asking Valerya, my birth mother, the same question. I waited.
“Valerya will only say you should be careful,” Katia said, with just the slightest annoyance in her tone.
“Shit. I was afraid of that.”
A familiar blue Cadillac tooled into the parking lot. “I have to go, Katia. Call you later,” I said, and hung up the phone.
Cole got out of his car and sauntered over to my window, leaning down to look at me. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said with amusement.
“Where I get in a jam and you bail me out? I don’t know, I feel like we’ve kind of found a rhythm.”
Cole threw back his head and laughed. There was a rumbled warning from the back seat, where Tobias had finally lain down, and the vampire’s nostrils flared. “Is that a werewolf?” he said, sounding fascinated. He stepped back so he could peer into the back seat. “Well, I’ll be damned twice. Haven’t seen one of them in years.”
“His name is Tobias, and he’s a friend,” I said. “Unfortunately, he can’t drive at the moment, and I don’t have a safe place for him to change back.”
“I see. So y’all want me to drive you to Beau’s and then, what? Run back here to get my car?”
“That’s pretty much it, yeah, unless one of Beau’s people can give you a ride. Oh, and sometimes I’m going to ask you to make some kind of crazy swerve or detour to avoid something you won’t be able to see.”
He stared at me for only a heartbeat before grinning. “Sounds fun,” Cole said, reaching for the door handle. “Slide over.”
Traffic was light by that point in the evening, and Cole got us back to Azalea Manor inside of fifteen minutes, even with some crazy zigzagging.
“Impressive,” I said, as we entered the long driveway. Cole touched the brim of his fedora.
I rolled the window down again. Being back in a ghost-free zone was like coming up for air after a long trip underwater. I took in a few deep breaths as we reached the parking area, inhaling the scent of azaleas. There were two extra cars parked in the driveway, along with the Lincoln that Warton had driven to pick me up at the airport.
Cole put my rental in park and handed over the keys. “Anything else you need before I go on my merry way?” he drawled. “Want me to wash the car? Maybe rummage through your underwear drawer again?”
Tobias let out an indignant little woof. “He’s kidding,” I told the werewolf. “Kind of.”
I turned back to Cole. “Actually . . . do you know of any crystal stores in the area?”
“In Atlanta?” He pursed his lips. “Well, I could google it for you.”
“No, these would need to be the real thing: high quality, well maintained, cleaned often. Bonus points if they were left out during an eclipse or something.”
Cole shook his head. “That’s witch business, man.”
“You friendly with any of the locals?”
He laughed, but not in a happy way. “Tallulah Finch would never allow that. She don’t like us anywhere near her girls.”
“To be fair,” I pointed out, “you guys do put them through ritual humiliation.”
Cole’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? You want to have that conversation again? After I just saved your ass?”
I held up my hands. “Sorry, you’re right. But if you can think of anyone to ask, would you mind talking to them?”
“I’ll see what I can do.” We both started to climb out of the car, but by the time I was out and closed the door, Cole had disappeared into the darkness.
Vampires. So dramatic.
I opened the back door to let Tobias out. The huge wolf shook out his pelt and danced his feet a little, looking up at me with his nostrils flaring. He had to be receiving a lot of new sensory input out here. “I’ll let you go explore in a minute,” I promised, starting toward the house. I had expected Odessa to be at the barn riding Deimos, but given the extra cars, I decided to check inside first.
To my surprise, the door was opened by Erasmus Milburn, the tall, self-assured vampire I’d pressed at the cemetery. “Ah, Miss Luther,” he said, looking instantly relieved. “Good.” He looked over my shoulder at Tobias and gave a nod of greeting.
“Please call me Lex,” I said automatically. “Beau called you?”
“Yes. Cleanup at the museum is taking a little longer than he expected.” A terrible gravity came over his face. “I can’t believe Warton is