“Hiro—”
“Get the fuck out, witch.”
He seemed just as hurt as I felt, but I could tell that he’d lash out even more if I tried to force the issue. He needed some space to clear his head. So I got out of the truck and started shutting the door, but paused and said, “For the record, I’ve been wishing for a viramore my entire life. There’s no scenario where I’d hurt him, or anyone he cares about. I’d protect him and everything and everyone he loves, even… even if he hated me.” I shut the door before he had a chance to respond.
Then I moved into the shadows and watched with my heart in my throat as he drove away.
Chapter Ten
Hiro
“So you kicked him out of the car and left him there?” Jasmyn asked. It was unfortunate I’d had a dead body in the car and had to bring it in when I’d left Basil Ellwood on the side of the road because Jasmyn took one look at me and knew something was wrong.
“Yeah.”
She lifted a brow. “If he was as evil as you say he is, do you really think he’d let you kick him out and drive away?”
I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut and grunted. “It’s not like he can’t get home on his own.”
“True, but an evil person wouldn’t have reacted well to what you said to them.”
“So you’re on his side, then? Figures.”
She sighed. “I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Not all witches are the evil beings you’re used to. The Ellwoods in particular protected and saved many lives during the war here, not to mention the fact that three of them ended the war altogether.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve heard the stories.”
“But have you listened to them?”
“Witches manipulate people. There’s no way the stories are true.”
She shook her head. “But maybe if you’d listened, you’d know that Basil Ellwood was one of the witches that took on that dark magic and made it possible for the berserkers to be beat.”
I blinked at her. “Basil was?”
“Mhm.”
I stared for another minute, then sighed. “Doesn’t matter.”
She made a disgruntled sound in the back of her throat. “But he told you he was your viramore, Grim… you’re his soulmate.”
“You’re telling me I should believe him, and what? Go out with the asshole? He’s a witch.”
“I’m telling you that maybe you need to give him a chance. You had bad experiences with witches, but do you really believe all witches are the same?”
“Yes.”
She sighed, exasperated. “Grim, when one gnome attacks and kills an innocent, do you go back and kill its entire family?”
“What? ‘Course not.”
She gave me a look.
I stared back for a minute, then grumbled.
“If you don’t judge all gnomes on one’s actions, why do you judge all witches based on a few?”
I clenched my jaw. Logically, that made sense, but they were witches, and witches were evil creatures that did evil things. An image of Basil running in front of a vampire to shield me from its attack flashed through my mind followed by another image of him taking a hit from the basilisk instead of letting it hit me. So maybe he wasn’t all evil, but that didn’t make him good, either. My jaw tensed further. Maybe Jasmyn was right, but that didn’t mean I wanted to fuckin’ date a witch. How would that even work? There was no way I was taking him around Rasha.
Jasmyn patted my hand and stood. “Think about it, Grim. Viramores are the most important thing in the magical community. If someone’s calling you theirs, well, that’s not something to take lightly. Those creatures live for centuries, and sometimes they wait that long to find that one person that’s meant to be theirs… this isn’t some simple crush, it’s much more than that, and it’s not going to go away any time soon.”
I didn’t respond because I had nothin’ to say to that.
“Leave the body in the back. I’ll grab your money so you can be on your way.”
Grateful for the subject change, I hopped up and went to retrieve the dead jinn. With this payout, I’d be able to keep the electric on for another month and maybe even buy a pack of cookies to share with Rasha.
But no matter what I did, I couldn’t get Basil Ellwood out of my head, especially the sad expression on his face when I left him on the side of the road.
As I moved toward the commotion and flashing lights, I wasn’t even surprised to see Basil standing twenty feet away, watching the scene as well. It had been two weeks since he’d told me I was his viramore, and even though I’d felt his presence more than once in that time, I hadn’t seen him. He looked as tired as I felt, like maybe he hadn’t been sleeping either.
I’d thought about what Jasmyn said so much over the weeks, but… I hadn’t been able to bring myself to see Basil again. I was… thinkin’ about it, though. I couldn’t believe it, but I was.
Trying to ignore him, I held my grocery bags in one hand and focused on the crime scene. Listening to the officers, I grimaced. From what I could tell, they’d found yet another dead witch in the alley beside my normal grocery store. That meant this serial killer was uncomfortably close to my home.
“You shop here?” Basil’s voice reached my ears as he came to stand beside me, still starin’ at the scene.
I grunted in response, not really wanting to talk to him, but also not willing to tell him to go away. God, what was that? Why did I feel this weird… thing toward some witch? There was no way what he said was true, but the longer I’d been apart from him, the more I thought… no. It wasn’t true. He wasn’t my fuckin’... that.
“It’s another witch.”
“I know.” Against my better judgment, I asked, “Why are you on this side of the tape?”
He sighed. “Alec still won’t put me on the fucking case.”
I lifted a brow at him, figuring Alec was his boss. “Why not?”
“He’s being a dick, but it’s whatever. I just want this guy caught.”
I nodded and frowned at the white sheet covering a body. “Are you followin’ me?”
“Psh. My life doesn’t revolve around you, Hiro.” His eyes did somethin’ weird, almost like a flash of lightning as sorrow drifted over his face. But it was gone so fast, I thought I might’ve imagined it. “I came when I heard about the witch, but it’s a surprise you’re here… it’s almost like fate wants us together.”
“You believe all that shit?”
He ignored me, and after a moment, he said, “I knew him.”
“Who?”
“The victim. I went to school with his son, so I met the guy a couple of times at school functions.”
I turned to him. “I’m sorry.”
He sent me a sad smile. “Thanks.” Another minute passed before he said, “I’m glad you haven’t run away or punched my lights out yet.”
A snort came out of me before I could stop it. “There’s still time.”