Page 3 of All's Fair in Love and Magic

It was such easy magic that even the youngest witches could do it—minus the part where I used my blood. But the vampire wouldn’t believe in the magic unless he used it himself.

So many kinds of supernaturals were like that. Because witch magic functioned differently than shifting into a big-ass wolf or drinking blood, they didn’t trust it unless they had no other option.

Cecil eyed the pen suspiciously, but after a moment, grabbed a loose brochure and put the point to paper. The moment hestarted writing, my charm tugged on the magic in the drops of blood I’d fed it.

Shock filled his expression as the pen jerked away from his grasp and continued scribbling across the paper. I knew he was seeing his thoughts written out in his own handwriting.

He watched it for a solid thirty seconds before he finally lifted his gaze back to mine. “I’ll call Liam. He’s usually in the sky in the mornings, so it’ll probably be a while.”

“That’s fine.”

What kind of being was he, if he was in the sky?

A dragon? An angel? A demon? Some other kind of rare monster shifter?

“Actually…” Cecil grimaced. “Let me get Harvey and Bailey over here. I don’t know if they’re going to be happy about being woken up, but for a blood witch, they’ll get over it. Is your coven hunting you?”

“I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

“Yeah, I’ll get them all down here. Give me a minute.” Cecil pulled a phone out of his pocket and scrolled through it. He lifted the device to his ear and turned away from me, leaning against the desk.

He lowered his voice. “Hey, Gunner. I’ve got a blood witch in the lobby. I need you to quietly get Bailey and Harvey, and find out if Liam is back from his flight yet.”

There was a pause.

“Yes, I’m sure. She used her blood to charm a pen.”

Another pause.

“No, I’ve never seen witch magic before, but Harv and Bailey are our best shot at figuring out whether or not she really is one. And if she is, Liam will want her. We all got that text. She says her coven is after her, so we need to figure it out now.”

There was another pause.

“Alright. Good luck.”

Cecil hung up and turned to look at me again. His nostrils flared as he inhaled, and he grimaced again.

“I can’t smellthatbad,” I said.

Actually, on second thought, I probably did stink. It had been three days since I ran away from my coven, and I hadn’t had the cash for a hotel room. Or the time for more than a few hours of sleep. Showering definitely hadn’t happened.

I had done my best to clean up in a gas station bathroom a few times, but vampires had sensitive noses. A lot of supernaturals did, actually.

“You smell like pepper. It’s not necessarily bad. Just strong. And there’s sweat with it. Can’t say sweat and pepper are appealing together,” Cecil said.

I smelled likepepper?

It was better than smelling like my coven’s gingko trees, at least. They reeked.

The vampire continued studying me, and I casually turned my back to him so I didn’t have to continue the awkward eye contact. I was used to being disliked, but that didn’t make it pleasant.

“You’re not going to ask what Liam needs a blood witch for?” Cecil asked.

“No.” I didn’t elaborate.

“Why not?”

I didn’t answer.