7. Kieran

I wake, still aching all over, five minutes before my alarm goes off the next morning. I can already hear Sam in the living room, and he waves at me absently as I shuffle past him to shower and then back again to get dressed.

When I find him waiting by the front door as I re-emerge into the living room, I frown.

"What's going on?"

"I'm meeting Ophelia and Dante for food," Sam says. He's wearing another of my hoodies over shorts that I know are far too short for the October chill we've got going on. He rummages around in his bag before he realises I've not moved any closer. "C'mon. Let's go."

"I'm going to work," I protest.

Sam just rolls his eyes. "Yeah. And you're going to be late if you keep holding us up like this."

I sigh but let Sam usher me out the door and then the building. He'll never say it aloud, but I guess last night rattled him. He's not usually one for sticking close.

Or going out in the day, really.

My skin tingles as we walk through the wards and Sam shoves his hands into the pocket of the hoodie, blinking up at me. "You good today?"

My side is still throbbing, and my head aches a little, but I think that'll clear up by this afternoon. I nod and he snorts a laugh, nudging me with one shoulder.

I could've called in sick and if I'd been working at the shop this morning, I would have. But as we approach the gym, I shake my head, trying to make myself focus.

The issue with the way I was brought up—one of many—is that, when I left, I didn't have a single qualification the outside world would recognise. It's been an uphill struggle, and one I know I wouldn't have got half so far on without help. Now I'm a qualified personal trainer, living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, which means I also work at a supermarket four days a week.

I don't want to let my clients down. And even with the injuries I got last night, it shouldn't be a problem.

It's not like I'm the one working out, after all.

Sam follows me into the gym, casting a critical eye over it. It's rather large, all things considered, but he doesn't seem that impressed.

"Planning on joining?"

I rustle up a smile for Vince, who's working reception today. He's tall but lean, with perfectly styled chestnut hair and a huge grin. He's also not looking at me. Nope. He only has eyes for Sam, who raises an eyebrow in response.

"You're joking, right?"

Vince flushes, but his grin doesn't lessen. If anything, as his eyes roam over Sam, it widens.

I huff a laugh and scan my card, walking through the turnstile. "You're barking up the wrong tree." It's certainly not that Sam's not into men. It's, as he once told me, that he's not into complicated.

That word seems to encompass basically everyone.

Sam sighs. "You good?"

"I'm at work. Let me know—"

He waves me off like I'm not the one who keeps fighting off vampires with my bare hands. Sure, I know Sam's got magic—and I'm pretty certain he's powerful, comparatively speaking—but half the time, he looks like a stiff breeze will blow him over.

"I'll text you when I get there," he concedes and doesn't even look at Vince again before he turns on his heel and walks back out of the gym.

Vince lets out a dreamy sigh. I snicker, letting myself in behind the desk.

"Your flatmate is so hot."

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't remember your name," I say, scanning the list of clients I have to see today. "Although I think he's going out of his way to forget it."

Vince gasps. "So he does care!"

"Hilarious. Everything good here?"

"Here? Sure. Did you hear about last night?"

"What about it?"

"Some woman was attacked like three streets from here."

My stomach twists. The gym is between the attack site and my flat, so I shouldn't be surprised that people I know heard what happened, but still…

"Oh, wow. Is she okay?"

"Yeah, apparently. My friend Jamie, you've met him, right—"

"No."

"Well, whatever. He knows someone who knows her and apparently, she said she was attacked by some kind of monster. A guy just ran up and rescued her, she said."

"Shit. That's…"

"Wild, right? I mean, she's scraped up and fuck knows there's no end of creepy guys around, but a monster?" Vince wrinkles his nose. "Sounds like someone stepped in when some guy tried to take advantage or something, y'know?"

"Yeah, sounds like it," I murmur. I stare down at the page in my hand, not reading it at all, but when I lift my gaze, Vince's expression is worried.

"You should be careful," he says all at once. "I know you work late sometimes, right? I mean, I'm sure you'll be fine, but just in case—"

I give him what I hope is a reassuring smile and pat him on the shoulder. "I'll be fine, Vince. Promise."

Vince nods. Some of the concern seems to wear off as he takes me in with a serious expression—one that quickly turns flirty as he looks me over. "Yeah, you are."

I snort and shove his shoulder. Vince doesn't blush at being caught. He blows me a kiss and turns back to the computer.

I take it for the dismissal it is and head into the changing room to drop my stuff off before I start work. There's no time to worry about everything. Not that there's anything to worry about. The problem's solved.

Right?

The first two sessions pass quickly, with clients who are friendly and eager to keep working on their progress, but by the time I'm done with the third—a brunette woman I've never worked with before—the lack of sleep from the night before catches up with me.

She thanks me profusely before she leaves, and I stifle a yawn. Just need to get the equipment cleaned up and then I can go.

As I turn, a tingle moves over my skin. It's familiar, but at the same time—it isn't.

It's the same kind of prickle I feel whenever I pass through Sam's wards. I turn in a circle, but even before I scan the gym, I already know he's not there.

Fuck. What's going on?

