“Hah, I can have my phone right next to me not on silent and not realize it rang when I’m reading.” Betty laughs. “Anyway, some guy came to the house and dropped this off for you. He must not have realized you moved.” She hands me the envelope.
“You didn’t have to come all the way over just to bring this.”
“You’re my neighbor. Granted, you’re over a mile away. I’m on my way to meet some friends for dinner anyway.”
“Thanks.” I flip the envelope over. It’s sealed with red wax with “VC” stamped in bold letters inside a circle. It’s the Vampire Council’s symbol. “The guy who brought it…what did he look like?”
“Pretty normal,” she says. “He seemed young, and he had, um, I don’t mean this in an offensive way because I don’t judge.”
“It’s fine,” I rush out. “Judge away. I do it all the time.”
“He had vampire bites on his neck and arm. Nasty ones, not like the ones I’ve seen on you.”
“Like infected?”
“A couple of them might have been. He just had a lot, and a lot were overlapping and bruised.”
I know exactly what she means because I saw it before on Monica, a human who lives in Chicago that runs errands for Lucas and Eliza. She’s been held spellbound so many times her memory has to be shit, and she was used as a human blood bag by her boyfriend Dominic, who Eliza was secretly screwing on the side.
“Not all human-vampire relationships are healthy,” I say, wrinkling my nose. “Just like how not all human-human relationships are. This guy, though, did he say anything else?”
“No, he asked for you, and I said you weren’t available. I didn’t tell him where you lived.”
“Thanks. That was smart.”
“He looked out of it.”
Because he’s been held spellbound. “Probably from the blood loss,” I say, thinking that’s better than telling her it’s because an old vampire is controlling his mind.
“Ugh, right.”
“Well, thanks again. Have fun at dinner.”
“It’s no problem, and I’m sure I will. See you soon?”
“Yeah. I’ll stop in the store a few more times before this little one makes her debut.” I pat my stomach, thankful for this stupid brightly colored maxi dress that hides the fact I’m suddenly way bigger than the last time she saw me.
“Can’t wait!” Betty smiles a genuine smile and waves as she gets back into her car. I carefully peel off the wax seal as I walk back to the house, grabbing my phone and tucking it under my arm. Lucas is in the foyer, standing by the sweeping staircase that still takes my breath away when I stop and look at it.
“This came from the VA.” I hold up the envelope, using my foot to close the door. The seal pops off, and I open it up, pulling out a handwritten letter on gold paper. I hold it so both Lucas and I can read at the same time.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. King,
On the behalf of the Vampire Council, Mr. Ó Cléirigh warmly requests the honor of your presence at a private four-course dinner, suitable for both humans and vampires alike, tomorrow night at the hour of eleven p.m. Black tie is requested. Kindly RSVP no later than an hour after sunset tonight.
Under the fancy script writing is a Chicago address and a phone number to respond to. Lucas takes the invitation from me and crumples it up in his hand. He curses under his breath, speaking in a language I don’t recognize.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him, feeling my blood pressure immediately go up.
“Remember that vampire who showed up at the house wanting you to join him in a fight against all humans?”
“Eamon,” I say. “Kinda hard to forget. Why?”
“He’s the one who sent this letter.”
Chapter 32
“How do you know it’s him?” I ask
“Ó Cléirigh,” Lucas answers. “It’s his last name.”
I shake my head, having a hard time jumping from the Horsemen knocking on my door to some vampire who’s older than Lucas inviting us to a fancy dinner that is no doubt a trap. “Okay, um…fuck. I don’t know where I was going with that.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’re not going to dinner, and Eamon can fuck off.”
“Why do I get the feeling this is personal?” I suck in a breath. “You knew who I was talking about by just a basic description. You guys have history, don’t you?”
“There aren’t many vampires my age,” Lucas tries, and I hold up my hand, winding a string of white light between my fingers.
“Don’t lie to me, Lucas.”
“I’m not lying, Callie. I don’t lie to you.”
“I know,” I relent. “Don’t withhold the truth for my sake. I’m going to find out one way or another.”
“Fine,” he growls and continues to rip the invitation up, striding into the living room so he can throw it in the fireplace. There’s no wood in there, and he looks at me, dark eyes flashing, and I know he wants me to ignite it with magic. “At one point in time, Eamon and I shared a mutual friend.”