A tiny hand touched my shoulder and I jolted. On the sofa behind me, Cil beamed at me.

“You’re friends with Samael?”

“Uh…”

“More than friends,” someone muttered, and I lifted a hand, keeping it behind me and hidden from the kids as I flipped them off.

“Will he help you find who hurt my dad?”

I gave him a look. “Um, excuse me. I don’t need his help. I’m an asskicker.”

Both boys laughed, and Gemma stepped forward. “Right. To bed, both of you.”

I watched as they negotiated, finally agreeing to go to bed in exchange for chocolate chip cookies in the morning. Witches filed out of the living room, shooting me wide-eyed looks, and a vicious headache took up residence in my left temple.

“Dani?”

“Yeah.”

Evie slumped on the sofa the gnomes had just vacated. “You almost died.”

“I told you that when I visited a few weeks ago.”

“Hearing it is different from seeing it. What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to protect the kids, find out who hurt Gary, kill them, discover who leaked this video, kill them too, and find a new job.”

Evie blinked at me. Then she laughed. “At least you have a plan. Can I help?”

“Keep the kids safe. Listen to them when they think the adults aren’t listening. If they remember anything about whoever attacked Gary, call me. No matter what time it is. Even if it’s something small like the sound of his voice or the way he said a particular word.”

Evie nodded. “Want to stay here?”

I perused the living room. It was empty now, but a few minutes ago, it’d been full of witches who’d just seen me help a demon slaughter another coven. If I stayed here, someone was likely to wait until I fell asleep and then try to smother me with my own pillow.

“Maybe another time. I need to feed my cat.”

Awkward silence stretched between us. She cleared her throat and leaned against an overstuffed armchair. “I know you hate the coven, Dani. But they were my only family.”

Fury burned through me. “I was your family!”

“You were gone. I was a kid.” She sighed and ran her hand through her long hair. “Gemma was there when I got my first period. Noelle bought me chocolate when my first boyfriend broke my heart. Ainsley taught me how to ward.”

“Because you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

She shook her head, and it was my turn to sigh. We weren’t going to get anywhere tonight. Both of us were too tired. Too resentful.

“Let’s talk about this another time,” I said.

“Yeah. Another time.”

5

Danica