Page 89 of Scorned

“Blue is a Book Darling,” Shayla stated with a wave of her hand. “Unlike my other sisters, her powers require her to use spells. She is here to practice with us.”

Ravage crossed his arms. “And what are we doing out here, Shayla? I thought we were going to meet closer to VRC.”

“I said the edge of the wards and we are here. Beyond this is dread and gloom for any human and no entry for supernaturals.” She glanced at each of us from head to toe. “Lovely attire. Not only must you look the part on the outside, you must be suitable on the inside.”

“You are not residents, you are not lords, you must be safe to cross the wards,” Cece sang, and my brows rose.

“So, what you’re saying is, you’re going to make it to where we can enter?” I asked, and Shayla nodded.

“This shall not halt you much longer.”

The four witches circled us. Shayla, Delaney, and Cece raised their hands to the sky, and Blue Book Bitch, as I now called her in my head, gripped her book tightly and chanted a bunch of words, none of them sounding familiar.

This went on for about a minute before the witches relaxed, and Shayla said, “It is done.”

“We appreciate you taking the time to do this,” Ravage expressed and Shayla smiled.

“Before you go, we must tell the silver some important things.” Shayla stepped up to Sage, taking her hand. “I can sense the blood in you. We are delighted to see you took the offer like we suggested. Heather has powerful blood. You are safe with her.”

Sage’s eyes bulged as Shayla revealed her secrets. Of course, Lyric had already informed me about Peach feeding Sage her blood, so I wasn’t surprised.

Delaney walked past me, heading to Sage, and I was glad she didn’t have the damn snake out. “Listen to your instincts, my silver. Less is more.”

“Less is more, less is more,” Cece chanted. “Small raindrops bring back life while large rivers will end it.”

I snickered, annoyed by the vagueness of the witches and the amount of time being consumed. And probably because I got knocked on my ass. “Are we done yet?”

“The sun will be our enemy in the morning and we’ll be racing it.” Ravage held his hand out to the new bitch. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Likewise.” She shook it with a smile before turning to me and tilting her head. “Blue Book Bitch is an awfully long nickname for me. You should think about shortening to BB. It rolls off the tongue easier. Kind of like Pooh Bear.”

My mouth fell open and Cece bursted out with laughter. “Blue Book Bitch is an exquisite nickname!”

“This is why I don’t like witches.” I shook my head, and turned toward the car.

“It was nice meeting you,” Blue called out from behind me, and I ignored her. “Sorry I knocked you on your ass!”

Once back in the vehicle, I slammed the door shut, seething.

Fucking witches.

Ravage entered the van, started it up, and we continued driving toward VRC. We were only a few miles away when he pulled over again to stash Sage’s Jeep.

We got out and waited for the ladies to join us, conversing about the only two bulletproof vests we had, leaving the other humans unprotected.

“This one will only fit Erik,” Ravage said, handing him a vest before turning toward Marcus and Zeke. “And you two can fight over this one.”

The brothers stared at it, Marcus shaking his head. “I’m not taking it.”

“Me either,” Zeke stated. They both crossed their arms and glared at each other, being stubborn as fuck. Even though the brothers looked similar, this was the first time they’d appeared to be real siblings.

Erik took off his jacket and held it out to me. “Can you hold this?”

I rolled my eyes and yanked it from him, still seething over the witches.

Erik slid the body armor over his black T-shirt, and latched the sides, leaving them loose. Marcus stuffed two IV bags filled with blood under the vest, hoping to get them past security. The rest of the blood stayed in the cooler in case one of us vampires needed it after the mission. Erik pulled the fasteners tighter and I handed back his jacket.

“Are we all supposed to wear ballistic vests?” Sage asked, strolling up with Lyric and Lynx behind her.

---