Chapter 22
“How was your run?” Mabel asks when I get back into the house.
She’s in the kitchen, holding a wine glass full of blood as she stares at the curtained window.
Unlike the windows in the parlor, this one is just dark, the glass blacked out by the metal blinds.
There are LED lights built in around it, offering a little light.
Being in a house void of natural light is weird. I can get used to switching my sleep schedule from PM to AM, but I need some sort of light to not feel like I’m stuck in a bunker underground. At least my room doesn’t have curtains.
“It was nice,” I reply, going to the sink to get some water. Mabel finishes her blood and comes over, inhaling deep. Right, she wanted to smell the sun on my hair.
“I miss the way the sun felt on my skin.” She steps back and touches her cheek, remembering the way it felt.
“You didn’t want to be turned, did you?” I blurt before stopping myself. Maybe it’s rude to ask someone you’re not close to, but she is my sister-in-law, after all.
“I didn’t,” she answers with no hesitation. “I was very much against it.”
“Did they ask you?”
“Zeke did, many times. And I told him, not on your tintype! You think I’d trade my heels and my jazz for a coffin and fangs? I like my giggle water and my daylight too much to go pullin’ a Dracula act.”
“But you’re a vampire,” I state, not directly asking if she was turned against her will.
“It took some convincing, that’s for sure.”
“What changed your mind?” I ask, though I’m sure it’s more who changed it.
“The thought of my Zeke having to watch me grow old and die. I love him, almost as much as he loves me.”
I smile. “That’s the right way to do it: find a guy who loves us more, right?”
“That’s what my mama said. If I were ever to settle down, find a good man with a good heart. My daddy wasn’t a good man with a good heart. He was a good hunter who was good at drinking beer and taking his anger and emotional issues out on my mother.”
“Oh wow. That’s a lot to unpack.” I fill a glass with water and take a big drink. “Your life wasn’t easy.”
She shrugs. “I’m pretty. I had it easier than a lot of women born into the Order.”
I take another drink. “It wasn’t that long ago that women were even considered to be on equal playing ground as the male hunters. In a lot of ways, we’re still not considered such.”
“Well, men are stronger,” she starts and comes over to the sink, rinsing out the wine glass before putting it in the sink.
“But as you know, strength doesn’t have everything to do with hunting.
” She whirls around, smiling at me. “Tell me, did they let you have access to all the weapons? Not to clean but to use?”
“Yeah. Whatever I wanted, though with this,” I start and hold up my hand, letting magic spark around my fingers. “I didn’t need as many weapons as the others.”
Her blue eyes grow wide and she leans in, slowly coming closer to the magic. “How do you do that? I know it’s magic, but…golly!”
“I can’t really explain it. I just do.” I shrug and close my fist, absorbing the little strings of magic.
“It’s like pulling energy out of the air.
I suppose you can get all scientific with how everything is made up of energy and all that, but I just like leaving it at that. It's magic. Much easier.”
“It is. What about spells? Why do some things work and some don’t?”
“I’ve wondered that too,” I tell her. “Why do you need the right combination of words sometimes and other times it’s just about intention? Maybe if I was part of a coven I’d know the answer.”
“They really limited you, huh?”
“In terms of learning magic…yeah,” I confess and it feels good to say that out loud. Before, it felt like I had to be so grateful I was allowed to do the little bit of magic I was permitted to do. Now, I know it was because they didn’t want me to get too powerful to control.
Because how could they have used me to try and make super-soldiers if I could fight them off?
Keeping your subordinates dumb is a way to stay in power, after all.
I finish my water and turn to get more. Seeing the wine glass reminds me about how vampires only drink blood, making me question this whole theory of them being suppliers.
Why would vampires want drugs? Not for themselves. I think? I actually have no idea if a vampire can do any sort of drug. They can’t consume alcohol, but what about something injected, smoked, or snorted?
“Hey, this is random, but can you do cocaine?” I ask Mabel.
“Why would I want to do that?” She looks at me curiously. “Do you do cocaine?”
“No, I never have. I was just thinking about how vampires can’t eat or drink and it made me wonder if you can ingest other substances.”
She tips her head as if she’s thinking about it. “No. We don’t. But we can have a human get high or drunk and then drink their blood and feel the effect for a little bit.”
“Really?”
“Mm-hm.” She bobs her head up and down. “The blood doesn’t taste good, but it can be fun for a bit.”
