Exes and Exorcisms by Keira Blackwood (animal farm read TXT) 📕

missed him. Over the past five years, he’d never strayed far from my thoughts. The very things that I loathed about him were also things I loved. But in moderation, of course.

How was it possible to love someone and detest them at the same time? It’s a good thing we split up. We weren’t any good together. I’d repeated those phrases like a mantra, over and over again.

But were they the truth?

My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I pulled it out.

Cordelia: Have you used the spell yet? Did it work? Send that asshole out of your life for good!

I haven’t, I texted back. He left on his own

Cordelia: Oh. That’s anticlimactic

I texted back, I know! But I think he’s coming back. I’ll let you know when I use it

Cordelia: Sounds good. And you can keep the dildo, I forgot to mention that. Once the spell is done, it’s a perfectly usable sex toy. You’re welcome. It’s dishwasher safe

I snickered and wrote, Thanks?

Cordelia sent back a cry-laughing emoji. Smiling to myself, I set down my phone and returned to the window facing the alley. Snowball rubbed her horny little feline body against Meowcus Anthony.

“Your Lordship, are you going to stand still and let them do this?” I whispered. “Right in front of you?”

He couldn’t hear me, but he merely watched the betrayal in progress. He wasn’t defending his turf or his woman! Something was seriously wrong with him.

It started as a soft hum. The opening notes to “Fortune Teller,” a Bobby Curtola song from the sixties that had been a small hit and hadn’t deserved to be.

This wasn’t the radio—Yelling Man’s words started blurring together, muffled by the song.

Oh no. Here it came. My feet started tapping to the music that was playing in my head. I was not a dancer, nor a singer. I’d never known my parents, but none of my foster families had been big on the performing arts. All of my creative energy had been siphoned into visual arts.

And yet my new skills as a vampire came with the entertaining side effect of a song and dance routine.

I spun around the apartment, singing about teenage hope coming in the form of a fortune teller’s crystal ball, and the vision played out in my head.

Xavier. His arm sliced by fangs. His blood spilling across dead, blackened leaves. More vampires coming up behind him.

The cheerful song I sang was at complete odds with the montage playing in my mind. Images of Xavier bleeding, his handsome face going pale with blood loss. Shadows descending over him.

I stopped dancing, stopped singing. That was all the vision gave me.

He’d only left a little while ago. There was still time to reach him, to warn him.

I found my phone where I’d left it. Had his phone number changed? Could I even remember it? My fingers flew over the phone screen as I punched in his number, more from muscle memory than mental memory. It looked about right. Saying a silent prayer to whoever might listen to the wishes of a soulless, undead vampire, I hit the call button.

The phone rang twice, then went to voicemail. “Leave a message for Xavier Breene.”

That was all, but at least I had the right phone number.

“Xavier, you’re in danger.” My heart jumped into my throat and made it hard for me to speak. “There’s more than one vampire. Please call me back. I’ll help you—”

A beep sounded. “There is not enough space to continue your message. Please try again at a later date.”

“The fuck!” I shouted, throwing my phone. It landed harmlessly on my cushioned chair by the window.

I wanted to go to him, to help him, but I didn’t know where he was. I didn’t even have a bloody vehicle.

Was this what he felt like, with the overpowering need to protect me? Was this why he’d always given me the third degree, every time I’d left the house when we were together?

Because now I was starting to understand. Feeling powerless to help someone in danger was the worst feeling ever.

11

XAVIER

The drive to Redemption took a few hours. First thing I did upon arrival to the little town was seek out the alpha. It was standard procedure, and exactly what I always did on every job...except for the one in Forbidden. Because Kelly was there.

This was no time to rehash my mistakes. I was no longer afraid to admit when I was wrong, and I so often was.

The Alpha, Kelson, was a middle-aged wolf with dark gray hair and a grizzled look about him. He seemed friendly enough, and positively giddy over my arrival. He insisted on me joining his pack for a bonfire instead of starting the job right away. We headed out before sunrise.

“So you don’t bring any guys with you for this sort of thing?” Kelson asked as we forged deeper into the woods.

Two of his men flanked us in wolf form, one in front, one in back, scouting for any sign of danger lurking. In my experience, most alphas didn’t keep a set of bodyguards for a walk in the woods, which meant either Kelson was overly cautious or the vampire threat had been particularly devastating to the community. Intuition suggested the latter.

“I’m enough,” I told him.

He tightened his jaw and glanced over at me, seemingly to size me up. It didn’t much matter what he thought. I was here for a job, plain and simple. No gray areas, no feelings.

Kelson stopped walking and pointed. “My men tracked it there.”

I peered down the slope following his direction. There wasn’t anything obvious to see. “Okay, that’s where I’ll start. Thanks.”

“Do you want us to wait here? I could send Axel with you for backup.”

The wolf ahead circled back and his agitation was palpable. It wasn’t exactly anger or fear, but some mix of the two. Even if I needed backup, I wouldn’t take this guy. He’d sooner get me killed by accident than help me.

“I’m enough,” I