One of the hardest things about writing for me is titles. And names. But today, titles. Titles often have themes, or at least some sort of similarity of form. Titles also have to convey the tone of the book, entice the reader, and hopefully be memorable. As much trouble as it is to do book titles, doing chapter titles is just unnecessary work I don’t want to have to do…so I don’t.
When I was looking for a title for the first one, that was pretty easy. It’s about Alex being without magic, so…magicless. This one was less easy, and I had to decide: Am I doing a theme, or am I not? Either I do one and commit now, or I don’t and then I don’t have constraints for the rest of the series. I suppose I could always change it, but the continuity is nice. I decided that my theme for this series would be something ending in -less. There are lots of words ending in -less, that should be easy. Until you look up words ending in -less and after a while of looking, the letters start to look wrong. I had to take breaks and come back, just because staring at the same thing over and over starts messing with my head. Like when I have to change a word in the document by capitalizing or uncapitalizing. As I search for the word in the document and stare at it over and over again, after a while, the word starts to look wrong. It almost starts to lose its meaning. That’s sort of what happened when I tried to find a title. I’ve made a short list that hopefully I can pull from for future titles in this series. Because, again, titles are hard work and really among my least favorite part of writing.
Chapter 1
“I quit!”
The dramatic shriek only caused me to roll my eyes briefly before I continued working on my ledgers. The only known crippled vampire came rolling in a moment later, his wheelchair bumping over the transition in the doorway. “Do you hear me?” Sage demanded. “I quit.”
“What, exactly, are you quitting?” I inquired.
“Everything!”
“I’m not considering your membership terminated until I hear the contracted words.” Though I wasn’t a vampire, witches still held to contracts just as well as vampires. We just didn’t work the loophole system as well as they did. Sage had been human once, tricked into being essentially owned by a vampire seethe that was responsible for putting him in the wheelchair as they turned him into a vampire. After that experience, Sage was leery about any seethe, which was why I’d welcomed him into my House. As long as he belonged somewhere, he couldn’t just be snatched off the street. I’d been content with having a verbal contract, knowing his history, but Sage had admitted that he felt uneasy without a proper, written contract. Each vampire that was claimed, like Sage, could leave at any time as long as they completed the exit clause. This was often some nearly impossible task that ensured they couldn’t leave or would strip everything from them if they did. For Sage, his exit clause was merely that he stated that he was formally terminating his contract with my clan. So as much as he shrieked that he was quitting every other week, it wasn’t binding unless he said the contracted words.
Sage moved forward and bumped his knees into my desk. “Your cousin is insane. She has no idea what she’s asking of me!”
“Sage, if it can’t be done, then tell her no.”
He drew himself up. “I didn’t say it couldn’t be done.”
I hid the smile. Sage had always been good with computers. He was an avid gamer, which was how we’d met. He also was a top notch programmer, and our House had hired him to do work for us. Seeing how easily he’d accomplished things that my family knew they could never do, they’d asked for more and more, and Sage loved the new challenges. “Creating a game is a massive undertaking. I would have given them a game like Speedy Maze and been done with it.”
“Speedy Maze had poor quality graphics and a glitchy interface every time it updated,” he said. “I won’t lower myself to those standards.” He flicked the pen in my hand since I was still working. “Besides, Speedy Maze wouldn’t help witches learn magic spells, which was the point of the game.”
It had been partly his idea and partly one of my cousins’ ideas. Sage and I had suspected long ago that there was a witch or someone related to one who had designed Speedy Maze because many of the moves and obstacles seemed like witch spells. I’d essentially copied part of Level 99 of that game to help Sage escape his previous contract, and having seen that there were more possibilities with magic than Sage knew, he was eager to learn and help us learn to use our magic. The biggest difficulty with magic was learning the skills. This would hopefully help them learn about the skills, visualize them, then apply them properly. Sage then had all sorts of ideas to help teach how much power it took, what the surrounding area might offer in the way of assistance or harm, and what the fallout was for each spell. He also wanted a central guiding plot, but seemed to get stuck on all the side quests and activities everyone was insisting the game needed. “Why don’t you start with some of your smaller games and activities, then get the storyline going later?”
“And be stuck on the world’s longest intro to a game?” he complained. “We have to at least have a storyline.”
