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Interrogation
Bloome
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Let’s just keep it real... I was here because Shadow had asked me to be. Nothing more. If any of the other vampires had asked me to come to their creepy clubhouse and help them find the witch who’d been murdering their kind, I would have gladly held up both middle fingers and told them to sit-and-fucking-spin.
But Craig—Shadow—he had a hold on me. I wasn’t sure he knew he did, but he did. My attraction to him was ridiculous and had clearly turned me into a pile of compliant goo, and for that, I was pissed. Turned on, aroused, and floaty in my brain, but still pissed.
Who did he think he was? Manipulating me like that?
Who did I think I was, letting him do so?
Truth was... I had power, real witch power, but as I’d told Craig a few weeks ago, I was still a lesser witch. At only twenty-six years old, I was considered a baby in the witch world. After all, our powers didn’t come to us until we turned eighteen. Powers I knew would be arriving and powers I’d studied for. My mother’s a very powerful greater witch, and in about four years, I would be like her. My father’s a warlock, and I had acquired his powers, as well. Lots of witches tended to mate with humans, which lessened and muted the strength of their offspring, but no... not my mom. She’d found the most powerful warlock around and had made him her baby daddy.
But here I was... a formidable witch, still coming into my powers, and falling for a vampire, one I knew couldn’t give me children. I made a mental note to call up Mom and ask her what the hell that was about. I knew I’d get an ass-chewing, but I didn’t care. I needed to know why I was so cosmically drawn to this otherworldly creature who everyone knew couldn’t procreate.
Babies... a relationship with a vampire... where had my head gone? Why was I even thinking about this? I was here, at this vamp den, to do a job. One that would put ten grand into my pocket. Add to the stash of cash I already had and help me buy a little house on the outskirts of New Orleans so I could be alone and not deal with covens, roommates, and most of all, fucking vampires.
“So... tell us, Bloome. This sorceress’s signature... whose is it?” the one called Viper asked me.
I had prepared for this. I knew they were looking for the witch who’d killed those three behind Zombies, and I already had a sneaking feeling I wouldn’t have too hard of a time tracking her down, but I needed something to go on.
“I’m gonna need something personal,” I replied, talking to Viper but staring at Shadow, who stood amongst a bunch of other vamps.
Goddamn, were these guys huge. Next to him stood a redhead who was almost as tall as Shadow, tattoos covering his massive biceps while fire danced on his palm—fire he seemed to almost be playing with. Next to him was the prettiest man I’d ever seen, sculpted arms, flat stomach, perfect hair, lips, jawline... flawless skin and beautiful eyes and eyelashes that were looking down at his electronic tablet. As my gaze moved away from the modelesque vamp, an equally as tall guy with black hair, dark sunglasses, and some very unusual tattoos stood there munching on a banana. Which I found extremely odd since I knew vampires didn’t eat.
I didn’t have the energy to question this, so I moved my gaze back to Shadow, who was still staring at me with amusement, and dare I say lust in his silvery-gray gaze.
“Now that you’ve gotten your fill of my club brothers, are you ready to get to work, Bloome baby?” Craig asked me.
Pissed off and embarrassed he’d caught me checking out the other vamps, I narrowed my eyes at him. “Of course.”
“Perfect. Now, how much juice do you have to track down a witch’s—a sorceress’s—signature?”
This was definitely a trick question. I’d been thinking long and hard about the dead vamps behind Zombies I’d heard about, and that a witch had been responsible, but I hadn’t been able to get a lead on who’d done it. That being said, I knew my very powerful witch mother or my warlock father could help me. I just wasn’t ready to call on them just yet. I’d always prided myself on being stubborn and self-sufficient, even if I was still a lesser witch.
So, I decided on something in between. “I have a lot of juice, and I can definitely tell you which witch it was... ha.” I smiled at my own witchy pun. The vampires did not find this amusing at all. I cleared my throat and continued, “However, there is a protection spell I have to perform first in order to not be caught out by my coven. They tend to get a little... ah... testy when they think a fellow witch is going against their rules.”
“Rules...” Shadow stared at me questioningly.
“Yes, rules, Craig. I’m sure y’all have rules as well,” I snapped, looking around at the vamps circling me.
The whole situation was intimidating, and truth be told, I really didn’t want to be here. I wanted to help Craig, but I didn’t want to be a traitor to my coven, and everything inside of me screamed that I should not be helping any fucking vampires. That my feelings for Shadow were overshadowing my judgement. Ugh.
“Tell me about your rules,” Viper asked, staring at me with those light hazel eyes. I glanced behind him to see his tiny mate gripping onto him. She claimed she was human. Was she just going to grow old and die while he watched?
Who effing cares?
“We’re to remain true to our coven. The witches and warlocks. Not help vamps. But being that you think witches are killing vampires, I’m willing to get to the bottom of it and hopefully prove it wasn’t a witch.”
“And if it was a witch?” Viper asked.
“I’ll be truthful either way,” I replied honestly. Little did they know that if it was a witch doing this, the coven would handle doling out the punishment, not these neanderthals.
