“Who doesn’t? I mean ... it’s raw fish. That’s disgusting no matter how you dress it up.”
I felt his lips curve against my forehead. “I do think it’s likely you’re going to give me an aneurysm, though. One of these days you’ll pull some shenanigans and I’ll completely lose my mind. My brain will explode and that will be all she wrote.”
He was dramatic sometimes. For some reason, I found it cute. “What a way to go, though, huh?”
He clutched me tighter. “Yeah. I guess it’s okay.”
We finished our three minutes and I graced him with a soft kiss before rolling out of bed. “I need coffee before the yelling commences. Also, I need to deal with the little minion.”
“Okay.” He didn’t push me, instead dragging a hand through his hair as he padded into the kitchen behind me.
Bixby, his gaze murderous, glared at me as I crossed the kitchen to grab a can of soft food for Merlin, who had started screeching the second we climbed out of bed. He knew his routine. He got hard food every other time of day, but mornings were for Fancy Feast ... and he couldn’t get enough of it.
“Hello, little minion.” I patted Bixby’s head in a condescending manner after giving Merlin his breakfast. Gunner was already busy in front of the coffee pot so I left him to the brewing and leaned over so I was at eye level with Bixby. “If I remove the gag spell, do you promise to be pleasant?”
He nodded, although his eyes said otherwise.
“You’re a total liar.” I released him from the spell anyway. I figured it was cruel not to. He started spewing curses and threats the second he regained control of his tongue.
“I’m going to shove a sword through your heart and leave it there so you can feel my wrath for all eternity!”
Gunner slid me a sidelong look as I sauntered over to him. “Do you think this is what it will be like to have kids?”
The question threw me. “I ... what?”
His eyes lit with amusement at my obvious discomfort. “I don’t mean now ... or even two or three years from now. I mean eventually.”
“I don’t know.” I hadn’t really considered having kids. After growing up a ward of the state, I was fairly certain I was missing any and all maternal instincts. Those seemed like learned traits — and I’d never learned them.
“Calm down.” He brushed his fingers over my cheek. “I wasn’t suggesting anything. My father says I was a terrible human being between the ages of twelve and fifteen. For some reason, listening to that little monster made me think of that.”
“Oh.” Well, that wasn’t as frightening as I initially thought. “I’ve never really liked kids, so I don’t know what to think about it.” The statement might’ve sounded brutal to an outsider, but it was important for Gunner to know where I stood. “I don’t really see myself as a mother.”
“Oh, yeah?” If he was bothered by the statement he didn’t show it. “See, I think you would be a great mother. I wasn’t sure at first, but the way you handled Raisin’s crisis with the costume made me believe otherwise. You’re really good with her. I’m not sure how you would be with little kids — you seem more the type teenagers would love — but it’s something to think about down the road.”
He was so blasé with the observation it made me uncomfortable. “I don’t know how to be a mother.”
“You can learn.”
“I don’t think I want to learn.”
He shook his head. “I get that. In fact, I’m right there with you a good fifty percent of the time. Not about being a mother, mind you. I can’t help but wonder if I have some of my mother in me, and it makes me fearful.
“Either way, it doesn’t matter,” he continued. “We’re nowhere near considering any of the big questions in life. We can barely handle the little things right now. For example, making coffee pretty much has me at my limit this morning. Perhaps we can put off the deep discussion for another time.”
My mouth dropped open. “You’re the one who brought it up in the first place.”
He snickered. “I’m not sure that’s how I remember things. I guess it doesn’t matter.” He reached for the mugs on the counter. “Tell me what you did last night that’s going to infuriate me.”
I was just about to do that when something occurred to me. “Wait. You did that on purpose.”
“What?”
“You did the kid thing to throw me off my game. You want to rattle me so you have the upper hand when we start arguing.”
“That sounds like a diabolical plan and nothing like me.”
“No, no, no.” I wagged a finger. “That’s definitely what you’re doing.”
“Well, you figured me out.” He poured a mug of coffee and handed it to me. “Talk.”
I accepted it with both hands and inhaled the heavenly aroma before taking a long sip. Once the caffeine hit my system, it was time. I would never be ready for the argument that was to come, but we needed to put it behind us if we hoped to move forward and come up with a plan.
“I had a visitor last night.”
He arched an eyebrow as he poured his own mug. “I’m guessing it wasn’t Santa Claus.”
“It was my master,” Bixby cackled. “He came for me. He smacked the witch down, told her who was boss. He’s coming back to claim me tonight.”
Gunner’s expression was hard to read. “The vampire came here?”
I nodded. “It’s fine. We had a perfectly reasonable conversation. He couldn’t cross the wards. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah, but ... I didn’t wake up. You would think I would’ve woken up. Even if you talked quietly, I usually know when you’re in bed with me.”
Here was the part I was dreading. “I might’ve cast a spell to make sure you would sleep.” I immediately took a step back when he started swearing. I thought about apologizing, but in truth my heart wouldn’t have been in it. Instead, I decided to let him rant.
“I can’t believe you did this.” He kicked one of the chairs, sending it careening across the room.
