Wicked Soul (Ancient Blood #1)(42)

Life.

I wasn’t entirely sure, but it sounded like flattery. Especially coming from an undead.

“Ma’am?” my new bodyguard said, lifting his eyebrows. “Do you need to leave the premises?”

“Yes, I have to get to work.” I looked up at him with a small sigh. At least Warin’s overprotectiveness meant I didn’t have to get the bus.

The giant held out a hand toward a black pickup truck parked off to the side. “This way, ma’am.”

“You can just call me Liv,” I said as I walked to the truck. “And unless you want to be called ‘Big Guy’ for the rest of the day, maybe tell me your name, too?”

“Name’s Roy, m—Liv.”

I smiled at him. “Nice to meet you, Roy. Now let’s get going—I’m late.”



* * *



Thanks to Roy’s not-entirely-legal driving, I made it to work just in time.

Raven was already there with the till prepared when I walked in, bodyguard in tow.

She stared up at the giant of a man, but he only nodded at her as he went straight for the back room, presumably to check the security of the shop.

“Liv, who the hell is that?” my colleague whispered. “He looks like he’s part mountain! What’s he doing here?”

I sighed. “It’s... kind of hard to explain.”

“Try.”

I bit my lip as I considered my options. On one hand, she worked at a New Age store and called herself Raven… and if I wanted to get in touch with witches, she might be a good place to start. But on the other hand, I didn’t particularly want to be force-committed to a psychiatric ward, either.

“Remember my friend from the bar?”

Her lips pinched as if she’d tasted something foul. “The vampire.”

“Apparently someone took offense to us hanging out, and… uh… I have witches on my ass, can you believe it? So Warin… had a friend keep an eye on me today.” I flapped a hand in what I hoped portrayed a decent who-would-have-thunk-it manner.

She sighed and shook her head, following Roy with her eyes as he returned from the back of the store to take up guard by the door. “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you hang out with vampires, Liv.”

So apparently the idea that actual witches, magic and all, were real, wasn’t news to Raven.

“I don’t see why,” I bristled. “He’s a nice guy—it’s not his fault he’s dead. He doesn’t even drink blood from living humans, you know. Just donor blood.” Wow, there was a sentence I’d never imagined speaking out loud before. “And I don’t see why I am getting attacked on my way home from work just because I have a vampire friend.”

Raven frowned. “Attacked? You were attacked?”

“Yeah. Big wolf-men. Warin called them skinwalkers.” I shuddered at the memory of my near-death experience. “Look, I know you’re obviously not fond of vampires, but you seem to know about witches, and I… I don’t know who else to ask. I can’t exactly go to the police. Do you know of anyone I can talk to?”

She grimaced. “I don’t hang around skinwalkers. My coven is not into all the dark shit.”

“Oh, wow, you’re a witch?” I blurted. “You’ve been keeping that quiet!”

She glared at me as Roy glanced in our direction. “Ixnay on the witch accusations while your boyfriend’s lackey is around, please. Do you know what vampires do to us?”

I opened my mouth to tell her Warin would never hurt her… but then I remembered what Mr. Night Lord had said about no longer being gentle on witches in “his” city.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I ended up muttering. “Raven, can you help me? I’m severely out of my depth here, and I don’t know what to do. Please.”

She sighed, casting another glance at Roy. “Yes, fine, of course I’ll help you. Just… you can’t trust him, Liv. The vampire. They’re not like us. They’re dangerous. Scheming. Underhanded.”

I pushed down the burst of irritation at her warning—I knew it was coming from a good place. If I hadn’t met Warin, I probably would also have been very worried for a colleague who hung around with the undead. “Warin’s saved my life more than once now. I understand there’s some beef between vampires and witches, and I’m not gonna make you hang out with him or anything—but he’s not like all the scare campaigns about vampires.”

Raven didn’t look particularly happy at my defense of a vampire, but she didn’t argue, either. “I’ll talk to the High Priestess. Fair warning—I’ll have to tell her about your friend, and she might not be very accommodating. Are you gonna be safe until tomorrow?”

I eyeballed Roy. “Yeah, I… think so. Thank you, Raven. Truly. I owe you.”

She smiled weakly. “I know what it’s like when you realize what’s out there… I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t try to help.”



* * *



I hadn’t thought of any of my Dark Dreams colleagues as friends before, mainly because I didn’t really do friends. Sure, I was friendly with most people I met, and happy to grab a drink after work if asked, but… I hadn’t called anyone my friend since I was a kid.