He gave a deep-throated cluck, eyeing Devraj, like he hadn’t been after my attention this whole time. Or maybe he was protecting his hen, aka me, from the dangerous vampire. What a cutie.
I rubbed a fingertip along his chest feathers. He didn’t like being touched on the head. My magic responded as quick as taking a breath, flowing river-like from my chest, down my arm, and out through my fingertip. The effortless sensation of pure magic pouring from the energy in the air around me, sending a droplet into the rooster, took all of five seconds. Fred swaggered off, fluttering his feathers with the zing of magic pumping through him.
That’s when I realized I’d just used my magic in front of my annoying new neighbor/former assailant. Not that I cared that he’d watched, but it was something I tended to do in private or only around family and friends. But the look of shock and awe on his face made it worth it.
“Did you just…?” He paused and pointed toward Fred retreating back to the coop in the back. ”Did you just use magic to extend life to a rooster?”
I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, refusing to roll my eyes yet again, then stood up. He stood along with me. He wouldn’t understand. That rooster owned a piece of Violet’s cold, snarky heart. Just like Zombie Cat did of Evie’s. So yes, I used my magic to extend their lives. Not make them immortal or anything, because that was impossible, but extend I could and would do until they were ready to let go.
Ignoring his question, I gave him the first smile since our brief acquaintance. “Apology accepted. And now our business is at an end. I doubt we’ll have any reason to see each other, so I wish you well.”
And I honestly did. Even cocky bastards like him needed well-wishing from time to time.
“I still have to return your bike.” His discerning and unsettling gaze swept over my face.
“Not a problem. Just prop it under the garage.”
No need for interaction of any kind.
“I’m sure we’ll see each other around the neighborhood.”
“Not likely.” I rocked on my heels, waiting for him to excuse himself and leave. I wasn’t going to be that rude and kick him out. But I was eyeing the greenhouse and thinking of bolting to my hiding space if he lingered much longer.
He eased forward in that vampire way of his, sidling closer without being seen doing so. He tugged on a strand of my hair that dangled against my arm, then let go just as quickly. I frowned and stepped back, definitely ready to escape to my greenhouse.
But by then he was turning away, muttering under his breath, “We’ll see.”
Chapter 4
~ISADORA~
I stood sleepy-eyed at the kitchen sink, feeling out of sorts. All week, I’d been plagued by the presence of our new neighbor. First of all, he played his music way too loud. I begrudgingly admitted—only to myself—that the upbeat Hindi music was quite pleasant to listen to while working in the greenhouse.
But then he had to do his shirtless yoga every day! Except for Friday. I didn’t catch a glimpse of him through the fence on Friday on my way to water the pansies. Instead of yoga, he decided to wash his car in the driveway. I just happened to notice when I was pulling up weeds around the front gate. There really weren’t many weeds since I pulled them up a few days ago, but curb appeal is so important! My sudden interest in our front garden had nothing to do with the unobstructed view of a certain vampire bent over his hood, his muscular legs flexed in those shorts, his wet T-shirt clinging to his chest.
No surprise that he attracted a few admirers. I thought the girls sitting on their porch sipping iced tea across the street were going to drown in their own puddle of drool. So sad they had no idea how arrogant he really was.
I rubbed my forehead in frustration. “Jules, have you seen a package for me?” I grumbled.
I pulled a strawberry yogurt from the fridge, then opened my box of granola.
“Sorry. No.” Jules sat at the dining room table, coffee in one hand, her eyes on her tablet as she scrolled through the news. Her morning ritual.
I poured a glass of orange juice and frowned when I shut the fridge door. My friendly-reminder list was half hidden by other crap. It was actually a to-do list to keep everyone organized for the month, but I always thought a friendly-reminder list sounded more positive. I moved the two papers blocking my spreadsheet. A pizza coupon for Violet’s favorite take-out place. And some flyer for a poetry reading at The Boho Lounge. Definitely Clara’s. I wondered when she’d ever get the nerve to read her own.
After scooping three spoonfuls of granola into a bowl, I peered out the kitchen window into our neighbor’s back yard. I couldn’t help myself.
Thursday morning, I’d caught him in an enticing yoga pose, shirtless, barefoot, and in a pair of loose workout pants. I’d frozen completely on the path to my greenhouse. There was only a wrought iron gate and a row of azalea bushes blocking my view, so it was hard not to look. I was watching the rivulet of sweat roll down the indention of his spine when I felt his gaze on me. A fleeting glimpse of his curving smile had me zipping away and hiding in my greenhouse till it was dark. I tried not to admit it to myself, but he truly was a beautiful man. And who wouldn’t want to catch a glimpse of that body each morning? More than a pick-me-up than caffeine, really.
