Page 58 of Cocktails & Cauldrons

“How can you be so sure, Alastair? If she’s so hard to defeat, how can you know?”

“Because she won’t be able to syphon your magic any longer once Damian finishes your amulet. It will protect you and deflect any future spells.” He tugged at his cuffs and gave a small sniff, as if the thought of Odessa’s treachery was odious. “Without a large infusion, she’s powerless and will be unable to manipulate or steal from anyone else.”

Left with the impression he would see to Odessa’s demise personally, Brenna heaved a sigh of surrender. “What do we need to do to complete this amulet?”

“I already have, with the help of your grandmother’s instruction. There’s just one missing part.” The Aether crossed to her and opened a black velvet box to display a silver disc, ringed with three concentric circles stamped with various runes. In the center rested a glass dome. Another silver circle with a thin lip sat as if waiting expectantly for her single drop of blood.

“Gran? But…” Brenna shook her head and threw her hands up. “Never mind. I can’t keep up.”

“She witnessed your tender scene in the studio and oversaw the construction of my fail-safe charm.” Damian sounded a bit harried. “She reappeared to me to say I’m to reinforce the glass so no one can destroy it or I’d be subjected to her wrath.”

“Sounds like Gran.” Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin. “Okay, how do you go about extracting what you need? Pin prick?”

He laughed.

Brenna felt the sound of his rich amusement down to her rosy recess and had to muffle a squeak. Suppressing the urge to fan her insta-flamed face, she said, “Okay, nothing so easy as that, then.”

“Tell me. Do you remember ever cutting yourself? A scraped knee, perhaps?”

Frowning, she thought back. Never once had she had any type of open wound. “How is that possible?”

“Your skin is practically impenetrable.”

“Practically?”

Damian tried not to smile, he truly did, but he lost what Brenna knew was a hard-fought battle. “If one were to dip a knife into a toxin after coating the tip with a female cat’s vaginal excretion during a heat cycle, then yes, they could score your skin or stab you.”

“What?”She gagged. “Of all the revolting, unsanitary ways to… Gah! Tell me you’re joking. Please!”

“Afraid not.”

“Which twisted deity thought ofthatshit?” After a second gag, she continued her rant. “Tell me this isn’t common knowledge. Tell me I don’t have a future of fighting off cat-twat-knife-wielding haters out for my blood. Because if that’s the case, I’m out!”

Unrestrained laughter from behind the Aether had her pushing him aside to glare at Eoin. “What part of this do you find funny, you… youjerk?”

“Jerk? Sure, and after you saidshitandcat-twat-knife-wielding haters?” He sucked in a breath and laughed harder until tears were rolling down his face. “Ah, Brenna… Of all the problems we have, you’re worried about a cat’s natural cycle takin’ ya down?”

From where she stood ten feet away, she pointed at his head. “I hope you step on a Lego!”

A polypropylene bag of Legos dropped at his feet from thin air, and they both sucked in a breath.

“Holy spitballs!”

Again, Eoin laughed until he turned an unhealthy shade of red.

“If you are going to laugh at me every time we have an argument…” She squinted her eyes and compressed her lips.

“It may have been ‘spitballs’ that did it,” Alastair murmured with a valiant attempt at a straight face.

“I hate you all,” she muttered as she shoved open the doors and strode out to the garden.

“Holy spitballs, love. That display of temper was hot as feck.”

“Get out of my head, turd!”She held up the middle finger as she marched toward the rose garden in the center of the lawn.

CHAPTER 23

“She’s had a lot of new information thrown her way,” Damian said in what Eoin assumed was a way of excusing Brenna’s temper.

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