Page 45 of Vampire's Vixen

After a brief silence, he said, “All right. When and where would you like to meet?” He sounded disappointed, but the fact that he actually agreed told me he wanted friends as well as a partner.

“I’ll text you in a bit. Meanwhile, I’m looking for your match. I just wanted you to know that.” I paused, then decided to give him a little more. “I would have started sooner, but this weekend things went south and stayed there.”

“What happened?”

He sounded genuinely concerned so I told him about the field trip to Hollow Hill and the ferandal. “I’m pretty beat up.”

“I hope that professor loses his job. That’s the least he deserves. Would you like me to pay a visit to him so that he never thinks of doing that again?”

Whoops. I suddenly realized what it might mean to have a vampire for a friend.

“No, no—I contacted the school about him, so don’t worry about it. I doubt he’ll ever do anything like that again.” I quickly backtracked, told Zandre I needed to go because I had an evening class, and hung up.

As I gathered my things together, I called Crystal.

“Hey, what’s up? I’m in the drive-thru line at the Burger Barn. I decided I didn’t want to cook tonight,” she said.

“I’m headed to grab a bite to eat, and then to class tonight. Not Jason’s class, obviously. So, what night do you have free to go out to dinner with Zandre and me? I still have a feeling that—somehow—meeting you will help him find his way to his match. I have dinner with Kyle tomorrow night, then exorcism class Wednesday night. What about Thursday?”

“Thursday night works, but you’re paying.” Crystal paused and, through the phone, I heard her say, “I’d like a double cheeseburger, a strawberry shake, a six-piece chicken nuggets with barbecue sauce, and a small fries.”

“That sounds good,” I said. “Anyway, Thursday night at seven? At the Numa Steak House? We can ride together, if you want.”

“It’s a date. Talk to you tomorrow!”

As she hung up, I headed out, arming the security system and locking the door behind me. Once in my car, I texted Zandre, giving him the date, time, and place. Then, deciding that Crystal’s dinner sounded so good I wanted the same for myself, I headed for the Burger Barn.

The advanced protection class was fast-paced and packed with information. We had been working on herbal charms, but tonight, the teacher was talking about erecting crystal grids on the astral plane. It involved building a sphere around either yourself or your house and land, much like a geodesic dome but spherical, of protection energy, and using crystals to energize the sphere. Toward the end of the class, the teacher recapped what we were learning.

“The reason we build a sphere instead of just a dome is…why?” Professor Markus looked around the room. She pointed to me. “Maisy?”

I cleared my throat. “We build a sphere because energy can enter from all directions. For example, an incoming cord or negative spell isn’t bound by physical barriers like the ground, unless we’ve enchanted that ground. So we create a sphere to protect from all directions.”

“Good. Correct. Now, can we mix energies into the same protection grid? Lonny?”

Lonny nodded. “Yes, you can mix crystal energy along with herbs or energy from wands or woods or whatever else you like. As long as they’re compatible.”

“Excellent. So, for your homework this week, I want you to create a protection grid for yourself, of a spherical nature. Be prepared for me to examine it next week. I won’t need to go to where you build it, because I’ll be able to see it in your aura if you’re properly prepared. Class dismissed.” She began to gather her things.

As everyone else started to pack up to go, I walked over to talk to her. “Professor Markus, can you tell me if a grid protection spell will keep a vampire at bay?”

She blinked, but then sat down at her desk, thinking. “What exactly are you thinking of? How do you want to keep them distant?”

“I don’t want to keep them from talking to me, but from glamouring me.”

“Well then, you’ll want to include clear quartz in your grid, as well as energy from the air element, and I’d make sure that your third-eye chakra is wide open, but your first and second chakras are protected. I’d close them off if you’re meeting up with a vampire. You can close them for periods of time without harm, if it’s not more than a few days.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I don’t want to offend him by wearing silver, but I don’t want to extend an open invitation, either.”

She nodded. “You might also infuse silver into the energy of the grid. Use a silver blade or wand to draw the circle and it should creep into the spell as you create it.”

“I can do that,” I said. “If I create a physical charm to go with it, would it work to add silver beads to it?”

She nodded. “That will help. But remember: vampires are clever. They’re apex predators, even if they adopt a seemingly meek persona. You can never fully trust them,” she added. “I’m not being a bigot, either. Nobody is fully trustworthy, to be honest. Some things can set off the most pacifistic shifter, and some things can set off even the most trustworthy vampire. It’s simply the nature of existence.”

As I left class, her words stayed with me. I needed to make sure that I wasn’t letting my empathy outweigh my common sense. I went home and immediately cleared my third eye and cast a protection spell for the rest of my chakras.

The next day I had two readings show up—fairly run-of-the-mill questions, but the women were happy with what I told them and they scheduled readings once a month for the next six months. Another woman dropped in around three.

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