Page 25 of The Forty-Year-Old Virgin Witch

“Watch out, he’s got magick,” I warned, not wanting to see their roles reversed. A muscle in Karl’s jaw twitched.

“I’d noticed.”He replied dryly.

Quinn had both arms around Karl’s hand but was unable to find any purchase. What an idiot—nothing was stronger than a vamp, as loath as I was to admit it. We had him by the balls.

“All this over some virgin witch? This shit ain’t worth the money!” His eyes were wild in his head, his face red from Karl’s pressure against his airway.

“And how much did they pay you to stalk our witch?”

The incredulous look on Quinn’s face would have been comical if we hadn’t been so deadly serious.

“Not enough! Look, I don’t give a shit what you’re trying to prove to get into this witch’s knickers, but I’ll call off the backup team once they’re here. Fuck, I’ll seduce them all as long as you don’t fucking drop me!”

“I suggest you tell them to stay away before they arrive, or I will deal with them.”

Karl’s voice left no room for bargaining, and I was silently impressed. Vampy was a badass. Quinn struggled again, then sank back against Karl’s hand.

“That might be a problem. I’ve already sent my familiar back to the coven with news. A backup team will likely arrive in hours.”

Karl froze. “Wait, your familiar?”

Quinn snarled, the veins in his neck bulging as he struggled. “Haven’t you ever met a warlock, you dumbass?”

I was confused but refused to show it. I snuck at glance at Karl, who merely frowned.

“Warlock … I see.”

I snorted. “Well that’s great, because I sure as fuck don’t.”

Karl didn’t even bother to shoot me a glance as he continued. “I’ve heard of them, but never met one. Men who harness witch magick are quite rare, after all.” He flashed his fangs at Quinn. “You must cost a fortune to hire.”

Magick raced through Quinn and flared white, blinding the both of us. Karl reared back and dropped him without hesitation.

“No!”

I hung over the edge of the water tower, shocked that Karl had actually let the bastard go. I didn’t like Quinn, but that didn’t mean I wanted to kill him. Yet.

Karl disappeared in a flash and then was underneath the tower, calmly catching Quinn as though he’d had all the time in the world. My shoulders drooped as tension left my body, and my heartrate battled to return to normal. Hanging around vampyres was definitely something I was going to have to adjust to.

It also meant there was no way Quinn was going to win this battle.

“You look upset, little warlock. Haven’t you ever battled a vampyre?” Karl dropped him the rest of the way to the ground, and Quinn slowly got to his feet, wincing.

“I try to avoid your kind, to be honest.”

Karl grinned, then turned serious. “I have no quarrel with you since you don’t appear to have a specific quarrel with our witch. We’re pissed you destroyed her cupboard, but I’m willing to believe it wasn’t intentional."

As Karl spoke, purple light flickered from Quinn’s fingertips. I shot him a look.

“You realize he’d have your ass on the ground again before you could get any magick off?”I taunted.

Quinn glared at me, and the light disappeared.

“Next question,” Karl continued, giving both of us an impatient glare. “What will it take to make this back up team go away?”

“If you hurt or kill them, you’d only end up bringing the whole coven down on you,” I offered, knowing no one held a grudge like a witch.

“We need to give them an explanation of the burst of magick. Two warring, territorial supernaturals might do nicely.It's a good thing I only had my familiar communciate I needed backup, and didn't mention your witch specifically."

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