Page 26 of Blood Witch

I really wanted to not wear all black, so I chose a pair of deep red leather pants with a wide gold belt that had chains dangling from one side across my hip. I paired it with a Tarzan-style scrap of silk that left one shoulder bare and exposed a whole lot of my midriff. The shirt was black, but the raw silk made it look more charcoal than midnight, so an argument could be made there. I grabbed a pair of leather biker boots for my feet, and I was ready to go.

“Wowza, Mabe. You look lethal tonight,” Jade said, giving me a wolf whistle as I walked upstairs.

“She is lethal,” rumbled Magnus, and the shifter’s eyes blazed as he looked at me curiously.

I’d never had long conversations with any of the males, aside from Arlo, but I always suspected the shifters kinda hated me. He made a strange chuffing sort of sound, and Rio swatted her mate. Curious, but I just shrugged.

“Come on,” Enid said, walking beside me as we all made our way outside to the mingle. “Ever been to one of these?” she asked, and I could tell she was nervous.

“Yeah. It’s just a party, Enid. Like the kind you went to in high school,” I offered, trying to comfort her with the comparison.

“I never went to parties in high school,” she replied.

Damn.

Even living on the streets, I’d gone to high school and parties. Loads of street kids did. Documents could be faked, and child protective services were always so backed up, by the time they checked on you, you’d be at another school. Parties meant food, access to real bathrooms, and if you were light-fingered, sometimes it provided other opportunities.

The sounds of people talking, laughing, and music playing led the way to the mingle. I was drawing attention like never before. Witches and wizards I’d had in class but never spoke to were saying hello, and I felt more than one set of eyes watching me go by. Funny what a little money and makeup could do.

But I wasn’t the kind of girl to get caught up in that. Not me. My senses were tingling as I walked past small groups of people drinking from red plastic cups and swaying and bobbing to the heavy bass of the music. The forest seemed lit with a million fairy lights, but when I looked closer, I saw no wires or bulbs.

It was magic, and from the looks of the group of nerdy wizards patting each other on the back with thick streaks of white in their hair, I would say they were from the Caelum Coven.

Probably had something to do with air pressure and controlling lightning, or some such shit, but what did I know about it?

My classes were strictly non-elemental since I had no coven affiliation yet.

Whatever.

It looked awesome, and I nodded my approval at the trio of wizards, who seemed to have just noticed me. Jade and Arlo stopped by a group of earth witches, talking excitedly about something to do with a new crossbreed of deadly nightshade and poison ivy. We all remembered Jade’s killer tomato attack of not too long ago well enough that Maia, Tana, Enid, Rio, and I got far away from those two.

“Earth witches,” Magnus grumbled and shook his head.

The blond Viking-looking shifter nuzzled the back of his mate’s neck and Rio practically swooned at his giant feet. Her eyes flashed blue, and I knew where they were headed once she waved bye-bye.

“I guess they are off to swim,” Maia said with a sigh.

Enok was getting us a couple of plastic cups filled with whatever magical alcoholic concoction was being served by some of the kitchen staff. How they got them to work after hours, I didn’t know. I could only assume it involved a great deal of money or favors.

A couple of sprites, including pink-haired Jubilee, who I now knew from my roomies, were lounging beneath a large everbloom tree. It was fall in the normal world, but in Westwood the seasons came and went as they pleased. Though none of that would matter to the pretty, big-blossomed everbloom.

“Here,” Enok said, returning with a trio of cups.

I took mine with a murmured thanks, wondering where Tana and Brandon had disappeared to. Maia was going on about some old book she and Enok had found earlier in the day, and I smiled politely, but I was barely listening. Something teased along the periphery of my senses, and I had to admit I felt a little anxious.

Laughter boomed out, followed by splashing, and I assumed the other water witches had decided to have a little aquatic fun. Good for them. I didn’t do swimming, but I also wasn’t interested in the fireworks a group of students from the Incendo Coven were shooting off. They were pretty, but I was too amped up to just sit and stare. Plus, fireworks were meant to be shared with someone. Like Maia and Enok, who were now cuddling and looking up with matching goofy grins on their faces.

I watched them enviously, but without malice. Sure, thinking of Maia as a friend was new to me, as it was for me to think of my roomies and their guys as friends, but it was easier to do since I acknowledged it.

“Well, well, if it isn’t our little goth girl all dressed up.”

I closed my eyes as Dram Pile and his merry band of fuckheads formed a circle around me.

Fuck.

Not now.

There was no way I wanted to have to spar with those asses just then.

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