“Fine. Then start with the story and one side game. When they level up, they can have access to more. That will buy you some time to get them all programmed.”
“Your cousin is asking for customizable avatars. Does she have any idea how long it takes to do that? Her suggested list is over a hundred items long! She wants to change the color on everything. She wants to have pets travel with her. She even wants to be able to customize her spells! It will be easily five times the work!”
“Then tell her no.”
He shifted in his chair. “Well, I would, but since this game will technically belong to your House, the final decision would come from you.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “You’re serious? You’re too afraid to tell Brandy no?”
“I am not afraid! I am trying not to overstep my bounds. You’re the Heir. The big decisions fall on you.”
I wasn’t buying it for a minute. “Sage, you would tell me if you were having actual problems with the people in my clan, wouldn’t you?”
“This isn’t that. I just…” Sage fidgeted. “It’s been a long time since I was…popular. Or even liked, really.”
“That’s not true,” I said, finally putting the pen down. “Lots of people like you. Maybe not vampires, but they rarely like anybody.”
“You know what I mean. Not many people would actually welcome me in.”
I wanted to argue that, but he had a point. Vampires didn’t welcome him because they viewed him as a traitor. Witches wouldn’t welcome him because he was a vampire, even if he hadn’t become one by choice. Humans wouldn’t welcome him because the vampires wanted to reclaim and punish him, so they’d have to fight off the vampires regularly. It had left Sage on his own for a long time, and apparently he was still feeling unsure and unwanted.
I gentled my tone. “Sage, I welcomed you. We have a contract. The only people who can get rid of you are my father and me, and we’re not going to kick you out because Brandy doesn’t get her way in a video game. You’re an asset, and there would be a number of witches who would have a fit if you tried to leave us. I have a feeling Tate would physically barricade the door. Not everyone will be happy with how you do things. That’s just part of being a clan. I’m sure it’s no different for the vampires. You can’t let those people get to you. And I’m pretty sure Brandy wouldn’t be that mad at you if you didn’t give her everything she wanted.”
“Sage! I want my avatar to have highlights in her hair!” came a yell.
Sage tipped his head back and let out a groan. I bit back a smile. “I’ve got this.” I cast a small spell to carry my voice. “All customizations are put on hold until further notice as that is not the primary point of the game.”
“Aww!” came the wail.
“Don’t whine,” I added before I ended the spell. “There. I’m the bad guy. But really, you can also tell her no.”
“That’s above my pay grade,” Sage said with a straight face.
“Heir Alex! We’re heading to the courthouse!” came the yell.
“Anything else?” I asked Sage.
“No. I’m good.”
“Then you’re not quitting?”
“Not right this minute. I’m leaving my options open.”
“Then I have to go work on the courthouse and keep us in good standing with the community.”
“I’ll keep working on the game.”
“Good. Work on saying no while you’re at it.”
“No?” he offered.
I laughed. “Very good. Keep practicing until you can say it to Brandy.”
I managed to make it down to the courthouse just as the others were getting out of their cars. We divvied up the task list and got started. I took the front of the property and positioned myself on the grass at the corner of the parking lot, setting a shield around me before I started to work. It was a precautionary measure because sometimes we focused so hard on the spells that we didn’t pay attention to our surroundings. Sometimes witches had been attacked while they were working, either by an angry human, a rival witch, or a vampire who saw an easy victim. Occasionally someone would bump a witch while casting a spell, resulting in the spell going wrong, and a few times witches had been hit by cars. Our clan strongly encouraged every witch to do their work while holding a shield spell, and since shield spells were one of the first spells witches ever learned, it wasn’t difficult to hold one up for hours at a time. I knew the other witches around the courthouse would have their own shield spells set as well.
Time passed as I worked on the courthouse. These were intricate spells, requiring time to lay out the framework, and with the shield up, I stopped paying attention to anyone around me, sinking into the magical pattern I was creating. I was so deep in the magic that the smooth, faintly accented voice startled me. “Heir Corana.”
I turned my head, spying Rafael Vital standing nearby in his long, black coat. I hadn’t seen him or any vampire of his since the day I’d removed Sage from his seethe. Weeks had turned into months with no sign he cared that I existed at all, and yet, here he stood. My voice was the model for professionalism. “Liege Vital. Can I help you?”
