Cornered Magic

Sam woke the next morning and scurried to get ready for work. It was going to be a rough day with her hand still blistered and sore. She did her best to dress one-handed. Thankfully, her flyaway hair didn’t require any styling, not that she would have bothered even if it had. She kept it cut short for a reason.

  Her family was still asleep. On the days she worked cleaning cloth diapers for the rich environmentalists of the world she started at four in the morning. Sam dragged herself out of her apartment, skipping breakfast entirely.

  She emerged from her apartment, the sounds of snoring audible from various rooms on her floor, only to find her path blocked.

  Lee gave her cocky smile. “Good morning, Sam.”

  “What now, Lee?” she asked, her pain making her extra cranky.

  Sam scratched at her tattoo, feeling the draw of her gift. Vampires healed supernaturally, unlike the fae. All she had to do was take a little of his power to heal her hand and rid herself of the iron poisoning. Sam took a deep breath, willing herself to not steal from him. She had already taken more from Lee than she usually took from anyone in a month or even a year.

  Sam was no thief.

  “As I said yesterday, I need a favor from you.”

  “I’m not dealing with the vampires, Lee, and you know that.”

  “See, the thing is, we know about Carl.”

  “What about Carl?”

  “We know about his favorite pass time.”

  Sam worked to keep her expression neutral. So far, Lee hadn’t said anything actually incriminating against Carl. It could all be a ruse.

  “And his… technology,” added Lee when Sam didn’t respond.

  Sam felt her stomach clench in fear. Carl’s mass of black-market technology could land him in Solitary for a year, or worse. If Lee actually made good on his threat, her best friend could die.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, hoping she hadn’t already given away her nervousness.

  “Nice try, Sammy, but I can hear your heartbeat. Hard to lie to a vampire.”

  “What’s going on out here?” demanded a voice from behind her.

  Sam spun to find her father standing in the doorway of their apartment, eying his daughter and the dangerous vampire.

  “Nothing, Dad. I was just going to work.”

  Her father didn’t look at Lee, his eyes pinned to his daughter. Sam knew from experience that her father assumed anything and everything was her fault. In Dave’s eyes, his daughter likely arranged a meeting with the enforcer for the vampires.

  Lee smiled at Sam, making her skin crawl. Sam didn’t say anything but turned to walk past the vampire. With her father here, Lee wouldn’t dare try to stop her.

  “We’ll talk later,” Lee called to her.

  Sam cringed. Lee had chosen his words wisely, making it sound as though they interacted all the time. No doubt her father was thinking the worst of her. Her father likely assumed she was having an affair with the vampire. Sam cringed again.