Vampires & Vinca (Hawthorn Witches Book 4) Read Free Page A

of that problem, I wondered how I was ever going to tell them that Martha, now a cat, was their aunt.

Chapter 1
     
    I missed the smell of bacon in the morning when I got up on Wednesday.
    The apartment was a touch too cold, so I grabbed my bathrobe and pulled it on while I turned on the shower and waited for the hot water to kick on. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, and when I finally had to wipe steam from the mirror, there was no one standing behind me.
    Because Charlie was gone. I knew he was happy with Kendra, and I was so happy he was no longer with me.
    I showered, then got dressed. I took too long and had to skip my tea before shoveling my books and homework into my backpack. Then I was out the door just in time to hear Gates slam the door of her old beater.
    “You’re late!” she called to me.
    I grinned. Of course I was late; it wasn’t like I could slow down time.
    Not anymore.
    She jogged a few steps to catch up with me, then adjusted her waist-length ponytail before sighing.
    “You have to take that many books with you?” she asked. “All the time?”
    “We’re having a study session,” I said. “Studying tends to require books.”
    She tossed her ponytail again. “Annie, you’re the only girl I know who goes to a study session with a guy and plans on opening a book, let alone thirty.”
    “Four,” I corrected. “And yeah, study sessions are for studying. Why the hell would I go to the library to make out? We schedule that separately.”
    “Awkward,” she said. “You put that on your calendar? Make out with Vince, with a pop-up reminder or something?”
    “I put it in there as ‘doing laundry,’ just in case someone catches a glance, but yeah. Something like that. Then I send him an invite and we figure out scheduling… don’t give me that look. We’re busy and I have to work around the lunar calendar.”
    She teased me about my laundry time as we walked onto campus, and just as we hit the engineering building, she started to ask what ‘doing the dishes’ was really about. I grinned and refused to answer, and she laughed, but we both knew that dishes were dishes.
    Life had returned to normalcy with Kendra’s arrival. It had been a blessed month since my last encounter with anything strange, and while Gates had questioned the silence, I couldn’t have cared less.
    My best friend wasn’t a cat anymore, not even temporarily. She had gone home and re-forged her relationships with her family, and our high school had graciously made it possible for her to submit her remaining work and get her diploma within a few weeks. She had petitioned the dean of the college I was attending to allow her to apply for a Spring admission, and because her story was so fantastically exceptional, he had granted her request. Gates was going to join me at school in January, but until then, she mostly hung out and followed me around.
    My boyfriend, Vince, was still a werewolf, and he always would be. But we managed, and it didn’t interfere with our lives nearly as much as I had thought it would. Not when we managed our schedules well, anyway.
    We paused at the door to the geology building and waited for Vince’s class to let out. The three of us went for coffee before settling in at the library. Gates read a science magazine while Vince and I worked through the problem set for our astronomy class, and when we finished, he closed his book.
    “Did you want to do laundry together later?” he casually asked.
    Gates nearly choked on her coffee, and Vince looked at me in disappointment.
    “There’s no point in having a code if you’re going to tell everyone.”
    I blushed and tried to suppress a smile as I put my books away. “I should be home by six. Remember to bring your quarters.”
    Gates cocked an eyebrow. “Is that code, too? Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”
    Vince smirked as he leaned over to give me a quick kiss. I loved the little taste of chai tea he left on my lips before