His tone wasn’t any less crisp or disinterested and his dark brown eyes showed no hint of red. “I was merely passing by and noticed you working with magic. I hope nothing is the matter.”
“Not at all. Merely adding some defenses to city property.” I continued working, sinking power into the patterns I’d already laid down. “Speaking of, how is your food bank?”
“A work in progress.” His eyes wandered over the city building. “You seem to be well versed in magical protections.”
“It is one of the specialties of our clan.”
He reached into a pocket and drew out a card, holding it out to me. “It would be beneficial to have some protection at the food bank. When you have time, please call so we can discuss whether we might do business together.”
I was shocked for a moment, then I reached for the card, the bubble parting enough that I could grasp it. “I will inform Master Corana of this offer. You will be contacted to know whether we accept or not.”
“I appreciate that. Have a pleasant day, Heir Corana.” And he turned and left.
Puzzled, I stared at the card, then I shook my head, tucking it away, and returned to the city building.
We finished up around five and fought through the traffic to get home. I could smell dinner as I entered, but since we didn’t eat until six fifteen, I headed up the stairs to give a report to my father. I knocked on his open door, seeing him at work in his office. “The basics of the courthouse are finished.”
“Good,” he said absently. “Did Annalie inform you that we have several people wanting quotes?”
“I saw she’d texted me about that, but I haven’t looked at who it is yet.” I kept my tone casual. “I saw Liege Vital today.”
That got his full attention and his head popped up as his expression hardened. “Conflict?”
“The opposite actually.” I placed the business card on his desk. “Vital mentioned he was interested in doing business with us.”
My father tapped his pen thoughtfully, his light brown eyes, the same color as mine, focused on the card. “Did he? Did he say about what?”
“Defenses around his newest property. He’s trying to build public support.”
“Do you know what they intend to do with this property?”
My eye throbbed in warning. “Yes, but the NDA covers this.” It didn’t come up often, but every once in a while, I got the reminder that a vampire controlled me at least a little. The magically-enforced Non-Disclosure Agreement wasn’t something that could be tricked or ignored. “Regardless, I don’t see it as a threat to us or to the city.”
My father studied the card. “What’s your opinion?”
I’d carefully considered this. “They reached out to us. After what Kathy did, unless there’s some elaborate double cross planned, it means he’s willing to accept we are not responsible for her actions or he’s willing to extend an olive branch. We would be essentially vouching for them, but it also might put us in a better position with other vampires if we were willing to work together. But it would need to be an ironclad contract, and I need to read over it before it’s signed.”
“You would see something the others might miss?”
My eye throbbed, warning me. “Possibly.”
My father studied me. “How likely is it that the vampires are doing this as some sort of revenge?”
I’d wondered about this myself. “If it were Arturo or Naomi as the leader of House Vital, I’d say it was all but certain. But Liege Vital…is not as close-minded,” I decided. “He has no love for witches, but he also doesn’t hold the same hatred. He didn’t strike back at us for Kathy’s attack or for my taking Sage, and he easily could have. Even Sage classified him as reasonable and rational.” I looked at the card. “In our position, we have nothing to lose by rejecting this offer, but we stand a greater risk of gaining than losing by accepting this offer. House Vital is powerful. It would be nice to be on friendlier terms. Vampires have deep pockets, which doesn’t hurt.”
My father sat deep in thought for a few minutes. I sat silently and let him think. Finally, he nodded. “Let’s see what happens from this. I’ll have someone call and ask for a meeting. You and Annalie go and see what they’re interested in. We can make a decision from there. See if Sage has any reason to be concerned.”
“You need to rein Brandy in on the game design. She keeps adding to the workload.”
“I heard Sage bellowing about how he was quitting.” My father grinned as he said it. “I think Brandy keeps pushing him just to see him go through his quitting rant.”
I wouldn’t put it past her. “I understand, but Sage may not know she’s teasing him. I don’t think he’s comfortable denying her requests.”
“He’s the lead on the project. He’s going to have to get comfortable,” my father said. “But I’ll talk to Brandy. Tell her not to overwork our programmer unless she wants to start taking on these customizations she wants.”
