I wasn’t nearly as forgiving now.
Layered with that blue cheese funk, there was smell of unwashed bodies and putrefaction. I wondered if the super knew what she was and what she was doing, but I’d bet my favorite unicorn statue that she was killing puppies and kittens in here too.
The layout was identical to mine–kitchen on the left, living room in front of me. To the right was a short hallway to the bathroom, bedroom, and a small storage closet. Unlike my apartment, the walls were painted a dark gray, almost black, and everything was coated in some kind of oily film.
“What do you need? Alistair was spare with the details,” the witch said impatiently, gesturing to the couch. Both Sawyer and I shook our heads. It looked like one of those sofas that was deep enough to hold you in place if you needed to get up unhindered. In other words, they were a fucking death trap.
“There’s a vampire turning kids. We need to find him before any more children are killed or turned needlessly.”
She clacked her yellow-stained teeth and cocked her head to the side. “I’ve heard stirrings of vampires.”
“Can you help?”
“Yes, but I need something either the vampire, or one of the vampire’s progenies has touched in the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours.” She stared directly at my throat, which was still covered by the neck of my sweater.
“Why do you need that?” I asked, resisting the urge to touch the spot her eyes lingered on.
“I can create a tracking spell, but I need to have something organic from the person you’re trying to track. If he’s creating vampires, any saliva or blood from one of them will do what I need it to do.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Sawyer look at me pointedly. The bastard. He probably knew this, yet he couldn’t have given me a fucking warning?
I shrugged awkwardly out of my jacket and, despite feeling vulnerable, peeled the turtleneck sweater off too. “Fine. Yes, one of his vampires bit me. How is this supposed to work?”
The witch’s eyes lit up when she saw my opal necklace against my chest on the outside of my black tank top. A small hiss escaped her throat, and I drew the opal back under the fabric. She was going all my precious on it and freaking me out even more than I already was.
As soon as the stone wasn’t visible, she gave herself an avian shake and said, “I need something personal of yours. The necklace perhaps?”
“How about fucking no?” I replied defensively, folding my arms over my chest.
The woman shrugged like it was no big deal, but I saw the desperation in her eyes. “Blood will suffice.” Her words were cool and clipped.
“Ooo, another hard limit of mine. Sorry.”
“Cat,” Sawyer said softly. I glared at him. “This is our only chance.”
“I highly doubt that,” I shot back. I didn’t enjoy being backed into corners. I tended to get bitchy.
“Maybe you’re right, but how many more baby vampire attacks do we need to go and investigate? If we have a chance to catch this guy, shouldn’t we?”
I digested his words. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that I seemed to be the one sacrificing everything here. My truck. My promise not to murder children. My staunch belief that all supernatural beings were evil monsters. Now, I was being asked to give up my blood. All so that Sawyer could catch a vampire.
“You will pay for this, Sawyer Taylor. I swear it.”
“Noted,” he replied. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You have no idea what kind of revenge I have in mind. I can be very creative.” Turning to the witch, I asked, “You can take one drop of blood.”
She shook her head. “Not enough. Too weak. Not enough,” she repeated. “A deep cut. Deep blood.”
“Wow, I didn’t think you could get any creepier,” I muttered. “Okay, but you don’t make the cut. I do.”
Her greedy eyes gleamed. “Fine.” Looking down, she searched the coffee table in front of her. Shoving an old newspaper out of the way, she held up a dagger that was crusted with dried… something. I stared at it. Hard. What the actual fuck was that?
“Use this,” Sawyer said helpfully, handing me one of his daggers.
I began shaking my head. “I’ve seen what they do. I’m not using that on my arm.”
“Trust me?” he pressed, his eyes darting to the witch then back to me. “Take it.”
Trust was a concept I struggled with, but I needed to trust my partner now. Nodding, I took the knife. The witch let out a soft little chuckle that had me looking frantically at Sawyer.
“There’s no other way?” I desperately needed another way. Admittedly, I was as ignorant as ignorant got about the supernatural world, but I knew deep down that sharing blood was bad.
“Blood is power. Blood will create a strong spell. Powerful.” The witch’s muttering was doing absolutely nothing to make me feel better. Her ramblings just got creepier and creepier.
Forcing out a sigh, I placed the tip of the knife against my arm and shut my eyes, sending the message to my brain that I needed to apply pressure. But after a minute, I was still in the same place… only my breathing was labored as fuck. Sawyer wrapped one of his warm hands around mine.
“Let me do it?” I cracked one eye open. He leaned in a little closer, keeping his words to me private. “I can take the pain away for you, if you’d let me?”
I nodded, because that sounded like the best fucking idea I’d ever heard. I gave the knife to him and dropped my free arm to my side.
He wrapped his warm, strong fingers around my other arm, holding me gently but firmly. With his thumb, he stroked the pulse point
