Bleach and sandalwood wafted in the air. Everett had woken a few minutes ago with an excruciating headache. Memories swarmed his mind of finding Rowena's dead husband's head in his library, then fainting shortly after the detectives had removed it. Not only that, but his amulet had glowed and pulsed against his neck right before he lost consciousness.

Everett reached for it, caressing the gem as if he expected it to illuminate vibrant red again. What had triggered that? Was it the cursed object - cursed head? He'd heard of items being imbued with dark magic but was it possible to do that with a dead man's head?

"Everett Vossane Pepperheart!" Mother's strident voice rang through the hallway louder than the church bells before service as she walloped the door open. Her heels clacked with each step across the linoleum floor as she rounded the side of his bed, crouching down to squeeze his hand tightly. "What in heaven's name happened?"

"Fainted." Everett shrugged it off. "I'm okay, Mom. I promise."

"You most certainly are not okay." She tsked, straightening out the blanket covering him. "Orick told me about that gruesome discovery of yours. You don't think someone's threatening you, do you?"

"Orick thinks it's just a sick joke. The head belongs to Rowena's dead husband.

"Goodness gracious." His mother gasped.

"It was just a way to rattle her. Me as well, I'm sure." Everett pulled the blanket closer around his freezing body, undoing his mother's loving tucking.

"I'm not sure about that." She bit on her trembling lip and spared a glance behind them. "Have you taken your elixir already?"

Everett sighed. "No, I was about to before everything happened."

From her gigantic purse of wonders, she produced a small vial of shimmery yellow liquid. Everett accepted it and popped the cork from the top, downing the foul-tasting medicine in one gulp. He made a face of disgust. Despite how he'd taken it since he was a child, the bitter aftertaste of sour lemons and pool chemicals always made him want to spit it out. Without it, Everett would die.

However, that wasn't the cause of his fainting. Everett hadn't gone long enough without his elixir antidote to suffer the effects of the poison he'd been tricked into taking many years ago. A pain more agonizing than death would've struck him, until his poor heart finally gave out.

"Mom, there's something I want to ask you about this amulet." Everett rolled the gem between his fingers as if it would enchant it to glow again. "Where did it come from?"

She furrowed her brows. "Honey, you already know. It's a lucky charm that's been passed down for many Pepperheart generations. I had it, your grandmother had it, and now you do." Her smile wavered, uncertainty clouding her eyes. "Why do you ask all of a sudden?"

"Before I passed out, it glowed brightly," Everett explained.

"That's because it was trying to protect you." She rubbed his arm in a reassuring manner.

By making him faint? As much as Everett doubted it, he wouldn't worry his mother anymore than he already had. Sometimes, he found it strange how she had given him the amulet instead of either of his sisters, but she had always insisted it was because he needed a bit more protection than them.

As the door to his hospital room creaked open, Kieran stepped in, clad in black wizard's robes that were a tad too short at his ankles. His eyes were altered by his glamor magic, now a gentle shade of brown, and his ears no longer had their sharp curve. In the bright lighting, it was noticeable he had a touch more color to his complexion. Perhaps he was just well fed.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting." Kieran gripped a small basket in his hand and placed it on the table near his bedside. "I heard about what happened and wanted to make sure you were okay. I can leave-"

"Nonsense. You're a friend of Everett's, yes?"

"Ah, yes. We met at the library," Kieran replied.

His mother rose from her chair and smoothed out the wrinkles in her bluebell dress. "Here, take my seat. I'm gonna head down to the cafeteria to get some drinks. Would you like anything?"

"No thanks, I'm good." Kieran offered her a small smile as he accepted her seat.

"Okay, I'll be back in a jiffy." She leaped up with a sudden pep in her step, but Everett didn't miss it when she pulled out a snowglobe from her purse and slid it on his bedside table. Funny how clever she thought she was. Snowflakes filled the festive globe, but Everett knew the magical orb was her way of listening in on their conversations while giving him a smidge of privacy. His mother wasn't particularly fond of him fraternizing with strangers, and if she had knownKieran was a vampire, he could only imagine the hell that would've unleashed.

Once his mother had stepped out, Everett raised a hand before Kieran could incriminate himself. "See that snowglobe there? Mom's listening in on everything, so if you're planning to kill me, you better do it quietly."

Kieran frowned. "Seriously?"

"Very." Everett nodded.

"Well, it's a good thing I was just dropping by to check on you." His nervous laughter didn't make things any less awkward, and it embarrassed the hells out of Everett for even admitting it. If he hadn't worried about Kieran revealing something about his vampirism, he would've kept his mouth shut and not made himself look like a pathetic child in his eyes.

"Thanks for dropping by." Everett gently pushed himself upright and folded his hands in his lap. Despite how much he loved his mother, she could be overbearing at times. It had always irritated Everett, even more as a young adult who wanted nothing but freedom. He had accepted the position at the library because he needed an escape from her protective clutches, but he'd never been able to tell her how he truly felt. Not without breaking her heart, when all she wanted to do was keep him safe. "So, how's Rowena holding up?"

"Very distraught, but she did like the thought of having another ghost buddy in the library." Kieran took a seat on the chair, his hardened features softening as he reached a hand out for Everett's. Icy, calloused fingers covered his and it sent ripples of warmth through his chest at the touch. "You don't know how badly I wanted to rush to you. Those damn detectives all crowded around, and I wanted to shove them all away."

Heat bloomed in Everett's cheeks as he gave the vampire's hand a timid squeeze. At that moment, he forgot all about his mother's snowglobe and even considered chucking the darn thing out the window. "I'm not dead yet, by the Gods, but that was crazy." He rubbed his sore temple with his free hand, pain nailing through his skull.

"Are you okay?" Gentle fingers tightened around Everett's wrist. Although his eyes no longer shone bright red like his amulet once had, dark pools of brown glistened with concern as that icy hand of his snaked across his chest. It took everything within Everett not to squirm at such a sudden intimate touch. "Your pulse is steady, but your heart's pounding."

Everett blushed as Kieran dropped his hand back to his side. It wasn't like his mind wandered to ideas of the vampire copping a feel while he was recovering, just making sure his vital organs weren't going out on him. How thoughtful. "I'm fine, I swear. You're worrying more than my own mother. I think someone cursed that head with black magic, enough to try to harm me."

"That's not reassuring." Kieran's brows scrunched in a deep frown. "Someone tried to kill you then?"

"I don't know. Maybe?" Everett hugged his arms around himself. Memories of that night he was poison flashed through his mind, reminding him how easy it was if someone truly wished to kill him. He'd spent years strengthening his magic just so nothing like that ever happened to him again, but look where he ended up. One wrong move could cost his life, Everett had learned that the hard way.

"Do you think this is connected to Rowena's case?" Kieran asked. "Perhaps she's right to be suspicious about her death."

"Could be." Everett shrugged.

Despite how he'd yearned for Kieran earlier, he wouldn't bleed his heart out to a vampire he barely knew. Everett was well aware of the repercussions of trusting the wrong person, and there was a possibility that those hunters had returned. The mere thought of them sent chills down his back, but something gruesome like digging up a dead man was right up their alley. The Supernatural Council claimed they had died while escaping on a boat they'd stolen out on the Niveous Ocean, but Everett always had his doubts. They didn't all die.