that. Obviously, they’ll just move on to some other place.”
The look he shot me was sobering. “Do you have any clue about my people? We do not simply bow down to an attack. We fight against it. Vampires have staked their claim in Tribane for a long time. They will not simply run away with their tails between their legs. There will be a war even worse than the one we just fought.”
“So, we keep killing the mist every night before it has a chance to infect people,” Rita said. “Theodore can keep bringing it over, and we’ll just keep killing it. Simple as that.”
“She has a point,” Finn agreed.
“But then the fight will never end. It could be a continual struggle for years and years,” Ethan objected.
“Well, that’s nothing new. I’ve been killing vampires for years. It can’t be much different from killing the chaos mist.”
Ethan advanced on him, and I startled in fright. Delilah pulled her brother back, whispering soothing words in his ear. After a moment, Ethan calmed down, and I suddenly realised I was flicking the razor in and out more rapidly, shifting it from one hand to the other out of nervousness.
“Oh, my God!” Rita exclaimed when her eyes landed on me. “Where the hell did you learn how to do that?”
Everyone looked at me then, and I let the blade fall to the floor.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“You were flicking that thing around like a ninja,” Alvie said. “I was watching you.”
“Is that the razor Finn gave you?” Rita asked.
“Um, yeah.”
She turned to Finn. “Where did you get it from?”
“I have a set of them. They belonged to my grandfather. He was a barber in his day.”
“Aha! So, it has meaning for you?” Rita questioned him further.
“Yeah, quite a bit actually. My grandfather taught me how to shave with them when I was in my teens.”
“A meaningful gift given to one who means something to you can be a powerful thing, especially if the gift is bestowed upon a person with magic,” Noreen interjected sagely.
“Meaning …” Finn prompted.
“Meaning Tegan is your close friend and she has magical powers, so when you gifted her the blade there was an exchange of power, or skill to be exact. Through the giving of the gift, you have also given her your talent for using it,” Noreen explained further.
Finn turned to me with an affectionate grin. “I guess that saves me the time of teaching you how to use it.”
“Yeah,” I said, a little shocked as I bent to pick up the blade. So, now I had knife skills? Life was so bloody weird.
Rita smiled at me. “Every day it’s something new with you. Tomorrow we’ll probably discover that you can time travel.”
“Now that would be handy,” I said, closing the razor and slipping it back inside my pocket.
“Can we get back to the topic at hand?” Ethan requested coldly. He didn’t seem pleased that Finn had magically gifted me the talent of being able to wield a razor blade.
“I plan to continue researching Theodore’s connection to hell,” Gabriel said, putting the conversation back on track. “Perhaps there’s a way for us to break it. If we can do that, then it’ll be one less thing he has in his favour.”
“Well, if that’s everything, we have a long night ahead of us. We better get moving,” Delilah said, rising from her seat. Lucas and Rita followed her from the room, but Ethan hung back, eyes on me. “I’d like to talk with you in private for a moment, if that’s okay?”
“Sure,” I said, and little by little, everyone departed, leaving me alone in the kitchen with Ethan. He stared at me for so long I started to become self-conscious.
“What?”
“Is there something between you and … Finn?” I could see it took great effort for him to use his name rather than simply referring to him as ‘the slayer’.
“Yes,” I answered. “Friendship.”
“It’s more than friendship. I see how he looks at you,” Ethan said, and my chest pinched. The idea of Finn crushing on me hurt because I knew I’d have to let him down eventually and that conversation was going to suck.
“He’s my best friend. I don’t know what I’d do without him,” I replied, being honest before I challenged, “Why do you care anyway?”
Ethan’s expression darkened. “Believe me, I wish I didn’t.”
“But you do care?” I questioned, and something seemed to snap in him.
He moved fast, picking me up and sitting me on the counter. He pushed my