“Let’s go see if they need help,” she said.
Before he could respond, she jaywalked across the street and was animatedly offering her services. At least, he assumed so, as he couldn’t hear Iris from this distance. When he caught up to her, a woman with sun-streaked curls was saying, “I really appreciate the offer, but we’re good. I’m only doing this because Clem is afraid it’ll make things worse if we cast spells on Main Street, so to speak.”
The brunette woman sighed. “Gavin is reviewing the security footage now. Soon we’ll know who did this, okay? There’s no reason to—”
“I’d love to see you fix the sign with a spell,” Iris said, wide-eyed.
“We’re not giving demonstrations,” said the second witch, as the first one studied the sign with a measuring look.
“Danica, I’m so sorry this happened again.” Now someone else joined the convo, a slim, dark-eyed person in a hoodie.
“Rowan! Good to see you again. Do you have something for us to fix?”
Rowan raised a small paper bag. “My old iPod. I started feeling nostalgic, and I want to check out what I was listening to in middle school if you can get it working.”
“Of course we can.” The friendly witch turned to them with a warm smile. “Thanks for offering to help. St. Claire is great, mostly, but no place is perfect.”
The other three headed for the door to the shop while Iris glanced at Eli with an apologetic expression. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to delay us.”
“It’s fine. You were trying to do a good deed.”
She laughed. “Yeah, that didn’t pan out.”
They often don’t.
Iris went on, “But at least now I can say I’ve met some witches. They seemed nice, right? Well, Danica more than… What was the other one’s name?”
“Clem,” Eli said.
The two retraced their steps and got in the truck. While Eli brooded, Iris filled the silence with ideas, projects, things she wanted to try for the house if they wouldn’t cost a fortune. He only had to nod, put in a quiet opinion here and there, and it was perfect. Maybe he wouldn’t be this happy listening to someone else, but her voice soothed him, as if there were deeply woven magical notes. Honestly, the woman could convince him to do almost anything.
Possibly I ought to be worried about that.
He was deeply curious to see her with a hawk’s eyes because in that form, he could discern more, and he wondered what those extra color spectra would reveal. In some worldviews, they’d say he could perceive her aura as a hawk, but for Eli it was much simpler. Different people radiated energy in unique ways, and he wished to know as much about Iris as he could.
How would she react? If I told her.
Taking a breath as he turned down the road leading to their house, he decided to risk it. Otherwise, there might be issues down the line. “I’m not sure how to bridge this topic, so I’ll just be direct because I think you should know. I’m…not like other people.”
Iris laughed. “Neither am I. That’s how I ended up with a purple house, few friends, no job, and hardly any money.”
Despite the nerves making his palms sweat, he laughed. “Okay, fair. But I mean more than that. You know how we were talking about witches before?”
“Yeah, what about them?”
“I sympathize…because I’m a shifter. Red-tailed hawk. So I might leave my window open sometimes if I’m out flying. I hope that’s okay. I won’t do it often when it gets cold,” he added quickly.
Iris stared at him. “That is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It…is?” He drove past Susan Calhoun, raking leaves in her front yard. Their neighbor stared hard at the truck and scowled at her pile of leaves. The woman already seemed far too invested in what Iris did with her own home. Eli suspected that the word busybody didn’t do the woman justice.
“Definitely. But I’m glad you gave me a heads-up because if I noticed your window wide open, I might’ve shut it, and then you’d be pants-less in the yard without keys.”
Eli chuckled, appreciating that she understood without him needing to elaborate. “I’ve been in that situation before. Less than ideal.”
She grinned at him. “You have a gift for understatement. So what’s your favorite movie? I bet it’s Ladyhawke. Is it Ladyhawke?”
“It is, actually.”
Iris beamed at him. “You are such a good sport to play along like that. Anyway…”
Eli pulled into the driveway behind her car. He could have told her it wasn’t a joke—that he’d loved the movie after Gamma streamed it for him. Not just because of the hawk, but it was a beautiful fairy tale of a movie, and, yeah, he was absolutely that person.
She took a deep breath, seeming somewhat nervous.
“You were about to say something?” he prompted.
“Yeah. Since we’re disclosing…and you trusted me with your personal business, I should offer the same. I’m…not exactly from a typical family either. If I was properly awakened, I’d have informed you before you moved in.”
“I don’t understand,” he said, turning to face her with curiosity bubbling inside him, more potent than a witch’s potion.
“My family are vampires,” she replied without looking at him. “Not the blood-drinking kind. Psychic. And before you say it, no, I’m not joking, and yes, I’m sure.”
In all honesty, that was news to him. He’d kept to the fringes of the shifter community and didn’t really try to connect despite Gamma’s urging. So he hadn’t met too many like him, let alone others. Like anyone else, he’d encountered folks he found exhausting, but he’d always assumed that was perception. Now he was hearing some of them might have literally been draining his energy? Wild.
Eli hesitated. “I have questions, but I’m not sure if it’s okay to ask.”
“I can guess what they are. Yes, we eat food, and yes, we age. But we require that extra component to thrive. In return, we have small…aptitudes. My oldest sister is a healer. Not only can she absorb someone’s pain, she can also expedite healing and cure some illnesses that are supposed to be untreatable. Not all of them, obviously, or she’d already be in a government lab.”
“Holy shit,” Eli whispered.
“I know. In my opinion, Olive is the best of us, but I also think that’s why she left the country. ‘Miracles’ would attract too much attention here. She might not be safe, especially with groups like HAPI gathering momentum and hosting rallies.”
“That actually makes sense.” He’d been pretty tense there for a minute without even realizing it, and hearing that they had this in common as well set his mind at ease.
Not that they were the same, exactly, but she didn’t hate him after learning who he really was. Eli wouldn’t have been able to handle it if she’d flipped out and admitted to belonging to one of those hate groups.
She went on, “Rose eats anger, and she’s wildly charismatic. I suspect that’s why she’s never lost a case. Lily ‘counsels’ people and devours their grief. She’s lauded for her ability to help people resolve emotional trauma.”