Page 78 of Wicked Thirst
“Is rat.” He shrugged.
I backed away to the other side of the cage. I scrambled to my feet and pointed at it. “Why is there a dead rat in there? Wait, it is dead, right?”
“Rat is animal no one likes.” He shrugged. “Glittery vampires on movie eat animals. You will eat animal and be okay.”
I shook my head. “As much as I appreciate you hunting for me, I’m going to pass.”
Astrid waved her hand, and the cloth-wrapped rat disappeared. “As curious as I would be about that, I don’t think rat is Piper’s brand of sustenance.”
“How can we help, Piper?” Zinnia moved closer to the bars. She smelled so enticing. Like a buffet, she had all different scents seeping from her body. I didn’t know how or why. Perhaps it was all the different magics she wielded that made her smell like that. But it was getting to be too much.
Astrid motioned toward me. “First, I think we could ease her mind a bit when it comes to Grayson, and then we need to figure out the blood thing.”
Zinnia pursed her lips and nodded. “How so?”
“I have an idea, but I need your help to make it work.” She held her hands out and her glittery, golden magic exploded from her palms. It spun and wove together until it turned into a glowing white box with a black front.
“What is it?” Zinnia tilted her head from side to side studying the box.
“It’s an alarm system.” Astrid glanced toward me. “So we’ll know if Grayson tries to summon a demon, and we’ll know we have to get there before he does, which Kylian can point us to.”
“You’re asking a lot there, Red.” Kylian sat down on the ground and pulled his sword from the halter at his hip. He picked up a rock and his magic flowed around it, turning it into a sharpening stone. He ran it over the blade in a rhythmic motion. “But I can do it.”
Zinnia crossed her arms. “So what do you need from me?”
“I need you to put a bit of Grayson’s essence in here.” Astrid held the box out toward Zinnia.
Tuck grimaced. “And what makes you think she just has that?”
Astrid raised her eyebrows at her.
Zinnia made a sound of frustration in the back of her throat. “Sometimes I can’t help it, you know? Power like that lingers in the air, and my body just kinda takes it.”
“It takes it?” Tucker spoke so slowly it almost sounded disbelieving. “Zinnia.”
She shrugged. “I can’t help it, really.”
“Anyways,” Astrid cut in, catching their attention. “Just give it a little something and we’ll know if Gray is doing something fucked up.”
Zinnia held her hand out, and her silvery magic wrapped around the box. I watched as hints of red mist filtered in with her power and seeped into the box.
The black front lit up like a radar screen and illuminated Astrid’s face. “There, now we’ll know if he’s up to something. Now we can work on our next problem: Piper needs to eat, and I can’t just manifest up some blood. Even I have my limits.”
“Can we substitute it somehow?” Zinnia went into problem-solving mode. “Oh, I know.”
She pulled her phone from her pocket and hit a number, then put it on speakerphone. It rang twice before it was answered.
“Go for O.”
“We need some help, O.”
“Just make an anonymous call to the cops. Tell them there’s a body buried there.”
Zinnia did a double take at the phone. “Wait, what?”
“That way there will be an empty hole where you need it, and they’ve already checked the area for a body. They won’t go back and check it again. Work smarter not harder, sis.” She sounded like she was chewing gum. “You’re welcome.”
Zinnia pinched the bridge of her nose and held the phone a bit higher. “Umm . . . no, that’s not why I called. I’m calling to ask if you know where we can get some blood to feed a vampire.”
