Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“And the Bellamys are a prominent magical family, like the Blackwoods.”
“Right,” Devon says. “That’s what you were talking about last night.”
I nod, knowing I’m repeating some of this so Mabel, Theo, and Zeke can catch up. “As far as I can tell, Claire is alive. The last report I found was from a couple weeks ago. She ran away.”
“What’s significant about her?” Theo asks.
“From what Marie was able to find, Claire’s mother, Eudora Bellamy, had some kind of summer fling with a non-magical guy, got pregnant, and was forced to give up the baby.” I swallow. “Eudora died in a car accident about a year later, but apparently a lot of people suspected it wasn’t actually an accident. They think she killed herself.”
The room goes quiet.
“And a half-blood witch might not show signs of magic until much later,” I continue. “Usually around seventeen or eighteen.” I look around at everyone. “Claire is seventeen.”
“Just now coming into her powers,” Mabel says quietly.
“Yeah.”
Leo stands. “Do you have a computer I can use?”
Devon gets up too, waving him over. “Come with me. I always thought I was decent with coding, but I’ve never hacked into a secure system. Mind if I join?”
“Not at all.” The two of them leave the room together. Silence settles over the rest of us. And I can practically hear Theo’s thoughts screaming. The Reapers can’t just shoot at me and walk away. Not only because Xavier is furious they went after his wife, but because the family has to maintain control. One of the 409 Reapers tried to murder me in broad daylight in the middle of downtown Charlotte. There has to be some kind of response. What that response looks like, I have no idea. And right now, I don’t want to know.
I’m not exactly well-versed in supernatural politics, but something inside me keeps saying that more threats and fear aren’t the answer. Everyone is already afraid of the vampires. The coalition works partly because of that fear, sure. But it also works because they respect Xavier. Because they can count on him. Because being allied with him gives them something beyond simply not getting their blood drained by hungry vampires.
“I’m fine,” I say before Xavier can start fussing over me. My phone dings. I lean forward and grab it from the coffee table. Not Marie. Not yet.
It’s Delphi, asking if I’m okay because Larkin filled her in on what happened.
Physically I’m fine. Just a little shaken and really tired of getting shot at.
A response comes almost immediately.
I don’t know if I should send or to that. Though according to my middle school patients, emojis are cringe and show our age.
Send both. Be cringe.
I put my phone down and give everyone an awkward smile.
“I’m sorry for the mess that followed me here.”
“Don’t be,” Xavier says seriously. “None of this is your fault.”
“Not directly,” Theo adds with a shrug.
I look at him. “What?”
“It’s true. We didn’t have demon problems until you came into the family. Seven hundred years. Not one fucking demon problem in seven hundred years.”
“But what did you expect?” Mabel asks, narrowing her eyes at him. “You’ve been accepting bribes from the Order for years. The Order hunts demons. You never thought those worlds might cross?”
Antonio turns his head, clearly trying to hide a smile.
“If you wanted to avoid demon problems,” Mabel continues, “maybe you shouldn’t have gotten into bed with an organization that’s dealt with demons since its inception.”
Theo just stares at her. I can tell he desperately wants to argue, but Mabel is making far too much sense. And really, did he and Xavier genuinely believe taking a human incubator from the Order every twenty-five years would never come with consequences?
Mabel lets out a pointed sigh, picks up the remote, and turns on a Disney movie. We all sit there watching the opening credits for a few minutes before Theo finally gets up and disappears.
A while later, Devon and Leo return. Leo sets the laptop on the coffee table while Devon flips through a stack of papers he printed.
“You were right,” Leo tells me. “This wasn’t random.”
I resist the urge to say no shit, Sherlock and let him continue. He turns the laptop toward me. I freeze. There’s no mistake. Blown up on the screen is a section of adoption paperwork. Marcus Henry adopted Eudora Claire Bellamy when she was only a year and a half old.
“I did a little digging into the mother too,” Leo says. “There’s no father listed on Claire’s birth certificate, and Eudora was only sixteen when she had her.”
He gestures toward the papers in Devon’s hands.
“It was a closed adoption. No option for Claire to ever search for her birth parents.”
Devon lays two documents side by side on the coffee table. “Look at the signatures.” He taps the first. “This one seems legitimate.” Then the second. “This one doesn’t.” I lean closer.