I glare down at her, and it feels like she can see right through me, like she knows the trouble I’ve gotten myself into, and that it was inevitable that I’d be a disappointment.
“I think I’ll be just fine without you,” I tell her, and for the first time, I think I truly mean it.
There’s no way I’d ever betray my coven. Blood doesn’t determine the people who are most important to you, my grandmother has proven this point time and time again.
I tug myself from her grasp, and don’t look back as I slide into my cottage. The altercation made it even more clear that I need to handle this Warin situation on my own. I don’t need my grandmother telling me she told me so, and I don’t need the potential blow back from my coven.
I can do this…I think.
It’s just after dark, Gus is watchingThe Incredibles, and I’m attempting to read more spells in the grimoire Warin gave me, when a car door slams in the distance. We both pause what we’re doing and stare at each other.
“I swear if my grandmother came back to try and talk some sense into me,” I groan.
“Do you want me to bite the old bitch?”Gus asks and I snort.
I’m about to get off the couch and peek through the windows, until suddenly, there’s banging noises against the house.
“Holy shit. The vampire is fixing the door frame,”Gus says.
“Holy shit is right.”
He doesn’t knock on the door, doesn’t say a word. Gus turns down his movie as we listen while he works. It definitely sounds like a saw, and hammering at different points.
“How long is it going to take him to fix?” I ask Gus.
“Long enough to give me indigestion. I need the Tums.”
I sigh, walking to the bathroom, where I grab him two Tums and hand them to him. As he’s chomping on the tablets, there’s a firm knock on the door.
“Do I answer it?” I whisper.
“I can hear you. Come to the door, Ember,” Warin says from the other side of the door and I wince.
“Do you think he heard everything I said earlier?” I ask Gus.
“Yes,” Warin confirms.
“Fuck.”
I consider not opening the door, just talking to him through the walls, but then he knocks again.
“I’m not leaving until you open the door, witch.”
“Ugh. Fine,” I groan, walking over to the door and swinging it open.
My mouth parts and I quickly shut it.
He’s lost his dress shirt and suit jacket. Just his undershirt on, combined with a ridiculously expensive belt, dress pants, and leather shoes. Despite all the effort he put in my doorframe, he doesn’t have a bead of sweat on him.
Why is he so devastatingly handsome? And why despite myself do I find it charming that he actually fixed the doorframe? Did he do it because he wanted to see me again?
No, can’t be it right, he needs me for nefarious reasons. I need to stop staring at the hot vampire on my porch and remember that I’ve entered into some messed-up agreement with said vampire who broke my doorframe in the first place.
“I fixed the door frame,” he says.
“I can see that.”
He stands perfectly still, his light eyes meeting mine. “Why don’t you invite me in?” he says, his pupils dilating.
