Page 28 of Awakened Light

He gestured to each of them as he went around the room, and they all greeted me with a warm smile. There weren’t blood dripping fangs and snarls like I would have once expected upon seeing a vampire. Instead, they looked like just a beautiful, nice family.

“It’s good to see you all again,” I said.

“It’s really nice to meet you, Catrain,” Mark said as he stepped forward. “And I’m a hugger, so get your cute ass in here.”

Before I could respond, he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me up into the air.

“You’re so tiny!” he laughed as he set me back down. “Like a tiny little lethal warrior pixie. I love it!”

“Don’t squish her with your new powers, Mark,” Thorne warned as I slid out of Mark’s embrace. “He’s a new vampire, and sometimes we don’t realize how strong we are.”

“I’m not gonna squish her.” Mark rolled his eyes. “I mean, I’m hella strong, obvie.” He flexed his impressive bicep. “But, I would never hurt our little Catrain.”

His mannerisms and enthusiasm caused me to chuckle as I stepped back from him.

“I promised to return Catrain safe and sound,” Thorne said as he passed a stern gaze across his family. “That means everyone here will protect her with their lives. Is that clear?”

“Of course,” Grizella said, and everyone nodded in agreement. “We just appreciate you coming here. We can’t lose either of them, so we really need your help.”

Lothaire and Grizella exchanged a glance, then he slid his enormous arm around her shoulders.

“So, how does the spell work?” Aiden asked.

Now that I felt safe around them, I was comfortable enough to talk. “I’ll need a map and her earring. We’ll place it on that table, I’ll perform my spell, and it should tell us where she is.”

“I’ll get a map,” Grizella said before flashing out of the room, only to return a few seconds later. “Here.”

She placed the map on the large wooden table in the center of the room and spread it out.

“Do you have the earring?” I asked Thorne as I walked over to the table. He stayed inches from my side each step of the way and pulled the green jewel earring out of his pocket.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you.” I placed the earring on the center of the map, closed my eyes, and began chanting.

“It’s working!” I heard Mark squeal as I kept up my spell.

“Holy shit. It is,” Thorne said. I felt his body press closer to mine, and his close proximity made it hard to keep up my concentration.

“It stopped!” Emilia said.

After opening my eyes, I looked to see the earring had moved south on the map.

“She’s in Edinburgh.” Lothaire jabbed his finger at the location.

“That was amazing, Cat.” Thorne turned to me and took my hands in his. “You’re amazing.”

The simple words felt anything but with the way he looked at me when he said them.

“So where in Edinburgh would they keep her?” Grizella’s question pulled me from the trance Thorne’s eyes had lulled me into.

“We can ask our contacts if they have any idea where they would hide,” Aiden said.

“No.” Thorne broke our eye contact and looked up. “We can’t take any chance they know we’re coming. If there is a leak in our loyalties and they find out we know where they are, they could run... or worse. Since we have it, I think we need to keep the element of surprise on our side.”

“But then how do we find her?” Lothaire asked. “Edinburgh isn’t a small city.”

Thorne turned back to me. “If I get you another map, a smaller one, can you perform the spell again and help me narrow down the location?”