Page 44 of Wicked Thirst
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
PIPER
“And I’m just supposed to step into that thing?” I stood just outside of Beckett’s swirling blue vortex of death.
He nodded. “Yep.”
“Feels like a trap.” I crossed my arms over my chest and didn’t make a move forward. The magic within looked so turbulent. It twisted and turned with blue smoke that felt heavy in the room. This was one rollercoaster ride I wasn’t ready to step on. “You said Kylian was going to puke . . . I don’t want to puke.”
Astrid scoffed and stepped beside me. “Can vampires even puke?”
“I can assure you with perfect clarity that they really can.” I nodded my head, trying to get the idea of my first meal as a vampire out of my mind and how Grayson stayed by my side through it. It was awful and not something I was looking to relive.
Astrid wrinkled her nose and made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat. “Noted.”
“What are you waiting for?” Kylian silently came up behind me. I hadn’t even heard his footsteps, which was shocking for me as I’d grown so used to hearing everything around me.
I whirled around to face him, and my fangs extended of their own accord. I hissed at him, then slammed my hand over my mouth. It was such a guttural reaction that I had no control over. “You startled me.”
“Here now, what’s a little hiss between friends?” He winked. “And we are friends, Piper.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to convey the message to keep his mouth shut. I wasn’t ready to reveal how my fragile human friend got involved with an elven tracker, or how I’d hidden her in this world that she really didn’t belong in. When this was all over, I was going to have to get her to a new, safe place to live.
“Yeah, we’re friends.” I tried to make my words sound free and easy, but they sounded as guarded as I felt.
Astrid looked back and forth between me and him. “You two are kind of weird with each other, you know that right?”
Kylian didn’t bother to answer her. Instead, he turned to the rest of the group. “This isn’t a school field trip, and I’m not a chaperone, so I won’t be doing a guided tour on how to hunt a vampire.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, I’m not taking all of you, so decide who’s coming and who’s not.” He pointed toward Beckett. “You’re coming.” Then he looked around the room at the rest of the group gathered there. “The rest of you . . . meh.”
Beckett sighed. “You only want me for my power.”
“So?” Kylian gave him a deadpan look as if saying who cares why I want you here. “Besides, you owe me for our little killing adventure before.”
Killing adventure? This world was full of magic and violence I wasn’t accustomed to but was steadily getting there. I couldn’t decide if it was a bad thing that I kind of loved it. Maybe Ophelia and I had more in common than I thought, and maybe I was good with it.
Beckett held his hands up in surrender. “Just thought I’d make it known. I’m pretty too.”
Kylian rolled his eyes. “You’re not my type of blonde, pretty boy.”
Astrid stepped between the two of them and pressed her hands to their chest, forcing them to move apart. “Better be careful or I’ll start to get jealous.”
Zinnia snapped her fingers to get everyone’s attention. “Beckett and Astrid, you’ll go with Piper and Kylian. We’ll keep the hunting numbers small, and the rest of us will stay here and do as much research as possible.”
Beckett waved toward the swirling portal, and I still hesitated. “How do you know where to go?”
“Kylian told me.” He shrugged as if that were answer enough.
“Look, baby vamp, I’m not standing here all night debating our quickest form of travel.” Kylian looked me up and down. “Do you want your Prince or not?”
“Are you my fairy godmother now?”
“Yeah, better watch out where I stick my wand.” He chuckled to himself.
Ashryn, his sister and the elf guardian of the witches, strode over to him and smacked him across the back of the head. “Don’t be gross.”
