Dark of Night

by Emily Goodwin

  I slide into the driver’s seat and put Scott next to me.

  “If you even think about scratching the leather…” I start, turning my head and looking at a fluffy orange cat sitting on the passenger seat. “I’ll drop you off on Whacker Drive.”

  I grip the steering wheel of Lucas’s expensive Mercedes and sit, frozen for a good minute before I even start the engine and turn on the air conditioning. My heart is racing, and I’m feeling a little lightheaded from doing…well…whatever the hell I just did.

  Because just like commanding the hellfire, I don’t really know what I did. The magic just came to me, this time out of anger and not desperation, and I just went with it, letting it flow through me. I turn one of the vents toward me, closing my eyes and letting out a deep breath. If I let go of the steering wheel, I’m sure my hands will shake.

  Holy fucking shitballs.

  I squeeze my eyes closed, trying to get it together, and pull out of the parking garage, emerging onto a busy downtown street. It’s been a while since I’ve driven through this part of town, and I make a wrong turn down a one-way street and have to go the long way around.

  The drive to The Taproom seems to take forever, and I’m still shaking by the time I park and get out, grabbing my brother-cat and tucking him under my arm. I hurry across the street and try the front door to the bar. It’s locked.

  “Eliza?” I call, knocking. She’s still here since she can’t leave for the day. “It’s Callie, and I really need to come inside.” A few seconds tick by before the door unlocks.

  “Do not open it yet,” Eliza says from behind the door.

  “I won’t. Count to ten?”

  “Sure.”

  I readjust the cat in my arms and mentally count to ten before opening the door and going in, closing it as fast as I can behind me. Eliza comes out of the office, raising an eyebrow at the cat in my arms. She’s wearing a white eyelet-lace dress, and her hair is up in a fancy braided bun that looks too complicated for me to even magic into my hair.

  “I did something bad,” I confess, pacing to the bar. I set Scott down and wring my hands.

  “Now that’s a surprise,” Eliza says dryly.

  “I am not in the mood,” I snap. “Sorry.” I turn and look into her blue eyes. “I just…I’m…I’m freaking out a little.”

  “I can tell.” Eliza’s brows push together, showing the concern she’s trying hard to hide.

  “Can I get a glass of your most expensive wine?”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. I need it.”

  Eliza moves slow but goes behind the bar. I pace back and forth, talking to myself as I walk.

  “Just change him back and no one will suspect anything. No one will believe her even if she says she saw it all. There weren’t security cameras in the office. I didn’t see any, and Scott is too arrogant to let anyone film him in a private setting.” I nod, needing to convince myself it’s true. “The general public wouldn’t believe it anyway. But the government…shit. I can’t go back to a research lab.” I exhale, and my breath catches.

  “Here.” Eliza zooms over, handing me a glass of red wine. “You do look like you need it.”

  “Thanks.” I bring the glass to my lips and suck down a mouthful. “Ugh.” I wrinkle my nose and shudder. “Maybe I’ll take a glass of the least expensive instead.”

  “So demanding,” she huffs, but goes back behind the bar. We’re alone, and quiet country music drifts from the office. I wouldn’t have taken Eliza to be a fan. “I thought you were going to take care of things, and instead you come here with another cat? Don’t tell me you acquired another familiar. Isn’t three enough for you?”

  “Oh, three is plenty.” I go back to the bar and set the wine down. It’s way too dry, and I have no idea why anyone would pay top dollar for this. As soon as the glass hits the wooden bar top, I pick it back up and put it to my lips, needing to dull my nerves. Because they are shot as hell right now.

  “And I did go take care of things.”

  Eliza pulls a bottle of wine from a mini fridge under the bar and twists off the cap. She slides the bottle to me. I catch it, sloshing a bit of Moscato down on my hand. “How so?”

  “I confronted my brother.”

  “And then bought a new cat?”

  “I wouldn’t buy a cat when so many need to be adopted.” I close my eyes and shake my head. “That’s not the point here.”

