As she waited her turn to exit the train, Daisy noticed an advertising screen. It had an image of the Celtic Green Man and the May Queen. That image seemed to be following her around.

Why were those two faces on an advertising screen? There were no words, no other indications of what it was about. She closed her eyes tightly, and when she opened them, there was just an advert for the train service.

Weird. Daisy shook it off.

* * *

“Whose idea was it to play Scrabble?” Bhal said.

“Mine, as well you know,” Serenity said.

Amelia looked over to the card table and smiled. Bhal and Serenity had been bickering all night. Byron had told her sister to travel home from her US stay, due to the threat of the Dreds, and forbidden her from going out. Serenity was a party girl, so that didn’t go down well. But each night Bhal, Serenity, Alexis, Katie, Amelia, and sometimes Byron would gather to play games to pass the evenings together.

“I’ve got one,” Sera said and then started placing tiles on the board. “W-A-N-K-E-R.”

“Very funny, Sera,” Bhal said. “What would your mother think if she walked in right now?”

“She’d think it was funny because she has a sense of humour, unlike you, warrior.”

Amelia was reading a book recommended by Magda, her witch teacher. She didn’t feel like games this evening. Byron was in her office taking care of some business.

She became aware of a tapping noise and looked up to find Alexis tapping her booted foot on the floor while Sera and Bhal bickered. Alexis kept looking up and locking eyes with Katie, who was holding a Scrabble tile and tapping it insistently.

Amelia smiled. This was still so new for them—a blood bond, a marriage, and true hunger for one another. Katie was coping so well with her change to vampirism, which had happened quite by accident. Not only were the vampire needs and feelings new for Katie, but love and a bond were something Alexis hadn’t felt for centuries.

Katie’s and Alexis’s looks got more intense until Katie jumped and said, “Um, I need to check…check on something in the kitchen.”

After Katie left the room, the atmosphere was still tense. Alexis tried to appear cool and calm but failed miserably. “Sorry, Bhal, Sera, I need to check on the blood rota for tomorrow.” And with that, she sped out of the room.

Sera sighed, knocked over her remaining tiles. “That’s that, then.” She got up, leaving Bhal to put away the board and collect all the tiles in the bag. Sera flopped down on the couch beside Amelia. “You have to talk to Byron for me, Amelia. I’m going stir crazy, staying in night after night with bossy over there and the walking vampire hormones, Katie and Alexis.”

Amelia laughed at Sera’s vivid description. “It’s not that bad, is it?”