Page 48 of Livewire Witch

“It’s okay. I mean, it’s never okay to talk to people like you talked to me. Or to treat anyone like shit. But I’m pretty sure you were being protective of Fabian. And having seen the people around him and the backstabbing and bullshit that goes on around here, I can understand why you’d want to protect him.”

We hang around until the sun comes up, with me wedged between Zeph and Roscoe’s warm bodies. Roscoe rests his head on my shoulder, snuggling as close as he can get without sitting me on his lap. He keeps one arm around my waist and rubs smallcircles on my skin. It’s a casual kind of intimacy I haven’t shared with anyone before and his affection melts my brain a little.

The comfort of his presence doesn’t help in keeping me awake though. Although my numb ass and the cold air from the open door are unpleasant enough to keep us all awake, even if it’s in a kind of fugue state.

No one shows.

We stay there until after dawn breaks. When it finally hits seven in the morning and the street is starting to wake up, we decide to call it.

“No judiciary.”

“No one came for the bodies, either. I wonder if they’re hoping to cause a splash in the daylight.”

I fail to smother a yawn. “You think we should stick around longer? See if anyone shows up?”

Both mages glance at each other, checking they’re on the same page before Roscoe replies, “Nah, I think we’re done here. Let’s get you home. I don’t know about you, but I need some snuggles.”

He burrows his face into the sensitive skin on my neck and gives a little nip with his teeth.

When he pulls back, there’s a wicked smirk on his face and I have a feeling we’re not going to get much sleep.

14

Silver

We spend the next few days scouring the list of haunts Dante sends through. They’re all either known vampire nests or places he thinks Fabian’s curse-giver vamp might be. The first couple are easy to discount as abandoned buildings with no sign of any life, but we stick around for a few hours at each, just in case.

It’s mostly boring, like all stake out jobs are.

“Except most stake outs probably don’t end up with someone getting staked,” Roscoe comments when we arrive at our seventh nest. “Gettit? Because he’s a vamp, and we’re gonna end him when we find him.”

I just snort and shake my head, wondering how long he’s been waiting to pull that old chestnut out of the bag.

He joins me for the first couple of days, and it’s... fun. The two of us sit in cozy corners, with me plastered against his chest, sitting in his lap since he’s decided he can’t seem to go two minutes without touching me. He shows me his card tricks and creates teeny tiny illusions, like a tiny army scene running up and down my limbs to keep us both amused.

He also takes every opportunity he can to kiss me. Can’t say I fight too hard on that last one. It’s as though the dam has broken and whatever was holding Roscoe back before has disappeared and I’m getting the full force of his affections. Sometimes it’s the lightest, butterfly kisses along my neck as he tells me stories ofdumb things he and the other mages have done. Other times, it’s a fleeting kiss where I’m about to step away, and he yanks me back and presses his lips to mine like he can’t bear for us to be separated for any length of time.

On top of that, there’s also the make-out sessions. Although, it’s me more than him instigating those once we get home for the night. After hours of him teasing me with light touches and caresses, I’m like a beast that’s been roused as soon as the door shut. I practically throw myself at him, yanking his head down to meet mine in frantic kisses.

Then, on the fourth day, Fabian needs Roscoe’s help with something work-related, so it winds up being me and Zeph. I haven’t spoken to him one-to-one since his last apology, so I’m expecting it to be at least a little awkward.

I get ready for the day, slipping into some jeans and a t-shirt before pulling on one of Roscoe’s hoodies and my battered coat. As I tie my hair back, I’m thinking about Zeph. He confuses me, more than anything. He can be surprisingly sweet and thoughtful, for a guy that’s an abused alley cat in a mage’s body. But he’s also kind of unpredictable, and since we haven’t spent much time together over the past few days, I don’t know if he’ll have changed his mind about me once again.

Yeah, he’s definitely a cat-man. One minute he’s inviting you to rub his belly, putting the TV onto a show he knows I’ll like. But from experience, you know that he could turn any minute and threaten to disembowel you with his claws.

We head out for the day without talking much, other than agreeing where we should go next. Thankfully, Z’s leg seems to have healed faster than expected. Either that, or he’s just not admitting to still being in pain. You wouldn’t know he’d broken his leg only a few short weeks ago. Even if it feels like a lot more time has passed since the ritual went ahead.

The next place on our list has vampires inside, and the two of us crouch uncomfortably in an alleyway outside before we find a first floor fire escape to hang out on. We’re close enough to listen to their thoughts, but not close enough to draw attention. I also send some gentle compulsion magic into the air, encouraging the vamps’ thoughts to be relaxed, for their tongues to go loose.

There’s a grate in the wall that the two of us take turns to peer through. Our view of the room inside is mostly obstructed, but our spot is as good as it’s going to get, considering neither of us has powers of levitation.

Inside, the vampire nest looks like a mishmash of tattered furniture. The vamps we’ve seen so far seem to spend a lot of time lounging around and telling each other stories. It’s clear they’ve heard them all before.

With their inhibitions down, though, it becomes even more like eavesdropping on a bunch of frat house stoners. There are a bunch of stories started which meander painfully along until the vamps lose the thread of them entirely and start talking about something entirely random.

The hardest part is clearly going to be getting them to focus on the rogue vamp without drawing attention.

I send out another wave of compulsion magic.

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