I'm careful not to look too harried as I make my way to the changing room and grab my phone. Sam answers on the second ring and it takes everything in me to keep my breathing even.

"Everything okay?" he asks. I can hear voices in the background.

"No. Someone's here. Using magic."

"Using…?"Sam turns from the phone and says something, and the voices go silent. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I felt magic. It's like when I go through your wards, but you didn't—"

"No, I didn't. Where are you? In the gym, I mean."

"Men's changing room."

"Did it happen there?"

"No." I explain quickly and before I'm done, I can hear Sam moving. "You don't have to come here."

"You don't understand," Sam snaps. I know he's not angry at me. He's worried. "Those wards are bloody powerful, Kieran. If someone's using that kind of magic in there, then it can't be good."

I stride over to the changing room door and let myself out into the gym's main room. The feeling doesn't return, and I still can't see anyone who looks suspicious.

"Kieran. Kieran, you'd better not be walking towards it. I swear to God."

I make a non-committal sound. "Definitely not."

"You fucking liar." The sound changes, and I know Sam's on the street now. From the sounds of it, there's someone with him, and they're breathing hard as they try to keep up. "I'm on my way."

"I can't feel it now. I think whoever was doing it is gone."

"That doesn't mean you're out of danger." Sam sucks in a breath. "I don't like this. First the vampires, now this?"

"I know," I mutter. I head vaguely towards the desk and Vince, who's busy flirting with the couple who've just come in. "Maybe it's a coincidence?"

Sam's answering hum doesn't sound convinced. "We're nearly there. Let us in when we arrive?"

"Yeah, okay."

I head back to the changing room, and by the time I've grabbed my stuff and come back, Sam's waiting at the desk. He's got Dante with him. I've met the other mage a few times before, and I raise my eyebrows at the dark green he's dyed his hair before taking in how out of breath he looks. Sam's breathing a little hard too, but his jaw is set, eyes darting over what he can see of the gym. The magic has faded for me. Can he still sense it?

Vince is chatting away, apparently oblivious to the fact that neither of them is listening.

"Let them in, would you?" I ask him. "I'm just gonna show them around."

Vince's attention swings back to Sam. "Oh, so you're thinking about joining, huh?"

"No!" Dante speaks too loudly, but Vince doesn't seem to care; he grins, eyeing Dante like he's just who he's after. "I, uh… I said I wanted to start working out, so Sam—I mean, you can tell, I'm not—"

"C'mon, man," I say, leaning over the desk to nudge Vince.

Vince presses the button, grin never wavering. Sam hustles past me, but I wait until Dante's through before I give Vince a wave and follow them in.

Sam stops in the centre of the floor, out of the way of anyone working out, at least. Dante watches him just like I do.

"Can you feel it?" I ask.

"A little," Dante says, keeping his voice just as low as mine. "How come you could?"

I shrug in place of a reply. It doesn't matter, and Dante seems to agree—he doesn't ask again.

Sam turns in a circle, then wanders over to some of the resistance machines, then back to the treadmills.

"Could've been anyone," he says. I feel the prickle of his magic, and having felt the stranger's magic so recently, I'm aware of the difference.

"Anything?" I ask.

Sam shakes his head. There's a surge of power, the tingle increasing until it becomes an itch before it recedes. "Nothing. Well, if you feel it again, I might be able to follow it, but it's too weak for me to do that now. I didn't sense anything on the way in."

"Maybe it was just a magic user here, working out?"

"No," Dante says. "Can you feel anything from me right now?"

"No."

"Yeah, because he's not using magic," Sam says. "You can feel magic, not the user. That means they were casting, though fuck knows why they'd be doing it in here."

He's still eyeing everyone suspiciously, clearly on edge. I look up and see Vince watching us, so I usher them over to the free weights.

"Could it have anything to do with last night?" Sam asks.

"Do the clans have magic users?"

"Not as far as I know," Sam says, and Dante nods his agreement. "The Council might, but I don't know why they'd send a mage to do magic near you and not just speak to you."

Yeah, me neither. I'm missing something, and though the ache in my side is finally gone, I'm tired and debating not going to work this evening.

"We'll look into it," Sam says after a quiet conversation with Dante. "Pris should know if the clan has mages they can send out. Are you going to work later?"

"Yeah." I've got to. Still gotta pay bills, even if vampires are out to kill me.

"Okay. If you feel anything like this—even a hint—then you call me. Got it?"

"Got it." I'm all for looking after myself, but there's a difference between a freshly turned vamp and a mage. "And if you see a vamp…"

"Yeah, I'll call you."

I follow them both out onto the street, waving goodbye to Vince, who's looking between Sam and Dante like he can't quite decide which one he'd rather take home.

"I could meet you after work," Sam says. He bites the inside of his cheek and Dante steps up next to him, like he wants to look out for me, too.

"I'll be fine," I reply. "It was probably nothing, right?"

"Yeah, sure." He doesn't sound convinced. "Be careful, Kieran."

I look between the two of them. "I'm not the one going sniffing around the clan. If you need anything…"

"Yeah, I know."