“When is it ever a ‘good time,’” Ophelia replied flatly. She clenched her hands into fists, extinguishing the purple flames that danced on her palms. “You have a responsibility, just like I do. So figure it the fuck out.”
I scrambled back to my seat as Ophelia stalked out of the kitchen and ducked under the open window to join me on the fire escape.
“Don’t even pretend that you didn’t hear all of that,” she said, sitting down beside me. Her legs dangled through the railing, swinging into the empty space below.
I shrugged and stared out over the city. At least they hadn’t been yelling about me. “Do you know where she went?”
Lacey had rushed out of the apartment a few hours ago without saying where she was going, and she hadn’t responded to any of my text messages, which was definitely not like her.
“No. I have a feeling that she’ll end up at Spiral.”
The relative silence of the night settled between us, but I knew that Ophelia’s thoughts were elsewhere. This was not the right time to ask about fire hands. Maybe I’d try it in the cooler at work tomorrow. It was a good thing David was absent most of the time, he’d freak out if he knew the kind of shit I did while I was doing my closing shift duties. But hey, practice makes perfect, and no, I’m not practicing my milk frothing technique.
I still suck at that.
The apartment door slammed and Ophelia groaned and leaned her head back against the brownstone wall behind us. I didn’t have to turn my head to know that the apartment was empty.
“Where do you think he’s going?”
“Do you really think I care right now?”
She knew where he was going, just like I did. He was headed for Spiral. Whether or not he was looking for Lacey was debatable, but if he had any sense left in him, that’s exactly what he’d be doing.
“I know you’re thinking about following him,” Ophelia said and I glanced at her quickly before staring out over the park again. “He needs to figure this out on his own. Besides, you have enough to worry about without taking on Lacey’s baggage.”
“Baggage?” I frowned just a little. That didn’t sound like Ophelia. Lacey was her best friend.
“Okay, baggage is the wrong word… I just have a lot on my mind.”
“Are you still having nightmares?”
Ophelia hadn’t really talked about what had happened in Spain since the plane had touched down at JFK, and I hadn’t pushed her either. As long as she was teaching me, I was happy, but something was bothering her.
She was silent beside me, I’d definitely hit a bullseye there.
“Maybe if you talk about it they’ll go away,” I said. It seemed like simple advice, but it was the only thing that had worked for me… the only thing that had made my own nightmares go away. They’d been horrible… so horrible that I’d been afraid to go to sleep for years. Every night when I’d close my eyes, I’d see my grandmother’s house wreathed in flame, the windows exploding out, and my mother screaming into the dark as the fire roared higher and stole the breath from her lungs.
It was only after I’d met Becca that I finally found someone that I could talk to about everything. Okay not everything. I didn’t tell her that I felt responsible for the fire, or that my mother had pushed me away from the house without using her hands. I’d never told anyone about that. Not the police, not the firefighters, not my social worker… no one. It had never made any sense to me until I had met Ophelia. Then it all seemed to make sense. It was the most fucked up kind of sense, but sense nonetheless.
Suki jumped out the living room window and into Opheila’s lap. Her rumbling purr was like a blanket of calming energy, and I had to wonder what kind of powers the little familiar had of her own.
“When I do I get one of those?” I asked, pointing at Suki, who promptly opened her mouth to gnaw on my finger.
“One of those?” Ophelia chuckled, stroking Suki’s dark head. “You don’t get to decide. At least, I don’t think you do. Suki found me. I don’t even remember how long ago it was now…”
I frowned a little and extracted my finger from the cat’s jaws. “That’s not fair. I’ve never had a pet.”
“She’s not a pet,” Ophelia said a little sharply as Suki settled into her lap. “A familiar is more than that. She’s an amplifier… she helps me focus my magic. It’s hard to explain, but when she’s with me, everything I do with my magic is easier, and takes less out of me.” Ophelia paused for a moment, obviously weighing her words carefully. “When we were in Spain, I was vulnerable. That’s how she was able to get in. It wouldn’t have happened that way if Suki was with me.”
