Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Devon suggests he and Antonio go out to a vampire bar. Once they’re inside, everything should be fine, but if they’re seen walking in together, it’ll only cement the narrative that Antonio has become a Malus vampire.
It’s not the worst idea he’s had.
Surprisingly, Antonio seems eager to get out and do something. It’s hard being a prisoner in your own home—and this isn’t even technically his. Since Devon’s only been a vampire for a hot minute, Mabel and I decide it’s best that Zeke goes with them.
“What do you want me to order tonight?” Mabel asks. “I just discovered Uber Eats. Do you think they’ll ever add a vampire option?”
“Probably not on that app,” I tell her. There are services where you can order blood by type—and by type, I mean blood type—as well as pick the human you’re getting it from. There’s a lot of debate over it, but since the donors are consenting adults and get paid well, it hasn’t been outlawed.
“How about Mexican?” I say, already deciding. “Burritos, tacos for Delphi, chips and guac… street corn.”
We order way too much food, and it’s set to arrive in about forty-five minutes. Not wanting to sit still, I change into workout clothes and go downstairs to the gym. I run through a brutal calisthenics circuit, pushing myself harder than I need to—until Delphi gets here.
“Hey,” I say, coming upstairs and meeting her in the foyer.
Mabel let her in and is currently holding several porcelain-faced dolls under her arm. Delphi is doing a terrible job pretending that’s normal.
“You are in such good shape,” Delphi tells me, looking me up and down. “It’s not fair.”
I raise an eyebrow. “How often do you work out?”
“Like… never,” she admits, laughing.
“Yeah,” I say. “That’ll do it.”
“Most of us wolves are naturally athletic,” she goes on, kicking off her shoes. “But I prefer sitting on the couch with a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch after a long shift instead of going to the gym.”
“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” I tell her. “I use working out as a coping mechanism. So while it might look good on paper, there’s a lot going on under the surface.”
Her smile fades just slightly.
“Is everything okay?” she asks, glancing between me and Mabel.
We head into the family room, and Delphi sits down, watching me more closely now.
“After everything that happened at the warehouse… you just kind of disappeared,” she says. “You went quiet.”
“I’ve just been… dealing with things,” I reply.
“That doesn’t sound like you,” she says gently. “What actually happened?”
I hesitate. I could brush it off. I could lie. But I’m so tired of holding everything in and I’ve wanted a friend like this for so long.
“I didn’t really understand it all before,” I say slowly. “But we figured it out. Last night, actually. Some things had to be really, well, assured because it was hard to believe.”
She leans forward. “Okay…”
“The Order,” I continue, “has spent the last fifty years trying to free a demon.”
Her brows pull together. “A demon?”
“Yeah. Not just any demon either. One that has been too powerful for anyone to kill.”
Delphi lets out a quiet breath. “That sounds bad.”
“It is,” I say. “They want to control it. Use it.”
“And… what does that have to do with you?”
I swallow. “I wish nothing, but, uh, kind of everything.”
She goes still.
“My family, the Blackwoods, they were hunters. Witches. They’re the ones who trapped it in the first place. Created some kind of supernatural prison to hold it.”
“That’s… kind of badass,” she says carefully.
“It is,” I agree. “Except now the Order figured out that the only way to break into that prison—really control what’s inside—is with Blackwood blood.”
Her eyes widen.
“And I’m the last one they can use.”
“Holy shit.” Delphi sits there in stunned silence. “So what are you going to do?”
“Try to stop them,” I say, unable to tell her the full truth, not because I don’t trust her with it, but because I’m ashamed of what I’m going to do.
The doorbell rings, and Mabel excitedly gets up to get our food. We set it all up on the coffee table, turning on the TV while we eat.
“Tell me about this guy,” I say, needing a subject change. “How was your date?”
“It was good,” Delphi says. “Just good though. Nothing amazing and he checked his phone a couple of times.”
“Did he explain why?” Mabel asks.
“First time he said he thought it could be about his kids. They were with their mom though, so it wasn’t his responsibility that night.”
“It doesn’t matter who has custody, your kids are still your kids,” Mabel says. “Even after they’re grown and their kids have kids, you still care. I like to keep track of mine.”
“You had kids?” Delphi asks. “I don’t know why I assumed you were, like, always a vampire.”
Mabel shakes her head and gets a distant look in her eye. “Tell me about the guy you’re dating,” she says suddenly, snapping back to her old self. Delphi gets out her phone, showing Mabel Andrew’s social media pages.