Igrabbed the bottle of vodka and the lighter off of the coffee table, as thevampires engaged Kai in a fight.
Ichugged the vodka as a vampire dug his claws into Kai’s fur.
“Aurora!Now isn’t the time to drink,” Max yelled, after driving a stake through afemale vamp’s heart.
Ifilled my mouth with the alcohol and lit the lighter.
Heregoes nothing. I sent a stream of vodka through the open flame and directed itat the doorway and the vamps clustered there. I could hear hissing andscreaming. The curtain caught fire and the vampires fled down the hall. Kairipped off the head of the vampire who was fighting with him, and it turned toash.
“Time to get out of here,”I told the boys.
‘Wherein the hell did you learn that?’Kai asked withpride.
‘Thisartist hippie festival in the middle of the Nevada desert. Called Burning man.’
Kaishifted to human form and slipped on his jeans, remaining shirtless. The smokewas filling the room. He tucked me into his chest as the sprinklers and firealarm went off. We sprinted through the smoking doorway and out of the chaos ofthe VIP room. A few vampires were still burning alive and running down thehallway. Another few were a pile of ashes. The sprinklers were raining down onthe main dancefloor. Everyone screamed and fled toward the exits. We squeezedour way outside.
Oncewe were safely in the car, Max turned to me and gave me an appraising look.
“Yousaved our lives,” he said with sincerity.
Ismiled shyly. “Thank God for burning man.”
Kailaughed. “Thank God for burning man,” he echoed as Max shook his head,confused.
Shaman
Kaiscanned my body giving me a sultry look. My cheeks reddened. We were standingin the kitchen while Kai made me an omelet. We got in late from the club and Ihad fallen into an exhausted sleep.
“Haveyou decided on a place for the wedding? Other details?” Kai asked me.
I smiled.“Well, I have to contact Nahuel about another thing, so I will set the datewith him. I want him to marry us. Emma and Diya are worrying about the otherstuff.”
Kainodded. Nahuel was the Native American Shaman who performed the ceremonies for matedcouples. He was also some kind of spirit guardian to me. I didn’t reallyunderstand it all yet. If I wanted to know for sure if I was a Devi or not thanI would have to ask him, and I promised Sylvia I would talk to him about it.
“Mostgirls want to worry about the decorating and other stuff,” Kai said.
“I’mnot most girls.” I gave him a sassy look.
Hesmiled. “You’ve never said a truer word.” He kissed my forehead. “What other thingdo you have to contact Nahuel about?”
Icould feel him scanning my emotions. Tell him about the Devi thing now orlater?Later. “You let me worry about that.” I kissed him as he gave mea suspicious look.
Afterbreakfast, I got dressed and walked outside to the back side of the house.
I reachedinside my shirt and pulled out the medicine pouch that Nahuel had given meafter that witch, Prudence,nearly killed me by holding me hostage inthe dream world. I emptied the bag into my palm. It held a small sprig of driedjuniper, a tiny wolf carving and a black apache tear. Nahuel had said that if Iever needed him, to bury the apache tear and he would come. I dug a hole in theearth and buried it. I covered it up and waited. I wondered how long it wouldtake. How would he get here? Was he human? Kai said that Shamans were a speciesof their own. Nahuel seemed extra special. He had stopped time at Sadie’swedding to tell me things. It was fascinating and scary all at once.
Aftera few minutes, a twig broke deep into the forest behind the house. We had nofences. The pack roamed freely. I peered in the direction of the sound. Therehe was, between two tall pine trees. He motioned me to follow.
Ipicked the apache tear up and shoved everything back inside my medicine bag. Hewas almost out of sight.
“Hey,wait!” I screamed.
Iran to catch up. He turned to face me. We were deep in the woods.
Hewhispered, “I hear these woods have ears.”
Oh,the drones. RAIDOS. “Yeah, look, I called you because I wanted to know if youwill perform the mating ceremony for Kai and me?”
