Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Oh, shit. I do, and suddenly that crazy rumor Leo heard about Xavier possibly being the one responsible for the new, deadly drugs makes sense.
CHAPTER 23
“Thank you so much for joining us!” Mabel waves to the phone. “Catch ya next time, my little May Bells!” She ends the live stream and turns to me, clapping her hands together. “That was fun!”
“It was,” I say and actually mean it. She insisted I do a Get Ready with Me video on her TikTok channel. All we did was talk while she recorded her doing my hair and makeup.
For as out of it as Mabel can be, she’s good on camera and I can see why she’s gained so many followers so fast. Vampire aside, she’s interesting and personable. Pretty, rich, and married into a powerful legacy, she’s the kind of person us regular folk like to watch from the safety of our humble houses, laying in a bed that probably doesn’t even have a headboard.
“And my hair looks amazing,” I compliment. “Thank you!”
“Of course, you’re my best friend!” She brings her hands to her chest and smiles. “Am I yours? Wait, you don’t have to answer that.”
“I’ve never had a best friend,” I tell her honestly. “My brothers were the closest things I’ve had to real friends, I guess.” I shrug. “I don’t know if that’s sad or not, but life in the Order isn’t really made to help anyone have a good social life.” I close my eyes and shake my head. “Actually, that’s an Order-fed line of bullshit. I had friends but once people found out I was a witch, I was outcast.”
“Back in my day, witches, werewolves, and shifters weren’t considered human.”
“They’re still not.”
“Then why did the Russos keep you?” She goes over to her jewelry dresser and opens the top drawer. Everything is carefully laid out. “Rubies tonight, dontcha’ think?”
“Yeah. That would match.” I’m wearing a tight black dress that ends mid-thigh with sleek Louboutin heels. Mabel let her followers pick the style for my whole look tonight, and this was deemed “siren chic”…whatever that means.
Her words hit me like a ton of bricks and the emotions I’ve been telling myself weren’t there threaten to come to the surface. “I was told that Vivan and Marco were hunting demons in Italy but it was too late. These demons killed a family and my mom supposedly died heroically, saving me. Vivian just had the twins like six months before that and felt her maternal instincts kick in or whatever and took me so they could keep me safe. Ya know, since the demon wanted to take out my whole family but missed one.”
“The way you say that tells me something has recently made you see that wasn’t true.”
“Yep.” I pull my hair back so Mabel can put a ruby necklace on for me. “Xavier knew. I don’t know how he knew, but he knew.”
“He has a way of getting whatever it is he needs,” she starts, going back to her impressive jewelry collection. “Whether it’s information or someone’s loyalty, he usually gets his way.”
“Yeah. I’m finding that out.”
“But what happened?”
“They kidnapped me.” I look up and blink back tears. I just had my makeup done. I can’t cry and mess it up now. “I don’t know what happened to my parents. They could still be alive and looking for me.”
“Can you do a location spell to find them?”
“Yes, but I’m not exactly sure how. Finding someone with the same blood as me is more than possible…if I knew how to do it.”
Mabel makes a face, looking at me as she thinks. I assume she’s trying to decide what earrings for me to wear.
“We’ve always been warned to stay away from witches, warlocks, or anyone remotely similar. But I’ve heard from Caroline that there is a witch who runs an antique shop who might be able to help you. I could ask if maybe she could hook a girl up.”
“I would love that,” I say without asking or even caring who Caroline is. Being able to do a locator spell for my long-lost parents and know it was the real deal would be amazing. “Thank you.”
“Of course! Anything for my bestie.”
“You’re not going to, like, get in trouble for reaching out to a witch, are you?” I look at myself in the mirror, hardly recognizing the woman looking back at me. Though there’s a part of me that definitely can get used to being all done up like this from time to time.
“No, I won’t get close. And you’re fine to be around other witches. It’s more a rule for us, but you’re here so maybe Xavier will change his mind.” She wrinkles her nose. “Or not. You’re an exception.”
“To being around witches?”
“Yep. We’re forbidden.”
“Because of the whole war?”
“That,” she starts and hands me a pair of black diamond earrings. “And the fact that Xavier’s maker was killed by a witch.”