Night Veil by Yasmine Galenorn

reaction. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be a vampire, so I’m not interested in Geoffrey’s proposition. Nor do I want Lannan thinking he has some proprietary claim over me. I am indentured to the Crimson Court, not to him .”
    “You are walking a thin line. Lannan is not your master, but he holds the key to punishing you if you disobey Regina or Geoffrey. And he’s very good about creating infractions where there are none. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but I sure wish you’d insisted on Geoffrey overseeing you.”
    “Me, too.” I played with the bread, then shrugged. “Nothing I can do except deal with him the best I can. One day, though, I’ll stake him through the heart and that will be the end of Lannan Altos. But putting Perv Boy aside, I can’t imagine how badly they are going to fuck this up. They already screwed things over once trying to infect the Indigo Court. Look at how their plan backfired. Now . . . another attempt?”
    “Stupid, really. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And this antidote is definitely in the ‘fool me twice’ category. But we can’t do anything to stop them. Talk down a group of vampires and a Fae Queen? I don’t think so. We need them. And though Myst routed Lainule from her forest, the Queen of Rivers and Rushes is not to be trifled with.”
    “No, but neither is Myst. Chatter still has nightmares, he told me. The blood from Myst’s routing of Lainule’s people stained the barrow red. And remember, he’s always been Grieve’s best friend, and he had to leave him behind. The Shadow Hunters have unleashed a horror on New Forest, even if the town doesn’t realize how much. Yet.”
    “Eat.” Kaylin pointed to my dish. “We need all our strength because while they argue and plan in their mansions, we’re the ones sitting on the edge of hell. Is Peyton coming over today?”
    I nodded, finishing off my toast. “We’re setting up the back parlor as my shop and her headquarters. We decided we might as well combine the two, especially since she’s only going to be working a couple evenings a week for a while. She still needs to help Anadey in the diner.”
    “I think it’s a great idea to join forces.” He finished his breakfast and took my plate with his to the sink, where he ran a sudsy sponge over them. “So what’s next?”
    “Lainule and Geoffrey told me to go about my business as usual and to stay away from Grieve. I guess . . . we figure it out as we go along, since they don’t seem interested in entertaining our suggestions. Mostly, we try to stay alive.”
    The doorbell rang and I hopped up to go answer. It was Peyton.
    Half werepuma and half magic-born, she took a lot of crap from the lycanthropes around town. Werewolves hated the magic-born and heckled us whenever possible. Peyton’s lineage was cause for ridicule in their circles, and she had endured a lifetime of it.
    Peyton was half Native American; her father had run off years ago, leaving Anadey—a shamanic witch who used all four elements—and Peyton alone to fend for themselves. Peyton had grown up strong. Though soft-spoken, she was an expert in martial arts and she wanted to open a magical investigations agency.
    “Hey, lady,” I said, inviting her in.
    She was carrying a box, and I took it from her and set it on the floor. “I come bearing gifts from Mother. Ready to get the office in order?”
    “As ready as I’ll ever be.” I motioned to her and we headed back to our headquarters.
    The room we were using for our joint operations was the back parlor. It was papered with pale roses and old coiling ivy vines; the floors were hardwood and the ceilings vaulted. A bay window faced the side of the house away from the Golden Wood, and built-in shelves covered one wall.
    With room for two desks, as well as several display cases, both Peyton and I would have plenty of space. We’d managed to wheedle a good price on the display cases from a shop going out of