“Thank you for saving both of them,” Zoe clarified, shooting her husband a warning look. “We were looking for a cave and got separated in the woods. The vampires ambushed us and Aric and I had no choice but to send them away.”
“I would think you’re more than capable of taking on five vampires,” I argued. “I mean, the stories I’ve heard about you are amazing. Like, I heard you took down an entire academy when you were in college.” I’d heard a lot more than that but didn’t want to put her on the spot.
“I thought I took down an academy in college,” Zoe corrected. “We went on with our lives, got married, and had a child. We thought it was all behind us ... until it wasn’t.”
“You’re the one who razed Covenant College.” It wasn’t a question. I’d already heard the whispers and knew it to be true. To my utter surprise, though, she shook her head. “No?”
“We were there, but I didn’t raze the college.”
“Who did?”
She hesitated and then held out her hands. “I don’t believe I’m at liberty to say. I have friends from all around, though. That’s all you need to know.”
“People say the buildings were completely torn down, the students removed, and the entire plot of land returned to a natural state within the spate of an hour. Whoever did that possessed powerful magic.”
“I may be strong, but I can’t manage that.”
“Besides, she almost died before that happened and when the college was flattened, her and my dad were in bed telling each other how much they loved each other,” Sami volunteered, her eyes on Gunner. She obviously liked what she saw, which left me amused rather than territorial. “She couldn’t have flattened the college even if she wanted to.”
Well, that was interesting. I hadn’t heard about anyone being with them. “The plot thickens.”
“It was a god,” Sami said out of nowhere.
Zoe shot her daughter a dark look. “You have the biggest mouth in the world. Has anybody ever told you that?”
Sami made a face. “Oh, no. You have the biggest mouth in the world. You’re the one who told my art teacher that I wasn’t allowed to draw nude people in class because I got too excited when I thought about it. He actually believed I had a problem even though you told him that to embarrass me.”
Zoe was unbothered by the charge. “I told you what would happen if you blocked me on Facebook again. You didn’t believe me.”
“Ugh.” Sami stomped her foot and threw her head back, staring at the overhang. “I hate my life.”
“Yes, you’ve been horribly mistreated.” Aric inclined his head toward the open seat next to Rafael. “Sit next to your scaly boyfriend and let your mother and I speak to these nice people. We have a few things to discuss, including the fact that there were a lot more than five vampires out there last night. There were at least fifty, and five were all that got through us to chase Rafael and Sami.”
“Fifty?” I was flabbergasted at the thought. I was also determined to circle back around to the god conversation at some point. That was too juicy to ignore. “I don’t understand. Why were you looking for a cave?”
“We … heard things,” Zoe replied, rubbing the palms of her hands against her knees. “We live a few hours south of here, about two hours from where Covenant College used to be. After the college fell, people were interested in figuring out how we managed what we did.”
“We didn’t volunteer the information about having help,” Aric explained, his hand on his wife’s neck so he could rub at the tension he clearly thought she was carrying. “People assumed it, and we let them because it’s best for Sami if Zoe’s mystique continues to grow. It’s been a quiet two years. Well, until a few days ago.”
“What happened a few days ago?”
“Our house was overrun by vampires.” Zoe informed me. “They came from all over. Luckily, Rafael showed up to warn us a few hours before so we weren’t there when they hit. They followed us, though.”
I flicked my eyes to the vampire, who was busy braiding the girl’s hair. He was obviously fond of the child, enough so that he knew how to keep her calm, and that her parents trusted him with her life. “How did you know?”
“I keep my ear to the ground,” Rafael replied, breaking off a few flowers from the pot on the railing and adding them to his masterpiece. “The vampires in the area have been up in arms for years regarding what happened at the college. You must understand, anything left on the grounds when it was razed was destroyed.”
I was taken aback. “Including humans?”
Aric shook his head. “We got most of the humans out. Actually, the local police handled that for us. No one bothered with the underground paranormal hideouts, though.”
“We wanted them to fall,” Zoe explained. “We wanted everything there to fall. The place was evil and it attracted evil.”
I nodded in understanding. “Your magic was a beacon. People wanted to take it from you. The college attracted the sort of creatures who constantly wanted to move on you.”
Zoe nodded. “They moved on us so many times I’ve lost count. We thought it was over when the college fell. Apparently, there are still pockets to clean up.”
Aric leaned closer to his wife and kissed her temple. “They’re small pockets, baby. We’ll handle it.”
She forced a smile that didn’t make it all the way to her eyes. “I know. I’m just tired after last night. I’ll bounce back.” She squeezed his knee. “Rafael heard whispers in the vampire community and he came to warn us. The thing is, he also heard another thing regarding the vampires, that they were being led by a faction out of Hawthorne Hollow. That’s why we came here, to take the battle to the
