Page 3 of Vampire's Vixen

And tonight, I just went through a quest to see if I’ll be allowed to enter the Dark Moon Society. And now I’ll face whatever the fallout happens to be.

Astra and Crystal were waiting for me in the dining room as I wandered in, clad in my sleep shirt, robe, and fuzzy slippers. The pizza was fresh and hot out of the oven and it smelled so good I began to salivate as I walked toward the table. My stomach rumbled and I settled into a chair. Crystal pushed a mug of hot cocoa over to me, and I took a long sip, closing my eyes as the warmth raced down my throat.

“I’m so tired, but I’m also…well…wired, if you know what I mean.” I placed a couple pieces of pizza on my plate and sprinkled parmesan over the top. Sausage, pepperoni, and pineapple—my favorite. “Thank you so much.”

Crystal cleared her throat as she bit into her pizza. “So, was it hard?”

I nodded. “Harder than I expected. Actually, I had no clue what to expect. But trust me, it ended up being far stranger than I expected.” I glanced up, catching Astra’s gaze.

She shook her head. “Remember, don’t tell her what happened to you. It will set up expectations in Crystal’s mind, and since she hasn’t undergone her quest, that could get in her way.”

I let out a slow breath. “I guess you’re right,” I said.

“You know I’m right,” Astra said. Her phone rang at that moment and she glanced at it. “Nightshade.” She answered. “Hi…yes, she’s right here… All right, I will. Four-thirty tomorrow? I’ll see if she can make it.” She muted her phone and asked, “Do you have time tomorrow afternoon to meet with Nightshade?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I have appointments in the morning, but I can make time tomorrow afternoon. What’s she saying?”

“She can make it,” Astra said. “Do you want me to… Right. All right. Four-thirty tomorrow.” She set down her phone and said, “Well, you’re in the Order. Nightshade wants to chat with you tomorrow at four-thirty. She’ll show up at your shop so you don’t have to drive over to her house. She said book half an hour at the most for her.”

I sat back, a weight sliding off my shoulders. I hadn’t realized just how taxed I was with the worry that I wouldn’t pass the test. But Nightshade had accepted me. I was in.

“I did it. I’m a part of the Dark Moon Society.” I closed my eyes. I ached, I was exhausted, and I wanted to sleep. “I’ve lost every ounce of energy I had left. I think I need to get to bed.” I could feel the edges of an exhaustion migraine coming on. I seldom got them, but if I was overtired and totally wiped out, the blinding headaches would descend. I went through a period of migraines every few days in the first few months after Dan died.

Crystal reached across the table and took the slice of pizza out of my hand. “Okay, get to bed. Astra, if you’ll make sure she gets covered up, I’ll clean the kitchen for you.”

“Thank you, dear,” Astra said. She took my hand and led me into my bedroom. I was too tired to even speak. Astra pulled down my covers like when I was a child, and I sat on the edge of the bed, shrugging out of my robe and kicking off my slippers. As I dropped onto my pillow, sliding my feet into bed, she pulled the covers up and kissed me on the forehead.

“Good job tonight,” she whispered. “Now, sleep.”

I nodded, too tired to even kiss her back. “Night, Auntie,” I said, feeling like a little girl again.

As she headed out, turning off the light and closing the door, I thought I might be too tired to nod off, but in no time, the world around me blurred, and I dropped into a dreamless sleep, my mind and heart at rest.

By morning, I felt like myself again, though meeting the Crow Man had left me reeling. I didn’t know what to do about it—or if there was anything to do. Maybe Nightshade could help me figure it all out.

I dressed carefully. In January, I had gone on a shopping spree for clothes, and I was taking better care of myself. For the first time in a couple years, I cared what I looked like when I went out. I had always done my makeup—I enjoyed that—but now, I wanted to pull myself together more, to present myself to my clients in a more professional light.

Today, I decided on a cobalt blue circle skirt, with an ice blue cowl-neck sweater, and a black patent leather belt. I hated pantyhose, so I didn’t bother, but slid into a pair of ballerina flats, then brushed my hair back into an almost-poufy ponytail and slid on a gold bow hair tie. It was larger than life, but it looked good. Finally, I finished my makeup and headed downstairs.

Astra was making breakfast. She looked up as I entered the room. “How are you feeling?”

I leaned up on my toes to kiss her on the cheek. “Good, actually. I’m surprised, given how out of it and tired I was last night, but I slept like the dead. What’s for breakfast?”

My aunt loved to cook. While I could cook, it wasn’t something I went out of my way for, and so I was perfectly happy letting her take over the stove. I was happy to do the dishes and clean the kitchen, though half the time, Astra did those before I could get to them.

“I thought that on such a rainy morning, I’d make hashbrowns to go with our eggs and sausages. Sound good?”

I nodded, turning on the espresso machine. “Latte?”

“Please. Vanilla, two shots.” She flipped the hashbrowns—tiny chunks of red potatoes, covered in olive oil, paprika, lemon pepper, and dill—and set out two plates on the counter. “How many sausage links?”

“How many you got for me?” I laughed. I loved sausages and anything to do with lunch meats like pastrami and salami and the cheeses that so often accompanied them.

“Six. That enough?”

I nodded. “Yes, that’s fine.” As I pulled the shots for our lattes, adding vanilla flavoring to hers, and vanilla and cherry to mine, I ran through the morning’s schedule in my mind.

At ten, I had a client coming in for a tarot reading, and another at noon. Then, Nightshade was due to show up at four-thirty, and at six, I had my exorcism class. Tomorrow evening, I was consulting with a vampire, who wanted my matchmaking services. A traditional vampire, the blood-sucking, blah-blah-blah kind. I’d never met one before, but I was considering wearing silver beneath my sweater, and I had already determined that he was the Midnight Point contact for the Pacific Northwest Vampire Collective.

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