Blood Roses by J A Cummings

Author:J A Cummings [Cummings, J A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moonlight Writers Publishing
Published: 2019-10-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Rowena sat at the kitchen table, poring over her grimoire. Grendel scratched at the door, and she opened it, letting him in. The last hints of sunset were fading from the sky as her familiar trotted past her with a lamb bleating in his jaws.

“What is this?” she demanded.

Grendel dropped the frightened creature at Lucius’s feet, interrupting the vampire’s perusal of a novel that had been delivered by the staff. “Dinner,” the grimalkin said.

Lucius looked down at the animal in dismay. “Not for me, it’s not.”

“Where did you get that poor thing?”

“There’s a flock in the desert.”

“It probably belongs to someone.”

“Belongs to me now,” Grendel defended. “I caught it.”

Lucius picked the lamb up in his arms and held it gently while he checked it for wounds. “A few scratches and teeth marks, but nothing life-threatening,” he told Rowena.

Grendel clicked his tongue. “I was keeping it from leaking so you could drink it,” he told the vampire.

“I don’t bite livestock.”

“You’re an apex predator,” the grimalkin complained. “What’s the matter with you? Predate!”

“Not on lambs,” Lucius said firmly.

“Why? Is it beneath you or something?”

The Roman vampire looked embarrassed and glanced up at Rowena. “Maybe it’s just preference,” she said, striding over and taking the lamb away. She stroked its wool and it cuddled up to her, shaking. “Poor baby. It’s alright.”

Grendel was beside himself. “What is the use of being a powerful creature of the night if you’re not even able to end a lamb, for crying out loud?!”

“Del, calm yourself.”

“No!” He paced through the room. “You don’t get it. He’s got to recover from his burns because there’s a fight coming, and if he doesn’t drink blood, he won’t get stronger. And if he drinks your blood, you’ll be weakened, and you both need to be at full strength to fight for his freedom. That is what you want, yes? His freedom?”

“Of course,” she frowned. “Del, what is the matter?”

“Ask him,” he said, flipping his tail and nudging at Lucius with his chin. “Ask him who else Julia has on her payroll.”

“She doesn’t pay any of us,” Lucius objected, “but… I’m not the only bonded companion she brought here. There’s Hegula, the witch who does her hair. And me. And Chester, the chupacabra…”

“Chester? I know Chester. He’s in the cottage right next door,” Rowena said, alarmed.

“That’s not the problematic one,” Grendel told her. “I can take a goat-sucker.”

“Lovely name, that,” Lucius commented. “And you wonder why I won’t bite sheep? Nobody wants to be called sheep-sucker.”

Grendel glared at him. “Keep listing.”

He sighed. “There’s Harry, the poltergeist. And Lora, the banshee.”

“That’s quite a staff.”

“She’s royalty. She always travels with an entourage.”

The familiar took a stiff-legged step toward the vampire. “And?”

“And Mario,” he sighed. He glanced at Rowena. “The incubus.”

Her face went pale. “Incubus?”

“Yes.”

She understood now why Grendel was upset. As a witch, she had accepted her power and the change that came with it when she’d made a deal with the Devil. It was part of the job. In the years

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