That answered my question about the nightmares. The look on Ophelia’s face told me that I should leave that subject alone. But I just couldn’t. I needed answers too, and she’d spent way too much time shutting me down.
“I haven’t forgotten about Magdalena’s books.”
“Don’t say her name,” Ophelia snapped. Suki’s purr got louder and I silently thanked the little feline for trying to lend a helping paw. I wasn’t deterred by her dark mood. Ophelia always seemed to be in a shitty mood, it was better just to push ahead and see what happened.
“Fine. But I haven’t. I want to go to New Orleans.”
I was determined. I’d been wasting time foaming milk and serving coffee to uptight bitches in badly fitted blazers for way too many weeks and it was seriously starting to cramp my style. I almost missed coming home at night and falling into bed smelling like deep fryer oil. Anything was better than coffee.
“What the hell do you think you’re going to find in New Orleans?” Ophelia’s voice sounded tired, but I wasn’t going to let this go.
“I don’t know. I just know that I have to find this Vivienne Surette person. Her name was in Mag—“ Ophelia fixed me with a glare. “Sorry, her name was in… the book. And if her name is there, that means she’s like us. She’s a Daughter.”
Ophelia shrugged. “And?”
“What do you mean, ‘and’? If she’s like us don’t you want to talk to her? Find out what her life has been like? Maybe she knows things you don’t know. You thought you were alone… but now you have me, and there are others out there too.”
“You’re plenty to deal with,” Ophelia said with a wry smile, but I could see that she had considered everything I was saying already. “I know what you’re trying to do, Maia. But I don’t know if I’m ready for a…”
“A coven? It sounds ridiculous, I know. Are they even a real thing? It sounds like something Lacey would say.”
“I’m fine with just the two of us. In my experience, when Daughters gather, we burn, and I have enough to worry about. Besides, we don’t know how long it will take for the Malleus to figure out that the person giving them their marching orders is dead.”
Shit. I hadn’t thought about that part.
Ophelia paused, rubbing her fingers underneath Suki’s chin. “This is the last time I want to talk about it. You have too much to learn and it’s not the right time. You’re not strong enough to go off on your own. What if something happened and I wasn’t there to protect you? We’ll go. Just not right now.”
Protect me? I didn’t need anyone to protect me. I thought I’d proven that in Spain. I kept my mouth shut. Ophelia was just as stubborn as I was, and if I argued with her, it was only going to get worse. It didn’t matter what she said, it wasn’t going to change my mind.
Let’s be honest, I’d made the decision to go to New Orleans as soon as we’d gotten on the plane in Barcelona. Plus, I’m really bad at being patient.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the wail of sirens and the sound of the city at night, a muted version of its daylight activity.
“Can you teach me how to do that fire hand thing,” I blurted out. “It just looked so fucking cool, and Eli looked a little worried—“
Ophelia’s dark chuckle cut off my hurried words and I hoped that I’d knocked her mind away from dwelling on the cont
ents of the scorched leather bound book that I kept under my pillow… and New Orleans.
WEE-OOH
WEE-OOH
WEE-OOH
Jolted out of a sound sleep, I sat bolt upright on the couch, knocking my pillows to the floor and dumping over my glass of water at the same time, soaking the pillows and the edge of the couch.
“Fee! I hate your alarm!” I shouted, throwing one of my wet pillows at her.
“It’s not my fault,” Ophelia growled, stabbing the phone screen with her finger to shut it up. “David is forcing me to use this thing as part of my ‘manager toolkit.’ I haven’t figured out how to change the alarm tone yet.”
5am always came way too early, especially when there were vampires in the house. I groaned and flopped face first down on the couch I’d been using as a bed for the last few weeks. Ophelia had promised she would upgrade to a pull out couch, but it hadn’t happened yet. I didn’t have enough money for an apartment of my own, but as soon as I did... outta here.
I heard Ophelia get up, and the sound of the curtains in the living room sliding shut to keep out the daylight that was just starting to creep across the sky.
