Finn and Ira arrived home later in the evening, and Ira went straight out to the back garden to meditate. He seemed happy that the mist had all been cleared from the shed, thanks to Rita and the vamps. I noticed he often preferred to be outdoors, and having the chaos mist in the shed was obviously messing with his chill vibes.
About an hour later, Rita came into the house carrying Chinese takeaway for everyone. It was a good thing Finn and Ira ate so much or we’d never get through it all. Rita brought Finn up to speed on our encounter with Brian, and his lips formed a straight, unhappy line.
“Fuck’s sake, that’s all we need,” he said, dragging a hand through his hair. “As if we don’t already have enough to deal with now the vamps are itching for a fight. Well, if they cross the river, they’ll get one.”
“Eliza despises me. Whitfield, too. It was only a matter of time before they were going to try to get their revenge,” I said.
A foreboding silence filled the room as we finished eating. Finn went upstairs to take a shower while Ira and I started filling the dishwasher. We were interrupted by a knock on the door, and I knew it was Ethan from the way the lust potion woke up inside me. It was much duller now, more of a mild annoyance than an all-consuming need. Rita went to let him in, and he strolled into the kitchen with Lucas and Delilah on his heels.
“Hey, any way for you to tell Eliza Whitfield to fuck off sending her blood donors to try and kidnap me?” I asked, annoyed at how he just stood there staring at me in that cold, judgemental way of his.
Ethan’s look was impassive. “What are you talking about?”
“Eliza sent one of her blood donors here today to spy on us. If it weren’t for Rita giving him a truth spell and hypnotising him, then he might have gotten away with it, too.”
The only indication of his surprise was a slight raising of his eyebrow. “Did he say why he was spying?”
“Yes, apparently she wanted him to cart me across the river to vampire territory so that she could kill me publicly as some kind of an example to traitors.”
Ethan scratched at the stubble on his jaw, his expression uneasy. “Eliza isn’t the kind of person to let go of a grudge, and after what you did to her in her father’s home, I’m assuming that her ill will against you is now quite substantial.”
“All of you aren’t the kind to let go of a grudge,” I muttered under my breath.
Ethan’s eyebrow rose higher. “What was that?”
“You heard me,” I replied, not dropping his gaze.
“You’re acting like a petulant child.”
“It makes sense that you’d think that since you’re, oh, two-hundred and fifty years older than me.”
“Oh, burn,” Rita said, chuckling.
Ethan stared me down. “Are you calling me old?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you need to learn some manners.”
“I think you need to pull that stick out of your backside.”
“For crying out loud,” Delilah said, exasperated. “Can you two either go fuck or just not speak at all? Because this bickering is getting old.”
Her statement plunged me into a pool of embarrassment. My cheeks heated as I turned away from Ethan, unable to look at him. Lucas cleared his throat, a hint of amusement in his voice as he addressed Rita. “We came to see if you’d like to join us tonight.”
“Oh? Are you going mist hunting?”
Lucas nodded. Rita grinned. “Count me in. I just have to wait until Mum, Alvie, and Gabe arrive. They should be home within the hour. Apparently, they have news.”
“Of course,” Ethan answered as he took a seat by the table. “We can wait.”
“Good news or bad news?” I asked.
Rita pulled a stray bit of lint from the sleeve of her top. “Um, I’m not entirely sure.”
“Well, you told them you figured out how to kill the mist, right?”
“Yeah. It’s not about that. The warlock they visited has crazy psychic skills. He can cast spells that allow him to project his mind into another person’s and see their intentions.”
“Can he see anybody’s intentions or just those who are in the room with him?” Ethan questioned.
“Anybody’s, I think,” Rita answered.
“This news should be interesting then,” he said, sitting back in his chair, a contemplative look on his annoyingly handsome face.
7.
We spent the next half hour in awkward conversation, and it became even