Page 65 of Death Bringer

She dressed and combed out her luxurious new head of hair and made the bed. Dammit, she was hungry. She couldn’t put off eating forever. With all her courage, she sauntered into the kitchen.

“Morning, Mom.”

“Holy God! What happened to you?” Darlene screeched, and dropped her mug of coffee. It smashed into a thousand shards on the ceramic tile floor.

Ella mopped up the coffee and poured herself and her mom a cup. “I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“Last night. Vadim disappeared, and I woke up looking like this.” She shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’ll sort it out.”

Darlene pounced on her father, who was coming into the kitchen with the newspapers under his arm. “Ned, look at her!”

Her father blinked and carefully put the papers down on the countertop. “New shampoo, love?”

Ella smiled at him. “Bespelled.”

“Ah, that makes sense, then.”

“Makessense?” Darlene said. “Look at her! She’s completely different!”

“She’s still the same person inside. You don’t have the same hair color or face you had when we met either.”

“That’s different, I?—”

Ned patted her shoulder. “Not that I mind. If Ella was bespelled, there’s not much we can do about it, is there? She’s a big girl. I’m sure she can figure it out.”

“I’ll do my best, Dad.”

“That’s my girl.”

Madison appeared in the doorway. “What’s all the noise?” She stared at Ella. “Interesting look for you, sis. I like it.” She dropped into a seat at the table and rested her head on her folded arms.

“Thanks.” Ella topped up her coffee. “After breakfast, I have to be on my way. I’ve got to go and find Vadim in Otherworld.”

“Why?”

“He’s originally from there.”

Darlene sat down narrowly avoiding dropping her second cup of coffee. “You said he was Russian.”

“His human ancestors are.”

“He’s nothuman?”

Ella put two strawberry pastries in the toaster. “He’s about five percent human. The rest is all Otherworld. Some of it is shape-shifter, some of it is Fae.”

Madison lifted her head from the table. “Cool. Vadim’s a big fairy. I knew there was something wrong with him.”

Ella put her pastries on a plate and squirted them with frosting.

“What kind of shape-shifter?’ Madison asked. “Is he a wolf, like Doug? I like Doug. He’s kind of hot, but scary.”

“Does it matter?” Ella chewed down on the sweet, sticky center of the pastry.

“I suppose not. I should’veknownthere was something not right with him when he willingly took up with you.” Darlene sighed and finished her coffee. “Do you want me to pack you a lunch?”

Ella paused to appreciate the moment, wanting to laugh and cry at the same time. Her family might drive her crazy, but who else would sit there and carry on as if nothing unusual had happened when their daughter’s face had been bespelled and her newly found mate had disappeared?

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