Chapter 26

I lay in bed, unable to sleep as I took stock of my life.

I missed Arya, wondering how she was doing, what she was doing, and if she'd made any more friends. We hadn't really talked since the party. I assumed Arya was busy, probably with all sorts of exciting shifter stuff.

And I was busy, too, but if I was being honest, I was kind of grateful Arya hadn't reached out. The green-eyed monster was a nasty beast, and as much as I loved Arya, being around her right now hurt. Besides, Arya had friends at the school. She'd be fine without me.

And then there was the vampire I'd snared, Julian, that nagged at my thoughts, too. It didn't make sense for a vampire to have a grimoire unless it was his. Could he have been a male witch before he was turned? They were rare but not entirely unheard of.

Becoming a vampire would destroy his magic, leaving him unable to open parts of the book. Still, shouldn't he know more than a couple of low-level spells if that was the case? And yet, I hadn't even heard of that communication spell. Why bother with a cell phone when you have that?

Of course, there was always the possibility he'd killed a witch to get the grimoire. I shuddered at the thought.

Somehow, I didn't think that was the case with Julian. I had a pretty good bullshit-o-meter, and it detected no lies in anything he'd said. He seemed sincere, and sad, and…beautiful.

I rolled my eyes at myself. Stop drooling over supernatural guys that are clearly off-limits!

The sound of the front door opening and closing caught my attention. I tapped the screen of my phone where it lay on my belly, making it light up. It was after one in the morning.

I strained to hear the voices, my body tense. But I relaxed when I recognized Gram's warm tones.

Curiosity grabbed me in its tight hold. No way I was going to be able to sleep now. I crept to the door, prying it open just enough to see through, and grateful the hinges didn't squeak.

Voices drifted down the hall, but not enough to make out the words. I recognized the other voice as belonging to my Aunt June, who lived next door. They laughed.

I eased the door open and tiptoed down the hallway, stopping as soon as their conversation became clear. I flattened myself against the wall, hoping I hadn't tripped any of Gram's spells. Although, maybe she hadn't bothered setting any, with it being so late on a school night.

"Not again! That's the third time this week." Gram's voice scolded.

"We can't afford to be picky. Besides, he pays good." Aunt June sighed. She sounded exhausted.

"But he's a vampire," Gram hissed.

"And I've taken every precaution. Vampire money is just as valuable as shifter money."

Vampires? I thought my family had no dealings with the other side, seeing how heavily warded our houses were. But it would explain the late hour. And the weariness in Aunt June's voice.

"Not all vampires are willing converts," Aunt June continued. "Some are forced into it, leaving behind homes and families. Someone has to help them."

"By meeting them in the dark, alone?" Gram chided. "You don't know what could happen."

"I know that magic is a powerful currency. Witches are few, and even fewer from such a strong bloodline as ours. It's in no one's best interest to kill me."

Gram made an exasperated sound. "Did you at least get the ingredients for the poultice? The full moon is coming, and I want to be ready."

I inched closer, stretching my ear as close to the corner as I could without being seen.

It didn't make sense that they still kept things from me. I was almost eighteen, practically an adult. They'd denied me any knowledge of the magic I carried, saying it was for my own safety. Yet here they were, putting their necks on the line, meeting with vampires and weres, and who knew what else?

If something happened to them, I'd be lost. And devastated. I swallowed that thought down, not willing to deal with it right now.

Wait, was this why Gram knew so much about vampires? Not from fear but experience? I was tempted to storm into the kitchen and accuse them of being hypocrites, demanding to be given my rightful seat at the table. But I couldn't bring myself to start that fight. Not again.

I sighed, then stiffened as a secondary option occurred to me.

Julian had offered me a grimoire.

Electricity sizzled through my body like a live wire at the thought. If he wasn't lying, if he really did just want my help, was there any reason I shouldn't say yes?

I mean, okay, bringing someone back to life was insane and impossible. And even if there was some magic that could resurrect someone, it would probably bring them back as a zombie or as something wicked.

