Though the night wasn’t as uninterrupted as she’d hoped, Layla woke the next day feeling reasonably well rested. She’d been lucky she had Hunter to comfort her. The others didn’t have anyone. She’d heard Sophie sniffling down the hall and had wondered whether she should go and comfort her, but Hunter had told her that it was better to let everyone find their own way of dealing with it.

They all got up at different times. By the time Layla felt ready to get out of bed, it was midday. Phoenix was patrolling around the house, and Lizeth was helping herself to sandwiches from the fridge.

“Good morning. Hungry?”

Layla nodded and took the proffered sandwich. “Where is everyone?”

“Sophie and Damaris went with Fisher and Cord back to the warehouse. They wanted to make sure that there were only two warlocks. Once that’s confirmed, we can relax and get back to our normal lives.”

“Will they be able to tell if there were others, if they’ve cleared out?”

“That’s why Damaris went. There’s a spell to tell the living history of a building—that’s like a read-out of all the life that’s been in it. It’s tricky, and she’s the only one in the coven who can do it. It’ll use up her entire day’s magic allowance, but it’ll be worth it if we can confirm that it really was just the two of them.”

“Are they expecting more?” Hunter asked, helping himself to a sandwich.

“No, but it’s worth checking. Usually these kinds of things are done by one warlock alone. They don’t like sharing power. Even two working together is unusual. We need to be sure, though. Once we are, we’ll start getting the word out to the other covens that the threat has passed.”

“Did Penny and her coven take care of the scene for the police?”

Lizeth nodded. “Sophie called them before she went to bed last night. The evidence will be long gone by now.”

After lunch, Layla and Hunter wandered outside. Phoenix took note of their position before adjusting his patrol. It would feel weird not to have the demons watching over them anymore, Layla realized, even though the warlocks were dead. Layla supposed she’d always have Hunter watching over her, though, no matter what.

They sat on a bench, holding hands in comfortable silence. After a while, Hunter spoke.

“I was really worried about you, you know. At the warehouse. When I saw that warlock attacking you, and I wasn’t able to get to you in time to help, I was sure you’d be killed. I was wrong, obviously. You may be new, but you’ve already proven that you’re both powerful and talented.”

Layla beamed at the praise. She still wasn’t used to people saying nice things about her.

“You didn’t do too badly yourself,” she answered. “You and Sophie make a good team,” she teased, and Hunter chuckled under his breath.

He opened his arms and Layla leaned into them, breathing in his scent and reveling in the safety she felt whenever he held her. “I want to be with you forever,” she murmured.

“I will make it so,” Hunter promised, kissing the top of her head.

Layla didn’t know how long they sat like that for. It could have been mere minutes or hours. After a while, they wandered back inside. It felt strange not having the palpable sense of urgency hanging over them. Layla had gotten used to the constant tension of the past few weeks. Knowing the threat had passed left her limp with relief. They cuddled on the couch for a bit, Layla drawing while Hunter watched over her shoulder. It was mid-afternoon when the others got back. Layla knew the instant she saw their relaxed, happy expressions that everything was fine.

“Nothing,” Sophie said simply. “There were only two, and those two are definitely dead. It’s over.”

Then she did something unexpected. She went over to Hunter and looked him right in the eye. “Hunter, I want to say that I’m sorry. Going over the battle scene again made me realize just how much trouble I would have been in if you weren’t there. You proved your loyalty many times over with your fierce protection of my coven. I want to tell you that I welcome you to our family as Layla’s mate.”

There was a beat of silence in which everyone absorbed her words. Then, blinking in surprise, Hunter held out his hand, and Sophie shook it.

“I’m honored to be a part of your family.”

“We’re honored to have you. All of us.” Sophie shot a look at the other coven members, who nodded, some seemingly reluctantly, but they all made an effort to smile at Hunter and come up with some words of welcome.

Layla felt the last knot of tension in her stomach dissolve. If Sophie accepted Hunter with open arms, the others would, in time.

