Entering the kitchen together a few minutes later, I noticed Joel was not present, but he had made food for Felix that cooled in the fridge. I let Felix handle the heating process, since I had no clue how to use a kitchen, then we sat together as he ate.
Dina’s soft laughter reached my ears before Felix picked it up and soon both Dina and Joel joined us in the kitchen. They each held shopping bags.
“Oh,” Dina exclaimed when she saw us, then she smiled brightly. “Good morning, you two. Sleep okay?” She turned her back on us and together with Joel—who gave us a soft smile in greeting—they began putting the groceries away.
“Good morning,” Felix replied, not answering her question. “You need any help?”
Dina waved him off without even looking at him. “I do need your thoughts on something, though. Joel and I were discussing the garden and if a greenhouse would be wise to invest in. I figured with your potions and mine, we could both use it. It would also save us money in the long run if we had our own vegetables. Maybe some fruit trees too.”
Felix just blinked at her. “Why, um. Why do you need my thoughts on it?”
Dina finally turned around then; one raised brow aimed at Felix. “Because it’syourgarden.”
That had Felix speechless, his eyes wide as the truth occurred to him. I did not speak, letting him work through his feelings at his pace.
“Oh,” was all he said a few beats of silence later.
Dina smiled softly. “We can talk more about it later. Here.” She handed him his phone. “I grabbed it yesterday from your room because it kept ringing. I promised Claire, you would call her back. It’s about Astrea, she said.”
Felix seemed almost afraid as he called this Claire, and I had to restrain myself not to pull him into my lap and cradle him close. I did not know if it was me or him that needed the comfort, but I did not need to worry for long. Claire picked up her phone and with my vampire hearing, I could eavesdrop on both sides of the call.
“Felix! Thank the goddess! Astrea is missing! I’m on my way to you right now.”
“What?! How?! When?” Felix demanded, sounding so terrified I could feel it. Was this Astrea his girlfriend? Was Claire? Was that why he was holding back?
“The hospital had tried calling you, but when you didn’t reply they called me. Their cameras were frozen so they have no idea whathappened to her. But you and I both know the only people it could be, unless she woke up herself.”
Hospital?
“Fuck,” he muttered, slamming his fist against the table. I had never seen him this upset before. I wanted to fix it. I wanted my happy Felix back.
“What can I do?” I asked, gaining his full attention.
“Can you kill a dozen witches and save my sister? That would bereallygreat.” His tone was sarcastic, as if I could not easily kill anyone he wished.
But I did not say that, instead I said, “Anything you want, name it and I will do it.” Especially now that I knew it was his sister.
“Tell him about the coven! I’ll be there in thirty. Best he knows everything so we can figure out what to do,” Claire said and Felix agreed before hanging up.
With his phone back in his pocket, he looked at me. “Call Peter. He should know this, too. We will need all the help we can get.”
He had saidwe.Forcing myself to act, and not smile like a lovesick loon, I did as I was told. And not even five minutes later, Peter strolled in, having used his vampire speed to get here instead of using his car.
“What is wrong?” Peter asked, looking from Felix, to me, and then he scanned his gaze over to where Joel and Dina stood.
Felix spoke, “I think my sister has been kidnapped by a coven.”
Chapter 11
Felix
“I think my sister has been kidnapped by a coven.”
No one spoke, just waited for me to continue, so I did. I told them how I’d found Astrea asleep in her house. How the letter had blackmailed me into paying them money for her to wake up again, how I had started as a feeder to get the money and with the potion in my system, I had become rathersuccessful at it.
Then I told them I only had two years left, before I had found Severin, of course, and how the coven must’ve known something had changed for them to take Astrea in the middle of the night. There was the possibility that she woke up somehow, but then why would she not ask the nurses for help? Or better yet, demand they call me. She wouldn’t just leave the hospital. Would she even be able to walk after laying still for years?
“She was in a private hospital. They have security, and cameras. They didn’t do it on a whim,” I finished explaining. “They must’ve had this plan figured out for some time, if things were to change for me. So, they have to know about Severin. Maybe not the whole fated thing, but maybe that he has money.”
