Page 65 of Wicked Bite
“Like I said, rookie move. Who only carries one?” She turned to me. “Ignore him. I’ll eventually teach him survival tactics.”
“Okayyy.” I glanced around at the shelves filled with potion bottles and ingredients. Some of them glowed bright colors, some held a smoky solution, and some had bubbling liquid within. Ophelia, aka death, was the Queen of Potions, which meant that there was no other witch better than her at potions. If I needed it, she would have it. “I need a potion, love.”
“That’s it?” She groaned. “You know you’re all secretive about vampire life and all I want is to know what it’s like to bite someone in the neck, and you won’t even take me for that.”
She glanced at the side of my neck where Piper had bitten me. “But apparently you are into it. First time I’ve seen you with something like that.”
“O.” Cross warned.
“Whatttt?” She wrinkled her nose at him. “Fineee. What kind of potion do you need?”
“The kind that can clear the mind of a feral vampire.” I held my breath. She had to have it for Piper’s sake. She’d been through enough. I just wanted her to live and be healthy.
Ophelia froze and a smile spread across her face. “You have a feral vamp. Where is it? Can I see?”
“She’s not a bloody sideshow.” I was going to run through the whole room and collect every bit of potion ingredients I could and leave without volunteering up Piper as a form of entertainment.
“Ohhh, so it’s a she? Is she the she who did the fangy bitey bit on your neck?” Ophelia walked across the room and grabbed an empty jar.
Heat flooded my face. “Maybe.”
“So, you liked it?”
“O!” Cross snapped. “Do we need to do a lesson about boundaries again?”
“Probably.” She waved him away. “Besides, I was just wondering how the bitey bite feels and if we should, you know, play with it.”
“You bit me yesterday.” He sighed. “Just help the leech out.”
“Rigghttt. Yeah, I liked that.” She sauntered over to one of her shelves and grabbed two containers, both holding a blue liquid that looked exactly the same. She popped the lid and smelled each of the contents, then held them at eye level examining one and then the other over and over. After a few seconds of inner debate, she shrugged and chose the bottle in her right hand. She poured some into the jar and then paused. She took a look at it, then poured a little more.
Bloody hell. Was she guessing? “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
She paused with three other vials in her hands and met my eye. “Hello. Queen. Of course I do.”
Cross shook his head and mouthed the words, “She doesn’t.”
A chill went down my spine. “O, this has got to be done properly.” It was life or death, and she was everything.
“Yeah, yeah I got it.” She danced around the room and picked up another bottle. She swirled the fizzing pink liquid around, then dumped half the bottle into the jar. A moment later, she dumped the rest in. The contents of the jar fizzed up, nearly pouring over, and she slammed the top down on it. “Behave yourself.”
The jar stopped fizzing instantly. I arched my eyebrows at her. Did it just listen to her? Cross chuckled. “I know. Weird.”
She poured a couple more things into the jar, and when it glowed a bright red, she nodded at it and tucked it under her arm. “Okay. I’m ready.”
I motioned to the jar. “Great. Give it over.”
She held it away from me. “No way. Imma go see the feral vampire.”
“No, you’re not.” I shook my head.
“You want the potion?” She wagged it at me.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Obviously.”
“Then to vampland we go.” She walked over to the shelf, grabbed her potion belt from it, and wrapped it around her hips, then she grabbed a handful of vials and threw them all in there haphazardly.
I looked from her to Cross and back again. I knew Ophelia. She wasn’t going to budge on this, not even for a second. I could try to use my vampire speed and steal the potion, but that would result in a fight. I would get hurt, she would enjoy it, and I just didn’t have time for it. I groaned. “Fine, but if you stab anything, you have to leave right away.”
