Page 5 of Eternal Captive

“I understand it,” I said, taking the glass with a grateful smile. “Most know what I do, and it’s enough for them to want to stay away.”

Her smile wavered at this.

“No talk of that here,” she said in a hushed tone, her eyes darting around to the other patrons. I couldn’t tell if it was for my benefit or theirs.

I gave her a forced smile.

“You mean kill?—”

“I charge double if you get us kicked out,” a voice said behind me. I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face.

A woman with pink hair maneuvered around the table and placed her hands on the elder witch’s arms.Levana.The only witch I chose to spend my time with. Met at the very same bar and haven’t been able to get rid of her since.

But at least she would come in handy.

“You know she can be prickly,” she said in a faux-annoyed tone. The light in her eyes and the smirk gave her away. “I’ll get us out of here soon.”

The older witch nodded before sending me one last lingering look.

“Take care of yourself, youngling,” she advised. “There’s something sticky in your aura. If you’re not careful, it just might overtake you.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from responding.

The old woman didn’t deserve my anger. The witches who could see auras couldn’t help their gift. And from her point of view, she was probably truly trying to help me.

That didn’t stop it from feeling like a jab to my carefully curated mental walls.

“Still don’t like people reading you, huh?”

When I didn’t respond, she let out a sigh and pushed a hand through her bright hair.

“So…you changed your mind,” she said and pulled out the chair. The sound of the wooden feet scraping against the hard floor caused silence to ripple through the bar.As if we needed even more attention on us.

But Levana had even more of a reputation in these parts than I did.

It was the type of reputation that made me respect her, no matter how annoying I might have found her at first.

I leaned forward, getting as close to her as possible and away from prying ears.

“You better fucking be sure about it,” I growled.

Her eyes widened for a split second before she threw her head back and let out a boisterous laugh, not at all bothering to hide the two small fangs. It was enough for the onlookers to relax and turn their attention elsewhere.

Thank god.

“You doubt my abilities, human?” she asked and forced the beer from my grip. “They won’t smell it. It’s my fuckingspecialty.”

Specialty.A funny way to say that because she was a hybrid, her magic was less potent than the others. There weren’t many of her kind out there, or if there were, they liked to remain as below the radar as possible.

Human and vampire blood could mix easily, but the same wasn’t so true about witches and vampires, so her existence was just short of a miracle.

“It’s not just any clan I’m assigned to. It’s a family,royalty, Levana,” I whispered. “Ineedthis to work, or it risks my life.”

For the first time in years, a seriousness fell over her. She gave me a stiff nod before she reached into her pockets and pulled out tiny jars of what looked like various herbs and wildflowers.

“Put these in your bath before you go,” she instructed and pushed the pile toward me. I examined a few before pulling my bag from the ground and dumping them in. “Soak for at least fifteen minutes. If you can, wash your hair in them. Hair and cloth are the hardest to get the scent out of. I truly don’t think it’s necessary, but just in case.”

I nodded and pulled my collarbone-length hair to the side. Her eyes lingered on the pitch-black tattoo that traveled up my neck.

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