Page 24 of Twice Bitten

I plugged in my laptop to charge and pulled up the supe’smain internet browser—the Howler, as it was called. The search engine was owned by the shifters, so I never searched anything concerning the apothecary unless I was using a VPN. This search was bound to be so common it wouldn’t cause any red flags.

Hedgewitches had to keep their minds clean in order to do their work. I chose not to partake in the news cycle, so I didn’t have to constantly do aura cleanses. Working among the public was bad enough, but I was subjected to each person for such a short period of time that a quick sage smoke wash took care of the worst of the energies I soaked up during a normal working day. Since I was more vulnerable to energy, I took care when it came to media I consumed and people I associated with.

I did, however, know the hierarchies of each group of supernaturals off by heart. Mom had made me learn about the structure of the three powerful families.

Witches had their Queen Mother, a powerful female witch who led all the witches in the entire country. Ours kept out of the public eye and few people had ever seen her in person.

Mom spoke of her fondly and said one day, if I was a very good girl, maybe I would get to meet her. Hurt burned within me at the memory. All those promises gone like a snap of the fingers. I grew up with hope and happiness, only for everything to turn to ash in a heartbeat.

I sighed and got up to make myself a cup of coffee. Maybe I’d add a little something extra to take the edge off.

When I made my way back to the room, a steaming cup of spiked coffee in my hand, I pulled my laptop closer and did a quick search for the Queen Mother. I’d seen a picture of her a long time ago, but I was an adult now and childhood memories often warped over the years.

I sucked in a breath at the image that popped up on my screen. The queen wasstunning.

Geez. No wonder she didn’t often go out in public.

The latest picture of her was taken at a ball several years ago. She wore a sparkling, strapless gown. Curly dark hair tumbled down her pale, bare shoulders. Large green eyes almost glowed, highlighting the sharp angles of her heart-shaped face. No smile tipped her lips, though everyone else had one on their faces. She gazed at the camera almost somberly, as if her physical body was there but her mind was a thousand miles away.

Empathy rose unbidden inside me. What must it be like to have so much power you can rule unchallenged for as long as you wanted? Had she wanted this or was she forced into rule?

A few more taps of the keys revealed nothing. Stories about her were as elusive as the queen herself.

Uncomfortable for reasons I couldn’t explain, I clicked away from her picture and back onto the main search engine.

My focus today wasn’t on the Queen Mother. I needed to find out the identities of the shifter and vampire in the alley.

Shifters had a King who was always male and functioned similarly to the Queen Mother. Vampires elected state Primes, and where the witches and shifters went for a variety of traits when electing their leaders, such as power, charisma, looks, and influence, vampires were more straightforward. Each elected Prime was the most powerful vampire in their respective territories.

Their politics didn’t concern me and had never affected me, so I’d tuned everything out. Being oblivious wasn’t half bad, and when you cut out all the noise, life got better.

I typed in the names Alric and Silas along with the search termpeace conferenceand hit enter.

A second later, my blood ran cold.

The first result was an article published yesterday and read:Alric Methinas, Vampire Prime, and Silas Ward, Shifter King, Meet Publicly for First Time at Blackclaw Hollow Peace Conference.

“Shit,” I whispered. “Shit.Shit.” A low moan escaped me. I’dliterallyrun into both of them last night.

Right into their claws, in fact. If they knew I was alive and a witness to their meeting…

I stared at the screen blankly, nausea burning in my gut. I scrambled off my bed and barely made it to the toilet in time to empty my stomach.

“Oh gods,” I whispered. What was I going to do?

They’d left me to die. Silas seemed more concerned about me than Alric, but he’d still gotten up and left me bleeding out in the alley.

Fury quickly overwhelmed my fear. Those bastards left me to die in a dirty, cold alley! My fists clenched at my sides. I had something huge on them, and that made me dangerous.

If I ever ran into them, they would know who I was…well, maybe.

Hmm. The wolf had stabbed me first, then the vampire. I swallowed hard as memories assailed me. Blood everywhere, the pain I’d felt, their claws sinking into my skin. I shivered and tried to shove away that feeling of certain death. How had I survived?

And was surviving a good thing if those two realized I was still alive? Witches were still wary of each other, even after the reunification efforts of their Queen Mother, but if they got wind that a Prime and the Shifter King had left one of their own to certain death, it might unite the witches in a way no one had seen in centuries.

I’d never seen either man before, so it wasn’t like I’d run into them on the street. I would have known they were powerful, but the coffee shop served powerful customers all day long. They wouldn’t look twice at a barista. No one ever did. If they saw me again, I probably wouldn’t be covered in blood. Or at least I hoped not. An attack like that happening twice in a lifetime would be astronomically unlikely.

It’d be fine, I told myself. There was no way they’d identify me.