“Did you hear Lacey come in?” Ophelia asked. She sounded concerned and I lifted my head to peer around the corner at her. She was standing in front of Lacey’s curtained sleeping space, her hand on the edge of one of the heavy drapes.
“No. She usually wakes me up too...”
“Lace?” Ophelia twitched the curtain aside to see if Lacey was inside, and her brow furrowed.
The apartment door slammed and Lacey streaked through the room, diving into the opening Ophelia had made in the curtains.
“Lacey, what the fuck?”
There was silence from inside the curtains.
“Lacey?”
“Don’t you have to go to work?” Lacey replied. Ophelia’s eyes widened and she took a step back.
“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” she said quietly, walking through the living room and past the couch. I was fully awake now. That wasn’t like Lacey at all. She never snapped at anyone, especially not Ophelia. What the fuck was going on?
The bathroom door slammed and I let out the breath I’d been holding. Great. Ophelia would be in a fantastic mood this morning. Brilliant start to the day.
Suki was sitting in front of Lacey’s curtained space, her tail twitching. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. Suki didn’t normally wait for an invitation to enter Lacey’s space, she just found her way through the curtains and settled down to be lazy for the rest of the day while Lacey slept. But I had a feeling that Lacey wasn’t sleeping.
I got up off the couch and grimaced at the cramp in my shoulder. I hated these sleeping arrangements; I definitely had to talk to Ophelia about getting a new couch.
Something smashed in the bathroom and I hesitated in the doorway to the living room.
Maybe I’d ask her tomorrow.
Suki caught sight of me and meowed, curling her tail across her neatly placed paws.
I sat on the floor beside her and crossed my legs underneath me. I knew that Lacey would know I was here. She might not have been fully comfortable with her new powers, but she knew enough to be a creep when she wanted to be.
“What do you want, Maia,” she said sharply, her voice muffled by the curtains.
Suki climbed into my lap and settled herself against my stomach, her purr rumbling through me. I tried to do what Ophelia had taught me… focus on the vibration and reach out with the magic that swirled in my veins.
“Nothing. I mean, nothing major anyway. I just want to say hi. I missed hanging out with you last night.”
It was true, I had missed her, she might have a bunch of annoying mannerisms that I couldn’t stand, but Lacey was a good listener. Ophelia was quiet, and she let me talk, but I always got the impression that she was only half-listening to what I was saying. I didn’t blame her; she had a lot of shit on her mind, stuff I couldn’t even begin to understand… I’d get it eventually, but for right now, it was nice to have someone my own age to talk to.
I missed Becca. But Becca was back in Seattle, and she hadn’t responded to any of my text messages in weeks…
“Seriously?” Lacey sounded incredulous and my smile faltered just a little.
“Yeah, of course I’m serious. You’re a part of this… whatever this is, and I missed you. Are you okay?”
There was silence from inside the curtains, and I could hear Lacey’s fingers tapping on her laptop keyboard.
“Everything’s fucking peachy, thanks for asking,” she said after a minute.
Fucking peachy? Who the hell says that? And when did Lacey start swearing? Red flags everywhere.
After another silence, I reached out to find the edge of the velvet curtain that made up the outer layer of Lacey’s space. Suki’s claws dug into my bare leg and I winced, but I didn’t pull back my hand.
“Don’t even think about opening that curtain,” Lacey’s voice warned.
That’s it.
“Tough shit, I’m coming in,” I said, finding the edge of the inner curtain with my fingertips. I scooped Suki up under my arm, shoved her through the heavy material and launched myself through the curtain as quickly as I could so that no light got through.
Lacey shrieked in angry surprise as I tumbled onto her bed and sprawled across her in a tangle of arms and legs and hair.
“Hey,” I gasped, pulling her laptop out from under my knee. “Whatcha doin’?”
“You need a shower,” Lacey said. She made a face and plugged her nose for effect.
“It’s 5am, deal with it,” I snapped, opening her laptop.
