I push the button to call the elevator. I usually take the stairs, but after the night I’ve had, I’m dead on my feet. The doors open, and I drag myself in. My floor lights up with a ding, and moments later I’m stumbling into the apartment. There’s a black duffle bag on the kitchen table, and I walk over to it and unzip the top. There’s a note inside.

Little Warrior,

Here’s your cut. Sorry I couldn’t stay, but business calls. I’ll be out of contact. I’ll call when I’m back.

Talon

I huff out a sigh and look around. I’ve lived here for five years now, but it still doesn’t feel like home. When Talon offered me the deal to train and fight for him, he did it on the steps of this building. It wasn’t a difficult proposition to accept. Not a lot of options existed for girls in my circumstances, and working my ass off was infinitely better than selling my ass.

When I agreed, he walked me up to this apartment, and I’ve lived here ever since. It was fully furnished when I moved in: towels, linens, dishes; it had everything, which worked for me because I didn’t have shit. The only things I’ve added over the years are clothes, books, and some hiding spots for money. I chuckle to myself, after five years of staying here I still don’t really have shit.

“What’s so funny?” Aydin asks me, as he lumbers through the doorway.

“Nothing.”

I groan and scrub my tired face with my hands. I drop the duffle bag of money by my hiding spot in the bookcase. A knock pounds on the door. I run my hands through my hair and stare at the door like the harbinger of doom that it is.

I open the door silently and wave the four tired looking paladin in. Judging by their haggard expressions, they haven’t gotten much rest, and their age is showing. They take in where I live and look at me like they expect me to bolt any second. I trudge over to the living room, and they trickle in after me. We all stare awkwardly at each other and around the room, no one eager to break the silence.

“Nice place," Evrin offers, always the one to lose the silent standoff.

For someone who looks like a tatted up badass, he seems awfully nice. It’s that, or he can’t stand awkward silences.

“It’s not mine," I monotone.

“Uhh…you live with someone?” he pries, scrambling for something to say.

“No.”

I know I’m confusing him, but I don’t care, so I don’t elaborate.

“Look, I know this probably feels overwhelming and confusing, and a little out of nowhere--”

“Oh, you know? Is that how you felt when all of this happened to you?” I snark at Keegan, unable to rein in my inner grumpy bitch.

He turns to Lachlan, who just watches me.

“We aren’t going to leave you behind. Like it or not, you are now a part of this coven, and it’s not safe for you to be on your own," Lachlan tells me, his voice a smooth calm I haven’t heard him use until now.

“So ask me then."

Lachlan looks confused.

“Ask you what?” he finally relents.

“Ask me to come with you. Don’t dictate or command like you would a pet. Ask me, like you would a person you actually gave a shit about.”

My voice betrays me and breaks a little as I finish. I look away and tighten my stranglehold on my emotions. When I feel under control, I look back into two green, fathomless pools of emotion I couldn’t even begin to decipher.

“Vinna, will you come with us?" Lachlan caves, his tone even and emotionless.

I guess that’s the best I can hope for from the prick. I release a big sigh, but don’t bother to answer him. I just turn around and start pulling two rows of books from their shelves and set them on the floor.

“These are the only things in here that are mine. I have a couple of duffle bags, but I’ll need some boxes for some of my other things.”

Silva stands up and walks out the door. I’m about to follow him and tell him that he won’t find anywhere around here that sells boxes this late at night, but he walks back in with a stack of boxes. I shake my head. Maybe box making is one of his magical abilities. Who am I to judge? I mean, I use magic to style my hair.

“We can spread out, each of us packing a different room," Keegan directs and reaches for a box.

“That’s not necessary. I don’t own a lot. These books and some stuff in the bathroom and bedroom," I explain. I grab a box that Silva taped together and walk to the bedroom.

“Silva, I’ll probably only need three," I yell over my shoulder.

