Chapter 6 Komal
“SORRY, SORRY,” I SAY AS I hurry into the book club room at Nevermore Bookshop at quarter past seven. “Kiaan got a piece of Lego stuck up his nose, Mamma couldn’t find her lucky earrings, and Shivani and Priya had a screaming fight over a red sweater, so I had to… what’s all this?”
“We’re making campaign signs!” Mina holds up a large square of cardboard dripping with red paint. “This is mine. Komal Ahuja gets Oscar’s paw of approval.”
“Aarf.” Oscar, Mina’s guide dog, looks up from where he’d been licking red paint off his paw, his head bobbing as if agreeing with Mina’s bizarre idea. There is one perfect red paw print in the corner of the poster and several smeared around the floor and furniture.
“We thought Oscar could be your mascot,” Mina says sheepishly as she clips a liquid level indicator to an empty wine glass and starts pouring. “Now there are paws of approval over the whole shop.”
“I decided to continue Mina’s ‘animals voting for Komal’ theme.
” Maisie holds up her sign of a crudely drawn duck wearing a pin with my face on it, next to the words: “Augustin Durant tried to shut down the Argleton Gazette. Is this who you want in charge? Don’t be ducking silly – vote Komal Ahuja for mayor. ”
“I opted for a more classic smear campaign.” Isis displays hers proudly. “It says, ‘Vote for Komal. Who would do a better job? Not Augustin Durant. Probably Winston Churchill, but it’s not 1942, so Komal’s your best choice. Trust me on this. I’m a clairvoyant.’ ”
The largest text on the sign is her website address for online readings.
“I went with poetry.” Celeste holds up hers. “ ‘Life is short. Komal is short. Choose life. Vote Komal.’ ”
“I’ll ignore the dig about my height for now, because these are really sweet.” I beam at my friends. With the Nevermore Coven at my side, I’m going to win this. I can feel it.
“We are so excited for you to run for mayor.” Mina’s device beeps, and she hands me a sloshing glass of wine. “You’re going to be perfect, our Madam MacGyver. You can finally get all the important things done in the village.”
“I have so many ideas,” I say. “I’ll be able to properly fund the Gazette, so Maisie can keep her job, and make things like permits and planning consent more streamlined, because Beth, I know you’re having trouble with your pole studio repairs.”
Beth makes a face. “The application is so hard. And they want all this technical information. Isn’t it enough that my studio will raise the vibrational frequency of the whole village, bringing our people into energetic harmony and discouraging the lingering presence of negative entities?”
No, but I’d love to see Durant’s face when you tell him that.
I turn to Mina. “And what about if we made funds available for a literary festival, and maybe gave a certain up-and-coming artist the opportunity to create a piece of art for the village green?”
“I’d love that.” Mina pats the head of the raven sitting on the back of her chair, who nods enthusiastically and chomps on a cracker. “And so would Quoth.”
“I think council meetings should be held by candlelight, instead of electricity,” Isis declares. “It’s more environmentally friendly, and supports the local candle making industry.”
“Another good idea, although I’m worried it might appear as a conflict of interest, considering the local candle making industry consists entirely of you—”
“And while you’re at it, can you change the village indecency laws?” Isis bats her eyelashes at me. “Dora and I want to run a skyclad ritual for our women’s group in the village green—”
“No, we don’t,” Dora says firmly.
“—but Augustin said we’d be arrested.”
“I’m not sure I’m able to change the law—”
Arabella rushes through the door in a whirlwind of French silk, interrupting Isis before she could make any other bizarre requests.
“I know I said that I wouldn’t be late again, but there was a disaster at Sanctus.
Some foolish Thrall stocked the cellar with red wine instead of blood.
It’s cocktail hour, and we nearly had a revolt on our hands—” Arabella frowns as she tosses down her copy of AK Mulford’s Dreamslayer.
“What’s all this? Why are we doing art projects instead of discussing this week’s book? ”
“You’ve been coming to book club for over five years,” Mina points out. “Surely you know by now that we never discuss the book. We’re making posters for Komal’s mayoral campaign.”
“Do you even want to be mayor?” Arabella wrinkles her brow.
“It’s all paperwork, potholes and pensioners yelling about hedges.
It’s purgatory with stale biscuits. If I’d known running a vampire property development would be so dull, I’d never have stolen it from Gideon.
