Page 6 of Witch of My Heart

“Yeah, I’m going to end up cursed in a block of ice or feeding a hungry group of vampires forever,” he rolled his eyes.

“Okay, Fred.”

“Don’t say it like it’s a bad thing,” Duke sighed. “He didn’t do anything to you.”

“Well, I’m vampyric and you have Fred.”

“He ran a night club. A night club that’s still going strong.”

“He also missed a lot of birthdays to be in Europe and other places too.”

“You’re right. Fuck him,” Duke shrugged.

“Jonah was better anyway. He wouldn’t buy you the Moonscale Talon, but he was there when your appendix exploded when you were fifteen,” I pointed out.

“I’m sorry about what I said,” Duke said. “I’m just worried about you.”

“Duke?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s in your blood too,” I said. “Whatever’s in mine, it’s in you too. Your grandparents came from the same fucking Scottish village.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here,” Duke said. “Whatever happens, I’m here, cousin, for better or worse.”

Chapter Four

Cord

“Do you really think they’re going to want a welcome feast as soon as they get here?” I asked Starry and Xi as they hovered in the air hanging up the welcome banner in Heartville’s meeting hall.

“Probably not,” Starry chuckled. “Two of Bobby and Adrian’s cousins are coming out with them. I think the feast is more a chance for Bobby to show off to them or try to convince them to stay here or something. You know our fearless leader. He both wants to grow Heartville and to keep it the same size forever.

“Do we know anything about them?” I asked, staring at a particularly dancy dust bunny.

“That’s the blur again, dummy!”My cat cut into my thoughts.

He was wrong. It was a dust bunny dancing along the baseboard on the other side of the room. Whatever the blur had been earlier in the day it’d resolved itself. It was probably a punching bag speck in my eye.

“They’re nothing to worry about,” Xi said. “They’re good people. I asked Zee what he knew.”

“Duke owns a lounge called Haven. He calls it a lounge anyway. It’s a bar/coffee shop combo that’s mostly a place for people to study and discuss philosophy. It’s a popular witchy spot too. A lot of witches were on its roof for the Yuletide party, if you know what I mean. The other one, Blithe, I think his name is. He’s the son of Bane and Lee Hemlock. He’s some sort of secret witch or magical researcher. The latter is probably a better description. Outside of the party, I’ve never heard of any magiche’s done. They’re both Alphas. A vampyric wolf and a draconic-ish wolf.”

“So, Bobby wants him to open a lounge here?” I asked.

“Do you like the sounds of that?” Starry asked, over his shoulder as Xi struggled to keep the banner straight.

“Maybe. I don’t get out much anyway,” I shrugged. “It’s nice to have the excuse that there aren’t many places to go anyway.”

“You get out,” Xi said, doing his best to sound reassuring.

“I get out as much as I like,” I nodded, shifting their sleeping baby, Xiam, from one arm to the other.

He was still the most adorable creature I ever laid eyes on. Sometimes I wondered what it would be like to have a baby – a kitten of my own. Then I remembered, Ginger Barrel would run through their blood, just like she ran through mine. Marcus always told me it wouldn’t matter, but did it matter? Had she shaped me? Had she made me more of what I was? Did her latent magic run through my veins? Was she watching from the Other World waiting for her chance to pounce and ruin what was left of my life? Was she merely waiting for the chance to finish what she started back in Europe?

“Cord!” Starry waved a hand in front of my face.

He stood back on the hardwood floor of the meeting hall with both feet. Xi had landed too.

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