Page 22 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 1

“You’re not sure?”

Evangeline shrugged. “I don’t remember them—my birth parents. I was adopted when I was five, and everything before then is just kind of a blur. But…” She sighed. “I don’t know. It just feels like it was them.”

“But you didn’t see anything about the ascendancy array?”

“Maybe?” Evangeline said. “There was something, but I only got a quick glimpse of it.” She sighed and started to take her hair out of its bun, sending chestnut curls cascading down her shoulders and chest. “Hey, you’re not one of those vampires who’ll get offended if you see an ankle or something, right? Because it’s been a really fucking long day, and I need to not be wearing jeans anymore. You mind if I throw on pajamas?”

“I…” I began, then cleared my throat. “No. By all means. Ankles are fine.”

“Cool,” she said. “Be right back.”

As soon as she left the room, I realized my mistake. So far, I’d only seen Evangeline prepared for work, wearing clothes that, while flattering, were almost certainly bought because they were sturdy and easy to clean. I saw the version of her that went out, ready to face the world. Now, I was on her sofa, in her apartment, and she was changing into pajamas. Soft, comfortable clothing.

I tried to pick up a throw pillow just to have something to do with my hands, but when I reached for a round, fuzzy green one on the floor, it bit me.

“You don’t seem to be a pillow,” I said to it.

“Mrrrah,” said the thing that wasn’t a pillow. It stood up and revealed itself to be a handsome little cat. The beast stretched into an arch like a Halloween decoration, doing it with such intensity, its legs quivered with it. Then it hopped up onto the sofa next to me.

“Hello,” I murmured, holding my finger out for the cat—I was sure it was a cat—to sniff. It leaned in curiously, sniffed, and immediately decided to ignore me.

“Nice to meet you, too,” I said ruefully. I gave the cat a gentle stroke down its spine but yelped and pulled my hand away. The cat’s back had suddenly begun to bristle with thorns. It gave me a smug look, and I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being laughed at.

“Pothos!” Evangeline said sternly, coming back into the room. She wore a faded T-shirt, the neckline so stretched out it slipped off one of her shoulders, and a pair of soft-looking shorts. “What have I told you? No thorns! Bad boy! Bad!” She scooped the cat off the sofa and held him up at eye-level. He looked completely unrepentant. I was trying so hard not to stare at the pale, smooth skin of Evangeline’s thighs, I was completely blindsided by her saying ‘bad boy’ in any context whatsoever. I bit the inside of my cheek hard.

“Did he poke you?” she asked, dropping the cat onto a window seat.

“Just a little,” I told her, studiously maintaining eye contact. “My own fault. I shouldn’t have petted him unless he seemed interested.”

“He might’ve poked you anyway,” she said, sitting back down. She folded one leg up on the sofa and let the other stretch out to the floor. There was a small, pale scar on her inner thigh. I wanted to throw myself into the sun. “You sure he didn’t get you? You look a little off.” She poured herself more scotch.

“Yes, well,” I said. “You warned me there might be ankles, but by God, woman, parading around with your knees out for everyone to see? How scandalous.”

She snorted into her mug. “Sorry. I know it must be a horrible shock to you. Good thing you don’t actually need your heart to work, or you could’ve died of a heart attack.”

“Ha ha,” I said weakly. “Yes. Lucky me. That would’ve been a very embarrassing way to go. Would you say witches have human-like metabolisms?”

“They’re a little quicker, but pretty close,” Evangeline said, refilling her mug. “Why?”

“You might want to slow down,” I suggested.

“I really don’t want to, actually.” She slumped into the corner of the sofa, halfway on the arm of it. The green cat made a creaking sound from the floor, and she patted her chest absently. He hopped up, curled into a tight ball, and began purring loudly.

“I don’t remember exactly what hangovers felt like, but I’m quite certain I didn’t enjoy them,” I told her. She rolled her eyes when I stood. I grabbed another mug—HEXY WITCH it read in curly gold lettering—and filled it with water, then pressed it into her hand. “Drink this.”

She gave me a look that I was shocked to realize was softly amused. “Worried about me, huh?”

I didn’t make eye contact. “Worried about delaying our investigation if I have to hold your hair back while you vomit.”

“Oh, you’re no fun,” she teased, but she drank the water anyway. “One piece stolen by evil’s might…”

It took me a moment to recognize the words from the prophecy. “If the pieces of the array can be used individually, then someone could already be using that piece as a weapon. The prophecy called that piece ‘a drain of life’. I can’t say I like the sound of that.”

“Do you think maybe it has something to do with your missing vampires?” Evangeline asked. She wasn’t quite slurring, but her words had gotten a little soft around the edges. She scratched her cat’s cheek, and he leaned into her touch. I absolutely refused to be jealous of a cat.

“It could,” I said. “If someone’s trying to take living energy, immortals would be the most useful source. We would take longer to run dry,” I added grimly, shuddering a little at the thought.

“That’s fucking nightmarish,” Evangeline said. “If the person who has it is capable of doing something like that, I don’t wanna think about what they’d do with the whole… whole…” She waved a hand in the air. “Thing.”

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