Calli was the one who held us all together. She’d rescued our younger selves, taken us in when we’d had no one. I’d known only one mother before her, and she wasn’t my blood relative either. Her name was Yasmine, and she’d been killed in a monster attack when I was ten. After her death, I’d lived on the streets for a few years—until Calli had found me and taken me in.

“Who’s holed up in the bathroom this time?” Zane asked as we walked into the living room.

Our house had six people but only one bathroom. And if that wasn’t bad enough, two of those people were seventeen-year-old girls.

Bella looked up from the dining room table she was setting for dinner, her strawberry-blonde locks tumbling over her shoulders. “I think Tessa is in there.”

“Still?” I said. “She was in there earlier tonight, right when I needed to get ready for the job. I had to use the mirror of Calli’s motorcycle to apply my makeup.”

“Which is smudged.” Bella brushed her thumb across my cheek. “What happened out there?”

Zane plopped down on the sofa. “Our mark was a vampire is what happened.”

“Oh.” Bella paled. “Zane, you know what Calli says about getting blood on the sofa.”

“What can I say? I’m a rebel.” He grinned at her.

In addition to his telepathic magic, Zane had other powers, the greatest of which was his uncanny ability to charm anyone. He was very popular with the ladies of this town. Young or old, they all fawned over him. He had an angelic face, one that you knew could do no wrong—even when he was doing wrong right in front of you.

“Rules are rules, whether for rebels or princes,” Bella told him. Like the rest of the family, she was immune to his charms.

Zane shrugged. “It’s leather. Blood washes right off. That’s why we bought this sofa.”

“Weren’t you asking about the bathroom?” I reminded him. “I just saw Tessa leave. You might want to hurry and get in before she decides to try out a new lipstick.”

Zane jumped up. “Good point. I need to shower.”

“Hot date?” I teased.

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

“Wait,” Bella said as he turned to leave. She set a small glass bottle into his hand. “Drink this. It will heal your injuries.”

“Thanks,” he said, beaming at her.

Laughing under her breath, she shooed him away with a lace handkerchief, the perfect complement to the lacy white dress she was wearing tonight. Then she wiped down the sofa where he’d been sitting.

“You should drink one too,” Bella said, tossing me a potion bottle when she was done fluffing up the pillows. She just couldn’t help herself. My sister was a complete neat freak.

I popped the cap and chugged it down in one go. Mmm, strawberries. Bella made the best healing potions. The standard apothecary ones tasted like old shoelaces.

“I’d better report in to the boss,” I told her.

“Good luck.”

I brushed down my wrinkled top, then marched into the kitchen. The smell was even better inside, at the core of Calli’s culinary genius, than it had been outside. Calli stood with her back to me, stirring and seasoning the various dishes cooking on the stove. I swiped a breadstick from the basket on the counter.

“You smell like blood,” Calli said without even turning. I swear, that woman must have been a bloodhound in a former life.

“That’s what happens when our mark turns out to be a vampire.”

Calli turned, her dark brows scrunching together as she looked me up and down. “You should have Bella look at your wounds.”

I took a bite out of my breadstick, savoring the taste of garlic butter melting into my tongue. “Already done. She gave me a potion.”

Bella was our team’s witch. She made all of our healing potions and magic bombs, which was much cheaper than buying them. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we’d have to do soon. She’d been accepted into the New York University of Witchcraft, and she was leaving tomorrow.

“Have you found someone to take over as team witch?” I asked Calli.

“No. No witch worth their salt wants to come out here to the Frontier, and all the ones already here have a job. The district lords hire up the witches faster than they arrive.”

Just what did the district lords want with so many witches? No, never mind. I probably didn’t want to know.

“I put the stack of applicants inside your desk drawer in the living room. You can go through them after dinner.”

“Goody.”

As Calli cooked, I summarized what had gone down tonight: the mark who’d turned out to be a vampire, Jinx, the sheriff, and my suspicions about the district lords being behind the wrong information.

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Calli said when I’d finished. “But I’d worry more about that bounty hunter Jinx. He’s obviously trailing you, trying to scavenge your work. He’s succeeded a few times too.”

“Don’t remind me,” I said. “But at least we have the money for Bella’s school now. I’m going to call that a victory and worry about vampires, crime lords, and the scavenging competition later.” I took a deep breath. “The food smells delicious.”

Calli winked at me. “Of course it does. I made meatballs.”

Wow, that was a splurge, but absolutely fitting for our last night all together. I peeked around Calli to check out the other offerings. Sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans…and was that chocolate pudding?