Page 43 of Magpies & Mayhem
“In the bushes?”
“She’s been eyeing that vampire all night,” said Sam. “Does he look familiar to you?”
“Sidney had better not be hiding in the bushes with some vampire!” Aaron yelled, slurring his words.
I flinched, knowing if I could hear them that Jordan had heard every word. His hand was jerked from mine, even as I tried to grip him harder. “Jordan, don’t—”
“I can’t, Sidney. It’s bad enough getting judgment from my own family. I won’t stand for it from yours too. I can’t do this.” And then he was gone. His scent hung there, taunting me, but he wasgone.He moved so fast that it was like he had stepped into the shadows and disappeared.
I gritted my teeth, my eyes narrowing into angry slits, and balled my hands into tight fists as I whipped around to stomp toward the incoherent shouting coming from my brother Sam. I stormed down the path and through the garden gate, finding the whole gaggle of them in the next courtyard. Aaron was staggering around with Sam hanging over his shoulder, with Sam’s head covered in some kind of dark sack. Ahmed was trying to argue with Sam—through the sack—that the airspeed velocity of a crow was higher than that of a magpie. And Joshua was lying stretched out in the grass behind them.This, right here, is my villain origin story.
“We found Sidney!” Aaron shouted triumphantly, too drunk to register the simmering rage on my face.
“I am going to pluck you like a Sunday chicken,” I growled, kicking off my high heels, and then charged him at a dead sprint.Some dudes just need their heads knocked,I thought as I launched myself into the air.
It grieved me that Ahmed had to witness me taking my dipwad brothers to the ground like an angry lumberjack. Although, there’s something to be said for knowing what you’re signing up for when you date a person, so maybe I was just doing him a favor by revealing early on what our family life was really like. That was my justification later, at least, as I whacked the dirt from my dress and wiped my hair out of my face with the back of my hand, giving him a once over to make sure he hadn’t been harmed in the scuffle. At the time, I’d just beenangry.
“You’ve got a little—” Ahmed motioned to my cheek. “—dirt… right there.”
I wiped my cheek on my shoulder since my hands were filthy. “Better?” I asked.
He nodded. “Better.”
“Thanks.” My smile for him was genuine. I kicked Sam in the ribs on my way out.
“Hey!” Sam hollered. “What was that?” The sack remained on his head, so it hadn’t been a fair fight, but I never claimed to fight fair.
“That didn’thurt, you giant manbaby. Next time keep your gossipy suppositions to yourself, ok? You interrupted an important conversation.”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Aaron asked from beneath the pile of Sam.
“Can you guys keep it down? I’m trying to take a nap,” Josh said from where he was sprawled spread-eagle on the grass. Only Ahmed was still standing, but his drunken lean told me he wouldn’t be for long.Whatever, they can sleep on the lawn tonight.I had a vampire to catch.
Chapter 30
Ittookoveranhour of traveling to get back to Jordan’s compound, and I felt like I was running on fumes by the time I arrived. I should have just gone home, but I wanted to talk with him about his reaction, and I missed my dragon. Imagine how irritated I was when I stomped my way into the building, and neither one was there.
“Where is my dragon?” I asked the dark elf, Cyrus, who manned the station of swirling spectrals and piles of calling chips in the main room.
“Hello to you too,” he replied with faux cheerfulness, casting a glance at me from the hazy crowd of images whirling in front of him. “Last I saw, the little beastie was with Augustus, but he hasn’t been back yet.”
I hesitantly leaned on his desk. The guy still gave me the creeps—they all did, except Jordan, of course—but I was pretty sure he wouldn’t eat me. “Where’s Jordan?” There was no new scent of him in the entrance or stairwell, so unless he came in a window, he wasn’t here. Tracking him all over town seemed inefficient when I had direct access to his office’s security guy with a desk full of calling chips.
“He’s at a wedding,” he replied, not taking his eyes from the spectrals this time.
I squinted at him and then gestured wildly at my ballgown with my dirty hands. “I waswith himat the wedding.” Did he think I wore a getup like this on a regular Saturday night? How old were these vampires, and how quickly did ancient vampires fall out of touch with current fashion standards? “He is no longer there. You don’t keep tabs on your people?”
Cyrus watched my irritated flailing with a bemused expression. “Why would we keep tabs on our employees? I can send him a message if you like, but I’m sure he’ll turn up before the daysleep takes over. He is very young. He’s probably out doing young people things.”
I narrowed my eyes farther at the elf and his assertion that Jordan would be out doing “young people things”. I wasn’t even sure what that would be. Partying? Chasing girls? Running amok in the streets? What had young people done whenever this guy had been young? “How old are you, Cyrus?”
“I have two hundred fifty-six years as of my last naming day,” he said proudly.
“Wowsers,” I replied, trying to keep a lid on my sarcasm. It wasn’t Cyrus’s fault I was cranky. He wasn’t terribly old for an elf, but he’d confirmed my suspicion of him being out of touch. “Congratulations? Uh, yeah, could you please send Jordan a message saying I want to talk to him? I’m going to crash in his room in case he or Augustus comes back,” I said, motioning over my shoulder with my thumb.
Taking a shower was necessary even though I fell asleep standing up twice. I’d been awake since early in the morning to help with the wedding, running on not much sleep to start with, so staying awake to wait for Jordan was impossible. I was out the moment my head hit the pillow, and though I didn’t remember the specifics of any of them, my sleep was plagued with nightmares. I startled awake just after noon to find myself alone and the bed empty. There was no fresh scent of Jordan in his room.
My stomach immediately sank. I’d trusted him not to ghost me and disappear again, but maybe that trust was naïve on my part. He’d made it clear that he had problems, and he’d had a habit of disappearing on me from the moment I’d walked back into his life. But was my brother recognizing him really a line in the sand?
