were stunning in their gowns, but there were some tense and disgusting moments that they probably want to talk to you about in private. I…there are depths of pain that were inflicted at that party that make me want to claw Raven’s parents to the bone. Let’s put it this way. It’s not really dinner conversation if you wish to keep an appetite.”
Everyone felt the power of Asher’s anger and hurt. Not just his, but all of us hurt when the others did. We were a hive. A coven. A gang. A pack. Whatever we were, we were in it together.
“Later, okay?” I asked, planning a girls’ night filled with ice cream and tears and laughter in my mind. We needed a girls’ night in. I reached over and took Raven’s hand in mine. She allowed it, surprisingly, and reached over for a side hug.
Who needed Christmas presents when Raven gave me a hug? Not this girl.
“Nancy Drew, tell us about the vampire and the murder in the alley. A holiday mystery sounds like the distraction we all need.” Onyx dug in to her steak as we all did. The flavors were amazing. Fox had made a compound butter to go on top that made it extraordinarily good.
“I called on Diana to help me. Well, to help me help Erik,” I said.
Onyx’s eyes widened. “She came to you? Just like that?”
I nodded. “Well, it took two tries. And for the record, Winter Solstice seems to be a great night for calling on the ancestors.”
Raven was now interested. I worried about her. There was proof of whatever she’d gone through, on her face. She wasn’t as sarcastic. Not as easy with the smirks. Asher and Onyx kept checking on her. Watching her reactions. “So, we know it’s a female vamp. Anything else?”
“No. Well, wait a damned minute.” I went back to that night and remembered something. My conversation with Diana hadn’t been long at all, but I’d overlooked a key detail. “She said the woman who killed her was one of Erik’s own kind. She’d met the female once before. Erik has to know who that was.”
“Then we need to talk to him,” Bishop said. “Again.”
The rest of the meal was filled with talk of the holidays. Going back to our normal school schedule after the break got groans from me and Raven, but the boys didn’t seem to mind it. Bishop was only a few classes short of finishing, and Fox and Storm only had two more semesters. If it wasn’t for me, they would’ve been done by now, and I let that guilt fester sometimes.
I never expressed it to them. They would certainly tell me I was worth it and that they would gladly delay graduating for me. I knew the drill, but a bit of that regret remained.
“We’re going to be late,” Onyx said but didn’t make a move to leave the table. None of us did.
“It’s Christmas. Tips should be good. Raven, are you working tonight? We could probably use the help. It would definitely distract you.”
