Maybe they were changing to crawl back into the Cloister’s good graces? Connor and I had attended the Supernatural Fall Festival in September, and the Telliers had sponsored a fireworks show for the event so it seemed possible.
But why, then, aren’t they doing all these things in front of Supernaturals? Unless they think the humans will be an easier target?
“My precious jewel of Jade—hello!”
Sunshine—a willowy limbed brownie with brown hair, brown eyes, and brown skin—burst into Cat Tails. She was wearing a white coat and a coral-colored sweater that brought out the warm tones of her hair and skin and had to scoot around the bookcases to see me since, being a brownie—a kind of fae—she was under four feet tall.
“Hi, Sunshine.” I slipped off the chair and bent over to hug her. “Did you have a good day off?”
“Off? Hah! My family spent the entire day cleaning out our garden from all the dead plants except the pumpkins and gourds, and then scrubbed the floors until they shone like a mirror. Chores, ugh.” She made a face, crinkling the tip of her button nose, then leaned back on her heels and rotated so she looked out at the bookshelves. “Do we have a minute? I need to grab a new sudoku or crossword puzzle book.”
“Yeah, for sure. My shift doesn’t start for almost an hour.” I started to follow Sunshine but my phone buzzed. I checked it to see a text from my oldest brother, Jasper.
Jasper
Heads up, Dad knows you used the slayer database.
I grimaced—I’d expected that he’d noticed, but a part of me had hoped I’d lucked out. I slapped on a smile for Sunshine’s sake. “Why don’t you go ahead and pick out whatever book you want—I gotta answer this text.”
“I’m on it!” She winked at me, then disappeared behind a shelf.
I took a deep breath to clear my mind and tapped out a quick reply to Jasper.
Is he mad?
I held my breath as I waited.
I was on shaky ground with my family. It wasn’t that my parents were angry that I wasn’t working as a slayer—my mom’s entire family were slayers, too, but they were semi-retired and now owned a very successful construction company.
No, they were upset that I’d moved away from the family—something unfathomable to them—and that I was still working in a combat-based position, without them.
My parents and I didn’t fight. It was more like our conversations were heated and my dad was—in general—loud and growly.
My phone beeped as Jasper’s reply came in.
Jasper
No, but he’s wondering why you had to look up elder vampires.
All the air I’d been holding in leaked out, and I slumped with relief.
He hadn’t noticed my perusal of the file we slayers had on one particular vampire, good!
I’d used the database to pinpoint the identity of Ruin, the mysterious vampire that had claimed downtown Magiford as his territory in early September. I knew Ruin was old, but it wasn’t until I saw him turn into a bat that I’d realized he must have been turned in the BC timeline.
Turns out, Ruin was most likely Considine Maledictus—one of the oldest and most powerful vampires still alive, and one we slayers had labeled as someone to be avoided at all costs.
If Dad realized Considine Maledictus was in Magiford, he would bust out one of the family’s more expensive methods of transport usually reserved for work, pack me up, and drag me back home no matter what I wanted.
Thankfully, it seemed like I was safe. For now.
I looked up from my phone tilting my head as I instinctively tried to pinpoint Sunshine’s movements through the store—a cat’s happy meow of greeting tattled on her: she was in the heart of the maze.
Sunshine secured; I peered down at my cellphone again mulling over all possible responses I could give before constructing a reply. Jasper wouldn’t tattle to Dad if I told him about Ruin, however, I couldn’t risk him figuring out that Ruin was Considine or he’d be the one driving out to get me.
I was trying to remember the sire of a vampire Family, and we have better records than the Cloisters.
Jasper
Naturally. The Cloisters couldn’t find a vampire in a blood bank.
I rolled my eyes but let the insult at my employer go—my family would always be convinced the Cloisters were less efficient and skilled than vampire slayers—and put my phone away.
Sunshine paid for her new puzzle book—a collection of crossword puzzles—then marched through the store, clutching it to her chest. “Everything okay?”