Chloe
“Whatdoyoumean, that was a curse?” Chloe pulled herself up on the sofa, feeling like her legs might collapse under her. “Why would you curse me?” She was aware her voice sounded like a screech, but right now, she felt she was fully entitled to reach banshee-like tones.
“I didn’t curse you!” Maxwell sounded offended. “Why would I do that?”
“Okay,” Chloe said slowly. “Okay, you didn’t curse me, but it was a curse. You knew it was. That’s…that’s what’s happening here.”
“When you’ve been around as long as I have, you see a few things. And that was definitely a curse.”
Chloe let out a shaky breath. “I don’t have any trouble believing that was a curse,” she said slowly. “But why? What could possibly have set it off?”
“I have no idea.” Something in his tone suggested to Chloe that maybe he did.
Slowly and carefully, Chloe let go of the sofa and walked across the room to the mirror mounted above the fireplace. Standing on her tiptoes, she examined herself. She looked a little pale and shaken, but apart from that, she couldn’t see any immediate effects of whatever had just happened. “What do you think it did? Do you feel any different?”
“Not really,” Maxwell said, examining his hands. “I don’t have horns or something, do I? It’s not like I can check my reflection.”
Chloe managed to smile at that. “No horns,” she confirmed. “But that was… Well, it felt like something big.”
“It did,” he nodded, running his hands through his hair as though he didn’t entirely trust her on the no horns thing.
“But you don’t know what it did? Or what set it off?” Chloe asked again.
“No idea,” Maxwell said again, but his eyes didn’t meet hers. Chloe was now sure he knew something.
“Right,” Chloe said, and she stood up straighter. “We need to go and see Jesse, then.”
“Who’s Jesse?” Maxwell frowned. “Your boyfriend?”
“My brother,” Chloe corrected. “The warlock. Well, warlock and handyman. It’s complicated.” She definitely wasn’t up to explaining Jesse’s unusual employment situation at this moment. “He’ll know what to do.”
“You trust him?”
“He’s my brother!” Chloe felt annoyed. She trusted him a hell of a lot more than she trusted Maxwell. Chiselled jawline or not. “And I think he’s good at what he does. I don’t know much about this stuff, but I don’t have any better ideas.”
“Fair enough,” Maxwell said. “We’ll go and see your brother.”
For all her wishes that Jesse had sought more conventional employment, Chloe was, at that moment, glad she had a warlock for a brother. Jesse would be able to sort the whole thing out, and she could go back to her normal life where she didn’t have to think about things like curses.
Or maddeningly handsome vampire clients.
The lights were on, and Chloe could hear the sounds of music coming from inside. She cringed, hoping that her brother wasn’t “entertaining”, as he put it.
She banged on the door. “Jesse?” she called. “Jesse, are you home?”
“Someone’s clearly home,” Maxwell said, rather unhelpfully.
Chloe was about to point that out but suppressed the urge. Despite clearly knowing more about this curse business than he was letting on, Maxwell was still technically a client. She couldn’t allow herself to be anything less than professional. Not until his signature was on the paperwork for the Sanguis Estate, anyway.
Chloe banged again, and finally, she saw a dark, Jesse-shaped shadow approaching the door. Please be wearing pants, she thought desperately. Being cursed, she could deal with. Her brother appearing naked in front of a client? Not so much.
The door opened, and Chloe was relieved to see Jesse was wearing his jeans and even a shirt, though it was unbuttoned.
“Chloe!” he said, sounding surprised. “What are you doing here?” He looked past her at Maxwell. “And why have you brought me a vampire?”
“He’s a client,” Chloe said quickly. “And I need your help. We need your help. Are you busy?”
It was then that Chloe heard the sound of giggling and raised voices from within the little weatherboard cottage.
“Well, I was,” Jesse winked. “You remember Sofia and Ingrid from the pub the other night? Turns out they were staying in town a few days, and I thought I’d show them the sights—”
“You’re a fantastic local tour guide,” Chloe deadpanned. “The town should be thanking you for your service. But this is an emergency.”
“An emergency?” Jesse stood up straighter, his grin fading. “Are you okay? Did this asshole bite you?”
“Of course not,” Maxwell answered before Chloe could. “I’d never bite a human.”
“Then what’s the emergency?” Jesse looked at Maxwell with distinct dislike, which Chloe couldn’t fathom.
“Well, Maxwell here just bought the Sanguis Estate—”