Page 11 of The Fang Arrangement (Celestial Witches #2)

M y head pounds as I shift on my bed.

Wait…

I tap around the bed, feeling way more pillows than I usually have, not to mention the linens feel like butter under my fingertips.

I blink open my eyes, staring at the blush pink comforter. This isn’t my bed, it’s far too opulent. I scratch my cheek and the last thing I remember is pulling the stake out of Warin’s stomach.

“Yup. You really fucked up big this time,” Gus says, and I turn on my side. My familiar is lounging on a deep green chaise, his hand deep into a Pringles can.

“What happened?”

Gus laughs, but it’s not humorous at all. “Oh, what happened after you saved the vampire who has you in this shitty ass predicament? I told you to negotiate, to get out of the arrangement, and yet, you still saved him. Guess what, witch? He’s kidnapped you. We’re at the dead man’s house.”

“What?” I sputter, blinking at Gus.

“You just had to do the right thing and couldn’t let him die. Now we’re stuck here. He has your wand. He’ll probably drain you dry and make a Davy Crockett hat out of me.”

“He vowed not to harm us,” I tell him, mostly to get rid of some of this guilt weighing on my chest.

But I couldn’t just let him die. Not just because he promised to protect me, but I couldn’t be the reason he lost his life, the thought of it felt abhorrent to me.

Maybe if he hadn’t crawled his way into my cabin begging for help, he would have died in the woods…but even that’s a lie. Something keeps pulling me toward Warin, something I can’t even describe.

The thought of him dying felt like a piece of me dying too, and I’m not sure how to come to terms with that thought. I barely know him, but there’s something there, something I’ve never felt with anyone else.

If I’m being honest, it’s the reason I haven’t told anyone about him. I don’t know how to explain this feeling or if anyone would ever understand it.

Gus crunches loudly on a few chips, staring me down.

“I’ll get everything set straight. We’ll be home in no time.”

He rolls his eyes at me, grabbing a remote and putting on Courage the Cowardly Dog . I have to swallow down my irritation as I lie in bed.

I can’t believe I passed out. My plan is to find Warin, and what? Give him a piece of my mind when a vampire Slayer is stalking me and nearly killed him? Run with my tail between my legs and tell my coven how bad I fucked up?

Maybe I’ll just stay in this bed forever and not deal with my problems. But when there’s a knock on the door, I have no other choice but to open it. With tentative hands, I grip the golden handle and open the door.

“Goodie, you’re awake,” the ridiculously pretty and young woman says.

“Who are you?” I say, maybe too harshly. So what if Warin has a super hot vampire girlfriend, besides the fact that she would definitely not want me here? Not with the way Warin salaciously flirts with me and stares at my breasts.

It’s not like I have a right to care what Warin does. He’s the bad guy right? The guy who kidnapped me?

The words feel like a lie, and so I push them out of my head.

“Right. Forgot about that. I’m Samantha. I’m here to show you around the house,” she says, her tone kind, not one of an irritated lover.

“Where’s Warin?”

The woman smiles, her fangs prominent as her nose crinkles. “Daddy dearest is a little tied up trying to find the Slayer that keeps trying to harm his witch,” she says plainly.

“I’m not his witch,” I quickly say. “Also, daddy?”

This amuses Samantha endlessly, as I say that word.

“Yes, he’s my sire, the vampire who changed me. He’s not a huge fan of the term, so I use it as often as I can.”

“Listen, Samantha. I need my wand and phone back and I need to speak with Warin.”

Samantha turns around from where she leads me down the hall, her big eyes blinking at me.

“In due time.”

“I can’t just be locked up in this house without my things,” I respond, she raises an eyebrow at me like she’s unimpressed.

“You’re safe from the Slayer here, and you’ll get your things in due time.”

“I’m not a vampire, I still don’t understand what he would want from me.”

“Obviously. You don’t have enough self-preservation to be a vampire. That said, Slayer knows where you live, what you look like. A Slayer so powerful, he took out the oldest vampire I’ve ever met.”

“Right, he knows where I live,” I say, holding my hands tightly together.

“Slayers are summoned by humans. Did you know that?” Samantha says changing the conversation.

She turns back, walking down the hall, her straight black hair swishing behind her, and I quickly follow.

“What do you mean?”

“Come with me to the kitchens to get something to eat and I’ll tell you,” she bargains and I roll my eyes, but continue to follow her. She’s absolutely related to Warin in some twisted way with her easy manipulation, or maybe that’s a vampire thing.

When we reach the kitchen downstairs, a woman with buzz cut hair is cooking, a wide spread of food placed on the island.

“You have a chef?” I say out loud, with confusion.

“Now we do,” Samantha supplies. “Cecile, this is Ember, who you’ll be cooking for.”

I clear my throat. “Just me?”

“Welcome, miss Ember, if you have any allergies or preferences just let me know. I’ve made a wide variety for you to try and see what you like,” she says with a thick cajun accent.

“Uh. Thank you,” I tell her, not wanting to be rude. She’s made all this food. “Wait. Did Warin hire a chef just for me?” I ask, turning to Samantha.

