“You know I’m all man, baby.” Zav points toward his groin. I roll my eyes, but Celine’s cheeks stain red. “I said you had an hour before I needed you back in my sight. Plus, I can’t miss girls’ night!” Zav whines. “What if you do masks again without me?” He looks two seconds away from stomping like a toddler having a tantrum.
We make our way over to the kitchen island where he’s started to set up our pizza buffet. Celine and I each grab a slice of the pepperoni, green pepper, and onion pizza while Luna and Zav go for the margherita. Valen hangs out awkwardly in the corner and doles out glasses of blood for the vampires. Still so weird. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that.
I asked Zav once why he still eats human food—and apparently many other vampires do the same. He explained that while it doesn’t taste the same as when he was alive, it does still taste good. But it’s not necessary and doesn’t provide any actual sustenance.
Silence descends, and I have to fill it. I know some people are comfortable with long stretches of silence, but I’m not one of them. “How’s it possible that two of us are human and have avampire mate when it’s so rare?” I blurt out the question that’s been plaguing my mind. When Zav was forced to tell me about what he is, and that Celine is his mate, he mentioned it then—how unheard of it is. Luna even shared the sentiment.
“It is very odd,” Luna agrees and settles down on a barstool, pushing a box out of the way.
“But you are not human,” Valen says, matter of fact like I’m the crazy one for claiming to be such.
Everyone pauses, including Zav, who is comically mid-bite, and turns toward Valen.
“Wh-What do you mean?” I stutter, taken aback by his shocking claim.
Not human?He has to be off his vampire rocker. I’m very much human.
Valen leans against the counter and looks at me with his usual deadpan expression. “You are a witch,” he replies nonchalantly. “You did not know?”
“A witch?” Celine reiterates with a surprised laugh. “Ava? Ava’s a witch?”
“Correct.”
“A double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble kind of witch?” I ask incredulously.
“I don’t know what that means, but yes. You are a witch descended from one of the most powerful bloodlines,” Valen supplies as surely as if he’s telling me that it’s raining outside.
He says it as a fact, indisputable.
I laugh out loud at how ridiculous he sounds. Maybe it’s payback for making him try all the food I’ve brought home.
“No, I’m human. I think I’d know I was a witch.” A million thoughts are running through my mind right now, and every one leads to the conclusion that I most certainly am not a witch. How could I go my entire life and not know?
“Yeah, that feels a little far-fetched,” Zav says. “She might be an energetic little pixie, but she feels just as human as any other in this city. How can you be so sure?”
Valen simply shrugs and says, “That’s something I would prefer to discuss mate to mate. I’m sure you understand.”
For the rest of the night, I struggle to settle down.
Could he be telling the truth? I don’t know why he’d lie.
I didn’t know my life could get even more complicated than being mated to a vampire, but now I’m a witch? Fuck.
CHAPTER 6
AVA
“Hocus pocus!”I shout at the candle in front of me.
Nothing.
“Abracadabra?”
Still nothing.
“Ugh! This is so stupid.” I knock the candle over on the table in frustration and bang my head against my new couch.
I’ve been sitting here like an idiot for the past hour, trying to light a candle telepathically like I actually believe I’m a witch. Valen’s hypothesis has wormed its way into my brain, and I can’t go about the rest of my day until I test it. Of course he was wrong, because I’m not a freaking witch.
