Page 100 of Livewire Witch

For just thirty seconds, I let myself fall into the sensation. The feeling of beinghomeand everything being all right in the world.

My phone buzzes, ruining the moment and dragging me away from Silver.

“Time’s not ours tonight,” I mutter.

She gives me a small smile and I can see that she’s not sure I’ll remember this later, or tomorrow, or once I’ve left the room. And that fucking guts me.

“I need to go. Meet my contact,” I say, unable to hide the dullness of my heavy heart in my tone.

“I’ll come with you and then hang back while you meet up with her,” Silver says. Seems like she doesn’t want us to be separated yet, either.

Of course, she doesn’t, I think to myself. Not when there’s every chance I’m going to forget all about her the minute my back is turned.

I grip her hand tightly, practically buzzing with a bunch of emotions I couldn’t even begin to name. I’m high off the feeling of having her against me. Frustrated as fuck that I only found time to have this conversation when we should be focusing onother things. And pissed at myself and my past self in equal measure.

I head off toward the kitchens through the deserted hallways. Magnolia is waiting for me outside an empty office on the ground floor. She’s dressed in a ballgown, tapping her stilettoed foot impatiently.

“Good. You’re here. I was beginning to think you were going to be a no-show.” She eyes me up and down, taking in my appearance with barely disguised disgust. “You people aren’t exactly known for your reliability.”

I don’t bother to address her words and hand over the file which Dante helped to complete. There wasn’t much about any of the vamps the Archarcans have interest in. Sure, a few of them had been involved in a few massacres and bloodbaths in their past, but which vamp hasn’t.

I don’t have time for Magnolia Winter tonight, or for any of her shit. She couldn’t make the time for me when I was trying to do the right thing and warn the leaders of the city that something might go down tonight.

“All the requested information is included? Criminal convictions? How about secret love children? We need to know anything and everything.” She takes the file and opens it, slowly scanning through.

Since she seems to like all the cloak and dagger stuff, I lean into that. “Everything we were able to dig up,” I tell her in a low voice.

They haven’t exactly given themselves a lot of time to read through all the information and decide on choosing a new liaison. But that’s not our problem.

All I want to do is to get back to Silver. I want this meeting to be done. Frankly, I don’t give a shit whether the Archarcans have issues with their vampire liaison.

I pause for a moment, to give her the opportunity to ask about my message from a few days ago. The actual threat that has an actual possibility of causing issues tonight. But she’s too busy scanning through the file and has already mentally dismissed me.

Magnolia then gives a single nod, tapping me on the chest like I'm her servant. She then heads up one set of stairs, toward the sounds of the party raging at the far end of the building. I turn and retrace my steps, feeling a giddy rush at the thought of seeing Silver again.

But when I return, there’s no sign of her. The room is empty.

29

Silver

I’m hanging around in the hallway, waiting for Fabian, when I get a sudden urge to move my legs. I don’t really think anything of it. I’m distracted though. Almost busting withfeelingsafter my talk with Fabian and I feel kind of fizzy inside.

Despiteknowingthat tonight may very well turn out to be a shitshow, having Fabian look at me like he knows who I am has me in a stellar mood. Finally being able to talk to him again in a way where it feels like he might actually remember the conversation, has a rush of relief going through me.

Of course, the good feeling can’t last.

My feet seem to be moving of their own accord as I make my way along the hallway. I’m headed in the opposite direction to the office where he was meeting his contact. From here, the sounds of the ball are just about audible, but are muffled by the walls of the offices and other rooms between here and the party.

I don’t stop until I’m about midway between the main entrance of the city hall and the room where I left Fabian. Just as abruptly as I started walking, I stumble to a stop. My mind clears and it’s only then that I realize it was foggy to begin with.

What the fuck was that?

It was like my legs were moving of their own accord and now... they’re not. My head feels fuzzy and unfocused, like I’m kinda drunk.

And then I see them and the weirdness I’m experiencing starts to make sense.

Vampires.

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