Page 205 of Blue Moon Mistress

Unlike the last time my grandmother left her grave, the soil pulls away from her coffin like it’s a million little bugs skittering away into two massive berms on either side of the sharply sliced rectangle that had been created to inter her.

She doesn’t crawl from the hole, she floats. Whether that is a gift of her vampiric curse, or a little slice of magic no one in the family has let me in on yet, I can’t be sure.

“I gather this intrusion means you did not have a blessed Yule thus far.”

“Last night was possibly the most perfect vigil I’ve ever had. This morning… not so much.”

Inhaling, she closes her eyes on a tight smile.

“One of your lovers is here. But you left him at the car…” she glances in that direction. “He doesn’t like it.”

“They don’t want to leave me alone after what happened this morning.”

“Were you afraid I’d do something? Or did you worry he wouldn’t like what I have to say.”

“I know he won’t like it, because I know I’m not going to like it.” I rub my eyes and try to push back the sickly feeling thathas attached itself to the base of my spine. “And I don’t want to introduce you to them separately.”

She smiles indulgently, and nods. “That makes sense. Now, tell me why I am awake, so I can go back to sleep. The air up here is cloying.”

Her smile is full of laughter with those words and she walks silently to the container, popping the lid and sniffing the contents before she quietly says, “I don’t know when I last ate bacon.”

“Is there any aspect of blood magic that could let Aphrodite come back to haunt me.”

My grandmother watches me through narrowed eyes as she takes a long drink from the container.

“Something you did connected her to you.”

“Yes, but I don’t know what or how. She never had any of my blood.”

“Tell me exactly what happened after you left me last time.”

She listens as I recount the events of that night and finishes drinking the blood I brought her.

“The back burst of the spell hit you? And she used your wolves’ blood in her spells?”

“Yes.”

She doesn’t look at me as she presses the lid back onto the container. “Have you been vigilant in ensuring you’ve drawn out their seed?”

I manage to not grimace at the word.

“No.” I wasn’t specificallytryingto conceive, but I also wasn’t tryingnotto anymore. “I’ve gotten lax with those precautions.”

“Have you?” she asked with a knowing smile. “Well, congratulations. That tiny spark of hope you’d been hiding has caught flame. But you are going to have to deal withher,if you plan to keep my great grandchild.”

Hand pressed to my stomach, I try to think back, try to calculate which and when… “It is way too early to know that for certain.”

“A connection from the back burst is fairly common. But one with the strength of a tie you’ve suggested? And from a witch of Aphrodite’s skill? That only comes about one way when there’s blood magic involved and since she didn’t have any ofyourblood… It means you have someone else’s blood that shedid. And if a part of one of them is inside you…” She shrugs. “Do the spell. I won’t be wrong.”

I would do the spell, even though I already knew she wouldn’t be wrong.

“Okay,” I hate that Aphrodite’s ghost is coloring something that should be beautiful. “How do I get rid of her?”

“That will be tricky. There is only one way Iknowwill work.

“You might be able to trap her and sever the bond directly. Usually, with a knife made from her bones. Do you have any of them?”

I shake my head. “There wasn’t much left of her.”

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