“A witch helping a vampire. What’s in it for him?” Ethan asked.
“I helped him out a few years ago when he got himself in a spot of bother. He owes me.”
“How many died?” Josh asked dryly.
She waved her hand dismissively. “A handful, drug dealers, bad people.”
I pinched my forehead, trying to ease the knot crowding my brain.
“I didn’t take you for a coward,” Monique quipped.
“I’m not scared, Monique. I’m worried about Karson’s reaction.”
She put her glass down. “Firstborns are many things, but rational they are not. When they are angry, well … let’s just say hell hath no fury. Karson left a trail of blood to discover who hurt you. And he wanted to hunt down your birth parents for putting you in that predicament.”
I doubted the welfare department had my name and records on file. They definitely wouldn’t have my parents listed even if they did, but that wouldn’t stop him looking. Which meant the other people he probably questioned would be Caron and Dahlia, and God knows who else was high up enough in the witch circle to have the answers he sought. My stomach dropped. “He wouldn’t find out who they are. No one knows. Is Dahlia alright?”
“She’s fine,” Monique said. “It took four of us to talk him down. Without us in his ear, there would be quite a few dead social workers now.”
I crossed my arms. “What’s that got to do with this?”
“Sarah doesn’t have anyone to talk her down. If you want your freedom, he needs to know you are safe, and Sarah is the main threat out there. The sooner she turns up, the sooner we can sort this mess out and we can all get back to a normal life.”
I craved a normal life. Freedom, safety, happier times. Georgie needed that too, needed to be able to go to work, needed to go to sleep at night knowing she wasn’t being hunted.
“Does Karson know?”
“Of course he doesn’t know,” Ethan answered, his tone grinding. “He will be furious with Monique for dangling his girlfriend like a bait on a hook.”
“Sarah won’t be at the party. Amy is safer there with all of us than she is anywhere.” Monique tossed back the glass of wine. “If we don’t do something to end all this, Sarah wins.”
We all stilled and stared at her.Sarah wins.She was right. We were living like scared rats; she was already winning.
I looked to Georgie, my eyes pleading. “Alright, but I think it’s safer if Georgie stays a few more days. If Sarah does get angry, it might tip her over the edge to come for her again.”
“No need to worry,” Georgie said a little too brightly. “I’m coming to the party too.”
Josh slumped against the couch. “One picture is worth a thousand deaths,” he groaned. “We are all going to die.”
Chapter 56
The Opening
The gown she brought for me to wear was white and low cut. Thin straps over my shoulders and a gold-chain across my back were the only things that held it up. It hugged my curves so tightly my underwear felt like an intrusion. I shifted uncomfortably in the seat.
“For the love of God, stop fidgeting,” Monique said. “Walk in with your head high and use those witchy eyes of yours. Smile, take his hands in yours, kiss his lips, easy.”
“Hands that are probably going to be held out to wring my neck, easy,” I muttered, staring out of the window as the car ate up the winding road.
She reached into the glovebox. “Drink this.”
I eyed the little brown glass tube with a corked end. “What is it?”
“Just a little something to take the edge off. Drink.” She jerked it in front of my face.
I twirled it in my fingers. “Where did you get it and what’s it made from?”
“I got it from the witches. No clue, I just know it works.”
