Page 18 of Blood Magic

Chapter Seven

At two p.m. on the dot, Ash jumped up on the bed and woke me up by licking my face with all the joy and enthusiasm a pittie contained in his wiggly little body.

“Hey buddy,’’ I said thickly, then turned around and pulled the covers over my head. “Try again in an hour.”

But Lucy was ready for me to get up as well, and she was smart about it. She brought food. “Oh good, you’re awake,” she said.

I sighed, then gave up and pushed myself up in the bed. I could resist my dog’s face-licking. I could not resist Lucy’s cooking. “You’re too cheerful for the crack of dawn,” I muttered, staring hungrily at the tray of food on my lap.

She laughed and yanked my blackout curtains open. “It’s the afternoon, and you have your visit with your mother today.”

“Yes,” I said, “but late. I want to visit Long Shadow after my mom, and I can’t go to the graveyard until it’s dark.” The vampire wouldn’t appreciate being brought out of the ground while the sun was shining.

Max called when I was halfway through my breakfast. “I’ve decided I’ll go with you to dig up the vampire,” he declared.

“I’m driving out to Huntersburg today to see my mom,” I told him, dabbing at the last of the egg yolk with my bread.

“So I’ll go with you. We can take care of the vampire after.”

I wasn’t sure I’d really find a silver-wrapped vampire buried under a golden tree, but I wasn’t against having some company when I started digging. “I thought you were done with fieldwork.”

“So did I. What time do you want me at your place?”

“Max wants to go with me to my mother’s,” I told Lucy after I ended the call.

“I’ll come too,” she said. “We can bring Ash. I just love your mother.”

I shook my head and climbed from the bed. “We have to do some work afterward, Lucy. I don’t want you or Ash there. It could be dangerous.”

“Seriously, Kait.” She stared at me. “You’re fine with Max around danger, but not me?” She sat on the edge of my bed and crossed her arms. “Are vampires real, then?”

I paused on my way to my bathroom and turned back to face her. “What?”

She pursed her lips. “Demons are real. I’ve seen you talking to ghosts. I have dreams that show me things that are admittedly sometimes…wrong, but still. For the last few nights, I’ve dreamed of what I can only guess are vampires.”

My mouth dried up and my stomach tightened with sudden nerves. “What were the dreams?”

She shook her head. “Confusing and strange. The only reason I think the people in my dreams are vampires is because of a feeling. They don’t look different. They feel different.”

“What are they doing in the dreams?”

She dropped her gaze to her clasped hands. “I didn’t tell you because they don’t make sense. I didn’t feel afraid for you, exactly.”

“I was in the dreams with…vampires?”

She sighed. “I think so. The visions are wispy and unformed. But last night, I saw you in a naked man’s arms, and he was full of despair and vampire pain. You know, the kind you read about. Decades of horror.” She shuddered.

I wrinkled my nose, unsure. Maybe she’d simply seen me with Jared. “Was he dangerous?”

“Oh yes.” There was total conviction in her eyes. “Yes, he was. But I didn’t feel as though you were in trouble.” She shrugged, then rose and came to stand in front of me. “Are there vampires, Kait? Tell me the truth.”

I don’t know why I was reluctant to tell her. If she hung around me long enough, she was going to see a whole different reality than the one she was used to. But she’d handled the demon well, and she wasn’t like a regular human. So I nodded. “They are.”

She swallowed hard as she stared up at me. “My goodness,” she whispered. “And werewolves?”

“They’re real, as well,” I said, my voice emotionless.

“Wolves aren’t so scary,” she declared. “But the thought of vampires is terrifying.” She looked at me then, and there was something in her eyes.