Umm, not exactly sure what eating a soul was akin to, so I felt unqualified to answer that. “Sure,” I decided on to protect the soul-burdened population.
Aunt Sophia approached us with a steaming plate in one hand and a fork in the other. I briefly worried Indigo would fling the plate at the wall and munch on my aunt instead.
Indigo accepted the plate and eyeballed the fork before grabbing a steaming ball with her hand and throwing it in her mouth. I braced myself, not entirely sure who would win in a battle between Indigo and Sophia.
Indigo hummed and grabbed another before popping it in her mouth. Two minutes later, the plate was empty she held it out to a smiling Aunt Sophia. “More.”
Well, knock me down with a feather, Indigo liked to munch on something other than souls and bleeding hearts. “It is not the same, but a satisfactory, temporary, substitute.”
I relaxed a little as Aunt Sophia marched back to the kitchen and heated up more cabbage rolls.
“You can stay permanently and feed us,” Indigo said. Wait, what? No.
“We shall see if I like you enough for that,” Aunt Sophia said from the kitchen.
The supernaturals in the room were highly amused at the exchange, watching with rapt interest. They’d accepted Indigo like one of their own, and I was more than a little relieved to have my secrets out in the open for my family. At least, I believed it was all my secrets. How wrong I was would be revealed soon enough, because it’s the secrets contained in your blood, the ones not even you knew of, that were the ones that could ruin you.
Chapter Twenty-Five
How does one expel the thought of your aunt with some male strippers?
My stomach gurgled and I cringed at the cabbage rolls that seemed to be endlessly repeating. Indigo had stopped eating when Aunt Sophia declared that she needed to go to the store for more ingredients. If I never saw another cabbage roll again, it would be too soon.
Finally showered and feeling a little more human, I dressed in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of biker boots that had seen better days but were just so comfy I couldn’t bring myself to discard them. I think they’d become molded to my feet. I trudged down to the ground floor of the house and took in the sparkles, lights, and tinsel covering every available nook and surface. I didn’t know I owned that many Christmas decorations.
Picking up the stack of mail on the reception desk, I miraculously didn’t bump into anyone as I descended to my office. Time to pay the bills. Supernatural drama didn’t excuse me in the gas company’s eyes, which was a pity because at this rate, I would have free power for the next year.
I pulled my laptop out from my desk drawer alongside the previous bills and added the latest pile to them. I found a classic rock playlist courtesy of some kind soul on Spotify and proceeded to work my way through the endless demands.
I was on my second repeat of Guns N’ Roses’ greatest hits when my hand reached out for the next bill. Instead, I came up with another black card. This time, on one side there was a vertical line, and attached to the top, another line angling at a forty-five degree slope. On the reverse side, the same elegant writing read, ‘Only the brave’. Again, another faint trace of magic hummed from the lines on the front. I pulled out the previous cards and laid them out on the desk next to each other. Someone was trying to communicate with me and it was missing the mark because I had no clue what they were saying. I searched for the phrases on the internet and other than some cleverly worded memes, I was drawing a blank. Whoever this was needed to start speaking clearly, I didn’t have enough mental space to ponder the meaning of some mysterious calling cards. The wards clanged in my head, making me grit my teeth. I was feeling extra sensitive to pain and was wholeheartedly blaming it on the cabbage rolls. Two minutes later, footsteps echoed down the stairs. I gathered up the cards and stashed them in my drawer. Maggie burst through the door in a whirlwind of chestnut hair and a dress that had Rebecca’s influence written all over it.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I closed my laptop and placed it back in the drawer.
“The sheriff is here.”
My eyes closed briefly. Sheriff Robert Peterson no longer stalked my movements and scouted out my property because, as of a few months ago, he’d been welcomed into the inner circle of the few humans who knew that they weren’t alone on the planet. So far, he hadn’t crumbled from the knowledge, but we kept a close eye on him. The gag spell on him would prevent him from attempting to share what he knew, but someone’s mental state needed to be monitored when their axis had shifted. I’d known Robert for a long time, since I was a little girl. He was a solid guy with no patience for dramatics.
“Did he say what he wanted?” I asked as I rubbed my temple. I couldn’t handle any more chaos. Things were complicated enough, but the Sheriff didn’t stop by for cookies and tea.
Maggie shrugged. “Yes, you.” Someone save me from the teenage bobcat and her inability to read between the lines.
I sighed and followed her up the stairs. Everyone else was suspiciously absent, making me wonder what they were up to when for the last several weeks I hadn’t been able to move without a shifter shadow. Perhaps accepting the mating meant Hudson was getting more comfortable with our connection and he didn’t feel the obsessive need to stalk my every movement. I huffed a laugh at myself. Yeah, right.
Robert stood just inside the parlor, inspecting the result of the Christmas spirit vomiting throughout the house.
“Sheriff, how can I assist you today?” I asked.
Robert spun on his heel and I blinked at the terror lurking in the depths of his brown eyes. The unflappable sheriff had seen something recently that haunted him and it wasn’t the Christmas decorations. Humans committed enough acts of horror to cause that look, but instinct told me this particular incident involved the unexplained and that is why he was here.
“I need your help,” he said, taking a step toward me.
“Of course, anything I can do to assist local law enforcement.”
“I need you to come with me.”
I’m pretty sure running off with the Sheriff wouldn’t go down well with my betrothed. I waved a hand at the sofa. “Explain what is happening first, then we can take it from there.”
“There’s no time, every second we stand here debating, the event will risk another life. I can fill you in on the way over. Bring your vampire and shifter friend—they are needed too.”