“You’re in trouble now,” Bixby sang out. “The shifter is going to rip your throat out. I won’t even have to wait for my master to come and save me. You’ll be dead before you can complete the deal you promised.”
Gunner swiveled quickly, his eyes dark blocks of ice. “What deal?”
“He has a bunch of townspeople under his control. They’re like Brandon. He showed them to me last night. He insinuated that he took that particular step because of the spell I unleashed outside the high school.”
“But ... .” Gunner’s mind was clearly busy.
“He wants to make a trade. He’ll release Brandon from the blood spell if we give him the minion.”
“Butler!” Bixby snapped. “I’m a butler, not a minion.”
I pretended he hadn’t spoken, though I did jab a warning finger in his direction. I would gag him again if necessary. “He also wants us to come up with a line of demarcation. We stay on one side and they stay on the other.”
Gunner was flabbergasted. “We can’t agree to that. If we do, the people on their side of the line will be nothing but food and playthings.”
“He says he’ll kill the people he’s already claimed if we don’t agree.”
“Well, that’s just great.” Gunner strode to the sink and upended his coffee. “It sounds like you two have already come to an agreement.”
“He’s coming back tonight to discuss the details. We need to talk to Rooster.”
“Rooster won’t agree to this. In fact ... I don’t agree with it. I can’t believe you struck a deal with that fiend. What is wrong with you? And that’s on top of casting a spell to make me sleep. We’ve talked about this. You cannot use your magic on me.”
“You were exhausted.”
“So were you.”
“Yes, but ... you’ve had more emotional upheaval the past few days. You needed your sleep.”
He stomped toward the bedroom. “I’m taking a shower. Alone. I’ll be h
eading into town when I’m done. I’ll be doing that alone, too. You can do whatever you want, but I’m going to sit down with Rooster and come up with a plan. This agreement you’ve roped us into won’t stand.”
He was angry. I didn’t blame him. He thought I was willing to cede half the town to the vampires in exchange for a handful of residents and Brandon’s freedom. I couldn’t argue the point in front of Bixby. Even though I’d shut the minion off from the vampires, that didn’t mean he couldn’t make life difficult for us before the end. I couldn’t risk that.
“Gunner.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I just ... no. I’m angry with you. You used magic on me. Again. You said you wouldn’t. This agreement, that’s even worse. I don’t understand how you could possibly think it was okay. You are so not who I thought you were.”
I remained rooted to my spot as he stalked into the bathroom, my shoulders flinching as the door slammed. He was shutting me out. Literally. I couldn’t blame him. Giving voice to my actual plan in front of the minion wasn’t allowed. He needed to think there was a fissure in our group.
So ... mission accomplished. I’d done exactly what I needed to do.
So why did I feel so crummy?
I DIDN’T BOTHER TO GET INTO THE SHOWER until after Gunner left. Once it was just the two of us, I gagged Bixby so I wouldn’t have to listen to him and then released the clamp I’d put on his brain just enough so a few stray thoughts could leak out.
He was gleeful to the point of giddiness. He thought the vampires had won. While he couldn’t fully communicate with his master, the easing of my control on him allowed his emotions to drift across miles. Armand would bask in the glow of his minion’s happiness ... right up until the point I pulled the rug and upended the entire thing.
“Oh, you look sad,” Bixby chortled when I removed the gag upon dressing and pulling back my hair in a loose bun. “You lost the big, bad wolf and now you have a broken heart.”
“I haven’t lost him.” I decided some bravado, however false, was in order. “He’s just angry. He’ll get over it.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” He made a clucking sound with his tongue. “The wolf is mad. He has ethics and morals. Even when you were a kid I knew you were devoid of those. That’s why I was tracking you.”
I slid my gaze to him. “Why were you following me that night?”
“I could smell the magic. But I thought you were just a normal witch. I didn’t realize you were more than that.”
“When did you realize?”
“When my master told me.”
“And what did he say about me?”
“That you were a child of the stars and should be avoided. He said you were powerful, but you don’t seem all that powerful now. You’ve been defeated. How does it feel?”
It didn’t feel very good. Sure, it was all an act, but Gunner’s anger had been real. Worse, the betrayal he felt had been brutal. He thought I’d turned on him, or at least was showing the vampires my tender underbelly. He couldn’t know otherwise. I’d arranged it this way for a reason. Still ... I felt bereft. I already missed him.
“You were going to attack me that night,” I pressed. “You seemed surprised when I called you out. Why did you specifically choose me?”
“You were alone.”
“I’d understand that if your master only wanted a meal. He seemed to want something more from me. Selecting me felt ... deliberate.”
“My master likes magic. He absorbs it. Not all vampires are that powerful, but my master is. He’s stronger than everybody, including that little ragtag group of shifters and witches you run around with.”
Whether he realized it or not, he’d let something slip. The master vampire was more than the sum of his parts. He had special abilities. But how? I’d never heard of a vampire being more than one thing.
I held back a sigh and then turned my full attention to Bixby. “I have to run to town. I have to explain the trade. Gunner can’t be relied upon to do it correctly.”
“Because he’s a dirty dog.”
