Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
There are bad people.
There are good vampires.
Witches and werewolves are just as human as a normie.
“What smells like a rotting corpse?” Theo asks, coming into the kitchen.
“Me,” I reply, wrinkling my nose. “The smell is clinging to my hair. Humidity and decaying bodies in a house with no airflow do not mix.”
“Should I ask?” Theo cocks an eyebrow.
“We’re discussing this at dinner tonight,” Xavier says. “It is now a top priority of this family.”
Theo’s gaze goes to the wooden stake on the counter. “We’re keeping murder weapons with the kitchen utensils now?”
“It’s not like you use them,” I retort and Theo looks up. He’s annoyed, as always, but there’s a little bit of lighthearted amusement on his face.
“As long as it doesn’t bother you, then.”
“I prefer my food prepared without a side of vampire sludge. But I do smell like death. I’m going to workout then shower,” I tell them and go upstairs to change. Working out was part of my job, but I always enjoyed the physical challenge and the mental break it gave me. Once I’m done with my workout, I go upstairs and shower, shampooing my hair twice to make sure I get the smell off. By the time I’m out and dressed, dinner is ready. I braid my wet hair and go downstairs.
We haven’t had a sit down family meal since the first night I came. Xavier is seated at the head of the table, with Theo to his right. The chair to his left is empty, and there’s a glass of water in that spot, which means it’s for me. Zeke and then Mabel are next to me, and Devon sits across the table next to Theo.
Alan has prepared me a four-course meal, and it’s weird being served a salad while only Zeke, Mabel, and Devon sip blood from fancy goblets.
“We should all go around the table and say the best part of our day,” Mabel suggests. “I’ll go first. Mother said I can go to prom with Ezekiel even though he’s much older than me.”
“Drink your blood, honey,” Zeke tells her. I’m actually not sure the last time I saw Mabel drink more than a few sips of human blood. Does not eating affect her mind? Blood literally is life for vampires.
“What about you, Wren?” Devon asks pointedly. “Do anything fun?”
“I found a dead body,” I say with a shrug. “Two, technically. But only one was still in body-form.”
“This is something that needs to be discussed,” Xavier starts. I wait for him to go on but then realize everyone is looking at me.
“Oh, uh, right.” I put my fork down. “I can’t say for certain, but I think the Order and the demons are working together.”
“In what capacity?” Zeke asks.
“I don’t know. I’ve run through a million scenarios in my head. The Order made a deal with a demon?” I shrug. “They seem to like making deals, am I right?” I elbow Zeke, laughing at my lame joke but no one else appreciates it.
“What kind of things can demons offer?” Mabel asks.
“A lot. It’s at cost, of course, but the phrase sold your soul to the Devil has some truth to it. People can get almost anything.”
“What would the Order want?”
I look at Xavier and we both say it at the same time. “Power.”
“And what would a demon want?”
“Death and destruction,” I tell her.
“How do we stop it?” Theo asks and it just then hits me that everyone is looking at me, waiting for me to tell them what to do. Maybe I am part of this family after all.
“Lower-level demons like the ones burning through bodies work for someone more powerful. I need to figure out who that is and then kill them.” I pick up my fork again. “And how you kill a higher-level demon depends on how higher-level they are.”
“And once the demon is gone, we’ll go after those shrimp-dick losers in the Order,” Theo states and this time, I agree. Mabel asks me about other powerful demons I’ve come up against, and I spend the rest of dinner telling her about them.
After dinner, Xavier, Theo, Zeke and even Devon leave the house, doing something for work. The way Theo and Xavier were talking to each other in a language I couldn’t follow, I think this is another put someone in their place night.
I hang out with Mabel and we come up with a new series idea for her social media called “vampires attempting to cook human food” and we spend the next hour or so laughing as she uses modern kitchen gadgets for the first time.
We clean up and go for a walk around the property, which would be totally normal if it wasn’t 1AM.
“Have you ever thought about moving somewhere with less sunlight?” I ask her.
“Places with less light are cold. The weather doesn’t really affect us. I don’t feel the discomfort of being cold or sweaty when I’m hot. I don’t even get hot. But I still don’t like the cold.”