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I looked at my friend, then back to Jessica. I just sat there and waited for someone to explain.
Jessica looked at her husband, then to us. She seemed to be contemplating answering Sanja, and she paused so long that it became uncomfortable. Jessica looked like the thought of telling us whatever she needed to say pained her.
“Ya know, we should go,” I said, tugging on the shoulder of Sanja’s light-blue sweater. “Ms. Swift doesn’t owe us an explanation, and by the look on her face, it’s probably not something she wants to talk about.”
Nobody said anything, and I swallowed hard.
“Well, uh, thanks for the warning. I’ll let Kellan know if he doesn’t already.”
“You are part vampire, aren’t you?” Sanja said, shrugging off my hand and staring at Jessica. “In fact, you were at one time a full vampire, weren’t you?”
“Sanja!” I said in a scolding tone.
“No, it’s okay.” Jessica let out a sigh. “She’s a very gifted witch. Spot-on.”
I gasped. “That’s not possible.”
“Child, you have not been alive long enough to know what is possible and what’s not,” Jessica said, looking at me.
“She has a point,” Jason added, a smirk on his handsome face.
“You have magic surrounding you, and in your eyes. It’s glowing around your face and your hair. Even on your hands.” Sanja turned to me. “Can you see it?”
I nodded. “I don’t see glowing, but you do look different from the last time I saw you. You were a vampire then, and now you’re not?” I was so confused.
“No,” Sanja answered for her. “It’s this shop. My abilities are much stronger in here, and magic flows much more freely. So does the magic inside Jessica.”
Jessica folded the laptop and shoved it into its case. She looked at us. “Without launching into a long, drawn-out story, here’s the Cliff Notes version.
“I was born here in Colorado in nineteen-sixty-five. At age nineteen, a vampire turned me without my permission. He was evil and that’s all I have to say about him. About six years ago, a sylph used a spell, on magical grounds in the mountains in Oregon, to restore my humanity—”
“Wait, what the hell is a sylph?” I asked.
“It’s like a mix between a witch and a fairy. And no they don’t have wings or fly, before you ask,” Sanja answered.
Geez, I thought I knew all the creatures already. I’d just learned about the damn elves, for God’s sake.
Jessica grinned. “They’re very powerful, they can create portals and travel through them to different parts of the earth. It’s insane to see.”
My eyes widened. “No way.”
“Anyway,” Jessica continued, “I don’t know how she did it, but whatever she did worked. I seem to be a regular human now. I don’t look nineteen, right?”
We both shook our heads and Sanja said, “I thought mid-to-late-twenties.”
“But technically, you’re in your mid-fifties, and you spent, what?” I did some quick math. “Like thirty-plus years as a vampire? Wow. Anyway, my mom was born in nineteen sixty-three, so you should look as old as her.”
Jessica smiled. “I will eventually. But maybe I will fight it a little and get some work done. I don’t know.”
I grinned back. “If I age, I will too. But, I don’t think I’m going to. Evan hasn’t.”
“His situation is different than yours, as you were born a wolf. He was just a human, turned twice by both vampire and wolf. We will be curious to see what happens to you—and him.”
“If she keeps living like she’s in a Vin Diesel movie, she isn’t going to get old enough for anyone to find out,” Jason pointed out.
“He’s right,” Sanja said, putting her hand on mine.
I nodded. “I know. I’m hoping I can get it all out of my system, then calm down a little and find a less dangerous career.”
“Let’s hope that happens sooner than later,” Sanja murmured.
“Speaking of,” I said, remembering Ryder. “Do you know anything about Ryder Robinson? He applied to your agency and is waiting to hear if he’ll get a job so he can quit the prison job.”
Jason was typing something on his phone, and he stopped and looked up at us. “Yes, he’s part of a pilot program the BSI is doing, hiring supernaturals to work for us. It used to be staunchly forbidden, and the screening process so far has been pretty strict, but it’s working. He’s going to be a huge asset to our undercover division.”
I felt happy for Ryder, but selfishly upset he hadn’t told me he had been hired. But did I really blame him? I had to put myself in his shoes. I would text him later and congratulate him.
But wait, he had texted me, hadn’t he? He told me he had good news, but I was too enraptured in the news my brother had told me about the new baby coming to remember to respond. I really was the biggest asshole ever. I sighed sadly.
“Well, that was a wild story, Ms. Swift. I can’t wait to tell my mom there is sacred ground in Oregon. Where, exactly, is this place?”
Jessica shook her head. “I can’t say, but if you do enough research I’m sure you’ll figure it out. I also wouldn’t go messing around up there if I were you. It’s very, very powerful, to the point where things don’t work like they normally should. Like gravitational pulls, strange tides, brain waves, et cetera.”
“Noted,” Sanja said, excitement in her voice.
“We better go,” I said, standing up. The rest of us stood. I left a five-dollar bill on the table and we walked toward the entrance.