I assign Keegan my closet and Evrin my dresser. Mostly I just wanted to see how uncomfortable the tattooed hard ass would be when he has to pack my underwear. Lachlan’s texting on his phone, so I turn to Aydin with a shrug.

“I don’t have anything for you to do. Nothing else in here is mine other than the clothes.”

“And there’s not many of those either," Keegan grumbles from the closet.

He’s right. I don’t own a lot of clothes. I hate shopping, and most of what I do have is workout clothes because that’s how I spend the majority of my time. I leave them to it and head to the bathroom to pack it up. Twenty minutes later, all my possessions sit in three boxes stacked by the door.

“You weren’t joking when you said you didn’t have a lot to pack," Silva comments looking at the small stack.

I shrug. I can tell that my meager collection of belongings bothers them. I keep catching looks of sympathy and dismay being exchanged back and forth, but it is what it is.

“So, where the fuck are you dragging me off to?” I walk over to the black duffle bag that’s sitting by the bookshelf and open it.

“We live in a town called Solace. It’s in northern Maine, a couple of hours west of Presque Isle," Keegan starts, as I pull out the bottom shelf of the bookcase.

“It was founded in 1635 after the first witch trials began in North America. It’s predominately a caster community, although a few shifter packs live there too. It’s spelled so nons can’t find it, which allows us to stay safe and secluded.”

“Don’t the locals think that’s weird?” I ask as I start to transfer stacks of money from the bottom of the bookshelf into the duffle bag. “I mean they would know there’s a town there but can’t find it on a map or GPS?”

“It’s spelled to keep nons away entirely, so they don’t even know it exists," Keegan explains, sounding distracted. “Anyway, inside Solace our coven has about 25 acres with all sorts of fun things to do: lakes, ATVs, camping, swimming, and there’s a stable on the property next to ours, so there are horses.”

I place the full black duffle bag by the boxes and grab the empty one I set aside earlier.

“I’m still listening, just talk louder, I need to get my stash in the back," I tell Keegan.

I walk back to the bedroom, and everyone follows me.

“Uhhh…we…um…recently tore down the old house and rebuilt one that works better for us. We all live there, including Silva’s two nephews.”

I pull out the two bottom drawers of my dresser and nod at Keegan, encouraging him to continue talking. I pull more stacks of cash from the dresser and begin filling the second duffle bag.

“You rob a bank, kid?” Aydin finally asks me.

I chuckle, shaking my head. They’ve all been watching me empty my hidey-holes with wide eyes, and I wondered how long it would take before someone asked me what the hell I was doing.

“Nope, I earned this fair and square…well… maybe not exactly square. This is what I earned from my fights.” I nod at the duffle bag as I keep piling stacks in. “I couldn’t put it in a bank, so…yeah.” I pop the drawers back into the dresser and zip up the duffle. I look up, and they stare at me like I’ve done something crazy.

“What?”

“How much is in there?” Aydin asks, and Evrin slaps him on the back of the head like he did something naughty.

“What, you know you want to know," Aydin scowls at Evrin and rubs the back of his head.

“About two-hundred-thousand, give or take," I shrug. I haven’t counted what I made from last night’s fight yet, so I’m not one-hundred percent sure.

Aydin whistles. “It’s a good thing we aren’t flying commercial. They’d never allow those bags on the plane.”

“It looks like fighting’s worked out well for you," Silva comments, though I can’t tell if he’s judging me or impressed with my haul.

“Yeah, I can hold my own," I tell him, and I can’t help the smirk that sneaks across my face.

“I can’t wait to train with you, Little Badass," Aydin exclaims with enthusiasm, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

I feel a tingle of excitement myself at the prospect of training and using magic. “I’m all set," I announce, looking back over everything. I pull out my phone and place it next to the keys I left on the kitchen table. I set the note I wrote for Talon in the same place and take one last look around.

This place wasn’t mine, and it never quite felt like home, but I was protected and nurtured here, all the same. Gratitude and a twinge of sadness fill me as I close the door on this chapter of my life.