Page 28 of Transfiguration

Nate laughed. “Nah. No zombies. I’m technically light, if you want to use old terms. But my specialty is quick casting. How fast can you dodge?”

Luca narrowed his gaze at the man. He looked ordinary enough, but that was a witch for you. “Fast.” Nearly as fast as Sam, who was an actual vampire. Luca smiled as they headed toward the cage. “Hope you can take a hit.”

“You’ll have to land one first,” Nate taunted.

Luca smiled, feeling the red edges trickle forward again at the thought of violence. But maybe that was okay. He could kick some ass and go home to his men. They would understand when he told them what was coming, even if it wouldn’t be easy. Or at least that was his hope.

TWELVE

The morning came way too fast. Con felt an odd sense that someone was staring at him. Often, he woke to Luca’s hyper charged libido, but he could only sense Sam’s cool body at his back. Had Luca not come to bed, or had Con slept that hard?

He opened his eyes, blinking through the darkness. All the windows on the loft had sunshades and light activated shutters on the exterior that closed during the day. Safety for Sam and Con was used to the low light. He had made himself take up jogging during the day to ensure he got actual sunlight and some exercise. It usually helped clear his head. But the pale dredges of sunlight still eased through the shades, not harmful as they filtered the UV rays out, but also ensured their place wasn’t some sort of tomb completely absent of light even during the day. He thought it might be pretty early, as the bits of brightness weren’t much more than a few dim edges around the windows.

Something tickled his chest, and he thought for a few seconds it was Sam waking up, but it was far too early for that. The clock on the nightstand read just before nine. Which meant Sam would sleep for at least a few more hours. This early, with the sun high overhead, he was hard to move, often sleeping like a rock.

Con turned his head to find a giant spider on his chest. He jolted upright, flinging the thing off and barely suppressing his scream. “Holy fuck!”

Sam didn’t stir, and Con glared over the side of the bed. Where had it gone? “Molly?” He asked. “Is Bella, okay?” He listened hard for any sound of movement in the loft but heard nothing. If the spider was there, that meant Bella was still there, right?

Con crawled out of bed, examining the floor to make sure he didn’t step on a giant fuzzy bug, and prayed it didn’t leap out from under the bed at him. Not afraid of spiders was not the same as keeping his cool if the damn thing jumped on him. He peered over the railing, down toward the guest room, and the door was still closed. Bella sleeping? Why was Molly out without her?

He turned back to the room; the darkness making it hard to see much other than Sam on the bed. He reached for his phone, found a half dozen messages from Sam and Luca on it, but turned on the flashlight first, and searched for a giant spider.

“Where the fuck did you go?” Con muttered after sweeping the light across any spot he thought it might be. Nothing under the bed, or the furniture. He’d even pulled the blanket off the bed. Had he imagined it? He sighed and turned off the light and checked the messages.

Luca:Be back late this afternoon.Vague, but not unusual, as Luca often did business stuff all day, including calls and banking. His other messages were small things like:I love you, andHave a good day.

Sam:Kelly will be over to help get Bella stuff. Thought you’d feel more comfortable with him than Seiran.

Though Con and Kelly had once been a thing, they’d been able to find a new sort of friendship and a bit of healing from their troubled youth. It helped that Kelly was madly in love with Jamie, who was Seiran’s older brother. Kelly also had his own kid, not as old as Seiran’s, and he helped run a group of schools for young witches. Con couldn’t help but feel relieved Kelly would be around. He would know how to take care of Bella.

Seiran walked around with a sense of dread clinging to him. The doom of his existence, tainting his mood? Kelly was a touch of sunshine to everyone, even when he had his down days, as rare as they were. But Kelly hadn’t lived his life being abused and undervalued by everyone around him, and he had Jamie, who was a rock in terms of lovers.

Sam’s last text made Con frown at the phone:Keep an eye out for HF, they had posters up downstairs and might be causing trouble.

HF. The Human First cult again? He’d have to keep a close eye on Bella. She didn’t need to be exposed to their hate. Con wondered where the posters were as he hadn’t seen any in their building, and it was unlikely anyone in their building would be part of that group. Maybe outside? He’d ask Sam later.

Con set the phone aside and headed for a quick shower, hoping Kelly didn’t show up too early, or that a giant spider didn’t appear in his bathroom. He locked the door when he went in, and had the fastest shower of his life, changing into jeans and a faded Zelda T-shirt before stepping out. Voices drifted up to him from below, and the smell of food. His stomach growled. Had Luca come back early?

Sam slept on, not the utter stillness of the dead, even in sleep he still breathed. Con knew his heart beat slower and, unlike regular people, Sam never tossed and turned. Vampires were at their most vulnerable while they slept during sunlit hours. And for the first time, Con worried about Sam’s safety. With Bella in their place, would scary people come for her? Technically,hewas scary, but only compared to some.

Maybe he should ward their place? He'd always hesitated to add layers like Seiran did, but in a building with shared walls like they had, it was also harder to create any real wards. Thresholds were one thing, but if what came for them weren’t vampires, he would need more than a basic keep out spell.

He contemplated for a minute or two, his heart racing a bit at the idea of crafting a sort of bubble around their space. Could he have it crawl the walls and act as a permanent barrier? He’d done it in a car before, but never something this big.

He let his gaze roam over Sam for another minute, taking in the peace while his lover slept, and marveling that the fine man was his. Maybe he’d call Seiran after all and ask about wards. Safety first for him, his guys, and Bella.

He sighed and took himself and his melancholy thoughts downstairs. Kelly was in the small kitchen, pulling a casserole dish out of the oven with oven mitts. Bella was at the counter, seated on a stool beside Link, Kelly’s son. They were about the same age, weren’t they? Link looked a lot like Kelly, same sandy-white blond hair and blue eyes, though he was tanner than Kelly usually was, not because of the sun, but because he had part of Browan’s genes, which Con thought was Native American. Kelly had a sister who had donated eggs, and Browan the swimmers. Con knew they paid a surrogate to have Link for them. And since they’d both been ready for kids after years of helping Serian with his children, they were fantastic parents. Con liked Link. He was a pretty well-rounded kid. Friendly, smart, and genuinely kind, which was rare in this world.

“Morning,” Con said.

“There’s a punk,” Kelly teased. “I thought you all would need some food before errands.” He set the dish on a hot pad Con didn’t know they had.

“Your husband make that?” Con asked.

“Of course. Seiran’s recipe.”

“Morning, Uncle Constantine,” Link said. He sat with his iPad in front of him, coloring on one of those apps. Should he get Bella an iPad? He didn’t know what kids needed these days. The few times he’d helped Sam babysit either Rou’s kids or Link, they always went to Rou’s house, where the kids had everything they could want or need.