“So what does a coven do when there’s no imminent threat of death?” Layla asked.

“Mostly we either practice new spells or work on controlling our stipulations or do stuff for clients,” Lizeth answered, taking her own seat in the living room.

“I’d like to learn that—magic that I can sell. I haven’t heard back from any of the jobs I applied for, and I’d really like to be able to contribute. And I still want to save up to go to college. I imagine casting spells will be a more interesting job than anything else I could qualify for.”

“I can show you some of the more popular ones,” Rose said, snagging the spell book and coming to sit next to Layla as the rest of the group broke up into their own conversations. “This one here is a big seller. It allows you to change one aspect of a person’s appearance, like their hair color, or concealing a blemish on the skin, that kind of thing. It only lasts a few weeks, so if you get a couple of clients who want that, you’ll have a steady stream of work there.

“There’s also a simple alert spell that can be set to a door or window, kind of an alternative to an alarm system. It’s often better than an alarm system because it can sense whether the motion is hostile or not, so it won’t start blaring when your pet cat jumps through the window.

“There are dozens of things, really. You’ll probably have to do quite a few casts to find out what you’re good at. We can all do all of the spells, but some work better than others for individuals. Lizeth manages to get her glamor spells to last for ages, sometimes months at a time, and Damaris has worked out how to link an iPod to the alert spell, setting a specific song as the alert. You’ll find what’s best for you in time.”

It all seemed a little overwhelming, but Layla was eager to get started. Of course, she had to be careful because of her stipulation. Rose said that they may as well do some experimenting with that while they were working on spells.

The next day, Rose took Layla and Hunter on a field trip to a giant game reserve. They went in through a fence far from any of the public entry points—literally, through it. Rose cast a spell that made it shimmer and become transparent for a moment. Once they stepped through, the fence rematerialized behind them.

“We want to see how big a radius your energy draining affects,” she explained. “We’ll start with both Hunter and I close to you, so that I can help you learn a spell. Once you’ve got it, Hunter and I will go farther and farther away. Once we’re out of your radius, I imagine the spell will drain you, if it can’t find anyone else in the area.”

This was a good theory, but it wasn’t a quick one to test. Just getting the first spell right—hiding one of her own freckles—took Layla almost two hours. Then, the first time she got it right, her power drained Rose, who promptly collapsed. Not wanting to attempt the spell again without guidance, Layla settled down to wait for her to wake up.

Hunter took advantage of the moments alone and started kissing her. Layla soon got lost in him and forgot about Rose completely. It was probably about ten minutes later when she was brought abruptly back to reality.

Rose cleared her throat, and Layla went crimson. Hunter removed his hands from under her shirt, seemingly completely unabashed. To Layla’s relief, though, Rose didn’t look horrified. She mostly looked like she was struggling not to laugh.

“Why don’t any of you have boyfriends?” Layla asked, trying to fill the awkward silence.

“It’s difficult for witches. Any human we got involved with, we’d be condemned to watch age and die. Not many of us are up for that. And dating between races of immortals is often frowned upon. Damaris was involved with a fairy for a while, but his family disapproved, and when fairies disapprove of something, they really make sure you know about it. In the end, they decided it wasn’t worth the effort.”

Layla sent a glowing look at Hunter, realizing how lucky she’d gotten. Perhaps her coven would eventually get over their demon hang-ups enough to consider dating more broadly. She could actually see Lizeth and Phoenix together, though Lizeth would probably barf if she mentioned it.

They tried the spell again, this time hiding a different freckle. It still took Layla a good couple of tries to get it right—apparently, urgency and tension in a situation had helped her concentration, and without any lives on the line, even the simpler spells were taking more time. When the spell did work, it drained Hunter. He didn’t pass out, but he had to lie down for a bit.

After that, Rose and Hunter started moving farther and farther out. They kept in contact via cell phone. The whole process was a slow one, given that they had to keep waiting for Rose to wake up and for Hunter to be able to walk again. At least Layla was improving with the spell. It only took her a couple of tries now to make it work each time.