“What do you know of magical signatures?” Shadow asked me as he stared deep into my eyes. I had to resist squirming under his intense gaze, as all I wanted to do was leave here and have him take me to his room, and wrap me in his arms, and make me feel protected. Since when had I wanted a vampire to make me feel protected, I didn’t know, but the strange emotion wouldn’t leave my brain—and heart.
Gathering my composure, I said, “A little bit. Bring me something personal and I’ll try.”
A young-looking guy with a mullet responded to Viper’s command to “go get the bags” and disappeared into a door set off on the side of the warehouse. They had me in a chair set in the middle of their warehouse they referred to as a clubhouse. The tall, intimidating men—vampires—stood around me and said nothing.
The one who’d been munching on the banana approached me. “How long have you been a witch?”
“My whole life,” I quickly replied. “Why do you care?”
“Do you have any plans on becoming a vampire?” he asked, pulling out chew from his pocket and popping a wad into his mouth.
I wrinkled my nose. I glanced at Craig then back to his sunglassed friend. “Absolutely not.”
“Good. Because I kill anything that turns into a succubus.” The guy saluted me before walking away.
I rolled my eyes. “Good to know, douchebag.”
My eyes cut to Shadow and his fire-using friend as they snorted a laugh.
The mullet vampire plonked a bag onto my lap. I looked down to see it contained a good amount of ash and some clothing. I looked up at Viper. “You want me to do what with this?”
“You asked for personal effects, sweetheart,” Shadow quickly responded.
“Yeah, of the witch, not of dead vamps,” I snapped, pointing at the bag on my lap.
Shadow looked at me, incredulous. “What on earth made you think we had any personal effects of the witch?”
“You said a witch did this. If she didn’t leave evidence behind, how do you know it was, in fact, one who killed them?” I pointed to the bag again.
“Another witch told us,” Viper said vaguely.
I huffed. “Then why not just get her to get you this information?”
“You ask too many questions,” Viper came back.
“A witch killed them, and her signature is in the ash, so we were told,” the fire-user replied, staring at me with freaky yellowish-green eyes. I looked down at this name patch and saw “Phoenix.”
“Okayyy,” I replied, gingerly opening up the bag and looking inside. I lifted my hand to activate magic and nothing happened. I tried again, but no colorful sparks would appear.
“Uh, slight problem. Your club is warded against witches using magic, isn’t it?”
“Fuck,” Shadow said. “That’s right.” He looked at Viper. “Can we turn it off somehow?”
Viper shook his head. “No, let’s go outside.”
I struggled to lift the heavy-ass bag and Shadow easily lifted it from me. I followed the huge vampires through the bike shop. Once inside, I immediately felt magic coming from the bag. “Stop!” I said.
They all stopped walking and looked at me.
I told Shadow to set the bag on a repair table and opened it back up. I could definitely feel some sort of magical presence, and it wasn’t vampiric. The clothes were intact, which told me they weren’t burned alive, but the ashes were the result of a witch’s power.
I activated my magic, and colorful sparks began dancing on my fingertips. Putting my face over the bag, I closed my eyes and gave it a big whiff. Witch pheromones, combined with a strong scent of hemlock assaulted my nose.
Crap.
I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the intimidating vampires surrounding me. “There’s definitely a sorceress’s signature on these remains, and I’m fairly sure I know the witch who did this.”
They stared at me expectantly as I hesitated to deliver Nora a death sentence.
“Well, give us a name, sweetheart,” Craig said.
My stomach did a flip-flop as I looked into his beautiful face. I wanted to run my fingers over his beard before sitting on that face and screaming out his name. Instead, I cleared my throat and said, “I’ll tell you when I have hard proof, and then after that, I need to bring it to the coven first.”
“No,” Shadow said, looking angry. “Tell us who you think did this.”
“Sorry, Craig. That’s not how we operate. Once I’m one hundred percent sure it’s who I think it is, the coven will dole out the punishment—not you guys.”
“I thought you said your coven would frown upon you working with vampires,” Craig commented.
“Yeah, they’re gonna hand me my ass, but now that I think I know who did this, and that we know her, this changes the game.”
“Punishment... like what?” Phoenix asked.
“That’ll be discussed at a later date,” I replied, leaning against the table and folding my arms across my chest after shaking my hand to clear the magical sparks.
Shadow and I stared hard at each other for a few long seconds. Then he said, “You’re not getting a dime until we get a crack at this witch after you hand down your ‘punishment.’”
“What, like kill her? I definitely will not agree to that.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“She killed three of our own, plus who knows how many more. She’s as dangerous as an animal and should be put down like one,” Viper replied, his face stormy, a large V appearing between his eyes.
While it didn’t surprise me that they wanted her dead, I wasn’t sure I could live with myself if I handed her over to be executed. I left the bag on the table and walked toward the shop’s door. “If she confesses to Iliana and the coven council, then we’ll hear her side of the story. If she killed in self-defense, I’m sorry to inform you that she’ll be dealt with but there will be no torture or harsh punishment, and certainly no killing.”
I went to walk out of the shop and looked at Shadow and the guy with the sunglasses. “That goes double for you two!” I pointed at them.