“Who knows.”
A thunderous roar came from downstairs. I jerked my head to the door as it burst open. Karson stood breathing fire into the room.
BJ jerked back until his head met the wall.
“Why didn’t you tell us? When did she say that?” He strode into the room.
I got up and placed myself between BJ and Karson.
“The day at the café when I met Georgie and Sarah. When was I supposed to have told you, Karson? Before we argued about—” I stopped, realizing the story of Chris’s broken arm was not something BJ should hear. “I didn’t think anything of it.”
Karson glared at me like he might want to wring my neck. He blew out a heavy breath and vanished. A moment later I heard his car take off.
Ethan stepped in. He’s eyes were fierce and concerned.
“What did Caron mean?” I asked.
He strode across the room and looked out the window, like he was searching for threats. “It’s an ancient law, I wouldn’t think they’d enforce it today.”
“What’s an ancient law?” I asked, almost reluctant to hear the answer.
He twisted back and looked grim. “A witch who cavorts with a vampire can be trialed and executed.”
“What!” BJ and I said in unison. It was worse than I’d imagined. I felt my heart rate climb. I groaned and stepped back.
“You’re a warrior, Amy, they need you. There is no way they’d take you out. Witches and vampires have dated, and it has not been enforced for more than a hundred years. It wouldn’t be anything to do with that, no way,” he tried to reassure me. “Karson will have a chat with Caron, if anything is going on, she’ll know.”
“I wouldn’t want to be Caron,” BJ said, folding his arms. “Will he kill her?”
“No,” Ethan answered, “as much as he might like to, we have rules in place. Although, if he finds out she had anything to do with it, then I wouldn’t want to be her either.”
* * *
The next hour went past like the one before, slowly. BJ went home and I showered. There wasn’t enough perfume in the bottle to disguise the smell that lingered in the pores of my skin. It was no longer terrible, but it wasn’t exactly nice. The swelling had gone though, and the bruising had almost disappeared, only long sallow yellow marks remained, which could be covered by makeup.
Ethan was seated in the armchair, reading. I sat on the couch and stared at the flames, watching them dance over the firewood like skilled ballerinas. Snapping and cracking their ankles as the twirled. Thinking about Karson, about what might have happened.Did they fight? Was he hurt?A knot pressed against the inside of my stomach.
I checked my phone for the fifth, or tenth time. I stood up, ready to insist we go and check, when I heard Karson’s car pull up. Ethan sat his book down on the side table. When Karson entered it was Ethan who spoke.
“What did you find out?”
He ran a hand through his hair, wiping off a few loose drops of rain. “She denies having any involvement. She said there’s no way they’d hurt Amelia. Her coven is the only one who knows of her existence. They found out who the witches were last night, and she was just about to come and see us.”
Ethan said dryly, “Convenient.”
“Who were they?” I asked.
“She said kids with no skills of any benefit, they were scared and ran off.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t at least call the police,” he answered, moving over to the other armchair, sitting down. “Suffice to say we will be doing our own inquiries.”
“Inquiries, or interrogations?”
“Whatever needs to be done.”
His cold words send a shiver down my spine.
