“What was that about?” I ask Ethan.
“I’ll tell you on the way home. Ready? They can take it from here.”
“Yeah.” The same feeling of being watched creeps over me, but this time I can’t pinpoint where the eyes are coming from. It’s like they’re all around me and standing just feet behind me at the same time. “It was nice meeting you all,” I say to the hunters, offering a polite smile. “Thanks for, uh, killing things with me.” I wince at my own words, shaking my head.
“Be careful,” Stephanie hisses to Ethan as we get back into the Jeep.
“So, you gonna tell me what that was about?” I pull the seat belt over myself, thankful we the Jeep was left running while we went back to check on the bodies. It’s nice and warm in here.
“It’s nothing, really.”
“Well, I’d still like to know.”
Ethan’s face tightens and he slowly exhales. “Some hunters are skeptical of witches.”
“In what sense?”
“In the sense that you can cast spells and it’s not like witches eagerly hunt demons. And, come on, even you have to admit there’s a stigma about witches getting their power from Lucifer. Obviously, we know that’s not true.”
“My aunt hunted demons with other witches,” I say slowly, thinking back to the first time Ethan’s father found out I was a witch. I’d only just found out at the same time, and I remember Ethan bringing that up as if it has significance. Was he trying to prove I couldn’t be evil or whatever since I had no idea I was a witch most of my life?
“Yeah, she did. That’s the first time I’ve heard of witches hunting demons. I really haven’t heard much about them at all.” He flicks his eyes to me for half a second. “I grew up believing witches had pretty much died out,” he adds. “Don’t worry about it, babe.” His hand lands on my thigh and heat rushes through me again even though we just had epic sex. “They can think whatever the fuck they want about you or witches and it doesn’t change anything between us. I’ve met a lot of hunters in the Order and they’re not all sunshine and rainbows either.”
“True. They drank the Kool-Aid.”
“Hah, that’s for sure.” He slides his hand up my thigh and I relax, knowing he’s right. It doesn’t matter if Stephanie likes me or not, or even if Sam wants to accuse me again of casting a love spell on Ethan. What we have is true and real, and that’s what matters.
I call Nik when we’re close to home to ask if he wants us to pick him up anything—he does, of course. We get Chinese takeout from a little restaurant in Paradise Valley, and I make sure to order enough extras for Hunter to have his own plate. It’s late by the time we finally get home, though I am happily surprised to walk into a house smelling like cleaning products. I’m the messy one out of the three of us, and I thought having a house that was three times the size of my previous home would be easier to maintain since I had more room for my stuff. But really, it’s just more room to leave my stuff out.
While I’ll admit it’s a bit of a weird situation—though, at the same time, it’s not—Nik unofficially lives with us for the time being. He had nowhere else to go since he came here from the faery realm, and Ethan and I both like having him around. He’s a good cook and an even better housekeeper, stays quiet, and is respectful of our alone time. Plus, we just like him.
“It looks great in here, Nik,” I say, setting the bag of takeout on the kitchen counter. Hunter runs over, tail wagging so hard that his whole body shakes. If you didn’t know he wasn’t actually a real dog, you would have no idea. He pretended to be my normal yet freakishly well-behaved German Shepherd for so long that the whole dog-thing comes easily for him.
“Thank you, milady,” he replies and holds up his hand, sending a little spark of magic through the air at Ethan. “Take off your shoes. I spent an hour on these floors.”
Ethan makes a face but obliges. “The house does smell clean,” he agrees and gets three plates from the cabinet. We sit around the island counter, telling Nik about the ghost-hunt-turned-ghoul-hunt. I add another scoop of vegetable fried rice to my plate, watching Nik add a sprinkle of sugar to his lo mein. It’s a faery thing, and it’s taken me a while to get used to.
Yawning, I start putting leftovers away once we’re done eating. Nik fed the horses and closed up the barn for the night. I fight against my paranoia to go check on them. I’m not worried about demons, no, I’ve successfully warded the house and the barn from evil. But horses can find a million other ways to hurt themselves and I worry.