“Care for more company?” The first girl asked. She looked to be in her mid to late thirties. Her hair was cut in a pixie style and bright purple. Her clothing looked like it had been pulled straight from a 80s movie: denim skirt, fishnet stockings that were ripped in various places, and a sweater that had the top cut to hang off her shoulders.

“I don’t share,” I told them with as much aggression as I could scrape up. 80s girl began to stroke Aiden’s arm while the other girl, who had been quiet, began to rub my leg.

“Why don’t you ask him what he wants?”

Aiden looked at me and then helped me off his lap. He gave me one last kiss before turning his attention back to the trollop twins. They smiled at him and licked their lips while I stared, dumbfounded. I didn’t know what Aiden was going to do, but if he so much as touched one of them, I’d zap his ass.

He moved so quickly that all I saw was a blur of motion and then the limp bodies of the two girls, their necks in an awkward position.

“You killed them?”

“I had to, Gwen; they saw what we looked like. If I let them live, it would put you at risk and I’m not going to let that happen,” he said, his voice lacking regret.

I stared at the two limp bodies in shock. I knew Aiden had probably killed before, since vampires were a predatory species, but to actually see him kill was a different story.

“I could have wiped their memories,” I told him.

“These are two women who drink witches’ blood, who would kill you just to get a high. Are you telling me they didn’t deserve to die?”

I understood where he was coming from but it didn’t mean I had to like it. He picked up Fiona and I quickly changed my appearance into a large muscular man. My head was shaved and my black t-shirt was stretched to its limits against my faux muscles. I expected Aiden to make some smart-ass comment but he was silent, maybe worried that I thought of him differently, now that I’d seen him kill.

I’d worry about that later, Right now; we had to get out of there. We stepped out of the small room and made our way down the stairs. All of the vampires were in some sort of trance. The heavy metal music thumped through the speakers while the vamps rocked to the beat.

I tried to portray the facial features a big muscular man might have. I drew my eyebrows together and scowled at everyone, hoping I looked more threatening than ridiculous. When we got to the last step, I noticed the barmaids were back with humans in tow. Some vampires were in the middle of having sex on the various couches that lined the wall. I gawked in surprise, but drew my attention back to the exit sign.

A short black man thrust a human into me and I barely caught her before she collapsed.

“I’m finished, now it’s time to find a piece of ass,” he said as he made his way through the out of control crowd. The girl looked up at me with fear and interest. I didn’t say anything to her; instead I grabbed her arm and continued to the exit. She looked like she’d seen better days. The word “junkie” came to mind when I observed her appearance. Her hair was messy and her clothes looked stained in various places. She was so skinny, her bones were clear against her pale skin.

I shot a quick glance over my shoulder to see that Aiden was still following. The door was just ahead and it seemed I couldn’t get there quick enough. I picked up my pace and burst through the doors.

The night air was a blessed relief after being in the stuffy club. Micah was leaning against the building and instantly went on alert when he saw that Aiden had two men with him.

“Where’s Gwen?” he snarled. I waved both of my hands over my body and felt my disguise slip away. The girl shrieked and Micah stared in surprise. I’d have laughed if I hadn’t been so drained from the tension of what I’d just witnessed. If Fiona wanted to get me back to my partying frame of mind, she’d just failed immensely.

After calming the girl down and casting a forgetful spell, (so she’d stay away from future vampires), we were finally in the car and on our way back to Flora. Fiona was still asleep in the backseat with Aiden. Everyone in the small car seemed to choke on their words. I knew Micah wanted to know what happened, but I was still in shock at everything I’d seen and not in any state of mind to elaborate on the details.

In my twenty-six years, I had met a lot of vampires but they had all seemed civilized and maybe the ones I knew actually were. The ones I saw tonight, however, the druggies such as they were, were a different story. I couldn’t get over how their bodies swayed with an inhuman grace against the music and the icy blue of their eyes. The way they bit into the humans and the roughness of their sexual desires. In that state, there was nothing human about them; in that state they were beasts.

The weight that Wyatt had felt drop onto him when he suspected the first murder had to do with brew, now felt like it was sitting comfortably on my shoulders. If brew was addictive, how long before every young vampire started drinking it? How long before witches became their main target? How long before the Witches Council took matters into their own hands and a war between our two species arose?

