Like I was under a spell
LIKE I WAS UNDER A SPELL
Amara
“This can only end badly,” says Lavinia with a frown.
“Tudor Thornblade, teaching at Elmwood? What is Amrita thinking?” Callista echoes.
“Surely it’s not that terrible,” I reply to the two anxious faces in my scrying mirror. I had to hurry back to my apartment this morning. I overslept and woke in Celine’s bed. I know she must have been in her coffin, but I instinctively reached for her when I awoke, and there’s still a little ache of disappointment in my belly. Not that I can share that with Lavinia or Callista, of course.
"What have you been able to discover, Amara?” asks Lavinia, her intense gaze trained on me like a stern school teacher. “Have you gotten any closer to the vampires? We need to know what they’re plotting.”
“Well, it’s a bit difficult in my position,” I say, guilt rising in my chest. “They don’t share many secrets with their bartender.”
“But you must have seen something, ” Lavinia snaps. “You’ve got to find a way to get close to Tudor’s progeny, Amara. They’ve got to be planning something. There's no other reason he would be teaching at Elmwood. He's going to undermine us. I just know it.”
“Aren’t you being a little paranoid, Lavinia?” I reply, crossing my arms over my chest. “Tudor’s progeny don’t seem to be plotting anything. They’re far too busy running the hotel.”
“You're forgetting how devious vampires can be,” Lavinia says. “ I’ve stationed spies in the Cave, to listen in on the imprisoned Arundel wolves. They’re talking about allying with the vampires. They’re going to plan an attack.”
My stomach sinks. “Really? Are you sure?”
“I’m certain. And you can bet that the vampires won’t hold back. Vampires don’t care who they hurt. They only want power, and right now, we have it. They’re going to come for us, and they’ll take down anyone who’s in their way!”
“You have to be careful, Amara,” Callista says. “They won't hesitate to kill you if they find out you're a witch.”
I bite my lip, remembering how Celine swiftly disposed of the vampires who attacked the Succumb club.
“We value your bravery,” says Lavinia. “Nobody wants to avoid war as much as I. But we may need to strike first. If this comes to a head, it could be big. Amrita is threatening to leave the Triple Council, and if the vampires betray us and convince the wolf shifters to join them…it could be another War of the Final Fire.”
Beside me, Merlin ruffles his feathers in agitation. I’m also shocked by her words.
“Lavinia, you can’t be serious! Surely this little conflict-”
“This is no little conflict,” my High Priestess says sharply. “You’ve become softened by our recent peace, Amara. And although I admire your optimism, we must prepares ourselves for war.”
“She’s right, Amara,” Callista says. “The information we’ve gathered in the past few months isn’t good. The Arundel shifters are clearly plotting something much bigger than their fight with the panthers, and the fact that Tudor was hiding Oana Ionescu is highly suspicious. Lavinia and I are preparing the witches for battle. The older ones are resharpening their skills. The younger ones seem excited for their first real taste of war.”
I’m astonished by her quick agreement. Before I left for Silverlake City, Callista and I had always agreed that Lavinia was overreacting. But now I can see lines on the face of my usually cheerful friend. If Callista is worried, that changes things. Merlin and I share an anxious glance.
“Amara, you’ve got to do everything you can to get us information,” says Lavinia. “All that we love is at stake. Our coven, our way of life. You know better than anyone what these conflicts bring. Think of your father.”
“I understand, High Priestess,” I say, my voice hushed now, although nobody can overhear us. “I have to get ready for my next shift. I’ll keep an ear to the ground.”
“Blessed be,” she says in time with Callista.
“Blessed be,” I reply, as their faces fade from the mirror.
For a full minute, I sit on my uncomfortable desk chair, holding the mirror up. My face is a map of my fears, and a horrible knot grows in my stomach.
The young witches don’t remember the War of the Final Fire or the Wicked Wars. But I do, and so do Lavinia and Callista. Ongoing conflicts are horrible. We lose dozens of witches, and other magical clans get caught in the bloodshed. During the Wicked Wars, countless young witches were lost, as well as the shifters and vampires who joined in on both sides. The vampires never forgave us for drawing them into our conflict. And now I’m worried that they’re planning to break from our alliance.
