Violet nervously poked her chicken around. She didn’t even like kung pao chicken with mushrooms. Mushrooms always made her feel a bit queasy. Worse, even if she took them out now they had still touched everything and gave it all a mushroomy taste. But she was too scared to tell Jasmine that.

Judging by the timid look on Scarlet’s face, she felt the same way. The two were sitting opposite each other in the old, dusty kitchen of the manor, the sun now down. Jasmine was pacing in the middle of the kitchen, an annoyed look on her face. It was a very odd feeling receiving nervous, somewhat comforting smiles from a vampire.

“Seriously?” Jasmine asked. “You decided that breaking into someone’s home in the middle of the night was the best way to deal with this situation?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Violet said sheepishly.

“I mean, she was right,” Scarlet said helpfully. “It’s not her fault that--”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you needed new landscapers?” Jasmine asked, cutting her off.

“It… it slipped my mind,” Scarlet said. Violet half expected the vampire to turn into a bat just so she could make herself a smaller target. “You already do so much, setting up interviews and organizing my books and--”

“Because you can barely manage a bath without cracking the tile,” Jasmine said. “We’ve talked about this. If you do it, fine. But if you can’t, tell me so I can take care of it. Now, who did you bite?”

“It was just a few people,” Scarlet said softly. “I was very careful. Just a little bit, an itty--”

“How many?” Jasmine asked.

“Twenty-seven,” Scarlet said sheepishly.

“Really? I only found four,” Violet said. “Good job.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Jasmine said, before stopping in place and putting a hand to her forehead and shaking it. “What happened to our earlier arrangement?”

“Err, well, I mean, Chuck was out of town for the month, he’s going to a family vacation and I told him I’d take care of it and--”

“This is exactly the kind of thing you are supposed to TELL me about!” Jasmine yelled before slamming her palm down on the table. “What if somebody competent figured out about you?”

“Hey, I’m competent!” Violet said.

“Sure you are, sweetie,” Jasmine said in a tone that all but screamed that she believed the opposite was true.

“I found Scarlet,” Violet said softly.

“You thought someone else was the vampire,” Jasmine said.

“I was just trying to save her,” Violet said.

“Awwww, that’s really sweet,” Scarlet said in a tone that made Violet’s cheeks turn bright red.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“You’re both idiots,” Jasmine said. “I can’t believe this is how I’m spending my evening.”

“She’s your servant?” Violet asked. “Are you sure you did the spell right?”

Scarlet gave a small whimper and nodded.

“How are you alive?” Jasmine asked Violet. “But I’m nothing if not flexible. So can I trust your silence on this, Violet?”

“What? You want me to just leave and pretend nothing happened?” Violet asked. “Just leave an unregistered vampire unsupervised?”

“Do you really believe Scarlet is a threat to anything but herself?” Jasmine asked.

“I mean, no, not really,” Violet said.

“I could be dangerous if I wanted to be,” Scarlet mumbled softly.

“What was that?” Jasmine asked in a rather dangerous tone that sent chills down Violet’s back.

“Nothing,” Scarlet said.

“Exactly,” Jasmine said. “So forget--”

“I can’t,” Violet said. “Even if she’s not a threat, I can’t just pretend that there’s nothing here. That would be breaking my oath.”

Jasmine took a long, slow breath. “Are you sure I can’t just make her disappear? I have a ghoul on speed dial. They’d never--”

“No!” Scarlet said quickly. “Maybe she’s right. If I registered--”

“Remember what happened last time you tried?” Jasmine asked.

“I… I mean, it’s been nearly a hundred years since then,” Scarlet said softly. “I’m sure things are a bit better now.”

“A century isn’t that long to a dragon though, is it?” Jasmine asked.

“Huh?” Violet asked.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” Scarlet said quickly.

“Well then,” Jasmine said. “You’re not going to not report her. But I can’t let you report her. So, Miss Hunter, what do you want to do about this?”

Violet blinked a few times. She hadn’t actually thought that far ahead. But there was some credit to what Scarlet had said. “I guess we could register her?”

“How, exactly?” Jasmine asked. “Fourth generation, remember?”

“Could say she’s from a different bloodline,” Violet said. “I could endorse her.”

“What about that oath of yours?” Jasmine asked with a cocked eye.

“I mean, that at least wouldn’t be breaking my oath,” Violet said. “It’d just be twisting it a little. It’s to protect people, not paperwork. I can’t just let her go, though. That’d be reckless. If she did anything to anyone, I’d be responsible.”

Jasmine took another long, deep breath. She sounded as exhausted as Violet felt. “Fine. Scarlet, when’s the last time you cleaned any of the guest rooms?”

Scarlet was silent for a moment, looking thoughtful. “Friday. Last Friday? Or… no. A month ago? Or… ummm…”

“What year was it?” Jasmine asked.

“Uhhhhhh…”

“I’ll make some calls,” Jasmine said. “Fine, lil Miss Hunter. If you want to monitor her and make sure she’s not a danger to anyone, go ahead. Just try, for your sake and my blood pressure, not to break anything or ask anyone else to slap you. Not that I imagine you normally have to ask.”

“What?” Violet asked. “I’m moving in?”

“How exactly did you plan to monitor her? Camp in the front lawn?” Jasmine asked.

Violet turned bright red when she realized that actually was how she’d likely have done it. It wouldn’t be the first time. She was pretty used to cheap air mattresses now.

“You did, didn’t you?” Jasmine asked.

“Guest bedroom sounds wonderful,” Violet said softly.