And then there was the erratic heartbeat. It was loud and animated. I moved a finger over his artery, feeling a pulse that was just as erratic and strong. His short sharp inhalation accompanied the fear and surprise filling his eyes. His mouth parted but he could only manage, “What did…”
He collapsed back, his fear-stricken expression frozen in place. No heartbeat, no pulse, no breathing. He seemed to be alive, or as alive as a vampire could be. But I refused to let him feed from me again.
I gave him the discarded source of blood from earlier. When the bag was empty, he sat up. His expression glossed over and he settled into a state of confusion as if he was searching for the events of the past few hours. Questioning him didn’t lead to any information. He wasn’t even able to recall the moments before the attack.
He needed help to stand. Once up, he paced the room, his movements sluggish. His vampire aura was off. As the minutes ticked by, I wondered if I’d done more damage than good. I’d definitely reanimated him. No. I hadn’t reanimated him, I’d re-humaned him. That wasn’t a fucking word, but I was at a loss for the right one. WhathadI done to him?
His denim-blue eyes stared at me as he lumbered around the small room. “More,” he managed in a low plea, lowering himself back to the floor instead of sitting on the battered sofa in the corner. It couldn’t have looked less comfortable than the floor?
While he devoured two of the four bags I gave him, I waited in anticipation for his memories to return. Relief flooded through me when none did. It was unfortunate that he couldn’tremember the attack, but he also couldn’t recall what I did. When he started on the third bag, I left to contact Corrine and Belham. A task in itself. Technically, they had a contact for their house, and getting to them was as easy as getting to chat with the CEO of a company. But the moment I mentioned an injured vampire and the House of Hollows crest on the weapon, I was told I’d be contacted soon. Soon was about three minutes later.
Based on the rumors of their turbulent relationship, I had the good sense to initially escort Corrine and Belham to separate rooms. Desperately needing to untangle the situation and keep my story consistent, I managed to coax them from their separate rooms to the break room, where the injured vampire was. Their hostility stifled the air in the small room. I should have chosen the club.
Tension-laden quips and accusations were lobbed. Belham wanted to retaliate for the assault against his vampire and seemed quite willing to attribute the blame to Corrine.
Corrine wanted to punish him for the insult. “If I ever chose to make a statement of dissatisfaction, I’d simply behead your favorite in front of you. I would never reduce myself to something so cowardly or deceitful.”
Before it could escalate any further, I presented them with my findings and managed to get them to a reluctant truce. Gauging their violence-lust expressions, I kept some distance from them.
I gave them access to the cameras, which revealed nothing more than the vampire walking down the alleyway, a bloom of smoke, and then him disappearing from sight. We all agreed that magic had been used to deceive the cameras—definitely the work of an alchemy witch. And we all agreed the stabbing wasn’t. We suspected that was the work of a vampire and a witch.
“I need to know which coven was involved,” Belham demanded, his words cold and unyielding. I couldn’t help butgasp at the surprising speed at which he closed the distance I’d put between us. Despite my decent height of five six, his overpowering presence made me feel diminutive.
“Can you help me with that, Takara?” I’d given them my full name but told them to call me Kara. He said the name several times, letting it roll over his tongue as if it was a powerful word.
The use of my full name made me feel uneasy. He leaned into me and inhaled. Then his cold perceptive eyes studied me. I considered stepping back, but he was the one who invaded my space. Heneededto move away.
“Step away from me,” I said, tacking on a “please.” Although he wasn’t deserving of politeness.
His brows drew together. Cold eyes sharpened on me. When his lips pulled back, revealing the edges of his fangs, it was apparent that he wasn’t given requests often and definitely didn’t oblige them.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I held his unnerving glare before sweeping my eyes in the direction of Raynard, which I’d discovered was the name of the vampire I saved. He was now resting on the chair he’d rejected earlier.
Pressing my lips into a tight line, my jaw set. With a dark amused smirk on his face and an annoying flourish of movement, Belham stepped away from me, extending his arms out in a performative mocking gesture of acquiescence.
My unease about him was slowly shifting to disdain.
A knowing look feathered Corrine’s face as she watched the exchange. “She’s not a witch,” she finally said.
“But is she human? There seems to be an air of magic surrounding her.”
“There is something, other than the vodka wafting from her. Like your personality, your magic detection is crude.”
The two shots of vodka I’d desperately needed for liquid courage prior to calling them hadn’t gone undetected.
He glared at her.
Dear fates, they’re going to kill each other.
“I can’t perform spells, but I am immune to wards.” There was no way I would tell them what had happened between me and Raynard. They nodded, dismissing me as inconsequential as so many did once they discovered the extent of my abilities.
“Magic like that would have been done by an alchemy witch. I doubt anyone local,” I added. No local witch would involve themselves in something like this for fear of being discovered.
“The spell should be able to be traced.” The points of stiletto-sharp nails resembled claws as they tapped against Corrine’s chin. “You know that Amelia well, don’t you?”
I quickly tried to recall my encounters with Corrine, which had all been at Cloak and Dagger. It didn’t take any level of perceptiveness to determine how close Amelia and I were.
“It is my understanding she is a very powerful witch. Call her.”