She looks at me like I’m stupid. “No, we really love the aroma of food that we can no longer eat,” she deadpans and I bite my lip before grabbing a plate and filling it with chicken cajun pasta, etouffee, and shrimp.

“Cecile, take the rest of the night off in your quarters,” Samantha says to the chef.

Cecile nods, leaving the kitchen right away as I pop a shrimp in my mouth.

“Does she know she’s working for a house of vampires?” I whisper, wondering if I need to figure out a way to free her.

“Cecile is paid well to do her job. She’s allowed to come and go as she pleases. She knows we’re different, but she’s compelled to never share our secrets, as are all the humans who work for us.”

I hum under my breath, not knowing how I feel about the ethics of all of this.

Samantha seems irritated by my judgment. “She’s paid ten thousand dollars every week that she works here. Please, tell me how many chefs are making that type of income?”

“I suppose not many,” I say sheepishly.

“No. I suppose not,” Samantha says, tapping her black nails against the countertop. “Fuck, I miss food.”

“Uh sorry?” I reply, shrugging my shoulders and stuffing my face. I can’t even really dwell on the fact that they compelled Cecile to some degree, because damn, can she cook. I clear my throat. “The Slayer?”

“Right. Who knows when the first slayer was created, thousands of years ago, probably? The magic is old, ancient, only passed down to small communities over time. I would imagine now that the rituals of making slayers are mostly lost in time. Only a few select families would know how to summon one, create one.”

“Create one?” I question.

“The slayers themselves are so old, just jumping from human body to human body endlessly. We don’t know if they are demons, spirits, or what.

What we do know is they’re dangerous and only care about one mission, what they’ve been made for, protecting humans.

While vampires have always been the biggest threat because of our bloodlust, and vampires that lack control.

But that doesn’t mean other supernaturals aren’t on the table.

If the Slayer sees you as a threat, you’re a target. ”

“So, the Slayer has a human host, and even if you kill the host?” I question, fear churning in my gut.

This could mean that I’m endlessly in danger, that I’ll have to run from this beast for the rest of my life.

“This is the first slayer we’ve seen in years. Like I said, there are very few humans who know how to summon one. All we can do is take out the host and hope that they don’t get brought back.”

I take a sip of the water bottle that was placed in front of my food; I don’t even know when it got there.

“What about my coven? Are they in danger?”

“I don’t know. Have they been moonlighting with any vampires?” Samantha says, and I glare at her. Meanwhile, her expression doesn’t change.

“No. Not that I know of.”

“Then your coven should be perfectly safe. The Slayer is injured, Warin and the rest of the nest are out looking for him. You’re here because he wants you safe.”

“But why does he want me safe?” I push her.

“I dunno, witch, maybe because you have great tits, or he needs you for a spell. How would I know?” Her response is quick and irritated as she stands up.

Something tells me she knows more than that, but she just won’t tell me.

“Have you had enough to eat? Let me show you around the rest of the house.”

My stomach is full of delicious food as I nod.

“Shouldn’t I contact my coven and let them know that I’m safe?” I ask Samantha as I scratch my cheek. Her hand quickly swats away my hand from my face.

“Don’t do that to your face. The noise is grating. No, not yet. Wait until Warin is back.”

I take a sigh of relief; I didn’t truly want to have to call my friends up, or heaven forbid, my family, and tell them about the complete clusterfuck I’ve gotten myself into. Asking for help? I think I’d rather die.

Maybe Warin will take out the Slayer tonight and it will be a non-issue. I’ll just spend a night or two here, eating Cecile’s food, and getting a much needed break from the fairies.

Samantha shows me all around the massive house, telling me nothing is off limits besides her quarters. She also shows me the gardens and tells me that Warin said I could do whatever I wanted out here.

Part of me wants to grow a bunch of bushes that look like middle fingers or phallic-like, but the grounds are too pretty for such a petty retaliation. Plus, what am I retaliating? Him somewhat kidnapping me for my own good?

It’s so late, I can barely keep my eyes open and Samantha brings me back to my suite.

“There will be day time security. Do not leave the house. Roam around as you please on the grounds and Cecile is there to make anything you wish.”

“Thank you,” I tell her, as she stands at the door frame.

She tilts her head before speaking again. “I know Warin can seem…”

“Rude? Manipulative? Scheming?” I suggest.

She shrugs. “Yes, all of those things. But I promise there is also far more to him than that. Just…just know that you’re safe here,” she says, shutting the door behind her.

“You better not go soft on me and trust any of these bloodsuckers,” Gus says and I sigh, climbing into bed.

He follows suit as I rest my head against the pillow.

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” I tell him.

I can’t lose sight of who I am, or what I’m supposed to do, even if sleeping in this bed, this house, is the most comfortable I’ve ever felt in my life.

Dreams flutter behind my eyes as I sleep. It almost feels real as cool hands push my hair off my face.

“Sweet dreams, my beautiful witch,” the husky voice says, and I know it’s Warin.

I’m not even mad as he infiltrates my subconscious, pressing lips against my forehead.

Disappointment floods me as my dreams shift away to something less interesting, but I sleep soundly.

More soundly than I ever should be in a vampire’s home who's holding a magical contract over my head.