Elemental Reverse Harem Quartet (part 1: Earth)

Chapter 9

Sometimes one has to rethink everything

Varu Vasile

Only an appalling judge of character would have thought they were safer with me than with the fiery witch. Even I'd admit that, and I'm no fan of Haydn Byrne.

Much as I reveled in the knowledge that I excelled at entrapment, giving off the wrong signals and luring women into a false sense of security, I had genuine concerns about the safety of this young witch. She wasn't my prey. Her lack of instinct for self-preservation was a problem for all of us in Summer House Road, myself included. Of course, she was oblivious to the risks.

Lingering by the door, Fire deliberated on his next course of action. I almost saw his brain whirring. I'd seen many people with that same expression of confusion, but usually, that was after they'd forgotten that I'd just drank their blood. He was unsure whether to leave her with me.

Like a true pal, I helped him decide what to do next. I invited him to stay, so he decided to leave. I knew he would. We'd never warmed to each other, which was ironic seeing as he was Fire, Mr. Heat, a fire witch, and I was stone cold dead. Deep inside, he would have known she was safe with me.

He left, and I closed the door and bolted it because you can't be too careful.

"Which do you want first, the bathroom and the guest room or food and drink?"

"Neither. What I want are answers. How do you two know each other? Do you know those women he knifed? Did he kill them? And why did he do that?"

"Come and sit with me, Malka. I'll show you your house." I led her through the first door to the front room.

"Start with what's wrong with that guy. He's so delusional." She chattered away as she followed me, oblivious to all the implications of our movements. I'd rarely turn my back on a witch, and it was unusual for a witch to be in a vampire's house after dark voluntarily. Of the witches, only my closest trusted friends would ever drop in on me.

We passed by the small dining table used by the mortal family that lived in this part of the house. I sat in one of the two chairs by the window and invited her to sit in the other. It was a place I rarely sat. Why gaze through a pane of glass instead of being out there interacting with the world? Unless it was daylight, in which case it would be far too bright for me. In the daytime, I stayed beneath the house.

"You need to rethink everything you thought you knew."

"You're damn right there. I never thought the afterlife would be like this, for a start."

After hundreds of years on the planet, I finally had the chance to tell someone they weren't dead but alive, and the job turned out to be more difficult than I'd have guessed. "This isn't the afterlife, not for you."

"So, what is it then?"

"For some reason, your mother wanted you to have a normal upbringing; she wanted you to live as a mundane child."

"My childhood wasn't all that ordinary. I spent it at expensive boarding schools and dreaded anyone asking about my parents. I suffered a fair amount of teasing for being the daughter of a nutter. I've often wondered if she'd have sent me to boarding school even if she hadn't gone to prison." Malka appeared wistful.

"You're not descended from the Nutters. To my knowledge, that family has a separate northern-based lineage that has never mixed with yours."

She looked confused as she focused on me. "What would you know? You can't know my mother. Did your parents tell you this? Are they home?" Malka turned toward the still-open doorway.