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Chapter One
Rez sat on the cobbled sidewalk in Millerell. A house blazed opposite him. He leaned against a low stone wall and stared up at the night sky, his vision narrowing. His eyes felt cold, like they were trying to see deep into space, into the beyond. He knew then he was riding death’s train and it was picking up speed.
Blood poured from the wound in his gut. Four Invictus lay around him, two female wraiths, each bonded to powerful, Guardsmen-size vampires. The battle had been difficult and furious. Four dead.
If he didn’t get help, he’d be joining them.
He had a sense of the villagers coming out slowly from their hiding places. They moved with caution. He didn’t blame them. The Invictus had set a house on fire and bombed one of the cars. They’d been wild, out-of-control and in need of blood.
They’d found his battle energy instead.
But in return, an axe had struck home.
His self-healing wouldn’t close the gap and he was still leaking all over the cobbles. Something was wrong.
He didn’t want to make the call, but he had no choice. If he didn’t get a healer over here fast, he would die.
He’d been avoiding contact with this particular fae for two months. She’d served him once before. Mastyr Stone had beat him senseless at the Wild Boar, for coming onto his woman, Rosamunde.
The bar owner had summoned a fae of considerable power who had a home in the nearby mountains, a beautiful woman with a floral scent that still lived in his nostrils. He’d been semi-conscious at the time. But when he’d come around, the smell of her had aroused him like fire on a dry stack of wood.
He’d thought about calling her a hundred times since. But he knew she was the kind of trouble he had to avoid like flesh-eating bacteria.
Right now, however, he was out of time.
Still wishing he had an alternative, he opened his pathing ability, then tapped on her telepathy. Holly, I’m in trouble. I’ve got an axe wound and something stinks like poison. I can’t stop the bleeding.
~ ~ ~
Holly was holding a glass bowl in her hands, full of flour, when Mastyr Rez’s telepathy sounded through her mind.
Poison? Are you sure?
I can’t self-heal. Gotta be dark fae magic.
The bowl slipped from her hands, hit the side of the granite counter, and crashed to the stone floor. She stared down at all the broken pieces and the lake of flour, but didn’t make a move to pick it up.
Her heart slammed around in her chest a few times. She had to work to calm herself.
Rez needed her and every fae instinct she possessed told her he was minutes from death.
Rez was many things. He was arrogant and proud. He was even a deserter of the ruling mastyr’s Vampire Guard. But he wasn’t a liar and he wouldn’t have reached out to her if it hadn’t been absolutely necessary.
She’d healed him a couple of months ago, this solitary vampire. She’d been drawn to him in a way that wasn’t good at all, an intense obsession. She’d vowed never to see him again, especially since after she’d healed him, they’d argued.
Viciously.
She drew in a deep breath. Right now, none of that mattered.
As she saw it, she had two problems in front of her. She had to get to Rez fast and she had to know what kind of poison she was dealing with.
First, she needed information. Was there a battle?
Yes
. As I’ve said. Out at Millerell, not far from the Wild Boar where you healed me. Four Invictus dead. House on fire. Family is alive. Neighbors are out.
Can any of them reach you?
No. They can’t get past some kind of mist. They can’t even see me.
Holly’s heart sank. Will I be able to?
I don’t know. You have a lot of power, more than I think you know. So, maybe. That’s why I reached out to you.
Okay. Listen. I’ll figure it out. But I also need to ask an important question: Exactly what does the poison smell like?
He didn’t answer right away, but she didn’t intrude. She needed him to take his time and make his best guess or she’d never be able to concoct the right antidote to save him.
