17
Dante
“Would you mind helping to carry everything back to The Spire?” Silver asks me with a hopeful little smile.
Her smiles always seem to loosen something in me. It’s been a long time since I stepped out of the city, but I’d liken it to the first breath of fresh sea air. Invigorating yet it soothes something inside me I didn’t realize needed to be pacified.
I agree without even thinking about it and we leave the magic supply store with a huge haul of items, along with a box of potions and herbs which Silver insisted on buying for her sister. I handed over my card to pay for it all, and it was about as much as I could do to be helpful. I’ve devolved into a money bank and a packhorse for this witch, and I don’t mind a bit.
I step inside the building without thought and only recognize too late that I’m in the middle of the mages’ domain, and then a few minutes later, I’m in their apartment. Their home.
Roscoe is here, along with Silver’s brother and sisters and some younger witches I haven’t met before who are still in their teens.
The over-exuberant mage whoops with excitement as soon as he sees Silver, scooping her up and spinning her around like he hasn’t seen her in weeks.
“Put me down, you lunatic!” she shrieks. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
“Nah, you’re light as a feather,” he replies before letting her down, not before he’s given her a long, slow kiss. “And I’m fine, sweetheart.”
“Really?”
The quieter one of Silver’s sisters nods. “Yep. He’s all healed up.”
“Good as new.” He swivels his hips and dances around, twirling one of the younger witches around while she giggles.
“All I’m saying is it stinks. Can’t you do it somewhere else? You’ve been at it all hours of the night all week and the smell is driving me crazy.” Silver’s louder sister seems to be in the middle of arguing with the quieter one. She turns to Silver, who pats Roscoe on the forearm as if asking him to release her.
“What’s the problem?”
“Luna’s making her potions in our kitchen at all hours. She should do it on the roof, right? That way she’d have fresh air, which she’s always going on about, and we wouldn’t get gassed out all the time.”
Silver cocks her head to one side. “You need some space to make potions, Luna?”
“It’s fine. I’m just trialing some stuff.” The quiet one flips her long hair back and makes a face at the shorter, scrappier sister. “I’m working on something for Seb that I’m hoping lasts longer than a couple of days.”
A twinge of guilt goes through me at her words. Just over a year ago, Fabian was purchasing blood regularly through vampires that frequented my club. After his father and Felix Nightshade started taking an even bigger cut of our profits, I shut the whole thing down.
I didn’t realize at the time that he was using the blood to treat his little brother’s undiagnosable medical condition. Maybethat’s somewhere I can make myself useful. That and continuing to research the vulnerabilities of my kind.
“It smells like she’s boiling old socks or something,” the other one complains.
“You can use the rooftop if you need the space, but it’s cold as hell at the moment,” Silver says.
“We could find heaters or something, if you want,” Zeph grunts, earning him a beaming smile from Silver.
My arms have started to ache from holding all the items from the magic supply store. I hesitate just inside the door of the apartment and then step inside, just far enough to place everything down. I then take a couple of steps backwards so I can make a smooth exit, not wanting to disturb the chattering and general noise.