“I think that’ll help.” I got up. “I’ll go see what Sage thinks about working with Vital.”
“Dinner in thirty!” came the shout.
I trotted down the stairs to Sage’s room. He was on the main floor in the back of the house, in one of the guest rooms. It wasn’t a large room, but it was the largest of the guest rooms that had a bathroom attached to it. The floor was gray carpet, and he had a twin bed. Those were the only two major changes to the room. When Sage had first come, we’d offered to set up his room any way he wanted, but he’d refused to ask for much of anything. There were no pictures in the room, few knickknacks; the only thing identifying it as Sage’s room was the desk with a top-of-the-line computer on it. I wasn’t sure if Sage didn’t feel this place was permanent, thus why he refused to customize it, or if he had gone so long with so little that he was used to this. Either way, I took every opportunity to spoil him, thus the very nice desk, sheets that would rival even vampires, and an upgraded shower, since we’d needed to make it accessible for him anyway. The only thing he’d really spoken up about was his computer preferences. I’d told him if this was his work station, he’d need to choose one that worked for what he planned on doing. Creating a computer game required a better than average system. Sage loved it and spent most of his time on it. When I walked in his room, he was typing away. “I hear there’s going to be flan at dinner tonight,” he said.
“That means the kitchen is trying something weird with dinner. Like the time they tried to serve roasted asparagus and Brussels sprouts dipped in a raspberry vinaigrette.”
Sage looked over at me, his nose wrinkled. “Brussels sprouts in a fruity vinaigrette? How terrible was it?”
“The asparagus was fine. The Brussels sprouts weren’t horrible. The vinaigrette tasted like someone dumped raspberry syrup in a bottle of vinegar. I think someone gave it the hazard waste disposal.”
Sage snickered. “Sounds about right. So flan is the bribe for their experimentation?”
“Flan is a favorite, and it takes a lot of work to make enough for all of us. So just be warned that dinner might be weird, but there’s a reward if you can make it to the end.” I held up a hand. “If you’re at a stopping point, I can do the reapplication before dinner.”
Sage tapped on his computer then closed the program. “I’m done.” He rolled his chair back from the desk then over to the sitting area. I sat in the chair and waited until he was settled before I called up the magic. Blue hovered over his legs, letting me see the progress. It was slow going, but we were making enough progress that Sage was recovering his ability to use his legs, and he was having fewer episodes of severe pain. At this point, his leg bones were mostly straight, so he didn’t look noticeably crippled. I eased the magic into him, setting the slow-healing sigils. “How has the pain been?”
“Better. I walked a few more steps today.”
“I don’t know that I can reverse everything,” I warned, “but everything I see shows that you might be at least partially able to walk.”
“Every improvement is something I wouldn’t have had without you. I’ll take it,” he said.
I continued my work. “We are considering a work contract with House Vital,” I said casually.
He tensed. “Why?”
“They asked. We’re leaning towards yes.” I watched him. “Anything we should consider before we call?”
His expression was wary. “You know vampires like to hide things in their contracts.”
“I am aware. I know several of their tricks. This is a business contract, so there would be no servitude on the line. And they won’t get anywhere near you.”
“You could be setting yourself up for a lawsuit at the end,” he warned. “What is this even for?”
“The NDA won’t let me discuss it, but I know what it is since this project of theirs began when I was under contract with their seethe.” I locked the sigils in place, adding on a pain-blocker. Moving the inner structure of someone’s body wasn’t without pain. “You spent time in House Vital. Is there anything about them that would make you pause?”
Sage was obviously struggling.
“NDA?” I asked.
“No. Old habits. I guess, as far as vampires go, House Vital isn’t the worst.”
I chuckled. “I’ll be sure to update their reviews.” I stood. “I promise, I’ll be careful. Vital is reasonable. He was fair to me. Was he fair to you?”
“I…suppose.” His brow was creased, but in thought, not from bad memories.
“We’re just seeing what they want right now. There’s no obligation. If something seems off, we’ll politely thank them and tell them we can’t take on any additional projects at this time.”
A faint smile appeared. “I would almost pay to see Vital’s face when he gets blown off.”
“I’d much rather tell Arturo and make him deliver that message.”
“You really don’t like Arturo, do you?”