Leave the mayoring to Augustin. He’s good at that sort of thing. ”
“And I’m not?” I bristle. Once again, even my friends can’t see through Augustin’s facade.
“I didn’t mean it like that. Only that he seems like the perfect person for the job.
And you’re the perfect person for running quirky village festivals and flying people around in turkey-shaped death machines.
Although when you become mayor, could you be a doll and remove the garlic festival from the village roster? Some of our residents have complained.”
I can’t remove the garlic festival. It’s Papa’s favourite village event. He wins the culinary competition every year with his garlic parathas.
“You told us that vampires being repelled by garlic is an urban legend,” Dora reminds Arabella.
“It’s cultural appropriation, darling. Garlic is part of our folklore, and here are the villagers waving it about like it means nothing. You don’t want to get your mayoralship off to a bad start with the vampires. They tend to get a little bitey if enraged.”
“I guess not—”
“Arabella, darling, stop torturing the humans. You know it makes their blood too tart.”
Beth frowns at Gideon, who’s now in the doorway behind Arabella. “What’s he doing here? This club is no boys allowed.”
“I’m dropping off my ravishing fiancée before joining Allie and Augustin for a glass of blood up at Black Crag.
We have strategising to do.” Gideon leans in close to kiss Arabella goodbye.
I feel a little flutter of happiness as I see Arabella melt into his kiss.
I love Arabella, but she’s the textbook definition of “black cat” energy, and when she discovered that the man who betrayed her 150 years ago was building a vampire property development outside the village, she became downright insufferable.
Now it turns out that all that energy she expended hating Gideon was actually because she was madly in love with him, and all it took was several ill-advised “grand gestures” and saving her life from her evil sire to make her see it.
She’s a lot more smiley and pleasant to be around since she stopped fighting and started fucking her enemy.
Okay, okay, and if I’m being totally honest, the little flutter of happiness has been smushed by Thor’s hammer of jealousy.
Because I want what Arabella, Winnie, and Mina have.
I want someone who makes me feel all fluttery and gives me multiple orgasms and holds me when I’m afraid my brain is going to leak out of my ears.
I thought that I had my life on track, that I was heading for the great middle-class dream of AWESOME JOB, DELICIOUS HUSBAND, HOME OWNERSHIP and, most importantly, CUTE BABIES. And then it all fell to pieces when my papa got sick.
But it’s fine.
It’s perfect.
I’m back in my favourite village, spending quality time with my nephews while my sister works long hours at her new clinic, plus I’m no longer being shot at while I fly.
Papa and I are about to trounce my archrival in the mayoral race, and I agreed to let my parents set me up with any of their friends’ eligible sons within a ten-mile radius who haven’t already been married off. (Slim pickings, but I’m game!)
I’m fixing everything, just like I’ll fix this village.
“You’re strategising? Is this about—” Winnie starts, but Gideon makes a face that cuts her off.
Another vampire secret. I wonder if Gideon is helping with Alaric’s Conclave negotiations.
Winnie is Alaric’s fiancée, and she’s human, which means that technically Alaric is breaking a million vampire rules by being with her.
Apparently, if a vampire man makes a human woman pregnant, she’ll have an evil demon half-Upyr, half-human baby called a Dhampir.
So vampires have outlawed all vampire–human relations.
Winnie could solve the issue by agreeing to become a vampire (honestly, if it were me, sign me up for immortality, perfect skin, and dreamless sleep undisturbed by nephews jumping on your coffin), but she’s not ready to become fanged and fabulous, so instead Alaric is trying to change the Upyr laws so they can wed.
I’m unsure how Gideon thinks he can help with Conclave negotiations when he’s literally their number one enemy for building Sanctus Estate without their approval and allowing uncourted vampires to live there. Or why Augustin would be helping them? Are they all friends?
Is no corner of my life safe from Augustin’s… Augustin-ness?
Gideon peers down at the posters, clearly hunting for a change of subject. “What’s all this? Komal, are you running against Augustin for mayor?”
“She is, and she’s going to win.” Beth proclaims proudly.
“I hope not.”
“What?” Arabella demands. “What did you just say? Komal is brilliant.”
“Oh, nothing.” Gideon shrugs, but I notice he moves his hands over his crotch. He fears Arabella’s retribution. As well he should. “It’s merely that certain people – like our Sanctus members – were pleased by the idea of a vampire as mayor.”
“But Augustin’s corrupt!” I retort. “And you’re the one who corrupted him!”