Page 80 of Magical Melee

The room was still heavy with the weight of everything they’d just told me.

Shadowick.

Gideon.

It was hard to absorb it all. But as I looked around at the faces of Stella, Nova, Keegan, and Ember, a nagging question came to the surface.

“How can you be so sure you can protect me?” I asked, my voice cutting through the tense silence. “You all just look… human to me.”

There was a quiet beat, and then Stella laughed softly, her usual sparkle returning to her eyes. “Oh, Maeve,” she said, placing a hand dramatically on her chest. “I’m flattered, really. But we’d all be in a lot more trouble if I were just a human.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on her.

Stella exchanged a knowing look with Nova, who laughed.

Keegan nodded at Stella, who turned back to me.

Her smile widened to reveal—oh my God—fangs.

Not long and exaggerated movie fangs.

No.

These were deadly, sharp points where her canines should be.

The edges glistened, and a chill skittered over my flesh.

“Stella,” I said slowly, my voice rising, “are you trying to tell me that you’re avampire?”

“Ding, ding, ding!” Stella said, clapping her hands together. “Give the lady a prize! I was a practicing witch who turned.”

I stared at her, my brain struggling to catch up. “You’re joking.”

“Well, it wouldn’t be very funny,” Stella said, taking a sip from her teacup with the kind of elegance that could only come from over a century of practice. “I’ve been a vampire for quite some time now.”

“How long, exactly?” I asked, still half-expecting someone to jump out and yellgotcha.

Stella set her cup down and leaned back, her expression thoughtful. “Let’s see… I was turned in 1921, so that makes it…” She did some quick mental math. “Over a hundred years now.”

I blinked. “But…”

“Give or take,” she said with a casual wave of her hand. “And before you ask—because everyone always does—no, I wasn’t turned in the prime of my life. Obviously.” She studied me. “But I learned that is a very subjective way of looking at life because I’ve accomplished more at seventy than most twenty-year-olds could ever dream of.”

I chuckled in shock. “Well, you look great,” I said automatically.

“Thank you, darling, but that’s beside the point,” Stella said, leaning forward conspiratorially. “I was turned when I was seventy, and it’s been over a hundred years, so I suppose I’m actually closer to two hundred than anything.”

Keegan chuckled. “Give or take thirty years.”

Stella’s brows raised. “There comes a point when you stop counting.”

“Seventy?” I repeated, my jaw dropping. “You’ve been a vampire for over a hundred years, and you’ve been seventy that whole time?”

“All because of a bad hip.” She shook her head.

I frowned in confusion. “A bad hip?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Stella said with a dramatic sigh. “Of course, I couldn’t have been turned when I was forty and still turning heads and running at record speeds. No, fate decided tofreeze me at seventy, with all the wrinkles and creaky joints to match.”