“Interesting.”
“Cocaine today isn’t what it was back in my day,” she starts. “It used to be in tonics and sodas. It would make you feel alive!”
“Yeah, I’ve heard it’s better than coffee.” I shake my head. “It was just a random thought. But I have another.”
“Hit me with it!”
“Do you know how Xavier got so rich?”
“He’s good at business,” Mabel replies.
“What kind of business?”
“Buying and selling things.”
Okay, that’s not much to work with. “Do you know what kind of things?”
“Real estate. And stocks or trading, or something like that.” She shrugs. “I was told it was complicated. But I guess over the centuries you learn a thing or two about investing.”
“Yeah, you definitely would,” I agree. None of that sounds outright illegal, though I know there are ways around legalities in those fields.
Still, it’s nowhere near dealing drugs. “I should go shower.” I finish the rest of my water and put the glass in the sink.
Mabel says something I can’t quite make out, but I think she’s talking to herself anyway.
Jogging up the stairs, I pause where I usually turn to head to my room. I haven’t really explored the rest of this floor yet, and I know everyone has their own room. Pausing, I listen, and head in the direction of a TV.
“Knock-knock,” I say, stopping in the doorway to Devon’s room. He’s sitting on his bed, legs outstretched. He has his phone in one hand, lazily scrolling while he watches TV.
“Hey,” he replies quickly, looking surprised. “Enjoy your run?”
“Yeah. It felt really good to get out and exercise again. It was such an important part of my routine before it felt almost unnatural to not workout.”
“There’s a workout room in the basement, you know.”
“I’ve been in my room and, like, the kitchen.” I cock an eyebrow. “I’m basically Belle not allowed in the West Wing, which is like the rest of the house.”
He chuckles. “I’ll show it to you later. It’s nice. And if there’s anything you want, we can get it for you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I told you on your first day, making sure you’re happy and healthy is a big priority.”
My hands go to my middle. “Right. Because happy mothers make happy babies. Maybe? I don’t know.”
“There’s a lot of research that shows the mother’s mental health has a rather large impact on the baby.”
“Hmm,” I just say and we both look at each other in awkward silence. Any time this is brought up, I know we’re thinking the same thing: sooner or later, we’re going to have sex.
“Hey, random,” I start, “but have you heard of an increase of overdoses in the city?”
“Yeah,” Devon replies. “There’s been a big issue with shit being laced with carfentanil. It’s like an instant death if it touches you, I’ve heard.”
“Oh, shit.”
“I just saw on the news a day or two ago that the number of overdoses this month is already higher than average by like double.”
“That’s terrible.”
He nods. “Why are you asking about ODs?”
“I heard someone talking about it while I was on my run and just was curious. I still don’t have access to the real world.”
“Right. No phone. You should ask Xavier about it.”
“Ask me about what?” Xavier speeds into the room, stopping right next to me. I playfully smack his arm.
“It is not fair that you can do that,” I retort, unable to help but smile as I look up at him. Devon takes a quick step back and it’s weird I feel guilty, right? I shouldn’t. Because there isn’t anything between Devon and me.
There can’t be.
He’s my brother-in-law.
I’m married.
Yeah, we have the overly complicated and messed up issue that he’s supposed to get me pregnant at some point, but we haven’t crossed that bridge yet.
“I’ve suggested they wear bells, like a cat,” Devon chides and I laugh.
“Hey, that’s not a terrible idea.” I raise my brows.
“What did you want to ask?” Xavier steps in closer, hand landing on the small of my back.
“I want my phone,” I say, looking into his eyes and waiting for a reaction. “I’m like a prisoner without access to social media.”
“Fine. Mabel keeps going on and on about setting up a TikTok account for you. I’ll have a phone charged and ready for you after you shower.” He looks at his watch. “Which you need to get done before we’re late.”
“Late?”
His hand slides around to the curve of my hip and suddenly, the fact that Devon is watching turns me on. My mind flashes to what else he could watch us do…and then eventually join.
“We have another dinner to attend, and I need you there as both a witch and my wife.”
“With the Vampire Council again?”
“There may be a member from the VC there, but this council we’re meeting with is more off-the-books, if you know what I mean.”
Oh, shit. I do, and suddenly that crazy rumor Leo heard about Xavier possibly being the one responsible for the new, deadly drugs makes sense.