  “And what exactly is the fucking point?”

  “The point is…I need another drink.” I put the bottle of Moscato to my lips. This stuff cost a fraction of what the red does and tastes a hell of a lot better.

  “What the hell is going on? Did you get the Health Department issues resolved or not?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “You’re fucking kidding me.”

  I suck down another mouthful of wine. “I did go see Scott. But…but he can’t really do much right meow.” I look Eliza directly in the eye and then start laughing. “I’m sorry,” I say between giggles. “Meow. Oh, it gets me every time. But right now…right meow…” I erupt into laughter again.

  “You know, the very first time I saw you, I just knew there was something wrong with you. Severe mental damage seemed out there, and it’s seeming even more so now.”

  “No, no.” I straighten up and wipe a tear from my eye. “You’d laugh if you were in my head.”

  “I think being in your head is a laugh so you don’t cry situation.”

  “Oh, it definitely is most of the time.” Scott-cat growls and me and I growl back.

  “What is your damage?” Eliza asks, taking the bottle of wine from me. “On second thought, I don’t want to know. What I do want to know is how you’re going to get that fucking dingus brother of yours to remove the violations. We can’t open again until they’re clear.”

  “He’ll remove them, I’m sure…once he has opposable thumbs again.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  I sweep my hand out at Scott-Cat, who hisses and growls and makes a move to jump off the counter but stops. He’s not used to walking on four legs.

  “This thing,” Eliza starts, leaning in toward the orange cat. He hisses, fur standing on end. “Doesn’t smell like a cat.”

  “That’s because it’s not.” I caught the cat mid-jump, wrestling with it to keep from getting scratched. “It’s my brother.”

  “You turned your brother into a cat? Do I want to ask why?”

  “Well, it was either this or curse him with immortality and bury him alive in an undisclosed location. I thought the cat was a kinder option. Though I did call the vet on the way here and schedule a neuter for next Tuesday.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “I turned my brother into a cat.” I put my head in my hands. “I didn’t mean to, and I don’t know how to change him back. I told you. I did something bad.”

  Eliza looks at me, gaze unwavering. “Fucking witches. Of all the fucking humans in this fucking city, my maker has to fall for a fucking witch.”

  “Sorry?” I push my hair back. “If it’s any consolation, I fell hard for him too.”

  “You know what? It’s really fucking not. It’s bad enough that I question if you put a love spell on him—”

  “Love spells don’t work on vampires,” I blurt, not caring if I’m spilling a secret. “Or really work at all. You can’t make someone actually love you.”

  She leans forward, slowly drawing her fangs. I’m not scared of her, and I’m sure that pisses her off even more. She’s roughly three hundred years old, not old enough to hold anyone spellbound, but old enough to have impressive strength. Even newborn vampires are much stronger than the average human.

  Though I’m anything but average.

  “You really think I put a love spell on Lucas?”

  “It would explain his strange behavior.”

  “Strange?” I straighten up and telekinetically bring the bottle of wine into my grasp. “I think he seem
s happy.”

  “Fine, maybe he is a little but—”

  “Duck down,” I tell her, feeling an energy shift.

  “What?”

  “Just do it,” I hiss, and raise my hand. Using magic, I unlock and open the door just an inch. A shadow moves in, shifting into cat-form as soon as the door closes. I turn my hand and the deadbolt shoots into place.

  “Hey, Mr. Prickle Paws.” A smile breaks out on my face as Binx trots over. The biggest feeling of relief washes over me now that my familiar is here. Scott-cat growls, and Binx looks at him, giving him a look that can only be explained as laughing. “I know. I messed up.”

  Binx jumps to the bar top and starts purring. I bring my head down so he can rub against me.

  “You’re too nice,” I tell him after he assures me that I didn’t mess up and Scott should have been transfigured into a mouse that he could play with.

