Page 75 of Blood Magic (Ariel Kimber 3)

The carpet was a soft, welcoming grey that had absolutely nothing in common with the rug outside. This was fresh and new, and that old rug was waiting for someone to come along and put it out of its misery.

There was nothing decorative on the walls and there were lines on the new carpet where it had been recently vacuumed.

The room had had a makeover recently and they’d cleaned because we were coming. Well, I doubted Adrian had cleaned anything. He likely didn’t even know how to turn on a vacuum.

There wasn’t a whole lot of furniture in the enlarged room. There was no bed, no television, no desk and chair, no mini fridge, no tacky prints on the wall, no nightstand with a Bible in the drawer and a boxy phone on top. There was none of the normal things you would find in a motel room.

Instead, there were stuffy looking armchairs side by side in a semi-circle taking up a fourth of the room. The rest of the room was oddly barren. Those damn chairs were there to be on display as would be the people who sat in them. They were meant to be thrones of some sort and I couldn’t say I was surprised.

There was an open doorway with a set of stairs going down into some dark place I had no desire to investigate. There were two closed doors behind the thrones and a hallway that lead off to the back of the motel.

The door behind the thrones opened just as Adrian was sitting down in the one in the very center of the half circle.

Funny enough, the little bald man had not offered any of us a place to sit. Or, anything to drink for that matter. How rude.

The guys spread out around me. Abel and Addison stayed behind me as I faced the chairs. Quinton stayed on my left. Tyson stayed on my right. Dash moved back with the twins and, oddly enough, Damien and Julian were beside Tyson. Seeing the three of them standing side by side made me incredibly happy. They looked right standing together. I hated to see them fighting with each other. What’s more is I hated the reason they fought with each other. If I could wipe that stupid Annabell out of existence I probably would have.

“This is the girl?” An aged man said as he sat to the right of Adrian. He had white hair that was thinning out on the top. His cheeks sagged. In fact, most of his body looked like it was sagging. He had mean eyes and he kept squinting at me like he needed glasses and every time he did it his nose scrunched up and his mouth flopped open.

I wanted to roll my eyes at him. I was the only girl in the room, what other girl was there?

Good grief.

Two other men entered the room. The first man looked to be in his early forties. He had dark brown hair that was in a thick braid that went down the middle of his back. He had a broad forehead and a wide nose. He was not an attractive man but at least this one’s eyes weren’t mean looking. They were curious as they roamed over me and I automatically dismissed him. The ones who looked mean were the ones I needed to keep my attention on.

The second man who entered was a big man with bright eyes and the fakest smile I had ever seen on someone.

They had set this whole show up for us. They wanted us to stand over here while waiting for them to stroll on out and take their throne chairs in front of us. It was an intimidation tactic and I had to wonder why the theatrics. What were they afraid of?

“So,” the man with the braid said, “you’re the new little witch, Ariel something or other.”

I arched an eyebrow at him and pursed my lips. Please, this tool knew my name, they all did. They probably had my freaking social security number memorized.

“It’s Ariel, actually,” Quinton drawled. “But you already knew this, Daniel. Adrian already insulted her outside. Must you do it as well?”

“We just got here and I’m already tired of the bullshit,” Dash said in a bored voice. “Get to the point of this meeting. Why did you make us come here?”

“We offered to come to you,” the big one on the end said. “We were told no and that we weren’t welcome. Now you complain about having to come here. How ridiculous are you, Dash? You’re usually not so problematic. I would expect this from Quinton or Damien, but not from someone like you.”

My eyes narrowed dangerously on him as I slapped my hands on my hips and tilted my head to the side.

“Someone like him?” I asked in a sickly-sweet voice. A voice as fake as their stupid smiles had been. “What exactly is that supposed to mean? Do you have a problem with him?”

Quinton groaned loudly as the twins both started coughing. I ignored them.

They could say whatever they wanted to about my fucked-up face. They could pretend like they’d forgotten my name. I could care less about any of that, these people meant nothing to me. But Dash? They weren’t allowed to say jack shit about him. I did not think so.

My left eyelid twitched in rage as a surge of heat blew through the room on a gentle breeze. My silk shirt blew out then back, gliding up my stomach. The cami stayed in place so I didn’t bother with trying to pull it back down.

Adrian clapped loudly, and I jumped. The breeze immediately left me, and I straightened my head. I had wanted to hurl a ball of fire at their smug, stupid faces.

“You see,” Adrian said as he swiveled from side to side in his chair, making eye contact with his buddies. “She’s magnificent. How fantastic is it that we now have her with us? I cannot wait to see what all you’re capable of.”

I was so sure.

“My dear,” Daniel said. “I have no idea what’s got you so angry, but I can assure you, nothing was meant in a negative way towards Mr. Flynn. We’re all family here. Now you are a part of that.”

“We know-” Quinton started.

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