Page 25 of Vampire so Virtuous

“The death of our dog?”

“She was sixteen!”

“The lights flickering when you were in a bad mood.”

“I was trying to read,” Cally said with strained patience. “Your brotherkept turning them on and off. OfcourseI’d get grumpy.”

“What about all the other times?”

“I don’t remember any other times.”

“My parents divorce?”

“What about it?”

“You said they would.”

“They were arguing for weeks.” Cally shook her head. “There’s nothing weird about any of that.”

“Epigenetics and ancestral memory,” Eve announced, taking a sip of her coffee as though she’d explained everything.

“Come again?”

“You’ve heard the theory that the trauma of the Salem witch trials imprinted stress on the survivor’s offspring?”

“Uh, no?”

“Later generations are more prone to extraordinary abilities. Hyper-awareness, extreme intuition, and pattern recognition.”

“All right,” Cally said. “With complete respect for you and our friendship, that’sbullshit. Complete and utterbaloney.”

“Survivorship bias in historical bloodlines?”

“What?”

“Your ancestors survived the trials by virtue of their magical traits.”

“That’s a completely different argument! You’re making this shit up!”

“They’re academically sound theories.”

“For what? My complete lack of ability to throw fireballs around or fly on a broomstick?”

Eve toyed with her cup. “You ever tried?”

Cally stared at her in disbelief.

Eve’s impassive expression held for a breath, before cracking into humor.

Cally laughed in relief. “You’re teasing me. Thank God. For a while there, I thought you were serious.”

“Fireballs and flying? Not so much. But witch magic? Sure.”

“You mean it, don’t you?”

“Sweetheart, how else do you explain what you do?”

“I don’tdoanything.” She made air quotes to emphasize the word. “And this conversation is too weird for me.” Eve could be intense, but Cally loved her dearly. She’d never get up and leave. Even if this time, it was tempting.