live stage so when he kicks your ass, you can play it off as fake wrestling," Otis chimed in and relaxed against the mini pillow under his head.
"Go to sleep." Tristan side-eyed the vampire twin.
"Yeah, yeah."
Leaning back in my seat, I spun my pencil and wondered out loud, "Where's Everett, anyway?"
"Should be home any minute. He promised we'd have dinner," Dominick piped up. "That's what he said this morning before he left."
As if our conversation cued his arrival, the sound of the front door drew our attention, but even I soon realized he wasn't alone.
Please don't tell me it's who I think it is.
My once-happy smile turned into a deep frown as loud clacking heels echoed down the hall of our three-story mansion.
"Ugh." Tristan, Dominick, and Adonis let out heavy sighs.
"I'm not sleeping anymore. I died. Actually died," Otis mumbled into the pillow.
"So, no one knows a spell to get out of here? Anyone?" I tried to lighten the mood, but my bros weren't the ones to answer my joke attempt.
"Well, Cassandra Thorn. If you had a bit of magic in your veins, you would be able to do that yourself, rather than rely on us supernaturals like you must."
Cue in the sarcastic responses in 3...2...1...
The sound of the heels came to a stop, revealing an older woman with grey hair at the doorway: the grumpy head of supernatural affairs, Margaret Widow.
She was a one-hundred-year-old snake shifter with a heart full of coal and a vendetta against me. Something about me not having respect for my elders, but it was really just her.
If she was in our beloved home, that either meant she needed Everett for something or there was a huge supernatural problem my bros needed to know about for their own safety.
I don't count because I'm a weak human with a big mouth.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Widow. What a splendid day we're having," I greeted with a fake smile and a sweet voice full of sarcasm. "What could have possibly brought you to our lovely home at such an hour? I hope it isn't bad news?"
Blinking my eyes innocently, I could feel the others' approval of my overdramatic performance. None of my bros liked Margaret, and I was sure a good chunk of the supernatural race hated her guts.
She was always rude, nitpicky about the littlest things, and obviously favorited the snake shifters and any other reptiles that fell into the crawly category. I was sure she would have hated the guys if they weren't so high up on the popularity chain.
Completely ignoring me, she walked farther into the living room, which only told me that whatever she had come here for was actually serious, seeing as she wasn't continuing her beloved, 'Let's fight with the innocent human' game.
Everett finally showed up, his 6'5" frame emphasizing how short Margaret was in comparison. From his grimace and uptight body language, my gut was telling me this wasn't a good time for my sarcasm anymore.
Something's wrong...
Dominick rose from his spot on the floor, standing to my right as Adonis moved to stand next to him and Tristan rose up from the armrest of the couch to stand on my left.
Either Otis had actually dozed off or was faking it to see if this conversation was as important as it appeared to be. The tension in the room would be enough for him to determine how important this was.
"Tristan, Adonis, and Dominick," Margaret greeted before looking over to Otis. "Adonis? Is your brother going to wake up anytime soon or do I have to force him awake?"
"Depends on the purpose of this meeting." Adonis's chill vibe was still on point and he shrugged to emphasize that he didn't care enough to wake his brother unless the meeting proved to be vital. "Maybe you can enlighten us about what the problem is, and I'll determine if it's worth me getting yelled at for waking him up."
"I would begin, but there's an elephant in the room." Margaret’s silver eyes were staring straight at me. I blinked innocently, my fake smile still going strong as I slowly looked around.
"Oh? Did we purchase an invisible elephant without my knowledge?"
Margaret looked like she was going to hiss at me, but Everett took a step forward, his movement enough to catch our attention.
"It's fine if Cassandra remains. She's usually with her brothers so it's important that she's aware of the situation," he reasoned in my favor.
I gave him a genuine smile, and I knew he would have returned