Page 41 of Blood from the Marrow (Lilith’s Legacy #2)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Zuri dropped into the deck chair beneath a white umbrella, iced coffee in hand. If there was one plus to being trapped in a fortress crammed full of strange vampires, it was having the pool all to herself in the morning.

Even though she was pretty sure none of the cartel leaders staying in the main house were actually sleeping, the energy was…

sleepy. Like waking up first at the weirdest fucking sleepover in history.

A lull after the long night of constant activity.

The night that Sofia had spent camped outside their bedroom door while Elena did whatever the fuck strategizing vampires did before a conflict like this.

Bambi was using the time to go for a run.

Running while Librada and Hel followed her in a dark SUV like she was a princess sent away to boarding school.

Zuri swallowed her little smile with a sip of watery American coffee.

Elena had gotten so annoyed at Bambi’s enthusiastic acceptance of a protective detail as soon as Lib said Hel was coming along.

Zuri had scarfed up the moment of normalcy with the greed of a woman eating for the first time in weeks.

Bambi feigning innocence while Elena was seething with jealousy that shouldn’t be sexy but was had felt addictively good.

Zuri would’ve pulled a nearly growling Elena into bed if Lib hadn’t knocked on the door.

For a shining, miraculous beat in the shitstorm of their lives, things felt normal. Well, as normal as anything could be while dating a vampire and an angel and dangling over the jagged edge of supernatural war.

She took a gulp of coffee and then grimaced. She needed to remember to get a cafetera.

Zuri scanned the surroundings. Her farm was larger than the wall-ed in estate, though not by much. As she thought about warding the grounds, size wasn’t the problem, but rather the sheer volume of people coming and going. Opening and closing the magical gates would be an exhausting ordeal.

She was thinking about how she could manipulate ward magic in new and unimaginable ways, and whether it could hold against a marauding horde of vampires that probably already knew their location, when she felt a presence drift toward her.

In a high-neck pantsuit that looked like black and white abstract art, Bernice started for her.

Blocking the sun with a heavy, black parasol that would have given Morticia Addams a boner, she glided toward Zuri with the elegance of a runway model.

The look of a model with the cold, calculating eyes of a shark.

Zuri resisted the urge to sit up. She forced herself to look relaxed and hoped Bernice attributed the jump in her pulse to being startled. Or the weak ass caffeine.

“Miss doing a running cannonball into the pool?” Zuri asked when Bernice stopped next to her, facing the clear, blue water.

The vampire’s face was a perfect mask half hidden behind avant garde black sunglasses. “Even in my first life, I was no fan of the sun. Premature aging,” she said in what Zuri almost thought was a joke.

“Then you made excellent life choices,” Zuri agreed. “Or, I guess I should say, choice in second lives.”

Bernice made a sound in her throat Zuri took for a chuckle even though her face didn’t move. There was something about her stillness that made sweat gather on the small of Zuri’s back. She could never forget this woman was a vampire the way Elena made her forget.

“You’re Elena’s paramour,” she said with no particular emphasis. “And the other witch. The blonde one.”

“Is this your way of hitting on me?” Zuri joked but it didn’t change the discomfort growing in her gut.

The vampire turned her head slightly toward Zuri. Even with the solid black sunglasses, Zuri knew Bernice was looking at her. Felt her gaze burning like a hot poker through her skin.

“Darling, if I were hitting on you, you’d know it,” she said, the very corner of her mouth twitching.

Zuri leaned back, getting the sense that she meant Zuri couldn’t resist her if she tried. With a strange unease, she wasn’t sure Bernice was wrong. But she wasn’t at all sure how the fuck she felt about it.

“Elena has always been a bit… unorthodox.” Bernice turned her attention back to the pool and Zuri felt like she’d released her from a chokehold.

It was all she could do not to sputter and catch her breath.

“She’s always enjoyed the company of witches.

As long as I’ve known her. But two? And one with powers no one has heard of—”

“You know what they say,” Zuri interrupted, not wanting Bernice to even consider the topic of Marisol. “Once you go witch, you never switch.”

Bernice tipped her head to the side as if to say, I wouldn’t know. “Brujas don’t have healers of the sort she has described.”