“Hey! That’s private, what are you—“
My eyes widened as I saw what she had been working on.
Bus tickets.
“New Orleans? You’re going to New Orleans?”
“Shhhh. Shut up, Maia! If Fee bursts in here and starts giving me the business I’m going to… I’m going to be really upset with you!”
“The business?” I raised my eyebrow and tried not to laugh. Lacey was terrible at being serious.
She stomped her little foot and glared at me. “You know what I mean! She’d be pissed if she knew I was planning something without talking to her.”
I looked at the laptop screen again. She was leaving tomorrow. “Have you talked to Eli?”
Lacey let out a frustrated grunt and I tried my best not to laugh again. “No, I haven’t,” she said in a loud whisper. “And I’d really appreciate if you’d keep your mouth shut about it.” She reached out, snatched the laptop from my hands, and cradled it against her chest.
“Fine,” I agreed, drawing an X over my heart with my finger.
“Are you leaving now? Don’t you have to go to work too?”
I shrugged and rearranged myself in the small space. I was a lot taller than Lacey, and having two people inside her curtained corner of the living room wasn’t exactly ideal, but she’d set it up so that it was more than comfortable for someone her size. Suki had made herself at home on a pillow shaped like a piece of candy corn and I could hear her purring contentedly.
“Yes, I have to go to work… but when I come back, we’re talking about that,” I said, gesturing wildly at the laptop.
Lacey bit her lip as she weighed her options.
“Tick tock, if you don’t say yes I’m telling Fee and you can deal with her.”
“Fine!” She whispered loudly. “Fine. Now get out.”
“Fine!”
I smiled triumphantly and ducked out of the curtains, being careful to let the inner layer fall closed behind me before stepping out of the second set.
Ophelia was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at me.
“Tell me what?”
4
Lacey
I don’t think you are grasping the magnitude of the danger you put yourself, no, the entire kalyska in. You fed on unsuspecting innocents and exposed not only your
self, but all of us.”
I hated being scolded. When I was a kid it had sucked bad enough when my dad did it, and it sucked even more now that I was a grown-ass adult. Bishop was staring at me over his desk, his long fingers tapping on the dark wood to punctuate his words.
The silence stretched out between us and I realized that he was waiting for me to say something. I just didn’t know what the hell should be coming out of my mouth.
“I’m waiting,” he said dryly, his face an unreadable mask.
I shrugged. “I don’t know what you want me to say,” I muttered. Behind me, Meridian chuckled. He brushed past me as he walked towards Bishop’s desk. I shuddered involuntarily.
“What Bishop is waiting for, and you’ll forgive me for paraphrasing, is for you to grow up.” Meridian leaned on the back of Bishop’s chair and I narrowed my eyes at him. The smirk on his face made it clear that he was enjoying this little meeting, but I still wasn’t sure why he was even there.
“Look, I made a mistake... if you want me to apologize to some weird vampire council, I’ll do it.”
Meridian’s smile widened, showing his sharp teeth.
“My contact at Caedyr has already sent word that you are to face their tribunal to answer for your actions…”
“Crimes,” Meridian interrupted. “ I believe the word that the Catamarian used was ‘crimes.’” A chill wound its way up my spine. He looked entirely too pleased with himself.
“Crimes?” I squeaked. They had to be joking. Trying to scare me. Maybe this was like one of those reality shows and they were administering some good old 90s era ‘tough love.’
But Bishop’s expression wasn’t anything close to benevolent, or kind. And Meridian… the less said about the way he was looking at me, the better.
“I told Bishop you should never have been turned,” he said, sliding one of his signature toothpicks between his teeth. “We’ve done that hitea too many favors already.”
“Enough,” Bishop said, laying his hand flat on the desk. The large gold ring he wore on his first finger clicked against the hardwood and I flinched just a little. “For a Laudan with so many years behind his teeth, I’m still surprised that you talk so much. I’m sure you have made some… less than perfect krŭvno dete of your own. I seem to remember one in particular—“
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