Free Vampires & Vinca (Hawthorn Witches Book 4) by A.L. Tyler

mails and at least a dozen texts before giving up. I didn’t want him to feel guilty, but I knew he did. It wasn’t his fault.
    Adeline had warned me this would happen.
    I didn’t know what to say to him, and I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, so I kept my silence and waited for my head to clear.
    I avoided him clear into the next day, when I found myself miserable and sitting alone as I tried in vain to make the vinca grow. Kendra stood by, sighing as she held a hand to her mouth.
    She shook her head. “You’re the least natural witch I’ve ever met, Annie.”
    “Thanks,” I said bitterly, standing up and brushing the dirt from my jeans.
    “I don’t mean it as an insult,” she said lightly. “It’s just a fact. Where are you going?”
    I spun on her, frowning. “To get some water. It’s been two hours.”
    As I left, I heard Charlie telling her to lay off. I had never been able to work a spell on command, except for summoning Charlie, and he thought the key was to just let me be. I quietly thanked him, and hoped he heard.
    Grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator, I looked down to see Martha standing by my feet. She gazed up at me and gave a quiet meow.
    “Huh,” I said with a weak smile. “You’re the lucky one here. If you had hands, she’d find a way to make you work.”
    Martha meowed.
    “Why stay, anyway?” I asked. “You’ve got to know somebody who can help you out. I mean, I get that only Charlie can remove the cat skin, and he’s not likely to do that, but I bet you know someone who could give you your voice back, right?”
    Meow.
    “Is she keeping you here with a spell? I bet she is.”
    Meow.
    I sat down in the chair behind the desk, and Martha jumped up to face me at eye level. Someone had bought her a new, red collar and strung it with a silver bell. I stared at her, wondering why she had remained so good-natured toward all of us, even in her cursed state.
    “I met another vampire,” I said to her. “His name was Samuel. You know him?”
    Meow.
    I shook my head, taking another drink from my water. I wondered if she missed talking with people; she had been a very social person in the time I had known her.
    “He thinks we stole you from your house,” I said. “Sounds like a pretty crappy place you come from, if you can steal a person instead of kidnapping them…”
    Martha turned her head to the side and ducked it a little this time, and I smiled lightly. She was trying to shrug.
    And that was when I remembered.
    “He said you had a sister, too,” I said, furrowing my brow. “Alice?”
    Meow.
    “My mom’s name was Alice, too.”
    Meow.
    Martha was staring at me intensely, and then she started to bob her head. She wanted me to ask, and I felt my stomach sink. I already knew the answer.
    “They’re the same Alice, aren’t they?”
    Charlie appeared behind the desk, lifting Martha up to set her on the floor as she let out a series of hisses and growls. Kendra came bursting into the office, and Martha went running out, her little bell jangling all the way.
    I frowned at Charlie. “That feels an awful lot like taking sides.”
    “That feels an awful lot like an explanation is owed,” Charlie growled.
    I had never heard him so angry, and as he turned toward Kendra, I realized it wasn’t me he was angry with. Kendra shrank back against the wall.
    She shook her head and looked at me. She chastised me all the same, but seemed to know that the gig was up.
    “You shouldn’t be her friend,” she said, deflated. “I’m letting her roam free on the grounds because I feel she’s been punished enough, but she could still turn spy. Don’t tell her things.”
    “You’re her friend,” I said. “You do an awful lot of ‘do as I say, and not as I do,’ you know that?”
    “Yes. I’m her friend, and look where it got me. I’m probably the most hunted witch in the world right now, Annie, and you shouldn’t aspire to that.”
    “Kendra,” Charlie growled