“We’ll go in tonight during the opening.” Connie kept her threatening gaze on me while she addressed the full group. “I’ll need half of you inside and half on the streets.”
Parker raised his hand.“Tawny and I can go inside. Make it look like a date.”
“Perfect,” Connie agreed, a slow smile curling on her lips. “Melony, you can team up with Buckley to do the same.”
“But he’s like the same age as my dad!” the eighteen-year-old witch protested.
Buckley tossed her a wink, which drew laughs from me, Parker, and the old dude in the suit.
“I promise to be the perfect gentleman,” Buckley said, rolling up the sleeves on his ubiquitous plaid shirt as if he were ready to get down to business right now. “Although I’ll probably need to change into something more suitable.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Connie said.
“Will I need to wear something fancy, too?” I asked, unsure whether my vampire get-up fit the bill for a small-town restaurant opening.
“She’s not talking about clothes.” Buckley gave me a bright smile, and then with a poof, he disappeared right before my eyes.
13
A little sparrow appeared as if out of thin air and flew over to perch next to Mr. Fluffikins on his tree branch.
“Whoa, what just happened? Where’s Buckley?” I cried, spinning around to search for him.
“Relax, I’m right here,” the little bird chirped. “Didn’t you know that I’m a shifter?”
“That’s why he oversees Agriculture,” Parker explained from beside me. “It’s easy for him to get a lay of the land because he can turn himself into any animal he wants, so long as its native to this area.”
I stared at the sparrow, my jaw hanging open in astonishment.“Why the restriction? Can’t magic do anything?”
“Magic isn’t meant to be flamboyant and attention-catching. It can only exist if safely hidden,” Parker explained.
“Enough,” the vampire in charge bellowed. “This isn’t meant to be a lesson on shifters for our one normie. This is about vampires and making a plan to stop them. Buckley, go scope out the building. It’s that new Indian restaurant at the corner of Main and Grand. Try to get a sense of how many vampires we’re dealing with here. Don’t return until you have gained information we can use.”
The bird nodded its cute little head and then flitted away. I soon lost sight of it amidst the tall dark trees.
“You’re a vampire, Connie,” Parker said with a playful grin. “So, then tell us, how do we kill you?”
Connie bared her fangs and fixed a predatory gaze on Parker.
“Rules for the undead are different,” the old guy in the suit said. “Otherwise, I’d give ’em a whoosh and a whoop.” He mimed swinging something—maybe a baseball bat—then whooped again.
Parker nudged me in the arm with an explanation for that, too.“He’s our reaper.”
A reaper, oh!
I stood on tiptoe to whisper into Parker’s ear. “What’s his name?”
Parker shrugged.“That’s the thing. No one knows. I don’t even think he does.”
“How could he not know his own name?” I asked, perhaps a little too loudly.
“Call me R,” the old guy shot in. “And thank you for asking… even if you didn’t ask me.”
“How do you not—?”
“All side conversations must cease!” Connie bellowed, sending another vibration through the forest.
The next thing I knew she stood behind me with an arm drawn across my neck in a tight hold.“Vampires are fast,” she said, then nipped at the air beside my ear. “They can kill you just as soon as look at you.”
Connie let me go and popped up behind Melony, putting her in the same chokehold.“So what do you do?”
Melony writhed and struggled in Connie’s arms but failed to break free.
Connie laughed.“Vampires are strong, too. Think you can spar with one and come out the victor? Think again, princess.”
She released Melony, and the young witch fell to the ground in a heap.
Next Connie came for Parker, but instead of taking him in her hold, she wound up face down on the forest floor. It all happened so fast, I had no idea how he’d bested her.
“Very good,” Connie said, popping back to her feet and dusting herself off. “Now tell the others how you did that.”
“Never lose sight of the target.”
Connie nodded.“Good. What else?”
“Use their speed against them. Fast movements can lead to powerful falls.”
Connie zoomed up behind R. He took a step to the side, and Connie flew past him, moving too fast to change course at the last fraction of a second.
“Evasive tactics work,” Connie announced with a tight smile. “Until they don’t.”
She flew at R again, but he sidestepped her once more. She kept doubling back and hurling herself at him until she at last managed to tackle him.
“See,” she said with a huff. “Evasion is a stall tactic, not a winning one.”
“Oh, I could have gone all day,” R revealed with a wink. “But I figured the sooner you made your point, the sooner we could all get on with our day.” The old guy could certainly move fast when he wanted to. I was beginning to think our reaper in residence was much more than he seemed at first glance.
Connie growled in frustration, then launched herself at me. She moved fast, but now so did I. I threw my arm back, making a fist.
It connected with my target.
“Ouch!” Connie shouted, even though I knew she couldn’t feel the pain. Maybe she was so used to having to pass as human, it had become an automatic reaction. Or maybe her pride had been wounded so badly, she couldn’t help crying out.
She turned around and came rushing back. This time, she managed to overtake me.
“The moment you become overconfident is the moment you lose,” she warned with a haughty look of satisfaction.
She let me go but continued to throw herself at us, one at a time.
Again and again.
And again.
I’d never been an exercise person, but this training activity was fairly easy now that I knew what to do. The vampire magic came with perfect physical fitness. I couldn’t grow tired, get injured, or slow down.
But neither could Connie.
Nor could our enemies.
While helpful, I doubted this afternoon of training would actually be enough to prepare us for victory.
Oh, how I hoped I was wrong about that.
14
Connie’s training went on for so long that the non-vampires among us showed notable signs of fatigue. Their success rate for besting Connie had already spiked and was now on a clear and rapid decline. Which made me wonder if, by this point, it was even helping at all.
“Um, maybe we should all take some time to recharge before tonight’s operation,” I suggested as Connie clutched Melony against her chest.
“Vampires don’t need rest!” Connie spat back.
“But people and witches do,” Parker pointed out.
I glanced toward R with burning curiosity.
He just smiled and shrugged.“Reapers aren’t like vampires or humans, or really anything or anyone else. Don’t worry about me. I’ll manage.”
“I’m worried about all of you,” Connie grumbled. “Our chances aren’t good, especially if we’re dealing with a full coven.”
A rustling of leaves sounded from deeper in the forest. Connie and I both turned toward the sound, but the others didn’t seem to hear anything until the rustling drew closer.
A tall, tan buck with a massive rack of antlers ran straight for us, his hooves beating hard against the earth as he approached.
“Buckley, report,” Fluffikins called from the spot where he’d been napping in his tree for much of the day. I hadn’t realized that he’d woken up until he spoke.
When I shifted my eyes from the cat back to the deer, I found the buck had gone and left Buckley standing in his place.
Oh, now I got it.
Buck. Buckley. Ha.
Thankfully, his shifting magic returned him in a fully dressed state. I don’t think I could have handled getting so intimately acquainted with him—or anyone else—in the midst of all of this.