Was it just my subconscious guessing the distance? Or was I completely off-base?
There was other silver in the house; some in the bedroom, at least two loop bracelets in the bathroom...hmm. The bracelet location was somewhat obvious because I’d left the bracelets there. Still, each bit of silver came with a sense of place that was more solid than the memory of where I’d left things.
White Feather must have heard me drive up. Or he sensed me with his wind the way I sensed he was walking closer through the silver in his ring. I laughed, hurrying to the door right as he opened it.
I threw my arms around his neck.
“Hey, I’m all dirty! I’ve been working all day and haven’t showered yet!”
I loved the feel of him, so much stronger than me, all hard angles and muscles that touched me everywhere along the length of him. “Okay,” I said and kissed him anyway.
“Mmm. Are you going to greet me like this every time you get home?” He backed inside, dragging me with him.
“Maybe. Wait until I tell you what I spelled today!” I followed him in, excited to have someone to share with. Mostly, I kept my advancements to myself; we witches were a secretive lot, but with White Feather it didn’t matter. He wasn’t competition.
I spilled out the quick rundown of my day, showing him the bracelet. I considered skimming over the vamp visit. Patrick was no more of a threat than usual except that my own house was no longer safe. Still, I wanted to discuss the weird vamp with White Feather. He might have different insights than me.
White Feather shut his eyes when I said, “Patrick stopped by, stayed politely outside and introduced me to a vamp who needed a curse removed. I told him to take his business elsewhere.”
There was a breeze across my face, a subtle and instinctive check. “Two vamps stopped by.”
“Not exactly.” I described Joe in gory detail. “Ugliest vampire I’ve ever seen. Weirdest too.”
“One healthy vamp and one with a bad case of baldness and heavy drinking. That had to make things perfectly safe.”
“Yeah. Possibly. Probably not.” White Feather apparently hadn’t met any such vampires before either. “Never mind. Watch what I learned to do today.” I extracted one bead from the bracelet and pushed it across the kitchen bar.
In my enthusiasm and due to lack of practice, I overestimated. The bead snapped across the room, hit the fridge and landed in the sink with a loud ding. Like a ball in a pinball machine, it spun along the sides before dropping into the disposal. “Whoops.”
He raised an eyebrow at my feat. “That was impressive. Useful too if we can enter you in a pachinko tournament that uses silver balls.”
“I can get it back. But I better stand closer.”
He almost smiled. “The house isn’t even put together yet. You better watch out for the windows with that trick.”
“It’s not perfect. But it works!”
He headed to the sink, retrieved my silver the old fashioned way and then washed the worst of the dust and dirt off his hands and arms. “You’re okay?”
I sighed. “I don’t like him showing up, but I’m fine. He’s no more of a threat now than he ever was.”
“He’s not on my list of favorite visitors.” He reached for the towel and changed the subject. “Tracy and I made unbelievable progress. Go check out your lab.”
“Okay.” I scooted down the hall, happy to put the conversation behind us. I knew I should have been more careful. Then again, it wasn’t as though I’d entered my own home after Patrick had time to hide there. If he wanted to attack me at night, all he had to do was wait until I was out past dark.
Lynx claimed there was a way to reverse the invite. That didn’t mean Patrick would allow it, but I’d still research it.
In the room that would become my new lab, not one, but two walls were up. Tracy was nowhere to be found. “You’re using limestone for the walls?”
“There’s an adobe layer on the outside wall,
There was other silver in the house; some in the bedroom, at least two loop bracelets in the bathroom...hmm. The bracelet location was somewhat obvious because I’d left the bracelets there. Still, each bit of silver came with a sense of place that was more solid than the memory of where I’d left things.
White Feather must have heard me drive up. Or he sensed me with his wind the way I sensed he was walking closer through the silver in his ring. I laughed, hurrying to the door right as he opened it.
I threw my arms around his neck.
“Hey, I’m all dirty! I’ve been working all day and haven’t showered yet!”
I loved the feel of him, so much stronger than me, all hard angles and muscles that touched me everywhere along the length of him. “Okay,” I said and kissed him anyway.
“Mmm. Are you going to greet me like this every time you get home?” He backed inside, dragging me with him.
“Maybe. Wait until I tell you what I spelled today!” I followed him in, excited to have someone to share with. Mostly, I kept my advancements to myself; we witches were a secretive lot, but with White Feather it didn’t matter. He wasn’t competition.
I spilled out the quick rundown of my day, showing him the bracelet. I considered skimming over the vamp visit. Patrick was no more of a threat than usual except that my own house was no longer safe. Still, I wanted to discuss the weird vamp with White Feather. He might have different insights than me.
White Feather shut his eyes when I said, “Patrick stopped by, stayed politely outside and introduced me to a vamp who needed a curse removed. I told him to take his business elsewhere.”
There was a breeze across my face, a subtle and instinctive check. “Two vamps stopped by.”
“Not exactly.” I described Joe in gory detail. “Ugliest vampire I’ve ever seen. Weirdest too.”
“One healthy vamp and one with a bad case of baldness and heavy drinking. That had to make things perfectly safe.”
“Yeah. Possibly. Probably not.” White Feather apparently hadn’t met any such vampires before either. “Never mind. Watch what I learned to do today.” I extracted one bead from the bracelet and pushed it across the kitchen bar.
In my enthusiasm and due to lack of practice, I overestimated. The bead snapped across the room, hit the fridge and landed in the sink with a loud ding. Like a ball in a pinball machine, it spun along the sides before dropping into the disposal. “Whoops.”
He raised an eyebrow at my feat. “That was impressive. Useful too if we can enter you in a pachinko tournament that uses silver balls.”
“I can get it back. But I better stand closer.”
He almost smiled. “The house isn’t even put together yet. You better watch out for the windows with that trick.”
“It’s not perfect. But it works!”
He headed to the sink, retrieved my silver the old fashioned way and then washed the worst of the dust and dirt off his hands and arms. “You’re okay?”
I sighed. “I don’t like him showing up, but I’m fine. He’s no more of a threat now than he ever was.”
“He’s not on my list of favorite visitors.” He reached for the towel and changed the subject. “Tracy and I made unbelievable progress. Go check out your lab.”
“Okay.” I scooted down the hall, happy to put the conversation behind us. I knew I should have been more careful. Then again, it wasn’t as though I’d entered my own home after Patrick had time to hide there. If he wanted to attack me at night, all he had to do was wait until I was out past dark.
Lynx claimed there was a way to reverse the invite. That didn’t mean Patrick would allow it, but I’d still research it.
In the room that would become my new lab, not one, but two walls were up. Tracy was nowhere to be found. “You’re using limestone for the walls?”
“There’s an adobe layer on the outside wall,
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