Chapter 20

Twenty

It feels like years since I've been back to their house. Strange, since I spent so much time here after Aphrodite's first failed attempt.

But what I need isn't inside these walls.

While they go through their mail, I slip next door. My knock is met by Mrs. Miller with a wide smile. "Hello dear."

I do not know what the girls told her, but she has done a complete one eighty… or maybe it's just because Aphrodite's influence is gone.

"Good morning, I was wondering if I could borrow Bethany."

"I don't see why not." She holds the door open and lets me in before calling out for her youngest granddaughter.

The woman is in her early twenties, but Mrs. Miller still acts like she's a teenager.

When Bethany pokes her head around the corner, she has a slash of white paint across her cheekbone. "Oh! Hi Scarlette."

"Hello yourself." I brush my thumb over the same spot on my face. "You've got some—"

Her hand goes to her cheek. "Thanks. I would have found it eventually, but it's nice to get it off right away."

The wolves stay outside when I follow her downstairs and she slips into the bathroom while I look at the canvas and its still wet oil paint.

The chunky work in progress is a sea scene.

"Is it a commission?" I ask as she comes out, face scrubbed clean.

"Kind of. Elaria's going to teach me how to spell it when she comes down next time."

My best friend is probably one of the only people who could teach her that. I don't even know how.

"Marvelous. Just make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew."

"That feels like everything right now."

"It gets easier."

"What brings you to our lair?" she says, tossing her hand around the basement she and her sisters have turned into their home.

"You went to nursing school, didn't you."

"I did." Her face twists with a kind of disappointment. "The hospital here is a nightmare and the clinics are fully staffed, so it's waitressing and selling paintings until I can figure something else out."

"Can you draw blood?"

She gives a jerky nod. "Easy. It was a round of electives, but it makes you even more hirable, so I figured, why not?"

"I need you to help take a donation."

The color drains from her face. "Are you doing blood magic?"

"I'm afraid I have to."

Her eyes get wider as I explain, and half way through, she sits down on Victoria's bed. "She's back?"

"Yes, and no." I take her hand and squeeze. "She's got no connection to you anymore. And she will never hurt you again."

"As long as I get you a unit of each of your guys' blood."

"Exactly."

She nods and stands, brushing off her pants, even though there's not a speck on them.

"I'll need a kit—the equipment."

"I got one." When she looks at me askance, I say, "You'll eventually find a strange sort of community where you can source all sorts of things in exchange for the right spell."

I have no idea what Anthony traded to get the things I need, or what I'll owe him in the end.

She takes a deep breath and nods. "I'll get cleaned up and be over in a minute."

"Perfect."

I head back over and am only mildly surprised that they're all downstairs.

I don't know what the guys are doing in the basement, but it makes a lot of noise and I'm a little afraid, so I wait in the kitchen.

A notebook is open and the sharp line of one of Joshua's drawings peeks out from underneath the stack of mail that hasn't been opened.

I tug it loose and look at the pencil rendering of my house… with a little bit extra.

I've seen a few versions of the plan, but this one—

"It's still rough." Joshua says as he sets a tool box on the island and gives me a sheepish smile. "Still dreaming."

I look at it again, feeling the warmth of something I've learned to trust.

"Let's do it."

Chase stretches as he drops a clattering box beside Joshua's tools. "Let's do what?"

Johnny and Thomas look at me like they know what's about to happen, but are too scared to hope.

"Let's turn my home into our home." I set the drawing down and go to them, letting them envelope me in a hug that makes me feel a little like sushi rice.

"Are you asking us to move in with you?" Thomas asks, tipping my head up so I look at them all.

"Yes."

"Good," Johnny kisses me on the cheek and breaks away to go to the refrigerator. "Because you know we were all going to be there too often, anyway."

"You'll have to move out for a little while during construction." Joshua warns, placing his hand on my stomach. "Especially now."

Nodding, I look around their house. "I figured. And I have no problem staying here when that happens. After all, there are new witches to train, and that will be easier if I'm nearby. And anyway, I don't expect you to sell this place."

Chase manages to tug me away from the others. "You're giving us everything we want… Seriously. Best Christmas ever."

"Knock knock?" Bethany says, easing open the door. "Is everybody descent?"

"Johnny's never fit for company," Thomas says, "but you're welcome to come in."

Bethany laughs as she steps over the threshold and closes the door behind her. "I've been told there are some werewolves who need the kind of vampire that only takes blood, doesn't drink it."

Joshua groans. "Let's just get this over with."

I point Bethany to the kit Anthony got for me. "Does that have everything you need?"

She looks it over while pulling out a pair of latex gloves. "Yep. It'll be like forty-five minutes to an hour for each… I don't have four full hours though, so I'm going to get Joshua going and at the ten-minute mark, I'm going to start on whoever's next and so on…"

"I'll go next," Johnny says quickly.

"Cool." Bethany starts setting up. "How much water have you all drank today?"

"Um…" Chase's nose wrinkles. "Probably not enough."

"Four big glasses. Now, please. One each. Don't chug them. Take the next five minutes or so to get them down."

I watch Chase go to the sink and start the tap, grumbling and I say, "If you're good, you get cookies afterward."

"We're always good." Thomas kisses my forehead and goes to get his glass of water.

Bethany sets to work on Joshua a few minutes later and as she works, they each sit down with a grimace, that disappears after she pokes them.

Keeping them distracted is easy as Bethany recounts her grandmother's escapades at their family dinner—she's still on the lookout for husbands for each of the sisters.

Joshua's done twenty minutes later and I'm not the only one who looks at the clock. "Are you usually able to get the draw faster than other nurses?"

"Yeah, the instructor told me some people just have ‘the gift.'"

"And they didn't even know you were a witch."

She looks up at me a little confused. But now isn't the right time to tell her what I'm thinking.

"Does it happen more often when you're in a hurry?"

The confusion deepens. "Yeah. Weird."

But the others finish up, distracting her, and when she's done, she hands me the bags.

They go straight into the cooler.

"That was the easiest blood draw I've ever had." The other three agree.

Shrugging, Bethany says, "I can be amazing at it, but no clinic is going to know that. There's no audition process."

It could be a bit of her magic seeping through in unconscious ways.

"After this is over… I'm going to take you to meet Geena. She's a sea witch that lives out by the light house. I'll warn you, she's grumpy, and she likes being alone, but she's also an amazing healer… maybe that's where your magic needs to be nurtured."

"It sounds cheaper than trying to get into med school."

With a chuckle, she looks at the clock. "I've got to get going, or I'm going to be late for work. Good luck!"

We're going to need it.