Page 16 of Magic Pussy

She scoffed. "There's nothing little about that damn ritual, trust me. And yes. All year round, the witches of Nola use ancestral magic, and by summer, it's somewhat depleted. The entire clan basically seals the area, to make sure that their power is contained, and summons the ancestors. The anchor takes in the powers, and the person who cast the spell redistributes it to all the clans."

Luke could imagine just about a billion ways this plan could go wrong. What if the shields around the area failed? What if the anchor wanted to keep the powers? What if the caster didn't distribute it? Michelle could just absorb them if she wanted to.

"So, you'll be the anchor. You do your thing, and then we get you out of there, yeah?"

Rain hesitated. Shit. He should have counted on that.

"You're not leaving until you know what's up with your little sister," he guessed.

She nodded. "It's not what you signed up for. I'd understand if you—"

He didn't let her finish. "Oh, come off it. I ain't leaving you in this mess alone. Now if only that poser would show up..."

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear," said Charles, appearing behind them.

Shit. Luke and his animal never even smelled, heard, or felt him. One of the reasons he disliked vampires was because they were so fucking sneaky.

Charles wore a long leather jacket, jeans, boots, and no top. He had a top hat on his head and sunglasses on.

Luke looked him over from head to toes.

"Seriously? Leather, in this heat?"

The vampire was unapologetic. "Beats sunburn."

"If you're so concerned about sunburn, why aren't you wearing a damn t-shirt?"

Charles shrugged. "It's hot."

That made zero sense. Zero.

Luke didn’t like anything about Charles.

Not his look, not the familiar way he spoke to Rain and touched her casually. And certainly not the fact that he was a goddamned bloodsucker. His animal bared his teeth, observing Charles cautiously. One wrong move and he’d be ready to pounce on his undead ass.

He kissed Rain's cheek, before gesturing them to follow him as he walked inside the cemetery.

"Where are we..."

Luke let his voice trail off when Charles opened the door of a crypt. The white stone building had an angel sculpted on either side of its metallic door. The name "Blackstone" had been engraved on top of it.

"Let me guess. Your place?" Rain asked.

Charles smiled, walking in. They found the crypt to be entirely clean, and empty of anything, except a trap door in the floor.

"I had this built on top of underground tunnels leading to most relevant places," he told them, holding his hand up to help Rain walk down the set of steep stairs. "I'm afraid the journey won't be pleasant. I don't let anyone else take my passages, and I've never been one to do housekeeping."

To Luke's surprise, the vampire also held up his hand to him, letting him pass before him.

Luke narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Chill, kitten, if I'd wanted to, I would have gobbled you up by now."

Kitten.

Never, in living memory, had anyone called Luke "kitten."

It might have happened before he was, like, three, but he wasn't acknowledging that.

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