Chapter 21

Cora clenched her hands, unable to draw a full breath. These guys could get her close to Mitch Garner? WOULD get her close to the blood-sucking-

She cut off the thought viciously and strode away from them. Fuck! Was she really believing it?

Jameson followed her, his voice soothing. “Not kill. Carick is saying you’re liable to have this impulse again, and we can help you figure out how to handle it.”

Carick paced after them, his big feet thudding on the floor. “That is the what I said: you handle it by killing vampires.”

Jameson glared at Carick, who glared back and threw up his hands. “She cannot be other than what she is.”

“She can’t kill people without knowing why. We can’t ‘get her into position’ to kill a fucking councilman! There are laws. Police. She’s a person with morals and convictions and beliefs.” He threw his hands in the air. “How this is going to work, I can’t fucking imagine.”

Carick bared his teeth and spat his words. “I didn’t tell her to kill people, I told her to kill vampires.”

Cora stopped her feet, arrested by his words. The two men stopped, too. They believed it. Holy hell, these two alpha males believed every word they were saying to her.

Here she went, following them down the rabbit hole. Look out below! “Here’s one thing I want to know: why do vampires need politics?”

Carick’s face turned dark. “Power. They want power and weapons and unchecked food sources. This is always the aim of the vampire.”

Coralie nodded. It made perfect sense. “And you, Carick? Who are you?”

Carick spoke simply. “The Steward of the Forest.”

Coralie nodded again, librarian-like, looking down her nose as she stared up at the two men. “Mmmhmm. The Steward of the Forest. And what does that mean, exactly? What do you do?”

Jameson quirked an eyebrow at her and edged closer to her, folding his arms. Playing it up to be on her side? Maybe. He looked at Carick as he spoke. “Really good question. And while you’re at it, explain who what your role is in this. What you are.”

Coralie nodded, even though she had no clue what in the fuck he was talking about. Hottie got a pass when he was on her side. “Yeah, what he said.”

Carick sulked. “I am the opponent.” He frowned at his words and backed away, pulling a huge smartphone out of his pocket and flitting his thumbs over the tiny keyboard. Hmm. Cora was starting to get him. Mysterious was his thing. She could dig it. In fact she kind of liked it, was drawn to it for some inexplicable reason. Daddy issues was as good an explanation as any, and God knew she had enough of them, but Carick didn’t remind her of her daddy.

“Ok, Steward of the Forest. Got it.” She pointed at Jameson. “You’re the Keeper. Of the forest, right? I’ll figure it out in a year or two, easy. Don’t stop feeding me these clues.”

She rolled her eyes, gave Carick a look he better be glad he didn’t see, and stalked off again.

Carick’s voice stopped her, filled with strength and conviction, louder than it had any right to be. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to hear him better. “You are called switches because many years ago your undead enemy, ever clever, declared you the most savage witches he’d ever seen. Sa-witches, he cursed, as he staggered under the weight of their magicks. Your aunts, your cousins, your grandmothers, all those alive to hear of the jab thought it was amusing and complimentary. They made it their own. You have been switches since that day.”

Shit. And if she wasn’t a switch, she was insane. Cora made her decision, then pulled her feet together and hopped forward. The two men stared at her, mouths open and eyes agog. She pointed at her feet. “Oh, that. That was me hopping on the crazy train. What’s the next stop, Conductor?”

Carick regarded her curiously, then looked to Jameson. Jameson sniggered as he translated. “She’s in and she wants to know what’s next.”

Cora swung her purse over her shoulder. “All-in, baby. What’s this job pay, anyway?”

The two men exchanged a glance. Shit. Of course. Big fat el zilcho. “We’ll talk about that.”

She swung her purse strap over her shoulder and headed out the door, glad she’d brought her own car. She needed some time to herself.

Carick called after her. “Training starts when you are able. Now. This evening. Tonight. You find me and we start. If you don’t find me by tomorrow, I’ll send the Keeper to get you.” Jameson said something under his breath and the two men argued for a second. Carick spoke again. “Fine, tomorrow next.”

Guy was bossy. Training? Would they bring in actual… vampires? Cora grimaced at the thought and kept on a path to the door. Before she could make a clean exit Bryce caught up to her, a heavy-looking kayak under his arm.

“Cora, hold up.” The grin on the younger man’s face was so sweet, Cora couldn’t help but return it. Sweet and wholesome. Far too sweet for her, but he did make for nice scenery.

He dropped the kayak. “Our date? You wanna do something tomorrow?”

She threw a look at Jameson, but he was talking to Carick, not even looking at her. And the date was just friends. And Bryce knew these guys; maybe he could spill some dirt. “Let’s do that. I pick ‘Inspired by the Bard’ at the Local. A bunch of films all based on Shakespeare’s plays.”

The good humor drained from Bryce’s face. “Uh, well, see, me and Shakespeare, we aren’t really what you’d call close.”

Cara grinned. “No, not like that. It’s ‘inspired by’, so no fancy language or men in tights. Promise. Like how the movie Clueless was based on Emma.” Emma was based on Austen, not Shakespeare, but Bryce wouldn’t know the difference.

Jameson, who hadn’t seemed to be paying a bit of attention a moment before, growled without looking up, “Emma is Austen, not Shakespeare.”

Point for the hottie. Impressive. Gonna need a bigger scoreboard.

Bryce grinned wide and gave Jameson a thumbs-up. “Whatever you say, Grandpa.” He turned back to Cora. “You’re on. What time?”

Cora knew the movie times by heart. “10 Things I Hate About You is playing at six.”

“Julia Stiles. Righteous.” Bryce picked up the kayak and made for the back of the store, grinning once over his shoulder as he pushed through the rear door. Cora waved goodbye to Flint, who was helping a customer pick out hiking boots.

When she turned to say goodbye to Jameson, Cora caught a flare of heat in his eyes that was quickly extinguished as he gave her a tight smile, his lips firmly pressed closed. Cora found herself wishing the heat would return, seeking to make a connection. “Good catch on the Austen. Not a lot of men your age care about that kind of stuff.” Yeah she was fishing for his age. So what?

Jameson didn’t give. “That’s why they call them classics.”

Ok, she’d go super sleuth then. Not a problem. Cora had never met a man like him, one who’d play hard to get even though he liked her. That was what he was doing, right?

As she pushed out the door into the blinding sunshine, Coralie admitted to herself she had no idea what Jameson was doing. Nor any of the rest of them, herself included.