The numbers are horrible, but the death of my father sticks out in my mind. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes as he died. I had always thought he was invincible. It was impossible to imagine that he could just be gone in an instant. But he was. Now I can barely remember his face, or his laugh. It was so long ago, but it hangs over me like a cloud. He hadn’t wanted to go to war. He avoided it at all costs. But the Hecate coven had to participate. The stakes were too high.
I think of the music on the record player last night. How I wish I could talk to him about it. Father, you’ll never guess what I found…
But I’ll never be able to tell him.
Because of a war we shouldn’t have been in.
I’ll do anything I can to avoid another one. I have to. For my coven. For the memory of my father, who so badly wanted peace but never lived to see it.
I’m stationed in the lounge tonight, standing in for the other bartender, who called in sick. But I don’t mind the change of pace. After my conversation with Lavinia and Callista, I have a renewed sense of purpose. The club was starting to feel fun, especially my nights with Celine, but now I feel guilty and irresponsible for allowing myself to forget about my true purpose here.
The lounge is slower and more calm than the club. It’s in the hotel proper, not a part of its seedy underbelly. Guests in well-tailored suits and long dresses slowly sip champagne and chat amicably in the dim light. I have no co-bartender, but I don’t need one, since it’s much slower. And my barback is much more useful. She doesn’t disappear for hours so that I have to fetch things myself. Instead of a DJ with dubious musical tastes, there’s a pianist who takes requests and accepts tips in a glass bowl.
It makes me think of when I caught Celine playing the piano in the event hall. I wonder if she’s playing now, in her crypt.
No, I’ve got to stop thinking about her. If her and Tudor had their way, the whole magical community would be torn apart by conflict. As much as I tried to deny it before, I know it’s true. Vampires thrive in bloodshed. I’ve witnessed three vampires be staked in my time here, and those were all relatively small feuds in the grand scheme of things.
Not to mention Hallie’s death. Although I have my own coven to blame for that.
My head starts to ache. I wish things weren’t so complex. I’m not made for politics and scheming. All I ever wanted was a simple, peaceful life in Hemlock Haven. My little bakery. The tourists. Teaching young witches how to cast spells and ride broomsticks. Now I’m undercover in a vampire bar, risking my life every day to protect them.
“What’s wrong?” says a low voice.
I jump, almost dropping the wine glass I was polishing. Why are vampires so quiet?
And it’s the last vampire I want to see right now. Celine. Her hair is up in a high ponytail, a single braid along the side of her head. She wears a sleeveless white blazer vest that goes down to her knees with a matching crop top and pants. Her shoes are high-heeled and pointy. I feel self-conscious in my two-day-old black slacks and the rumpled oxford that I pulled out of my locker when I heard I was supposed to be working in the lounge.
I wish she didn’t look so beautiful. And that she wasn’t so observant. It’s the last thing I need right now.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I tell her hastily. “What are you doing here?”
She narrows her eyes slightly. “This is my hotel. I was hosting my business partners.”
I’m certain that her definition of “business partner” is different than mine, but I’m not going to mention that.
I fight a complex internal battle for a minute. On one hand, Celine is my mortal enemy. If she found out who I am, she would immediately kill me, or torture me for information. I can’t forget that.
But on the other hand, I need information for my coven. I should take advantage of her interest in me. Lavinia would want me to find out anything I can about their potential plans, right?
Ugh, I feel sick at the thought of deceiving someone. Even a morally-depraved creature of the undead. But I have to do it.
“What business partners?” I ask, trying to keep my tone light and innocent.
“It’s not very interesting,” she responds, leaning against the bar and nodding her head toward a small group of suited guests as they exit the lounge. They don’t look like vampires or shifters. I don’t recognize them at all. Have I seen them in the club before? I’m a terrible spy.
“Maybe I would be interested,” I say, unconvincingly.
She gives me a skeptical look. “I don’t want to bore you.”
