Chapter 7

Seven

Because I got them all morning, none of the guys—save for Thomas—are going to be back until seven… and the sun sets early.

Grandma's books haven't given me anything yet. But with the sun gone, I can go straight to the source.

Thomas doesn't like it, but he lets me drive his car.

The detour to the butcher only confuses him for a few minutes—buying blood might have other uses for other witches—but he knows exactly where we're going before we pull back onto the highway, even if he doesn't know how to get there.

In the beams of another car's headlights, I think I see a flash of green—a beetle I know is crushed and crumpled at a local junk yard.

Whether it's my imagination, or something else…

When I pull on to the gravel patch beside the defunct substation, Thomas agrees—though not immediately—to stay at the car.

I imagine it's only because all four wolves are with me as I climb the path up to the Carraway plot.

Once inside those stone walls, there isn't a ghost in recorded history who was powerful enough to touch me.

The woman I'm about to wake though…

I set the container of blood on a table-like rock close to the grave, ignoring the fact it's the same thing I get soup in from the local Chinese restaurant, and clear my throat.

I know she'll hear me.

"We need to talk." I sit on one of the few stones in the plot that isn't a grave marker. "And I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers."

The trees creak and the ground feels softer beneath my feet… as though the forest is letting out one long sigh.

Unlike the last time my grandmother left her grave, the soil pulls away from her coffin like it's a million little bugs skittering away into two massive berms on either side of the sharply sliced rectangle that had been created to inter her.

She doesn't crawl from the hole, she floats. Whether that is a gift of her vampiric curse, or a little slice of magic no one in the family has let me in on yet, I can't be sure.

"I gather this intrusion means you did not have a blessed Yule thus far."

"Last night was possibly the most perfect vigil I've ever had. This morning… not so much."

Inhaling, she closes her eyes on a tight smile.

"One of your lovers is here. But you left him at the car…" she glances in that direction. "He doesn't like it."

"They don't want to leave me alone after what happened this morning."

"Were you afraid I'd do something? Or did you worry he wouldn't like what I have to say."

"I know he won't like it, because I know I'm not going to like it." I rub my eyes and try to push back the sickly feeling that has attached itself to the base of my spine. "And I don't want to introduce you to them separately."

She smiles indulgently, and nods. "That makes sense. Now, tell me why I am awake, so I can go back to sleep. The air up here is cloying."

Her smile is full of laughter with those words and she walks silently to the container, popping the lid and sniffing the contents before she quietly says, "I don't know when I last ate bacon."

"Is there any aspect of blood magic that could let Aphrodite come back to haunt me."

My grandmother watches me through narrowed eyes as she takes a long drink from the container.

"Something you did connected her to you."

"Yes, but I don't know what or how. She never had any of my blood."

"Tell me exactly what happened after you left me last time."

She listens as I recount the events of that night and finishes drinking the blood I brought her.

"The back burst of the spell hit you? And she used your wolves' blood in her spells?"

"Yes."

She doesn't look at me as she presses the lid back onto the container. "Have you been vigilant in ensuring you've drawn out their seed?"

I manage to not grimace at the word.

"No." I wasn't specifically trying to conceive, but I also wasn't trying not to anymore. "I've gotten lax with those precautions."

"Have you?" she asked with a knowing smile. "Well, congratulations. That tiny spark of hope you'd been hiding has caught flame. But you are going to have to deal with her, if you plan to keep my great grandchild."

Hand pressed to my stomach, I try to think back, try to calculate which and when… "It is way too early to know that for certain."

"A connection from the back burst is fairly common. But one with the strength of a tie you've suggested? And from a witch of Aphrodite's skill? That only comes about one way when there's blood magic involved and since she didn't have any of your blood… It means you have someone else's blood that she did . And if a part of one of them is inside you…" She shrugs. "Do the spell. I won't be wrong."

I would do the spell, even though I already knew she wouldn't be wrong.

"Okay," I hate that Aphrodite's ghost is coloring something that should be beautiful. "How do I get rid of her?"

"That will be tricky. There is only one way I know will work.

"You might be able to trap her and sever the bond directly. Usually, with a knife made from her bones. Do you have any of them?"

I shake my head. "There wasn't much left of her."

Nodding, my grandmother taps her lips. "A ritual knife with the blood of her source could be enough. If you don't know who the child belongs to, you'll need to use some from all of them, just to be safe. But I don't think…" She shakes her head. "Something's wrong with that."

"You said there was a sure way."

She looks away. "No one wants you to take the sure way… even though it would be easier."

Her gaze darts to my stomach and I know.

"If I get rid of the child, I break her connection."

Dipping her head in a nod, my grandmother draws in a long breath. "However you manage it, you'll have to do it before the year is through. If Yule passes with the connection in place, she may never leave you. Or worse, she might take you completely."