  “You’re talking to that thing?” Eliza questions. “So, this one is a familiar.” Binx sits on the bar, flicking his tail back and forth, and looks at Eliza. He drops his shield just enough for Eliza to sense his power. She tenses and leans back. “Having two cats on the bar top is not helping our health code violations.”

  “Good thing neither are actually cats.” I throw my head back. “Holy fuck. Just…fuck.” I need to figure this out. The Grand Coven already suspects me of working with my old pal Lucifer because I shouldn’t have been able to command hellfire or fight off a powerful demon.

  And I shouldn’t be able to transfigure humans into animals without laying out the complicated spell work first.

  “Fuck.”

  Eliza cocks an eyebrow. “I get your point. You fucked up. How are you going to fix this?”

  I rub my forehead. “I…I don’t know.”

  “That’s reassuring.”

  “For once, please, stop with the petty sarcasm, okay? You don’t like me, I get it. But you are not helping, and right now, you need me to change Scott back so he can make the calls or whatever is necessary to lift the violations on the bar.”

  “I’ll try my best.” She purses her lips, and I let out a heavy sigh. I need to call Kristy and tell her what happened. She might know how to fix things. I run my hand over Binx’s sleek fur and then get up, picking up Scott-cat and shoving him into Eliza’s arms.

  “Don’t let him escape, and don’t let him eat anything weird.”

  “Define weird.”

  “Anything that could kill him.”

  She looks down at the cat and shows off her fangs. “I can handle that.” She turns to me. “Where are you going?”

  “I need to get my phone and, uh, make some calls.”

  “To who? The animal shelter?”

  “No, a friend.” I wince. “Because I really have no clue on how to change him back. I don’t even know how I did this in the first place. Transfiguration is really complicated magic that I’ve never even attempted on this level before.”

  Eliza’s blue eyes go wide. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Oh, how I wish.”

  Eliza turns back to Scott-cat and shrugs. “I’ll take him home. I promise to take good care of him.”

  “Just…hold him for now.” I wait until she’s in the office with the door closed before going back outside. I run to the car, unlocking it and reaching in to grab my purse as fast as I can. As I close the door, I see a black SUV drive down the road, slowing when it gets in front of the bar. The windows are tinted so I can’t see inside, but I get a bad feeling and know they are looking for me.

  I ran out of Scott’s office, holding a big ginger cat that definitely wasn’t there when I walked in. I’m sure anyone in the neighboring offices heard us arguing, but no one can prove I did anything to Scott, let alone that my magic went rogue and I turned him into a fucking cat. And if Ella says what she saw, they’ll think she’s crazy.

  It was the first thing I thought of, though now that I have a chance to actually think about it, I should have turned him into a mouse and let Binx, Freya, and Pandora take turns playing with—I mean babysitting—Scott.

  Holy.

  Fucking.

  Shit.

  I shake my head, stunned again at what I did, and race back into the bar. Eliza comes out of the office and shuts the door behind her.

  “He can’t get out in there, but if he pees on anything, you’re cleaning it up.” She crosses her arms. “You said you were going to handle our Health Department issues. While I won’t deny that I enjoy seeing that little rat bastard in his current state, I don’t see how this is going to help our issue.”

  “I know.” I sit on the edge of a bar stool, twisting my hair around my fingers. “I didn’t mean to do it. I told him to call the Health Department, and he flat-out refused and then told me that he’s trying to get a new bill passed that will mandate where vampires are allowed to live in the city and Lucas would be the first vampire he targeted. It pissed me off and the next thing I know, there was a cat sitting where my brother had been.”

  Eliza studies me for a second and then comes closer, going back behind the bar again and starts making me a drink. “Transfiguration, you called it? How does it even work?”

  “It’s the same principles as shape shifting, using the basic magical formulas that cause a werewolf to shift shape.”

  “I never thought about magic so…so scientifically.”

  I put my head in my hands. “It’s just as complicated.” Plowing a hand through my hair, I look up at Eliza and laugh. “I can’t believe…” I double over, and Eliza laughs too.