There was a short scream from the backseat and I turned to see what had happened. Micah swerved but regained control and shot a look through the rearview mirror. Fiona had woken up and was looking at her arms with shock and confusion.

“Give me a mirror,” she said as she observed her hands. I fished through my purse and pulled out a small compact to hand to her. Once she opened it though, it began to recite a poem to her. After the enchanted mirror finished sweet-talking her, she closed it and everyone in the car looked at me.

“What? They’re new at the store and I thought they were cool,” I said, defending a very embarrassing moment.

“Why do I look like, Taye Diggs?” Fiona asked.

“It’s a glamour spell; we had to have a disguise to get out of the club.” Fiona released a heavy sigh and waved her hands over her body, causing the disguise to slip away. She rubbed her head with the palm of her hand and groaned.

“I’m going to have a hangover from hell in the morning,” she said and then paused to think. “But I only had two drinks,” she added. I thought about the mojito I had had and didn’t remember it tasting funny or feeling the slightest bit different. Maybe it took two drinks?

“I think your drink was drugged,” Aiden said to Fiona.

“Why would they drug her?” Micah chimed in.

“Gwen and Fiona were both marked. They stamped their hands. I think it’s how they single out the witches and then they drug their drinks so that they can kidnap and bleed them,” Aiden said in a disgusted tone.

Micah looked at me with a steely gaze and it took me a moment to understand why his anger was directed at me. I bit my lip when I realized that Aiden had just admitted that he knew about brew and that I was the blabbermouth that had told him.

“What is going on?” Fiona asked, concern dripping from her voice. Micah let out a heavy sigh and I shrugged my shoulders at him.

“Aiden’s a vampire; I thought he might have heard something. Plus Fiona should know what’s going on because it is our blood that’s being poached,” I said. I didn’t think Micah really wanted to tell Fiona what was going on, but she already knew we were keeping something from her and that cat couldn’t be put back in its bag; she’d nag us until she got her way. I could understand why the FPD wanted to keep this hush-hush, because if the witch population got wind they were being murdered specifically for their blood, all hell would break loose. The FPD wanted to handle this as quickly and quietly as possible but if they didn’t put a stop to it soon, the Witches Council would have no other choice than to intervene.

“If I tell her, what’s to say that she won’t run off and tell her father or some other witch who will then turn around and tell someone else? It’s a snowball effect that I’m worried about, since you yourself told someone,” Micah said, sounding aggravated.

“I only told one person and that’s only because he’s a vampire, someone who I thought could help. I haven’t told any witches and if you’re worried about Fiona telling anyone than I’ll bewitch her gossip pertaining to this topic.” I wasn’t sure that Fiona would like to have a spell cast upon her, but it was necessary so that word didn’t get out and cause panic amongst the witches.

“Excuse me, I’m right here, so quit talking like I’m not,” Fiona snapped. I gave her an apologetic smile and waited for Micah to give me the go ahead. His head nod was reluctant but good enough for me.

“Fiona, as Micah has boldly stated, this isn’t public knowledge,” I said with a serious look. She nodded her head and just to make sure the information I was about to spill would in fact stay in the car, I intertwined magic with my words so that Fiona wouldn’t be able to repeat what she’d heard. If she tried to say anything about brew, the words would catch in her throat, unable to form or be uttered by her lips. She had often used this spell on me whenever she wanted to keep a wild weekend that had gotten a little out of hand from leaving my own lips. It was harmless but effective when you wanted secrecy.

I went on to tell her everything Micah and Wyatt had told me about brew. Her eyes grew wide with the news but she kept quiet so that I could explain everything. Although the FPD wasn’t comfortable with me sharing this news with my best friend, it was for her benefit. Maybe with this news she’d be more careful and consequently, not end up like the other witches, just a body in a ditch.

“This is not to be spread around,” Micah said, giving me a warning look.

I smiled and said, “Ask her what I just told her.” He gave me an unbelievable look but shot Fiona a glance through the rearview mirror.

“What did Gwen just tell you?”

Fiona thought for a moment and then opened her mouth to speak but her lips just closed.

“I can’t tell you,” she said happily. Micah squinted an eye at her, not quite sold on the fact that I had magically booby-trapped my information. You’d think after dating for eight months he’d realize and understand magic, but Micah’s a cop, and therefore has no faith in things he can’t see.