Page 44 of Vampire So Vengeful

“How much longer?”

Eve toyed with a stray curl, considering. “Four or five days, maybe. Not long, really.”

“I hate that I have no way to contribute.”

“Not true.” Eve grinned. “Your spear-phishing attack paid off. Courtesy of a vehicle maintenance coordinator, we now have training manuals for Alvin. Want to learn how to pilot a sub?”

“It’s always been on my bucket list.”Finally. Something to do.

Eve fished out her new phone and typed rapidly. Both their old phones were deactivated and locked in a lead-lined box in Marcel’s safe, just in case the Order had been more insidious than they realized. Darian could keep their numbers. “There. That should keep you out of trouble for a few hours.”

On the subject of trouble…“Any progress with the tome?”

“Yeah, loads. Though I haven’t been able to put as much time into it as I would’ve liked.”

“Sure, sure. Of course.” Cally fidgeted with her coffee cup. “Anything we can use yet?”

“Use as in… do magic?”

“Yes.”

Eve scrunched her nose. “Not really. Most of the stuff isseriouslycomplicated, like one of those instruction manuals written for people who don’t need them in the first place. It assumes you already know everything, and… well… sorry, but I don’t.”

“Oh.” The handle of her coffee cup snapped off, and coffee spilled onto Antoine’s white silk sheets. “Fuck.”

Eve jumped up. “I’ll get a towel,” she said, heading for the bathroom. She was back a second later. “Are you all right? You haven’t hulked anything for a few days.”

“Sorry,” Cally muttered. “Just a bit distracted.” She accepted the towel and dabbed at the sheets, before giving it up as pointless. Marcel would have some stain remover.

“Anything I can help with?”

“Well, I hoped by now you’d have a spell or two I could try.”

“Keen to practice, huh?”

Cally fought to keep her voice steady. “Is there anything? Anything at all? Something I could pour some magic into?”

“Not really, no. Not without getting some help from the Order, and we don’t want to do that, do we?”

“No. We don’t want to do that.”

Eve narrowed her eyes. “So. Are you going to tell me?”

Cally worried her lip. “Tell you what?”

“Whatever it is that has you so tense. At first, I figured it was just having your vampire beau in a state of constant agony in a watery grave. But it’s got worse, hasn’t it? There’s something else, isn’t there? Is it the Order?”

“No. No, it’s not the Order.” Cally sighed. “And yes, there’s um… something I haven’t told you.”

Eve sat back down on the bed. “Spill it.”

Cally took a breath. “Well, you know how Antoine gets stronger from our bond?”

“No, but okay.”

“Well, he does. And… so do I. When a witch is bonded to a vampire, they both grow in power.”

“Hence the accidental breakages?”