Page 81 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part One

“With that one exception.” I corrected.’

“Good to know. I’ll be sure to remind you if it ever comes up again.”

As they helped me sit on a priceless settee, Esme was rushing up.

“Rita,” she accused, “what have you done now?”

My mouth fell open. “You, too, Brutus?”

Esme looked at Lochlan. “It’s worse than they told me. She thinks I’m somebody named Brutus.”

“No, I…” Just then she slapped something wet on the bite. I don’t know what it was, but it felt like fire laced with saltwater. I screamed like a toddler. “WHAT THE FUCK, ESMERELDA!?!”

“It’s already working. She knows who I am,” she said proudly and rubbed the awful stuff in harder.

I tried to push her away, but Jeff stopped me. “Jeff! You are no longer a friend of mine. Get away from me. I want Keir. And Evie. I don’t want to die without saying goodbye to my daughter.” I was starting to fight them in earnest, which didn’t make much of a showing considering the handicap of being human and all.

“WHERE IS THAT GODSBLASTED SEPHALION?” Lochlan shouted.

From somewhere in the room I heard Fie say, “I’ll get him.”

That was quickly followed by a familiar voice saying, “No need.”

I turned my head to look directly into the hazel eyes that still made my knees weak. “You’ve been bad,” I told him.

“For once, I agree. I owe you a thousand toe massages.” His calm tone was nothing less than, well, calming.

“Make her stop,” I sniffled.

Keir’s head jerked toward Esme fast enough to cause the curls above his brow to loose themselves and fall forward. Those curls never failed to make him look way too young for me. Perhaps a buzz cut…

“Somebody get me a clean cloth soaked in tequila,” Esme said. “Pure, if he has it.”

Tequila?

Sooner than humanly possible, someone handed her a white handkerchief wet with something. The minute she applied it to my wound, I gasped with relief.

“Holy hell. That is good,” I said.

The pain was subsiding so fast it was almost gone.

“Esme,” I panted. “How did you know what to do for vampire bites?”

“Long story,” she said in her usual monotone.

I could see that Kagan had also returned, and, like Keir, he was dressed in black tie.

Esme slapped the wet rag, or handkerchief, into his open palm and got to her feet. “She’s fine.”

“Show’s over,” Lochlan said.

Straightening up a little so that I was in an actual sitting position, I said, “Where’s John David?”

“I believe he’s dismissing the entertainment and seeing them out,” Lochlan said.

“Is that what you meant by show’s over?” I asked him.

He gave me a look. “No, Rita. I was referring to this spectacle.” He waved his hand in my direction.