Page 44

Constantin doesn’t even look up as I approach.

“We have a problem. A vampire broke into the cool room. An intruder. I didn’t recognize its scent.”

He turns a page in the book on his knee before he answers, just to make me wait.

“No doubt a desperate and hungry wanderer from the Yukon clans,” he says in his fading French accent with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’ll get Dominic to take a look around, but I’m sure the intruder has had his fill and will move along.”

“Move along?” I can’t help the edge that creeps into my voice, and I step forward. The other vampires in the room stop pretending not to listen. “The Fall Festival is tomorrow. We have a town filling up with human tourists. If it’s still hungry, that’s where it goes.”

“We provide security for the festival every year. There’s nothing to be concerned about.”

“We should be hunting it down and dealing with it. Not putting our heads in the sand and pretending it’s not a problem.”

Then he isn’t in his chair anymore. His sharp nose almost touches mine. My fangs fight to come down, respond to the threat, but I don’t flinch.

“Perhaps you should watch your tone. You may be the leader of your clan, but you are young. And the elders of this council deserve respect. Your father had to learn that lesson also.”

Let me decide what’s good for you, Ellery. I know better, Ellery.

It’s in her voice, and I’m hearing it while this man does the same thing to me.

A vein stands out through the almost translucent skin stretched across his forehead. If I still had a heartbeat, it would’ve stopped, but I don’t let my fear show.

“The council represents the coven, the humans, and the clans. Everyone should be shown respect, including the visitors we invite here, year after year, to bolster the economy of this town. Security is the domain of your clan. Do your job.”

I don’t wait for a response. My feet slow when I spot my great-aunt Sigrid in the corner, current Guardian for the Lund clan and council member, with a glass of wine she has no intention of touching. She tips her chin at me, the barest of nods, and goes back to enjoying herself. Hopefully, that means I’ve got some support when I bring this up at the next council meeting. Constantin won’t like it, but screw that guy.

Outside, I push my way through the people hauling wares from cars and trucks to the booths being set up along the water’s edge, to find Ellery. She and Mom are struggling to erect the huge canvas banner I pulled out of the barn. They’re laughing so hard they’re barely upright, and it warms a part of me that I thought I’d firmly buried. There it is, the life I stopped letting myself picture.

I stomp over and take the banner from them, hanging it up in a matter of seconds. “Very professional, ladies.”

“What? We tried.” Ellery smothers her laugh.

Mom bats my arm. “Don’t be such a stick in the mud, Nicky.”

“Nicky?” Ellery repeats it back, delighted, and I’ll be hearing it for the rest of my life.

I look to the heavens for strength. “If you ever call me Nicky, you’re fired.”

“What? Seriously?”

She believes me. After everything, she still thinks I might.

“Oh, stop it. We both know you’re kidding. Don’t mess with the girl.” Mom pins a garland of fall foliage under the banner.

“Fine. Yes, I’m joking. Let’s go so we can get through this enormous list of chores we have courtesy of Mother.” I send her a pointed glare.

“Marthe said she would put some bear deterrent outside the cool room,” Ellery says as we get back into the truck.

“You told her about that?”

Of course she did. Ellery isn’t going to sit on claw marks and a bloody handprint, least of all around Mom, who she’d hand over her own diary to if asked. Now Mom knows, and a worried Marthe is a Marthe who wants to help fix things.

“It’s just a bear,” I say again, mostly to myself, and put the truck in gear.

We spend the rest of the day in town working through Mom’s list, one cursed item at a time. The box of coffee vouchers from the printer, the same one Luca was supposedly collecting, because she assigned it to all three of us on purpose. It’s the sort of thing she finds funny.

Pete’s got the generator in pieces and four people standing around telling him what’s wrong with it. Jessalyn’s set up her booth directly across from Jack from the hardware store, reigniting the same feud they’ve had for so long I no longer remember what started it. We string lights along the booths and haul folding tables off the pickup, setting them up in rows by the creek. I let Ellery direct me where to put each one, even though she has no concept of where anything goes, because I don’t want to go back to the version of us who hardly speaks.