Sacrifice in Blood

Chapter 29: Love Bite

The congregation reconvened at Lucy's cafe back on campus for the wake. On the drive there, I filled Ava in on what happened.

"You saw her ghost? That's insane Leina! You have to tell Bridget. Oh Tyler is going to freak, remember how he swore he saw a ghost that time in the woods?"

Tyler. Another wave of uneasiness washed over me - I had told him I wasn't ready for a relationship and yet here I was, kissing a vampire. He would freak. But of course, I couldn't tell him about Talon, none of the coven could know. Would they banish me? Would the council punish me for 'fraternising with the enemy'? Ava broke me from my troubled thoughts;

"Earth to Leina? What do you think?" I pushed away my wonderings.

"You know Bridget, Tyler, no-one in the coven can know about Talon, right? I'm sorry to ask you to lie but-" I started but Ava cut me off;

"Obviously. Goddess, everyone would freak. Your secret is safe with me." She winked and I rolled my eyes.
"But I do think you should talk to Bridget. Has she said anything about that...Elemental stuff to you?"

"No, she's been busy with council stuff and I've been preoccupied myself." I reflected, frowning. That was another thing to ponder- I had wondered if my elemental powers had disappeared, making this whole Elemental thing redundant but I had conjured fire to take down Lance proving they hadn't gone, so that left me back at square-one. It seemed I could only conjure the elements when I was in a life or death situation.

What the hell was an Elemental witch? And why was Bridget so worried? Should I be worried?

"Yeah, I'll try to catch Bridget tonight to talk." I agreed, lost in my thoughts.

The wake was lovely, everyone shared stories of Lucy; when she'd brought her dog to the cafe and everyone had fallen in love with the King Charles Cavalier, aptly named Charlie, when she gave out free coffees during exam period, when she'd freaked a student out with her gothic attire and convinced them she was the president of the Satanic club on campus and sacrificed first years and so many more. After my encounter with her spirit, I felt lighter and was able to join in.

"Where's Talon? Did he come?" Ava chimed in curiously as things were winding down. I could feel the familiar prickling of my tattoo. Talon had followed to the wake but kept his distance, lurking in the shadows somewhere.

"He's around here somewhere." I said looking around, trying to spot him.

"I want to talk to him," She said, a mischievous grin spreading across her lips. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Please don't say anything embarrassing. We're kind of stuck together forever and he doesn't need any more reasons to tease me." I begged. Talon must have been listening because he chose that moment to appear:

"Did I hear something about embarrassing stories?" He piped in, looking damn fine in his suit, his jacket over his arm and his signature smirk in its place. I groaned then glared at him. His eyes were a bright, piercing blue today and I found myself not wanting to look away.

Ava had jumped, not used to Talon appearing from thin air but quickly covered her surprise with a laugh.

"I have so many stories" she said, shooting me a mischievous grin. But I could see she was a little uneasy, not used to being in the presence of a vampire. I had been around so many now, I'd forgotten how unnerving they could be.

"Where's Alistair?" I said, wanting to divert the subject away from any number of embarrassing stories Ava had in mind.

"He's back at the house," Talon said as if it was obvious. Which it was, it was broad daylight. I mentally slapped myself.