It was only when Rose and Hunter were over a kilometer away that Layla’s spell didn’t drain them. She cast it as usual—soon, she wouldn’t have any freckles left—and was immediately hit by a wave of exhaustion. She wasn’t even aware of her head hitting the ground.

When she opened her eyes, she found that her head was in Hunter’s lap. “Hello, there.” He smiled down at her.

“It took me out?” Layla guessed.

“Yep. We figured it got you when you didn’t respond to our texts. Knowing the distance will help a lot.”

“There’s still loads to find out,” Rose said, making notes in a small book she had with her. “Will it choose to drain animals in some circumstances? What happens if it drains the same person twice in a row—will it harm them or just take longer to wear off? Does the type of spell affect who it drains? Does who the spell is aimed at affect who it drains? How do your emotions tip the balance? How much control do you have?”

Layla shot an alarmed glance at Hunter. She’d thought they were doing pretty well, but the way Rose described it, she’d spend her entire lifetime just working out how her stipulation worked.

“Don’t worry,” Rose said quickly, spotting the look on her face. “I’m just talking to myself. I love working out stipulations! I’ve got tables of everyone’s at home, as well as updates for when they’ve managed to get any sort of control over them. We’ll just need to keep experimenting.”

“What if you’re right and I do hurt someone by draining them more than once?”

“Well, if you hit Hunter, he’ll probably just pass out like I do since demons seem to be more resistant than witches. If you hit yourself, I’ll be able to help you. After the first time, I set an alarm spell on myself. If I’m drained too much, enough that I’m in danger, Sophie will know about it at once.”

Rose seemed to have everything covered. Layla couldn’t deny that she really wanted to know the answers to all of those questions, too, but they’d been at it for hours, and the sun had set. She was exhausted.

“Enough for today,” Hunter said decisively. Layla kept forgetting that he could sense her emotional state.

“Oh, yes.” Rose looked up at the sky. “I guess I lost track of time. We can come back tomorrow, then.”

Time seemed to pass quickly. Rose dragged Layla out to the game reserve as often as Layla would allow it. Hunter always came along for moral support, and he and Rose even seemed to be making progress toward friendship.

The other demons did their own thing now that they were no longer needed to guard the coven. Damaris, for her part, was helping them with all the practicalities of buying the land they wanted.

Layla soon found that she had a particular talent for a minor vision spell. It worked a little like contact lenses, with the added benefit of not having to shove anything into your eye. The spell would correct a small defect in vision for about a day when most witches cast it, though Layla could so far get it up to working for three days.

“A lot of people who wear glasses but find contacts uncomfortable like this one,” Rose said happily. “Or people who usually wear contacts whose eyes just need a break. You’ll want to start hanging around shops that sell glasses and contacts—that kind of thing.”

“How do I know who I can talk to, though? I can’t just go up to anyone and ask them if they want to buy a magical contact lens.”

“Right, of course, we haven’t taught you the codes yet. Well, firstly, you must always wear blue. All blue, right down to blue necklaces and earrings. We have some of those to spare if you need any. That’ll allow people in the know to recognize you as a witch selling spells.

“If someone wants something from you, they’ll come up to you and ask if they know you. You reply, ‘You do look familiar. Shall we get a coffee together?’ Then the two of you go off somewhere private to discuss business.”

It sounded easy enough, but Layla still felt nervous. What if she accidently blurted the secret to someone who wasn’t supposed to know? She’d end up in a mental asylum or worse.

“It’ll be fine,” Hunter assured her, sensing her feelings. “Witches have been doing this since the beginning of time. Plus, if you run into trouble, covens are well used to dealing with hiccups with the authorities.”

“Are we ever,” muttered Rose. “Remind me to tell you about the time Damaris had to negotiate me out of a psychiatric hold.”

While that wasn’t totally reassuring, Layla supposed that as long as she had her coven and Hunter to back her up, she’d be okay.

“Come on,” she said, “let’s try that one again.”