  “That little prick got what was coming for him.”

  “I should have done this years ago.”

  “Why didn’t you?” she asks, and her tone softens. “Lucas isn’t one to gossip, but I know what happened at that party. Your family sounds horrible.”

  “They are. Well, my sister isn’t.”

  “So, they treat you like shit for years, but the second that asshole threatens Lucas, you go all dark witch on your brother?”

  “Yeah. Maybe it’s messed up that I’m used to his threats, but mess with my friends…with someone I love…”

  Eliza pours the drink into a cocktail glass and slides it to me. “Maybe I underestimated you.”

  I almost choke on my drink. “Was that a compliment?”

  “It’s as close as you’ll get from me so enjoy it.”

  “Thank you. Look, I’m not trying to come in and be your stepmom or whatever.” I shake my head. “But I really do love Lucas, and I know he really does love you.”

  “So you think we should be gal-pals now?”

  “No, I don’t think anyone should be fake friends for the sake of someone else. But we have something in common, and there’s no reason to be hostile.”

  She leans back, studying me again. “You know he turned me for revenge, right?”

  “I heard the story from Monica,” I confess.

  “Ugh.” Eliza rolls her eyes. “Now that one does annoy me.”

  I take another sip of my drink. It’s sweet, with a faint taste of strawberries. “I don’t really know her.”

  “That I won’t judge someone until I know them shit annoys me too. We’re all judgy. It’s just a matter of how much we’re willing to admit it to ourselves.” She crosses her arms.

  “Fine, I’m a little judgy sometimes, but I usually have good intuition. It’s a witch thing.”

  “I judged you right away,” she admits. “And you’re pleasantly proving me wrong, especially seeing how much you make my sire happy.”

  “He makes me happy too.”

  “Spare me the details.” She wrinkles her nose. “He’s an easy vampire to love.”

  “I would say the opposite.” I smile and sip my drink again.

  “I tried to hate him,” she says quietly, and I’m not sure if she’s talking to me or to herself. “He turned me into a vampire to get revenge on my father, but lucky for me, the bond between sire and offspring is strong. As much as I wanted to
hate him for taking me away from my human life, I couldn’t. And it didn’t take long to realize that being a vampire is much better than being human.”

  I nod and sip my drink, finding this all so fascinating.

  “My point is,” she begins, putting her hands on the bar. “Lucas is everything to me. You piss him off, you piss me off. You threaten him, you threaten me. You understand.”

  “I do.”

  “And now I believe you.” She looks into my eyes as she talks and then pushes off the bar. “What are you going to do with that fucking thing? I can hear it meowing from all the way out here.”

  I can’t hear meowing, and I’m thankful for my human ears right now. “I don’t know.”

  “People will notice your brother is missing.”

  “Trust me, I know.” I set my drink down and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I should probably call my friend and start figuring out how to change him back. Lucas hasn’t called yet, has he?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Good, he was still sleeping when I left.” I get my phone from my purse and call Kristy. The call goes to her voicemail, and then I remember she’s working today. I call Evander next, and he answers right away.

  “Are you busy?” I ask as soon as he says hello. “I’m in a bit of a pickle.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I kind of turned my brother into a cat.”

  “Do you have a death wish, sister?”

  “Not particularly. I didn’t mean to do it, and I’ll change him back as soon as you can tell me how.”

  “What do you mean, you didn’t mean to?”

  I bite my lip. “We got into an argument, and I kinda sorta threw energy at him, I think, and now he’s a cat.”

  Evander is silent for a few seconds. “Who else knows about this?”

  “Um, just Eliza, Lucas’s vampire-daughter or whatever.” I can feel Eliza glaring at me as I speak. “I’m at Lucas’s bar in Chicago. Not panicking or anything.”

  “Start with taking a deep breath. Everything is going to be all right.”

  “Is it?”

  “Well, hopefully. We usually get by, don’t we?”