“Yeah, but do you notice anything different about me?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m living a fairly free life even though I have this same blood myself.”
Emilia narrowed her eyes. “Yes. Now that you mention that, it is a tad strange. How do you manage to move about freely without being sensed by vampires?”
“When I was a baby, your daughter created a spell that would hide my blood from vampires and anyone else who might steal it to use to their benefit. This is the spell that I want you to help me recreate.”
She seemed momentarily taken aback. “Have you searched in any magical texts for it?”
“High and low,” I replied. “For all intents and purposes, such a spell doesn’t exist.”
“That means my Darya designed it herself. If that’s the case, then it is very near impossible to recreate. She might have even tailored it in such a fashion that only she could be the one to perform it. You’re trying to achieve the impossible. You might be Darya’s child, but she was the direct offspring of a sorcerer. And a very old and powerful sorcerer at that.”
I didn’t mention the fact that the direct offspring of another sorcerer was sitting right across the table from her.
“No, you will need to go another route. There are ways around these things. If you cannot reconstruct Darya’s spell, then why not concoct your own? All you really need to do is use a concealment spell and modify it a little,” Emilia went on.
Rita slammed her hands down onto the table in excitement. “Goddess yes!” She looked to me now. “Tegan, together I think we might be able to pull this off.”
“Have you any magical texts here in the house?” Emilia questioned.
“No, but I have a ton of them out in the RV. I’ll get them.” Rita jumped up and hurried from the room.
At the mention of the RV, Emilia’s face screwed up with distaste. I had to hold in my laughter when I answered the door to her earlier and found her staring at it as though it was the world’s greatest eyesore.
While Rita was gone, I took the opportunity to question her some more. “How long were you with Roman?”
Emilia folded her hands in her lap. “Not long. We spent a few weeks as lovers and then parted ways.”
“Did he ever find out you were pregnant?”
“Oh, goodness no. I decided not to tell him. I knew he didn’t plan to be in my life for very long, so I thought it better for my child—more stable—if I allowed Filipp to believe she was his.”
“That’s kind of shady,” I commented.
“Well, at the time I was a very shady lady.”
“But you aren’t anymore?”
Lifting her head to meet my eyes, she spoke quietly, “No, not anymore.” There was a pause as she eyed me. “So, you and Ira both live in this house, yes? Tell me, are you two involved?”
I sputtered at her question. “No. Ira’s my friend. Well, he was sort of my temporary pet until he changed back into a man. The house belongs to my other, uh, friend, Finn. He’s a slayer with the DOH.”
“You live here with two men?”
“Yes, it’s only a temporary arrangement until I can find a place of my own.”
“I have to admit, in all my years I don’t think I’ve ever come across such an arrangement. A shapeshifter, a slayer, and a witch all living under one roof.”
“Well, these are unprecedented times,” I replied.
“Seemingly,” Emilia agreed.
At this, Rita returned carrying a stack of dusty hardback books. As we set to work looking through them, Emilia instructed us on which chapters to consult, as though she knew these texts from cover to cover. When I asked her about it, she informed me that all members of the magical families were schooled in witchcraft from a very young age. She grew up learning from these exact books.
After a few hours of reading through spells and scribbling down notes, we finally settled on a spell intended to protect a person from being found by malevolent creatures. The malevolent creatures basically being anyone who meant to do Rebecca harm, supernatural or otherwise.
For the spell, we needed a clear, empty room, so Rita and Emilia began moving the furniture out into the garden. I was surprised when Emilia offered to help since she didn’t exactly look like someone who got her hands dirty.
I realised why she offered assistance when she started using her magic to clear the