“Thanks again for the warning,” I said to Jessica. “I’m sure Kellan will figure it out.”
“We’ll try to do as much damage control we can, and hope it does, indeed blow over, but we know it’ll be a while. Just please, for the love of God, lay low and do not blitz in public, get so angry that your eyes change color, drink blood, or shift into a wolf with humans around. And for the love of all that is holy, keep that damn dagger of yours hidden,” Jason said, pocketing his phone.
“Hey!” I said, stopping at the front door. “It’s illegal to hide it. If I display it, I’m not concealing a weapon.”
“She’s right,” Jessica said to her husband. Then she looked at me. “But so is he. Low profile, young lady. Got it?”
I saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.”
Jessica laughed and looked at Sanja. “Keep her in line, will you?”
Sanja grinned and rolled her eyes. “I’d need a lot more than magic to do that.”
Sanja gave me a ride back to my apartment. I needed some time to unwind and think about things. I needed to prepare for when I was brought to meet Linden, because I knew without a doubt that I was going to. Along with the dream/visions, I was about ninety-nine percent positive I was going to be brought before the monster to face some kind of judgement. But I had no plans on letting him belittle me or talk down to me like he owned me. Nor was I going to let him or his cronies touch me or punish me. I was going to rip out his throat or drive my dagger into his heart, and smile while he crumbled to ash under me. Then I would take whatever shirt he was wearing and frame it into a shadow box to remind me that nobody fucks with my family.
Again, let’s hope I got this out of my system soon so I didn’t die too young because of my recklessness.
It took me over an hour to clear off the calls, texts, and DMs from my phone and ensure everyone I was ‘handling’ the situation with the video that appeared online. My brother and parents were the most concerned, and I had to get into a group text with Aden, my mom, and dad to ensure them that the BSI was going to scrub the Internet of the videos. This seemed to pacify my parents, but Aden was obviously more tech-savvy and knew nothing ever really disappeared. I still had plans to see my family Memorial Day weekend, so I figured it would probably be blown over by then, and if not, I would handle it.
Once my phone was clear, I shot off a text to Evan.
Me: I need to meet with you and Karina about something.
Evan: The video currently smeared all over the damn web. That thing?
I groaned.
Me: Yes, you ass.
Evan: Lol, well you have training tonight, so we’ll discuss. See you at 11.
Damn! I forgot.
I sent him back a thumbs-up emoji because it was passive-aggressive and annoying and matched my mood.
Smiling, I looked at the time on my phone and could see it was almost six p.m. I was glad I had a few hours to myself. I went online and paid my bills, then opened a document to start making notes about the dream I’d had, and the plans I had for taking Linden out. Then I made a list about all the ways my revenge plot could go bad—how it could go south. They all ended with me dying because of my impulsivity and stupidity. So I closed that depressing-ass document and decided I should do something more productive.
Nothing came to me, so I changed into my workout clothes, grabbed some water and a protein bar, and went to the gym down the street. I had been thinking over the past few weeks, and especially after the incident at the club, that I needed to get stronger.
It had been a while since I’d been here, and I had forgotten about the overwhelming smell of humanity in this place. I signed in at the front desk and tried to breathe through my mouth as I found an empty treadmill.
I had my MP3 attached to an armband and I turned on Five Finger Death Punch, blasted the volume, and began the treadmill at a slow jog. It was only about five minutes before I moved the speed up to a run and started to feel the adrenaline and burn.
I glanced up at the TV and almost tripped and lost my stride as I saw the footage from last night playing on the evening news. But this wasn’t the same video I’d been shown earlier. This was a different one with much better views and angles. I pulled the headphones out of the MP3 player and plugged them into the treadmill as I ran so I could hear the audio.
“...in front of the popular LGBT club downtown last night. The strange events were witnessed by at least a dozen passersby. In this video, you can clearly see the young man in the green jacket’s eyes turn red, and then back to blue.” The footage shifted to me about to pull out the dagger and Kellan rushing to me, but this view was from the opposite side as the one I’d seen earlier. In this one, and someone had so helpfully slowed down the video, I could clearly see the vampire I was about to stab get whisked off his feet and thrown by Kellan. The camera then panned to another vampire grabbing a large human man’s fist as he attempted to punch the vampire. He squeezed it so hard, it broke, and the sound of the human screaming made me wince. The man was on the ground, the vampire standing over him and sneering. His wrist was turned at an odd direction, and his fingers did not look as if they should be bending at those angles.
“It was like the Justice League had appeared right here in the middle of downtown,” the voice over the phone said as the news people interviewed the cameraman.
Then the pretty female news anchor said, “Well, maybe the government really is working on their own version of the Justice League.”
The male anchor next her said, “Or maybe the Avengers.”
They both laughed.
“Next up...”
I yanked my headphones out and put them back into my MP3. Superheroes? That was what people thought?
I chuckled and looked around, hoping nobody had recognized me from the video, and kept running. Maybe it really would blow over soon.
How wrong I was.