Page 50 of Bloodline Unbound

Melinda reached out to Logan, and Caden snapped a hand around her wrist. “I think you’ve touched her quite enough for one day.”

“Honestly, you two make my work more difficult, but I’ll be nice and not evict you from my shop.” Melinda walked past us and flipped the deadbolt and the open sign to closed. “Follow me.”

Caden picked up Logan and cradled her to his chest. Melinda scooped up the weird tea on the way and led us up a set of narrow stairs to a small apartment above the store.

I didn’t like it up here. It didn’t feel wrong like the creature, but it wasn’t comfortable. Melinda’s vibes weren’t exactly chill.

“Do you have somewhere safe to go?” Melinda asked as she sat down in her small living room. We sat on her couch with Logan between us.

“Not really,” I said.

“Find somewhere.” Melinda’s voice was firm. “After you leave here, I’m going to go on a nice, long vacation to visit my cousin in Bucharest. You brought her scent to my door and I ripped the lid off exactly what that thing is hunting.”

“You’re leaving?” I asked.

“Well, I’m not going to stick around and wait for something that wants to suck back my magic like a Capri Sun on a hot day. I’ve already heard about the half-dozen witch deaths on the East Coast. I don’t intend to add to that number.”

“But where the fuck are we supposed to hide from it?”

She shrugged. “That’s not really my problem.”

My hackles rose, and it took all my willpower to not shift into panther form and slap the shit out of her.

Melinda waved her hand dismissively. “Yes, yes, I see you, hissy. You can growl and fuss all you want, but it’ll make no difference. I guess it’s good I opened as many layers as I did where she’s safe. If it had gotten its hands on her, it would have torn them open like a kid at Christmas and sucked her magic down while she was catatonic.”

“What do you mean layers?”

“There were mountains of barriers between her and her magic. Who put them there or why, I have no idea, but she was locked down like Fort Knox. Since her abilities started to pop up only after she had direct contact with the creature, I can only assume that rather than her magic being consumed, it was first eating the layers of binding magic that kept her powers suppressed. You were able to remove her from the situation before they were all shredded, but there were still plenty left, which is what I removed.”

I looked down at Logan. Her eyes had a faint glow to them.

Melinda fished through one of the piles she’d picked out earlier and handed us two circular stones with the center missing. “These should let you see the creature.”

Logan shuddered in our arms and lifted her head, the glassiness fading from her gaze. She stared at her hands like she’d never seen them before. “What the fuck happened?”

“Lovely of you to join us again, sweetness.” Melinda smirked and handed her the freaky tea. “Drink this, and then we’ll go outside to let you test out what I’ve woken.”

Everything looked weird. Wavery, swirly, like I’d seen in movie depictions of an acid trip. I reached over to Seth and Caden and dug my fingers into their thighs for a desperate anchor.

“I know, sweetness.” Melinda held out the cup more insistently. Whatever was inside it was glowing. “Drink this. It’ll help.”

The twisting vision was quickly making me nauseated, and while I wasn’t eager to down some fucked up potion, I also didn’t want to hurl all over her living room. I took the cup from her and took a tentative sip. It tasted like the forest and felt like a balm on my tongue. I’d expected searing heat from the steam but it was only pleasantly warm and I chugged the rest of it.

My vision cleared with every mouthful and I slumped gratefully against Caden as I finished it off.

“There’s a good girl.” Melinda’s words made my stomach flip. She took the mug back and set it on the small table next to her chair. “Better?”

I nodded, but slipped my hands into Caden’s and Seth’s anyway. My blood still hummed, and my head was so light I half worried it would float away.

“Ready to go outside?”

“For what?” I asked.

“Your boys told me about everything and your weird ability quirks. You should have a much easier time with them now if you want to try.”

“In a minute.”

Melinda nodded and updated me on her theory. “If we could figure out what line you’re from, that might give us a better idea as to why you were bound to begin with. There are only three lines that I’m aware of that were locked.”

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