Page 22 of The Fang Arrangement (Celestial Witches #2)

V ampires are dirty, no good liars, and it won’t be soon enough to be rid of them all.

I can’t believe the thoughts I had when I was sitting on Warin’s lap earlier, the fact that I was sitting on his lap at all.

It was a ploy to not be on the vampire council’s radar, to protect myself and my coven, at least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Admitting I liked the way he defended me and held me would be… well it would be absolutely ridiculous.

Almost as ridiculous as the words that just slipped out of his mouth.

He wants everything from me. What, every ounce of dignity and blood I have to spare?

All I know is that he’s tricked me into this entire situation. Everything that has transpired over the last few days is his fault.

Well, I suppose being in the back of the restaurant when that vampire was staked had nothing to do with him, but he has orchestrated every single moment since then.

I’m so angry that I can’t help the frustrated tears that slip from my eyes. I feel like an idiot.

Gus is still asleep from the spell I cast on him, and I don’t have the heart to wake him for my meltdown. I wish I had Iris or Violet to talk to. The idea of having one of them wrap their arms around me and giving me a hug has fresh tears falling down my face.

I’m not sure why I’m so emotional, but I chalk it up to being a prisoner and having no clue when I’ll see my coven again. I get ready for bed and stare at my crestfallen expression in the mirror. My cheeks are blotchy, and I try splashing some water on my face after brushing my teeth.

When I go back into the room, I wonder if Warin will come back here tonight and I hate that I’m at war with myself on whether I want him to or not.

With the combination of having the room warded, and mental exhaustion, I fall asleep quicker than I could’ve imagined.

When I crack my eyes open, the room is still dark and I have no concept of what time it is.

What I do know is that Warin’s face is nearly nuzzled against my breasts, an arm slung over my waist, and his leg wrapped around my own.

I take a deep breath, and he doesn’t stir at all. With another breath, I realize that my abdomen aches.

Fuck. My period. I started my period while being surrounded by vampires. I almost laugh at the horror of it all. And here I thought things were as bad as they could get when a vampire was staked next to me.

I don’t have any of the things I need to help my period pass quickly and I don’t know if Warin could even get them for me, at least not until night falls.

With a heavy sigh, I grab my wand on his nightstand, flicking it in the air to see that it’s nearly noon. I can’t remember the last time I slept in that late. It must be how dark his room is. Unlike his office or the room I was staying in, his bedroom is devoid of windows.

Warin is so still it’s almost creepy. I start by shifting his leg off of my body; he doesn’t startle at all. Then I move his arm, unceremoniously plopping it on his own sleeping form. That has him stirring, gliding his nose against my breasts before I hiss with annoyance and slip out of the bed.

Gus is still asleep and I rub the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger, knowing the moment I wake him up, he’s going to have a lot to say.

I decide that his berating of my choices can wait. Maybe a hot shower and another good cry will make this all better.

Of course, I don’t have any of the hygiene products I need. I’m about five seconds away from a total breakdown when there’s a knock on the door.

With as delicate of footsteps I can manage, I tiptoe to the door and press my ear against the door.

“It’s Samantha,” the voice beyond the door says.

I almost contemplate not answering it, but even if the door is open, as long as I don’t step outside of the room I’m safe.

When I open the door, Samantha is standing in front of me, looking more casual than I’ve ever seen her. A man’s T-shirt hits her at the knee and her hair is in a bun.

“Mind your business and I’ll mind mine,” she says, tossing a box of tampons at me.

“Do I want to ask how you knew I needed these?”

Samantha snorts. “What, do you think I could smell your period all the way down the hall? Please. Warin texted me that you might need something,” she says casually.

Meanwhile, I know my cheeks are flushed and I’m filled with mortification. The other vampires in the house thankfully can’t scent my current situation, but Warin did.

“Don’t be embarrassed. That’s like eating a day-old hot dog when you could have a prime rib steak, ya know?”

She shrugs her shoulders and walks away and I stand there dumbfounded. Did she just compare period blood to hot dogs?

I shut the door, my brow furrowed from the conversation I just had with Warin’s daughter, progeny, whatever the fuck. When I look at the sleeping vampire on the bed, I allow myself to do some ogling.

