Sucker Punch (First Fangs Club #3) - Kristen Painter Page 0,43
T-shirt, and a leather jacket covered in patches. Some kind of wicked-looking hooked knife was clipped to his waistband. Next to that, a chain hung down a few inches, but then disappeared into the pocket of his jeans. A black bandanna tied in the back covered his head. A few braids decorated the silver beard that hung past his collarbones. To her, the beard leaned a little more toward ZZ Top than Santa. Pre-turning, if she’d seen him on the street, she might have found a different route that didn’t cross his path.
Donna shook his hand. “The pleasure is mine. The coat you made me is not only beautiful but remarkable. Thank you for that.”
He smiled, softening his intimidation factor by several notches. “I’m so glad you like it.” He gestured to the statuesque, ice-white platinum blonde on his right. She might have been Donna’s age. Or older. “This is my eldest, Daisy.”
Donna nodded. “Hi, Daisy.” The woman could have easily been a Viking warrior. If she’d had a sword strapped to her and been wearing a horned helmet, Donna wouldn’t have blinked.
“Next to her,” Will said, referring to the slightly shorter woman at Daisy’s side, “is my middle daughter, Regina.”
Regina wiggled her fingers in greeting. Her black hair was streaked with cobalt blue. Her nails were painted the same color. “Call me Reggie.”
“Reggie it is,” Donna said.
Will put his hand on the shoulder of the woman to his left. “And this is my youngest daughter, Harper.”
Donna had never seen such gorgeous rose-gold hair in her life. The waves almost looked metallic. If the woman was a day over forty, Donna would have been shocked. “Hello, Harper.”
“Ma’am,” the woman answered with smile.
Donna shook her head. They were all strikingly attractive and dressed in leather. A walking advertisement, she supposed. They could have been a supernatural version of Charlie’s Angels. If the Angels had been super-fierce witches. “It’s so generous of all of you to want to help.”
Reggie stepped forward, her expression hard and serious. “With all due respect, Governor, generosity has nothing to do with it. The fae killed my fiancé. Anything I can do to work against them, and I’m in. I understand you need some solid sun protection.”
“I do,” Donna lied. Then she decided to share some truth as well. “But I may not make the raid at all. The fae have managed to drug me. Without an antidote soon, my presence at the raid might be more of a hindrance than a help.”
Reggie glanced at Jerabeth, then back at Donna. “Let me guess. Your emotions are completely out of whack, and your internal temperature is uncontrollable.”
“Yes. How did you—”
“You haven’t fed, have you? That will only make it worse.”
“I did feed, but from a source that was deemed safe.”
Reggie shook her head. “I hope that’s true. You’ve got ageratina altissima in your system. I’m sure there are other things in there, too, but that’s the worst of it. The way the fae use it, the concoction is a deadly poison, but only to vampires. Won’t keep the fae from drinking your blood. In fact, it might even make you taste better to those winged psychopaths.”
“Tremetol,” Jerabeth whispered. “Of course. I should have guessed.”
Donna stared at Reggie. “How do you know all this?”
A dark, angry gleam filled her eyes. “It’s what the fae used on my fiancé just before they drained him dry.”
Chapter Fifteen
Donna put her hand to her heart. The pain in the woman’s eyes was evident. “I am so sorry.”
“Thank you.” After a quick, tight-lipped smile, Reggie continued. “Based on my findings, the fae started using tremetol only in the last couple of years, which makes me think it’s a recent discovery for them.”
Jerabeth caught Donna’s gaze. “Tremetol comes from ageratina altissima, or white snakeroot. It’s a pretty, flowering plant that looks innocent enough. But Reggie’s right in that it’s deadly to vampires the way the fae use it, and in its simplest form, it’s also deadly to humans. I actually have some growing in my poison garden.”
Reggie nodded. “But the fae would never use it on humans. That would catch the attention of the Venari, and the Venari would wipe them out.”
Donna made a mental note to clue Cammie in on what the fae had done to her. But all of this new information was promising. She looked at Jerabeth. “Do you have an antidote for tremetol?”
“Not for the fae’s version, but I can figure one out, I’m sure,” Jerabeth said.