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and it did.”
Dixie grinned and gave me a thumbs up.
    I couldn’t bite back my grin. Dixie wasn’t
quite as nice as I thought and I was glad. “Fine. Show me to your
bathroom and I’ll get spiffied up for your evil shindig.”
    “Wait till you see your hair,” she giggled
and led me deeper into her home.
    “That won’t happen,” I told her as I examined
her house. It was awesome—all done in earthy colors with bold
slashes of chocolate brown and dusty rose woven in. “I’m a Vamp. No
reflection.”
    “Oh, that’s too bad,” she said. “The red
streaks in your hair rock.”
    “What red streaks? I don’t have red
streaks.”
    “Um . . . you totally have red streaks.”
    “Son of a bitch,” I muttered, running my
hands through the tangled mess. “Is that some kind of Demon
gift?”
    “Don’t know, but I sure wish I had them.”
    Her bathroom was huge and better than any
bathroom I’d ever been in. On one side were floor to ceiling
mirrors and Dixie was right—I was a fucking mess. I mean I was
still hot in that Vampyre undead way, but I was covered in dried
blood and my clothes were torn. But my hair . . . holy Hell. My
hair was its usual dark brown, but there were blood red streaks
running through it. She was right—it was hot, but it shouldn’t be
there.
    Wait. WTF? I could see myself?
    I grabbed the counter for purchase and heaved
in a huge unsteady breath—another thing I shouldn’t be able to do.
My body shook as I peered at myself. The self I hadn’t seen since
before I died. What did this mean? Was I still a Vamp? Had I become
a Demon? Fuckityfuck, I needed to get back home soon before all of
this was irreversible.
    “Are you okay?” Dixie asked, running over to
me and easing my quivering body to the floor.
    “I can see myself,” I whispered. “This is not
good.”
    “Okay,” she said and sat down next to me.
“What can I do?”
    “Help me get out of here.”
    “Oh, Astrid, I can’t,” she said with
remorse.
    “Then just get away from me,” I hissed and
put my hands over my eyes and my head between my knees. Anger
boiled inside me and black glitter covered my fingers and traveled
up my arms. Coating them like sparkling black sleeves. It was
beautiful in a macabre way. I felt the dark power weave its way
through my body and settle next to my dormant Vampyre power.
    “Oh shit, Astrid,” Dixie gasped and backed
away quickly. “Be careful. You could blow us to Kingdom Come with
that much magic.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “What do you mean what am I talking
about?”
    “Oh my God,” I shouted. “If I ask a question,
it means I don’t know the answer. I don’t talk just to listen to my
own voice. So just spit it out, Cousin.”
    “You have dark magic,” she said reverently.
“And you have tons. I’ve never seen sleeves like that. Ever. Not
even on my dad.”
    “How in the fucking hell do I make them go
away?” I demanded, terrified that I would blow us up without even
meaning to. I had no idea how I had this magic, what to do with it
or how dangerous I was.
    “Think good thoughts,” she insisted
frantically. “Think of people you love. Now.”
    I closed my tired eyes and willed Ethan to
appear. I reached for him and he gently ran his hands over my
stomach. Our child. Our baby that shouldn’t be, but was—against all
odds and reason. I let my mind wander to my nana who was in Heaven
and then I floated to my dearest friends, Gemma, Venus, The Kev and
Pam . . . and the tension left my body. The sleeves disappeared. I
was calm . . . I was okay.
    I opened my eyes to see a flabbergasted Dixie
trembling in the corner of her bathroom.
    “What?” I asked.
    “What are you?” she asked so quietly I was
sure I misunderstood.
    “I’m sorry, what?”
    “What are you?” she repeated.
    I glanced over at myself in the mirror,
shrugged my shoulders and laughed humorlessly. “I have no fucking
clue, but I’d like you to keep this little episode to yourself