“Try me.” There’s nobody at the bar right now. It’s just the two of us. I put my elbows on the smooth, mahogany counter top. I have to admit, I don’t mind talking to Celine. Each time we’re together, I feel a stronger pull toward her. Although she never loses her terrifying, vampiric aura.
“All right,” she says. “Perhaps you’ve noticed it at the club. There’s a new street drug, illicit of course. It’s called glow. It looks like purple glitter.”
“I have noticed it,” I respond. This isn’t the sort of information I was expecting, but my interest is piqued.
“It’s been everywhere the past few months. We think that a rival mafia group is distributing it on purpose. It’s extremely cheap and easy to obtain. It feels good to ingest, but it makes breathers - living humans - weak, so that vampires have more influence over them and are easily able to take advantage of them. There have been several deaths and abductions in nearby clubs, much more than usual. I was meeting with some other…local business owners to discuss the issue.”
“That’s awful,” I reply, with genuine concern in my voice.
“I suspect I know who’s behind it, but I need more information before I go after him,” says Celine.
A dark shadow crosses her face, and I have to suppress a shudder. I don’t want to think about what she means by that. But if people are being killed because of this drug, that’s a huge problem. I think about all of the customers who come to the club. Others might say that they deserve what they get because of the risk they put themselves in, but I completely disagree. Nobody deserves to be drained by a vampire. I remember all of the conflicts the Hecate witches have ever been in with vampires. There’s nothing worse than finding a ghostly-pale body when the sun comes up.
“I accidentally ingested a bit of it, the new drug,” I tell Celine. “When I was in the club. One of the guests was doing it, and I inhaled some when I was cleaning up.”
“Were you hurt?” she asks sharply, another flash of anger across her face.
“I’m fine. It didn’t affect me that much,” I tell her. My stomach twists itself up in a knot at the look of fear on her face. Is she that concerned about me?
Focus, Amara .
“Strange that it didn’t affect you,” she says, her lip twitching.
“Oh, I’ve always been like that,” I say quickly. “Drugs have never had much of an effect on me.”
My heart is thumping harder than I would like it to. I’ve got to be extremely careful about what I reveal to her. I can’t tell her why the glow didn’t affect me, although I know exactly why. As a skilled witch, I knew immediately that the drugs were magical, and I was able to combat their effects.
Maybe if she knew they were magical, she would be able to stop it.
“It was…very weird, though,” I say, trying to make my voice as casual as possible. “It wasn’t like anything I’d ever experienced before. My mind felt all…hazy and strange. It’s almost like, I don’t know…magic? or something. But that couldn’t be possible, right?”
I take a rag and rub a spot on the immaculately polished surface of the bar. Why did Lavinia think I would make a good spy? It’s a miracle I haven’t been discovered yet.
Celine’s brows furrow. For a moment, I’m terrified that my awful lying has tipped her off. Then her eyes soften, and an expression of realization crosses her face.
“Hmm…that’s interesting,” she says.
I shrug. “I don’t have much experience with things like that.”
“Celine!” shrieks a voice from the entrance to the lounge. Renata stomps in, a characteristic expression of exasperation on her face. “I need to speak with you immediately ! Lexi is trying to livestream in the Gamble casino again, and I swear to god, if we get shut down because she can’t help sharing our illegal business to her stupid instagram followers, I will stake her myself!”
Celine sighs.
“I’ll come find you later,” she says to me with a twitch of her eyebrow. Then she goes to try and calm her sister down.
I’m slightly embarrassed by the warm, excited ache in my stomach as I watch her. How much later? Like, tonight later?
I can’t keep this up with her. It’s a terrible idea, right? She’s a horrible, undead monster with a taste for blood. Sooner or later, she’s going to decide that she’s sick of just sleeping with me and she’s going to drain me just like she’s probably drained hundreds of other people over the last three centuries.
But…if I can get close to her, maybe I can pick up some valuable information. Maybe the information that the Hecate witches need in order to prevent a conflict. It can’t hurt. I’m being noble, really, putting myself in harm’s way for my coven.
Right?