“Be grateful you didn’t have to deal with him.” I got to my feet. “Come on. Let’s see what concoction the kitchen has cooked up tonight.”
Those who had heard about the flan approached the table warily, as we all had experienced the flan bribe before. “What’s the damage?” I whispered to Annalie.
“Cruciferous vegetables,” she breathed back.
I didn’t let my expression change. “Would it be in poor taste for me to groan?”
“Probably.”
“How about a forlorn sigh?”
Her mouth twitched. “Only if you don’t let the cooks hear you. They might take your flan away.”
They wouldn’t take it away. They would make it the smallest portion at the table. I did love flan, so I held the sigh.
Sage rolled up to the table right as the cooks entered. “We have something new tonight,” the head cook, Agatha, said brightly. “Roasted chicken in rosemary with a side of roasted cruciferous vegetables, and mango flan.”
“What kind of cruciferous vegetables?” a brave soul asked.
“Brussels sprouts, Savoy cabbage, broccoli, and kale topped with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, coriander, and sautéed in vegetable broth,” she announced proudly.
“Roasted and sautéed,” Annalie muttered. “Does that mean blackened?”
“It sounds better than the vinaigrette recipe,” I whispered back.
Annalie shuddered at the memory.
The plate was delivered in front of me, and I eyed the vegetables warily. I wasn’t a fan of Brussels sprouts, and I preferred my cabbage chopped and in a salad, but nothing looked too blackened. I braved a bite of broccoli. The flavor was good. The lemon was strong, but didn’t sour the entire taste. “I like the flavor,” I offered, spearing a piece of cabbage. “It goes well with the broccoli.”
“Good with the kale too,” someone else offered.
“Too many types of vegetables,” someone groused.
“They’re good for you,” Agatha said, but looked pleased.
Most of us agreed the vegetables were good, if not among our favorites, and I didn’t see anyone making their food disappear off their plate using magic, which had been known to happen. We were well-rewarded with the mango flan.
“Well, that’s gone much worse,” Annalie said in an undertone as we started to clear from the table.
“Mm-hm,” I said, eating the last of the mango off my plate before I stacked it for the children to clear away. “By the way, Liege Vital found me today and said he was interested in having us work on his latest property. You and I are going to go see what they want once we set up a time and date.”
Annalie’s eyebrows shot up. “We’re working with vampires?” she asked incredulously.
“We’re going to think about it, at least.”
“This is the Halloway property?”
I nodded. “Vital said they’re looking for some magical protection.”
“All right.” She paused. “Are we taking this seriously?”
“Yes. I know what they intend to do with this property, I just can’t explain it. But it does benefit the city, and I believe this is being done with that intention as the primary goal.”
“What’s the secondary goal?”
The NDA appeared to allow this. “To foster goodwill among non-vampires.”
“Is this related to that orphanage they started at the other Halloway property?” she asked.
“No. That, as far as I know, was a personal agenda to get magicless children off the streets and somewhere safe.” Which I’d given a few secret assists, not that anyone needed to know that.
Annalie was quiet as she considered this. “Are we sure this is safe?” she asked at last.
“I don’t believe Vital would undermine his efforts at the Halloway property in order to get back at us. I don’t think he intends to strike back at us. He’s reasonable and…” My eye gave a twinge. “I feel we left things on decent terms,” I said carefully.
“You mean when you stole Sage from him?”
Vital had recognized our friendship, so I was certain he understood my motivation. He may not have liked it, but he had been well within his rights to try something if he’d really wanted Sage back. The worst he’d done was act as if I didn’t exist, which I’d somewhat expected. I was a witch heir. I hadn’t really expected any of them to overlook that. Disappointing, yes, but predictable. “They could have attempted something, but they didn’t, not even under the guise of Kathy’s attack under House Corana’s name. If he’s willing to assign the blame to Kathy and her cohorts instead of us when we were technically at fault, I have hopes this might be a legitimate offer that could ensure things stay peaceful between us.”
“Potentially a gold mine. Are they really loaded?” she asked.
The NDA flared. “I can’t answer that. Treat them like any other potential customer.”
“They’re vampires, Alex. They’re not any other potential customer. They’re way more interesting.” She broke into a grin.