Page 23 of It All Started with a Bite

I wondered if it was too early to ask Virgil to pour whiskey into my coffee.

Another text came through.

Bring the dog. He needs to learn pack rules too. S.

“How does he even have my number?” I muttered.

“Who has your number?” Ellie asked, adding a worrying amount of sugar to the Witch’s Brew Chai Penny had just handed her.

“Samuel. Apparently Bo has to come to tonight’s training too.”

Bo’s ears flattened. “I decline.”

“It wasn’t a suggestion.”

Penny was staring at me. “Samuel Hawthorne is texting you?” Her eyes rounded. “Wait. Are you his?—?!”

“Here’s your change,” Virgil cut in smoothly, all but shoving the money at me.

I got the distinct impression he was trying to protect me from something. Or someone.

We found a quiet corner table. The ghoul couple had finished their suspicious muffins and left. Dreadlocks shot glances at us from his seat by the window.

“I don’t understand.” Ellie glanced at the supernatural clientele with a confused look. “Why does everyone get weird when they find out you’re with the Hawthornes?”

“Because the Hawthornes are dangerous,” the peace lily behind Ellie said.

I stared. Now I was hearing plants talk.

Ellie swallowed nervously. “Did that plant just talk?”

“It’s Mrs. Chen,” Bo said distractedly. He was staring at my doughnut and drooling a little.

I pulled my plate closer.

The peace lily leaves parted to reveal our neighbor, sans shears.

Mrs. Chen wrinkled her nose at me. “So that’s what Mimi meant. You went and got yourself bitten by a Hawthorne, didn’t you?”

I grimaced. Since the whole of Amberford’s supernatural community seemed to know what happened last night, there was no point denying it.

“Kinda.”

Mrs. Chen rose and joined us, a cup of ginseng tea and a basket in hand. The basket meowed when she put it on the floor.

Bo sniffed it. A black paw shot out and booped him on the nose.

“Mind your manners, mutt,” Mimi warned as she emerged from the basket.

I gave Mrs. Chen a glassy look. “I can hear your cat talk.”

“Why do I miss out on all the fun?” Ellie whined.

Mrs. Chen ignored her. “That’s normal. You’re a supernatural creature now, so you can communicate with familiars.”

I wondered if Pearl was Victoria’s familiar and put a hard stop to the thought. That was a dark and tortuous road best not traveled.

Ellie was studying Mrs. Chen with growing curiosity.

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