I wanted to shake the little heathen until he stopped talking. Instead, I merely nodded. “I’m keeping you frozen, but you can scream to your heart’s content. Nobody will come for you. Even if they do, the wards will hold. They kept your master out last night.”
“Or he only wanted you to think that.”
I thought back to the way Armand circled the barrier I’d erected. “No. He couldn’t cross.” The wards held and even though Armand had magic at his fingertips he couldn’t break the protection I’d wrought. That was something to consider. “I’ll be back before nightfall.”
Bixby’s expression fell. “Hey! You can’t leave me here all day tied to this chair. That’s inhuman ... and mean ... and just plain rude.”
I managed a legitimate smile. “You should’ve thought about that before aligning yourself with vampires. You deserve a little inhumane treatment.”
He was back to being morose. “I’m going to rip off your arm and beat you to death with it.”
“Well, doesn’t that sound fun?”
Twenty-Six
I was uneasy when I let myself into The Cauldron. The number of bikes in the parking lot told me that we had a full crew. Numerous sets of accusatory eyes landed on me when I entered, and a shiver of discomfort forced me to fold my arms over my chest and stare down the friends who had suddenly become enemies.
“I’m sure Gunner has told you what’s going on,” I started.
“He has.” Rooster’s eyes were cold. “We’re not sacrificing half this town so we don’t have to fight with the vampires. You had no right to broker that deal. We won’t agree to it.”
“We won’t,” Marissa agreed. She looked almost gleeful as she ran her hands over Gunner’s arm and tried to soothe him. “Because you’re so far removed from this team I think you should probably go.”
“I’m not surprised you think that,” I offered, sliding over to the bar and rubbing my forehead as I got comfortable on a stool. I expected this meeting to be difficult, but it felt somehow impossible. “We only have until darkness falls to figure out a way to take out the vampires. That’s when he’ll come to finalize the deal.”
“I thought you wanted to negotiate with the vampires,” Rooster challenged.
“No. But I need the vampires to think that’s exactly what we’re doing. We need time to figure out a plan ... and this is it. We have eleven hours.”
Roster cocked his head to the side. I could feel his eyes roaming my face. “Gunner said you were talking to him as if you agreed with the vampire. Why would he say that?”
“I was talking as if I agreed.” There was no sense in lying. It was time to lay it all out for the group. “We had an audience.”
Gunner raised his chin, surprise washing over his face. “Wait ... what are you saying?”
“The minion. I took him. I got fed up yesterday and he was out there, so I forced him to cross the barrier and took him. He’s spent the better part of the last twenty hours tied to a chair in my kitchen.”
“But ... .” Gunner slid away from Marissa, his mind clearly busy.
Rooster cleared his throat to get my attention. “I thought you told Gunner you cut off the minion from the vampires. At least, that’s what he said. If that’s true, they can’t know what he’s thinking or feeling.”
“I did do that ... until this morning when I let the spell slip just a smidge. I need Adolph to believe that I’m going along with the plan if we expect him to walk into a trap.”
Rooster’s expression relaxed. “That actually is very smart. If the information comes from an outside source — one he trusts — he’s more likely to believe it.”
“I wanted to tell Gunner what I was doing, but there was no way without tipping off the minion. I ... oomph.” I lost my breath as Gunner yanked me into a tight embrace. His mouth was hot on mine before I could question him about what he was doing.
“I’m sorry,” he said when he
’d finished kissing me.
My eyes were wide as I studied him. “For what?”
“I shouldn’t have jumped all over you. I should’ve understood what you were doing. I couldn’t believe what you were saying. I didn’t even think about the minion. I just ... .” He broke off and smoothed my hair. “I won’t doubt you again.”
He looked so earnest I wanted to melt. Then I remembered we were in a room full of people and we had a job to do. “I wanted to tell you.” I squeezed his wrist in a reassuring manner. “I couldn’t. We have only one shot of selling the narrative to the minion. I had to make sure he believed.”
“Yeah.” Gunner stared directly into my eyes. “I’m still sorry.”
“You can pay me back with a nice dinner and a massage or something.”
“Oh, I’m going to do way better than that.” He gave me another kiss that was so soft it nudged out a sigh. The moment was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing a throat. “Well, this is just lovely,” Marissa drawled. “I can’t tell you how happy this entire thing makes me. Oh, wait ... it makes me want to throw up all over both of you. But I don’t have time for that, because apparently we need to take on an army of vampires.”
I managed a smile despite the dire circumstances and slid from Gunner even though every fiber of my being wanted me to stay and continue absorbing his warmth. We had a job to do and that had to be our focus. “I’m not even sure how many vampires we’re dealing with,” I admitted. “The one I talked to last night ... .”
“Armand,” Bonnie clarified.
“His real name is Adolph, but yes, he goes by Armand. He stole it from that Interview with the Vampire book, which makes him the world’s biggest tool.”
“Tell us what you can about him,” Rooster demanded. He was all business now that he knew I hadn’t brokered a deal to sacrifice half the town to the appetite of monsters.
“He acknowledged meeting me when I was a teenager.”
Gunner’s eyes flashed. “Wait ... he did? I thought you were confusing the minion with another guy.”
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