“Secret and I are talking, little one. Do not think your youthful insolence will play here with the big girls. You will take this blood and live, or refuse it and die. That is the choice. Be a good vampire, behave and don’t make trouble, and you will live. Ignore what I am telling you, and the next time you see Miss Secret over there, it will be when she is delivering your death warrant. Do. You. Understand?”
Brigit’s eyes were wide, her face splattered with the discarded blood. She looked insane, like she couldn’t be reasoned with, but she nodded her understanding. It gave me a chill when Calliope got serious because it revealed something inside of her that was old, strong and very frightening.
She held another bag to Brigit’s mouth, and this time the girl took it, tearing it open with a dainty bite before glutting herself on the contents. The Oracle was looking at me, waiting for me to continue.
“Do you know about soul-bonding?”
“Ahh. ” Her face collapsed and she let out a heavy sigh. “It’s that time now for you. I thought we had longer. ”
“You knew?”
“You need to understand. There are certain things in your life that must happen to you. I cannot always warn you about them because you are so stubborn you will try to keep them from happening. ”
“You knew I had a soul mate?”
“Common human understanding is that everyone does, is it not?”
“Human understanding and romanticizing really don’t apply to my life. ”
“I suppose not. Although the love triangle transcends human romance. There were plenty of them with the old gods. But I digress. In your situation you should know things, romantically, are not going to be easy for you. ”
“Duh. ”
“I don’t only mean the wolf king and his lieutenant. ”
“That’s the only love triangle I’m currently a part of. ”
She smiled, but there was a little sadness to it. “The wolf is one half of who you are. There is another half. A whole other arena for trouble. ”
My face must have gone white because she raised another bag of blood to give me, but I waved it away. “You’re saying—”
“I’m saying what I’ve said. Your love life will be complicated, to say the least. ”
I barked a laugh, shrill and short. “If it gets any more complicated than it already is, I think I’d rather do without. ”
“We shall see. ”
Brigit mumbled something into her now-empty bag, and Calliope freed it from her mouth. The girl licked blood from her teeth and lips, then looked at me before speaking. “You are a vampire. ”
“I am. ”
“But you smell like a wolf?”
Calliope regarded me carefully, wondering if she would need to help Brigit forget more than usual.
“I’ve been told that. ”
“Are you like him, then?”
“Him who, Brigit?”
“The one who made me?”
“Peyton?” I asked, and she nodded. “We are both vampires, if that’s what you mean. ”
She shook her head and scrunched up her eyes the way an annoyed little girl would, obviously frustrated. “No. The wolves. Do you have wolves like he does?”
My stomach was suddenly in my shoes. Calliope gave me a mournful look and brushed some of Brigit’s blonde hair off her face.