Luckily, I don’t, and I make it down the short hall from the elevator to Scott’s office without being stopped. The door is closed, and I stand back, holding up my fist and making a knocking motion in the air. It reverberates off the door, and Binx sits in the doorway. A few seconds later, Ella, Scott’s fiancée, opens the door.

“Oh, how weird, it’s a cat.”

Binx lets out the smallest meow, making him sound so pathetic. He extends his paw as if he’s a dog begging to hold hands in exchange for a treat. Ella’s just about to reach down and pet him when Scott appears behind her.

“Get away from that thing! Don’t let it in!” He yanks Ella back and goes to kick Binx, but my familiar is way too fast. He shadows into the office, and Ella lets out a little shriek.

“You know abusing animals is a tale-tell sign of a serial killer, don’t you?” I step out of the shadows of the hall, and Scott tries to slam the door shut, but I hold it open with magic.

“I’m calling security!” Scott scrambles back to his desk, reaching for the phone.

“Not yet,” I tell him and flick my wrist, sending the phone on his desk clattering to the ground. “You and I need to have a little chat first.” I step inside and close the door behind me. I wave my hand over it, magically casting a soundproof barrier around the room. Go ahead and scream, asshole, no one will hear you.

I cross my arms over my chest and cock an eyebrow. “Long time no see, bro.” Binx shifts back into cat form and trots over to me, purring.

“What do you want?” Scott snarls. Ella is still on the ground from when he shoved her back, and she’s frozen, staying rooted to the spot.

“I just want to talk,” I tell him. “And by talk, I mean tell you what a fucking asshole you are to try and get people all riled up to support William’s bullshit proposed bill.” I shake my head, anger rising inside of me. “You’re mad at me, so take it out on me. You want to eventually be a governor to the people, then fucking be one for all the people.”

“Exactly,” Scott snarls, trying hard to keep his composure and not let me know how terrified he is. “People. Vampires aren’t people. They aren’t human and don’t deserve human rights. And those who associate with them don’t either. It’s unnatural.”

“Oh, please.” I roll my eyes. “We both know what happened here. Mommy and Daddy got embarrassed in front of their friends at dinner and came home crying, so you took to Twitter to spread more hate. That, honestly, I expect from you. But what William is trying to do…it’s low. Even for scumbag politicians like you two.”

“Too bad there are plenty of other scumbag politicians who feel the same, and you should see the signatures we got on our last petition. Millions of Americans agree. Vampires are not humans. They do not deserve the same rights as the good people of America deserve. And anyone who associates with them…they need to take a good look in the mirror and see the corrupt path they’ve chosen, straying from the most important thing in this country.”

“And what is that?” I ask with a sigh.

“God.”

I look at Scott, eyebrows raised. “You’re serious? You do know there’s supposed to be a separation of church and state, right? Or did they not include that in the School House Rock videos you watched as your form of education?”

Scott’s lips pull back in a snarl. “Speaking of things that aren’t human…don’t get me started on you, daughter of Satan.”

“Daughter? No. Niece? Yeah.”

“You witches…you…you don’t deserve rights, either.”

“Good luck taking rights away from us.” I roll my eyes. “You have no idea who has magic and who doesn’t.”

“Exactly.” He pushes his shoulders back, eyes flashing in anger. “And we were wondering why you keep to the shadows. Why hide who you are unless you’re hiding something, something you don’t want the public to find out about?”

“That’s the exact reason why we’re hiding who we are,” I say slowly so Scott can follow along, though the way he worded his question throws me. Why you keep to the shadows. It’s not how Scott usually talks, and who is “we”? Him and Ella? William?

The door behind me bursts open, and Lucas appears, fangs already drawn. Ella screams again, and Scott tenses before madly scrambling to get something from a drawer in his desk.

“Hello, my love,” he tells me, and our eyes meet for half a second before he turns back to Scott, who's holding a knife. Lucas could move with vampire speed and take it away from him in two seconds flat, but he stands there with a smirk on his face, patronizing Scott further. Lucas holds his hands out to the side and steps in front of me.

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