I frowned at that. Well, at the very least, I'd be able to learn everything I could from the grimoire while I searched for such a spell. Julian didn't have to know the dark realities just yet.

The grimoire was the key, really. A witch was only as powerful as the spells she could cast, and spells were difficult to master. Some spells simply failed, while others could backfire if done wrong.

Gram had told me of a cousin who tried to cast a protective ward only to suffocate herself. It was probably true, though the thought had crossed my mind that Gram had made it up to keep me from experimenting.

The magic in our line was dying, or at least locking up like Gram's arthritic joints, and Gram was just letting it happen. But I couldn't just turn my back on it.

The sound of movement sent me scrambling backward. I wasn't about to get caught. I hadn't made that mistake in years.

I slipped back into my room and silently closed the door. Gram and Aunt June were still talking, though their voices had taken on hushed tones. More shifter talk, or maybe vampires, or magic, or any of the things they kept from me.

It wasn't fair.

And just like that, my mind had been made up.

Diving under the covers, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest, I whispered the spell.

"Sedjed ka."

The spell reverberated in my skull like the gong of a bell. I pictured Julian in my mind, unsure if I needed to speak his name for the spell to make the connection.

"Who is this?"

I practically shot right off my bed at the eerie sensation of hearing Julian's voice in my head.

I was smiling like a fool. The spell worked. It freaking worked!

I was so excited I couldn't resist the urge to be snarky. "Do you know many other tenacious witches who would be foolish enough to magically talk to a vampire?"

There was a pause, and for a moment I wondered if I'd lost him. Could magic have bad reception?

"Shea?" he asked finally, almost bashful uncertainty in his voice that was kind of endearing. "I didn't think I'd ever hear from you."

"Yeah, well, I reconsidered your offer. I'll have a look at your grimoire."

There was another silence.

"That is, if the offer is still on the table," I hedged.

"No, it is," he replied instantly. "It's just that I'm…out of town on business, and I don't know when I'll get back."

Business? What kind of business could a vampire have? Not that I really knew anything about them outside of their diet. And I wasn't about to ask for fear that his answer would scare me out of this decision.

"The grimoire is in my apartment in Chicago," he said after a moment. "Can you get there?"

Okay, I was seriously in danger of cardiac arrest here, but I played it cool. "Maybe this weekend? I've got school."

"That's probably for the best. I'll be...indisposed for a few days. You'll have to use your magic to get into the apartment. I don't leave extra keys lying around."

"I can do that. What's your address?"

He rattled off the address, and I entered it into my phone, pinging it on my map.

"I should be back soon. Where do you live?" he asked.

"Why?" I fired back, the hairs prickling all over my body. Maybe this was a mistake.

"I'll want to get in contact with you when I get back."

"Oh." My nerves eased, but then I cringed. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of leading him here. "You won't...eat anyone, will you?"

I could practically feel Julian's eye roll. "No, little witch. I've got some blood ba—"

"Okay. That's good. I'll take your word for it."

Just the thought of blood made my dinner threaten to come back up. I really didn't want images of Julian chugging bags of it like Kool Aid dancing in my head.

"I can give you my address, but you won't be able to come here. My place is pretty heavily warded against...your kind."

"That's fine. I'll send you a letter when I'm on my way back to arrange somewhere more discreet to meet."

I told him my address, then closed the connection, relaxing onto my bed. Surreptitious glee flooded through me, and I felt like I had outwitted the system that had been pitted against me since birth. Despite every no that had cut me off at every turn, I'd finally found a yes. A gate that wasn't chained and locked up tight.

I rejected the tiny bit of guilt that coiled my stomach at going behind Gram's back. The vampire had a grimoire he couldn't use, and I was a witch without a grimoire. I'd no longer be practicing spells blindly. It was the safer option, really.

Besides, Aunt June said not all vampires are bad. Maybe Julian was one of the good ones.

The thought made me smile. Perhaps he wasn't such a waste of a pretty face after all.

I just really hoped this decision wouldn't come back to bite me in the ass—or the neck, more likely. My last few bold choices had gone pretty horribly. I needed this one to pay off.