In his sleep, he looks softer, like a prince taking a little nap at his leisure.

Warin Auclair is quite the conundrum. One moment he’s playing puppet master with me, telling me what’s best for me and tricking me into agreements.

Then the next moment he’s thoughtful, making sure I’m comfortable, defending my honor, and promising to keep me safe.

I feel lost, which is a feeling I’m all too familiar with. When I think about the last week, though, when I was working on spells that have been forgotten with time, I felt powerful.

Warin gave me that feeling.

He’s also gifted me with a sense of hopelessness. I have no clue when I’ll see my coven again or when I’ll leave this room. Even if I do leave, will I have any of my life back? Or will I be in hiding forever?

I stare down at him one more time, wishing there were more moments like this. I can’t decide if it’s because he can’t talk or because without him ruining the moment, I get to appreciate how handsome he is.

All I know is there’s no way in hell I should care about my captor’s looks or that he can be charming and an asshole in the same conversation. I need to focus on how I get the hell out of here and back to my life.

Even if I let myself see Warin as anything beyond the vampire who conned me, he’s still a vampire.

Something I would never be. There’s no way I could give up my coven or the sun, and from what I’ve seen of vampire life, it’s not something that I could ever become.

Vampires and witches don’t mix, and that’s the reality of the situation, there’s no point in even thinking about an alternative.

Whatever my stay is at Warin’s mansion, I’m just a blip in Warin’s very long life. As soon as the Slayer is handled, I can finish out the rest of our “arrangement” from the comfort of my small, no-chef-having cottage.

The day feels like it’s never going to fucking end. Is this what prisoners in solitary confinement feel like?

“You need to learn the art of being lazy. Ring the chef again for some more of that popcorn,” Gus says.

He’s taking our captivity far better than I am. He even said that Warin’s room had a cozier feel and a larger TV.

“I don’t know how to just do nothing,” I complain, and Gus makes a chittering noise.

“Snoop around his room,” he says.

“You want me to snoop around in the sleeping vampire’s room? The one who basically kidnapped us?”

“Yes, that’s precisely what I fucking said. He hasn’t so much as moved in his sleep, and to be honest, you’re kind of ruining my movie.”

“Oh, well, don’t let me ruin your fun.”

“Thank you,” he says as I roam around the room, cautiously snooping.

His drawers are organized to a level of neuroticism that I can’t even compute. I’m not sure I’ve ever matched a pair of socks on my own in my life, that’s what magic is for.

I’m even more quiet when I go through his nightstands. Again, nothing special, I’m not sure what I expected to find? Condoms?

Do vampires even need to worry about that sort of thing?

Once I go through most of his room, which doesn’t have much to show for itself, I go to his closet. His suits are pressed and hung neatly on hangers, each of them a different shade of black.

I push a few of his suits apart, and I see a safe. I look back into the bedroom. There’s a few hours until sunset, but I don’t know if he will wake up earlier.

I pull my wand out of my hair and whisper an unlocking spell. The dial moves quickly as I watch the mechanism shift, swirling right and then left and right again.

My brows furrow as I realize the combination to his safe just so happens to be my twenty-first birthday. It’s too big of a coincidence, but I ignore it as I open the heavy door.

The first few items in the safe are the grimoires he’s hiding from the vampire council, which is no surprise. I’m delicate with them as I take one individually, rubbing my fingertips over the covers. I’m not sure what it is about these magical books, but something about them calls to me.

After they’re safely on the floor, I grab the first black box. I glance over my shoulder to make sure that Warin hasn’t stirred before flipping the lid open.

Inside are a variety of what appears to be fake identification documents, passports and birth certificates with different names, none of them with Warin Auclair.

What takes me by surprise is that there are also falsified documents with my picture on them.

I flip through them all, before putting them back in the same manner they were before.

Something tells me that my snooping won’t go unnoticed if he looks in his safe.

Beneath the black box is a pink one. If I thought I was confused by a fake passport of myself, I’m even more surprised by the keepsake box filled with items I’ve lost over the last decade, hair clips, gardening gloves, my favorite chapstick, along with what look like PI-like photos of myself wandering around town.

Who is Warin Auclair? What does he want from me? And most importantly, why am I not absolutely horrified by what I found in his safe?