Page 26 of Vampire so Virtuous
Still, she’d started it.Why did I start this?
“Fine. What’syourtheory, miss I-blacked-out-and-had-a-vision-for-five-minutes? And don’t tell me you saw ‘nothing.’ I’m not Lily.”
Oh yeah, that was why.
Cally hesitated, all her arguments faltering in the face of the undeniable magic of her dream.
“I don’t have any theories,” she said quietly, looking away from Eve to glance out of the window. “So it’s literally in my blood?”
“Maternal side, obviously. Being, you know”—she mouthed ‘witches’ with a hint of mischief—“and all.”
“So mymom?” Cally’s voice dropped a little, a hint of vulnerability rising inside her. “That’s ironic.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Eve said quickly. “Could be your Nana.”
“She’s dead, too.”
“Or your great-great-great-Nana for that matter. She’s not alive, is she? Maybe it’s recessive genes, skipping generations.”
Cally could only stare at her more. “How the hell do you know all this?”
“I read,” Eve said dryly. “And not the trash you read.”
“Nothing wrong with trash. Escapism is healthy.” She gave a huff. “I don’t know, Eve. That vision was likely a one-off. One weird thing doesn’t mean I’m some mystical prodigy. It’s random crap. I don’t have a magic bloodline.”
Eve looked skeptical. “All right. So what was in your vision?”
Cally winced. “I’ll tell you if you promise not to freak out, okay?”
Eve’s eyes widened, her voice a whisper. “You saw my death?”
“What? No!” Cally jerked her head back. “Girl, you really need to get your brain rewired.” She hurried on before Eve could say something even weirder. “It was like some out-of-body experience, but I was flying through a nightclub.”
“Why did you think I’d freak out about that?”
“I expected you to jump up and shout ‘translocation’ or ‘astral projection’ or something.”
“Ethereal sight?”
“What?”
“Just kidding. It wasn’t any of those,” Eve said matter-of-factly. “Foresight spell, remember? You were seeing the future.”
“The future is a nightclub?” she said dryly.And the evil, emanating presence.But she wasn’t ready to share that yet.
“There’s an allegory there somewhere. Society and culture, maybe,” Eve mused. “Or how about temptation and corruption.” She warmed to her theme. “Moral decline and hedonism!”
“Having a conversation with you is sometimes a little like dropping acid.”
“Which you’ve never done, so you wouldn’t know.”
“You make it easy to imagine,” Cally said, deadpan. But it really did feel as if the whole conversation was some kind of hallucination. Magic? Mystical bloodlines? If it wasn’t for the whole nightclub vision thing, she would dismiss it all.
Especially the memory of that shadowy aura, reaching out for her.
Cally suppressed a shiver. She couldn’t shake the sense it was tied into her nightmares, even though they were separate.
What was happening to her?
