Page 96 of Magic and Muffins

“Very true.” Craig let out a breath and wiped his hands on his pants. It was the first time I had seen him outwardly show his nervousness. “Please, nothing embarrassing.”

“What if I told you to cluck like a chicken?” Cross asked.

“I’d say no thank y?—”

“Cluck like a chicken.”

Craig looked mutinous for a second and then flapped his arms and squawked like a dying chicken.

I winced, knowing this was going to go viral, and nudged Cross when Craig kept flapping and squawking.

“Make him stop.”

Cross looked for the camera with the red light on. “This is why you shouldn’t trust vampires. Trust is earned, not freely given.”

I nudged him again. “You made your point.”

“Craig, you may stop clucking and resume your duties as host.”

Craig choked on his last squawk and reached for a glass of water. He took a sip and shook his head as if to clear it.

“That was strange. When you first suggested it, I thought absolutely not. But when you said to do it, I thought of every reason why what you were suggesting made sense. And that’s what it felt like—a suggestion. As if I could have talked myself out of it but didn’t want to.

“I knew the audience would want to see you compelling me. The producer would be happy. The network might even give me a promotion…I talked myself into it even though I’m embarrassed by what I just did.”

The flush in his face and brittle smile conveyed the truth behind his admission.

He turned toward the camera. “Regretfully, or maybe thankfully, that’s all the time we have. If you take away anything from this interview, please remember you are not stronger than a vampire. Let the wolves and authorities do their job. I want to thank our guests for joining us. Please stay tuned for the nightly news right after this.”

As soon as the red light blinked off and the floor director yelled, “Clear,” Craig ripped off his mic and stormed away.

“This better not become a fucking GIF or meme!”

I looked at Cross and Shepard as we stood. “It feels like you took turns making the hosts angry.”

Cross grinned. “I didn’t want Shepard to look like the bad guy alone.”

Hugh came up to us with a smile on his face.

“That went better than I expected. Craig did an excellent job steering the conversation without making it look like a blatant vampire-hate interview. Explaining the different types of mind control should help people know what to look for. And understanding that a feeding enables the vampire to intimately know a person’s thoughts and past should help slow down the Night Club’s volunteers.”

My phone started to ring, and when I looked down at the caller, I felt a little sick to my stomach, seeing it was my mom.

“Is there somewhere private I can take this call?” I asked Hugh.

He waved for a production assistant.

Shepard caught my free hand in his. “Do you think your parents watched it?”

“Yes.” The word trembled a little. “I thought I was safe since they were on the cruise, but they faithfully watch the five o’clock news, and they bought the Wi-Fi package.”

“Do you want us to talk to them with you?” Shepard asked.

The call went to voicemail. A second later, it started ringing again.

“No. I’d rather have this conversation without either of you.”

My parents were generally accepting of everyone. That was why I was friends with the daughter of otherworld treasure hunters. However, like any parents, they’d have concerns about dating non-humans, never mind dating two at once.

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