Page 95 of Bitten Vampire

“Still wanted, are you?” she sneers.

I look skyward for patience. The nearest guard shifts, tense.

“Excuse me,” I say, clearly.

“Still wanted?” she repeats, louder. Juggling her bags, she pulls out her phone. “I’m ringing the police. I told everyone you were trouble, and then you turned up at the wedding with that cosmetically altered face. You do realise that shoddy magic won’t win Jay back, don’t you? Do you know how many awkward questions I had to field? I had to explain why a thief was atourwedding, and then you pop up on the news in a kill-on-sight segment.”

I fold my arms. Baylor merely tilts his head. The guards drift closer; one subtly adjusts his coat.

After facing down the Vampirical Council, confronting a human woman in her late sixties feels like nothing. Experience does change perspective and it’s freeing. I no longer care what she thinks. Of course, I don’t want her calling the police, but my security would stop her long before that.

I don’t care what she says or what she thinks. It’s liberating.

Her face reddens, and I catch the familiar, nasty gleam in her eye. She assumes she has won. I feel sad for her. Theresa is flawed, and she doesn’t see it. Her life revolves around a spoiled son who will never appreciate her.

In her head, she is the self-sacrificing mother defending her family from a wicked woman. To everyone else, she is the villain. The truth? She is neither—just a woman withno real power. She steals power by hurting others. Ultimately she only hurts herself.

“I spent hours trying to give a statement. They said you were a vampire—a vampire.” She gives a squeaky huff and glares at the overcast sky. “I’ll get them here and prove you are as human as I am.”

“Yes, I’m still wanted,” I reply. “The Vampirical Council is furious with me.”

“Pardon?” She lowers her mobile and rapidly blinks at me.

“Oh, yes. I’m terribly violent. This is my gang.” I gesture to the guards she has only just noticed.

She turns in a slow circle, her confidence crumbling.

“It’s hard,” I continue, “deciding whether to murder people who annoy me or let them live. Still, you never know, Theresa. Someone starts shouting accusations or more lies… Jeff here”—I point to the nearest guard, who is definitely not called Jeff—“might shoot you.”

He eases his coat open, revealing a holstered gun.

Theresa pales, takes a step back, her heel catches on a pavement slab, and she wobbles.

“What you need to learn,” I say sweetly, “is when to keep that big mouth shut.” I don’t give her time to retort. “And for the record, I wouldn’t take Jay back if you paid me. Bog off, Theresa. Go and ruin someone else’s life.”

“You… you?—”

“Yeah, yeah. You have a new daughter-in-law to torture. Why are you bothering me? Next time we see each other, let’s pretend we are strangers.”

We walk away and circle the block before returning; no sense letting her see the safe house.

Fake Jeff chuckles. “You certainly told her.”

“Ex’s mother,” I sigh. “Give me five minutes, and the guilt will set in. Ten years of that woman.” I shake my head. We reach the apartment building without further trouble. “Thanks for backing me up.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Night falls,and security announces our guests.

The Ministry of Magic is here.

Lander Kane enters with a redheaded woman who is effortlessly pretty. Both are dressed in everyday clothes. She glances around, cautious rather than afraid—fair enough, she has just walked into a flat full of vampires.

I hush Baylor when he growls at Lander.

“This is my sister, Dayna,” Lander says.

I wave. “Hi, Dayna.”