Page 39 of Livewire Witch

Plus, I like Dante. He’s done so much without ever asking for anything in return. And if he has grand aspirations of joining the oily elites, who am I to judge?

“When you say a partnership, I expect you to hold up your end of the deal. I won’t do my part only for you to pull out and promote my name to the elitist scum of this city.”

Ah. Sounds like heisn’tkeen on joining the oily elites, after all.

Fabian lets out a disbelieving rumble. “We wouldn’t do that.”

Dante leans back in his seat. “You’re young and with that comes a certain level of ignorance. Do you know how Arcanum grew into the city we know today?”

“Great, the old man is going to tell us a story about when all of this was fields,” Zeph mutters under his breath.

“Around sixty years ago, Arcanum had an influx of magic users. It originally had a population that was entirely human, but over half a decade, it became a place where mages and witches make up nearly half of the population. The magic users with the most power announced themselves as the de facto leaders and renamed the city.

“There were, of course, already vampires living unknown in the city. But it wasn’t until that point that we started to liveour lives more freely and out in the open. I moved to the city around that time. I’d always been interested in running my own business and so I opened a club a couple of streets away from where we are now. It wasn’t always quite the same as Second Circle, but we expanded over the years.”

He leans forward, his elbows on his knees, as he meets Fabian’s eyes. “Things were all going well, the city was growing and business was steady. Then, a few decades later, your family started their business. I wasn’t exactly aware of them at the time. Not until they started to take over fresh territory, including the street my business was on. Still, I thought little of it, not until I was being confronted by hired goons and threatened.”

“Did they hurt you?” I ask.

“They set fire to three businesses along the same street. Smashed the front windows of my place when I refused to pay.” He lifts his shoulders in a shrug. “Over the years, they gained ownership over every business in the area. Grew the district into the business hub it is today.”

There’s a moment of awkward silence as his words, and the truth of just how awful the current heads of the Nexus District, settle. “We’ll keep our word,” Fabian insists.

I can see the thoughts running through Dante’s mind. I don’t know how I know what he’s thinking, but I do.

He’s tempted to compel them into not breaking their word. His amber eyes meet mine for a long moment and he lets out a breath almost of resignation.

Then he holds a hand out to Fabian to shake. The mage takes it with a sincere nod.

“I’ll let you know what I know of the list of vampires in your file. I’ll also give you a list of vampire dens around the city so you can track down the rat with the cursed blood. I assume you’ve got people at the city boundaries with the guy’s descriptions?”

Fabian nods. “As much as I can remember. I’m pretty sure he messed with my head, though.”

My eyebrows shoot up. Poor Fabian. His head is going to be like Swiss cheese with all the missing memories.

“Can you tell anything about the list of names the Archarcans are considering?” Roscoe asks.

Dante settles back in his seat and thumbs through the file, letting out a thoughtful hum.

“You know much about vampire society?”

“Oh great, is it time for another lesson from the vamp?” Zeph mutters, scowling at the carpet. “Selfish, predatory blood suckers.”

I inwardly groan. So much for the truce. I guess it lasted all of a minute.

Dante doesn’t let Z’s comment rile him, though. “There are surprisingly few vampires in this city. Our population is in the hundreds, while the mage and witch populations are around fifty to sixty thousand, with humans making up the remainder.” Dante taps the file. “We have a council of elders, not unlike the Archarcan council, although they keep to themselves much of the time.” He taps the file with his finger. “These here are the vamps who are business owners in the city. They’re all the most powerful vampires who are not part of the elders council.”

“What does that mean?”

Dante’s answering chuckle is humorless. “It means they’ve all been around for a long time. It’s going to take me a while to compile the information. There are plenty of names here none of us would want having power in this city.”

LATER THAT NIGHT, FABIANand Seb have returned to The Spire to get a checkup in the med bay, leaving me with Roscoe and Zeph. Clearly, my passing out earlier freaked them both out.Which means they both spend the evening in overdrive mode, taking care of me. Roscoe tucks me in on the sofa with a blanket around me and makes dinner while Zeph puts on another episode of our favorite baking show.

When I eventually head off to bed a few hours later, I toss and turn for a couple of hours. My blankets wind up scrunched up around me and I can’t seem to settle down with my blood still humming with unspent energy.

Flopping back onto my back, I let out a defeated sigh and head into the kitchen for a glass of water.

I quickly discover I’m not alone. The extractor fan light is on, shining a tiny spotlight on the counter where Ro is perched, eating a bowl of pudding. He freezes with the spoon halfway to his mouth, swallows and beams at me.

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