Ugh. She’s a fucking bloodsucker with a bone.

“Did you get your witch history degree from Nosferatu U?” Zuri forced a laugh. “Brujas are the most diverse and widespread flavor of witch. I’m sure we’re capable of acts untold.” She took another sip of the coffee she hated more and more by the second. “Thank you very fucking much, colonialism.”

“Elena lets you speak to her like this?” Bernice asked with a faint whisper of surprise in her cool tone.

“Lets?” Zuri repeated, eyebrows raised.

Bernice chuckled as if to admit she saw the appeal of not having everyone around her bowing and scraping all the time. Though not enough to acquire it for herself.

“I’ve protected a coven of veil witches in my territory for generations,” she replied.

“New Orleans was rather unruly before I took over. They owe me many debts I’d never planned to collect.

When they heard I was coming here, they offered their aid.

” She turned to Zuri again, but this time it didn’t feel like getting annihilated by a death-ray.

“If you think they might prove helpful,” Bernice added like she was bestowing her with the blessing of being treated like an equal.

Zuri sat up. Veil witches had incomparable skill at communicating with the world beyond the veil.

Hence their name. Zuri’s mind raced, thinking about how a power like that could help in a fight.

Her tattoo burned at the memory of her ancestors.

At how their power had flowed through her when she consecrated her coven grounds. Could they call on something like that?

Her blood warmed at the prospect, her skin itching to feel it again.

Was it crazy to add more unknowns to the island of fucking misfit toys?

God dammit if her instinct wasn’t to say yes, when her stupid head should say something reasonable like, let me think about it.

But while they were sitting and waiting and planning and Sayah could storm the castle at any moment, it didn’t feel like she had the luxury of contemplation.

“And they’d submit to compulsion?” Zuri tried to play it cool.

“I’ll advise them,” she replied.

“And let them know it’s my ship until we deal with Sayah.” Zuri wasn’t going to invite a power struggle into her temporary home. If they had trouble accepting she was the boss, they might as well save the trip.

Bernice shook her head, but she couldn’t hide her amusement. “Certainly, General Washington.”

It was the first time Bernice’s relaxed tone sounded anything like the vampire Elena had described. Zuri un-tensed the muscles she’d reflexively clenched.

When Sofia jogged up to her, half hidden under the Assassin’s Creed cosplay Elena’s crew liked so much, Bernice drifted away.

“I found them,” Sofia said as if they’d been in the middle of a conversation.

Zuri looked at Sofia expectantly. When she said nothing else, she asked, “Are you gonna give me more? Or are we playing some kind of vampire charades?”

“The witches,” Sofia explained, handing Zuri a scrap of paper with an address written in what looked like calligraphy.

Her green eyes darkened in a way that reminded Zuri that the tiny, unassuming girl was a centuries old killer.

“The ones who helped Baylor and Narine.” Her lip curled, and she didn’t need to add the ones who almost killed Elena.

Zuri’s pulse jumped, and she set down the half-drunk coffee on the table next to her. “Already?” She regarded Sofia in open approval. “You work fast, sneaky little spider.”

Sofia’s grin was the blade she always carried around. “It’s not too hard to find a coven that disappeared in its entirety.” Despite sounding casual, her pride was blinding. “Well, their empty witch house anyway.”

Zuri reached for words of gratitude, but they sounded too awkward in her mouth to speak aloud. If someone had told her she’d ever want to thank Sofia for anything, she’d have her apartment checked for lead.

“Since it looks like we’re really staying here,” Zuri pivoted to something else on her list, “Do you think you can send that dumbass helicopter to go get my coven sisters?” She didn’t add that she was worried about them making the drive there alone.

“Consider it done,” she replied with a nod like Cujo excited to have a job.

Sofia turned to go, and Zuri heard herself say, “Hey, uh, one more thing.”

Sofia turned around.

“Thank you,” Zuri forced herself to say. “For ignoring Elena and coming to Venice.” She swallowed, but the stupid knot in her throat was glued on. “For saving Bambi.”

This time, when Sofia smiled, there wasn’t a glimmer of steel in it. “Of course.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. “We’re family,” she added just to make Zuri’s heart squeeze and show her what a weak little bitch she was.