Finding no sign of him in his yard, I combined my yogurt with the granola, and then picked up my orange juice to join Jules at the table.
The thought of that half-naked, sweaty, and limber vampire had unfortunately made me wonder yet again where my package was. I’d checked my tracking number that claimed it was delivered. Couldn’t have been Evie who picked it up since she slept over at Mateo’s again last night. I needed to check with the others. Maybe it was delivered to Maybelle’s. That had happened on occasion since our mailman knew us and dropped so many deliveries to the shop.
Jules’s scowl, more pronounced than usual, told me she was reading bad news. What’s new, right?
“So…what’s going on in the world today?”
Jules and I were always the first up. I enjoyed our morning chats together, even if they tended to focus on the insanity going on outside our quiet bubble on Magazine Street. She read the news while I doodled my lists that somehow kept me centered.
“More details about the last girl that went missing. Did you know she was last seen at Barrel Proof?”
Taking a sip of orange juice, I shook my head. “No, I didn’t.” I scribbled a new list onto my Steno pad absent-mindedly. This particular one was inspired by a yoga-loving neighbor.
But Jules’s comment had me thinking about those girls again. Barrel Proof was only a few blocks down from our house.
“That’s two girls taken from that bar. The other two also from pubs in the Garden District.”
This was the first time I could remember supernaturals targeting humans in such a terrible crime. Though I didn’t want to ask because I was afraid of the answer, I didn’t want to be ignorant either. “Have they found any bodies yet?”
As of now, we weren’t exactly sure what was happening to the kidnapped women. I mean, we could imagine the worst, but none of us had spoken about it without any evidence to go on. Not yet.
She shook her head, eyes on the article. “No.”
“What does Ruben say?”
She tapped the screen to close the article and lifted her coffee, her gaze swiveling out the kitchen window. Her posture stiffened and her mouth pursed as she either considered or ignored my question. I wasn’t sure which.
“Jules?” I prompted.
Turning to me, she cupped her mug with both hands. Circles were smudged under her gray-blue eyes, her focus sharp and flinty. With no makeup on, which was as typical for her as it was for me, her dark hair in a short bob framed a pale face. Whereas I spent a good deal of time outside and in the garden, she spent most of hers indoors at the Cauldron. Her lack of sun and obvious lack of sleep gave her a fragility I didn’t like to see her wear.
“Ruben and his men are sure it’s a vampire, but that’s as far as they’ve gotten,” she finally said. “He’s brought in an expert to help. A Stygorn.”
“Really?” Now that was interesting. I scribbled on my pad again. “I’ve never met one before.”
“Yes, you have.” Her brows rose in accusation. She looked so much like our mother in that moment I almost laughed. Until I realized who she meant. Which knocked the smile right off my face.
I glanced out the wall of windows that faced the side of our neighbor’s house, my mouth falling open in shock. I dropped the spoon in my bowl, the metal clinking against the glass.
“That conceited, materialistic man is a Stygorn?”
Jules frowned, obviously not on board with my blatant character assassination.
“From those I spoke with, he’s one of the best. His reputation is stellar in the field. He’s never failed to find his quarry.”
Picking up my spoon, I took a bite, crunching my granola angrily. “You vetted him?” I asked around a mouthful before shaking my head to myself. “Of course, you did. What was I thinking?”
Jules was extremely efficient and competent as an Enforcer of the supernaturals in our district. Not that my other sisters weren’t good at what they did, but Jules took her job to another level. Since Enforcers held a power greater than vampires, she was in charge of keeping the lot of us in line here in New Orleans. And she took her job very seriously.
“So you trust Ruben to lead the investigation?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
She didn’t snap the question but the steadiness of her voice was a little too forced, too measured. I wasn’t going to answer her with the truth, because that would open up another conversation I knew she wasn’t ready to have yet. Maybe not ever.
A fleeting image from last Christmas popped into my head. Jules wasted out of her mind on JJ’s special eggnog at our sisters’ birthday party, her head halfway in the toilet while I held a cool rag and mouthwash at the ready.
Her slurred angry words echoed in the toilet bowl. “Does he think I’m an idiot?” When I asked who she was talking about and wiped her face with the cloth, she mumbled, “You know who. Everyone does.”