AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I'm a cosmic witch," I say, unsure why he's asking me something that he already knows the answer to.
"No, no, I know that part. I mean what can youdo, besides enchant birth charts?" he clarifies.
"Alot."
I keep my answer short and almost sharp, hoping to add a layer of mystery to my image even as I wonder why I care. But then, just as I begin to scold myself for acting like a giddy teenager instead of a grown-ass woman, Treyton ruins my self-reprimanding silent lecture with his honeyed tongue.
"I guess that explains why your eyes look like they are filled with stars then, doesn't it?" he says with a lingering grin.
The light coming off my hand begins to flicker as I try to retain control over the emotions that are pounding in my chest like a rushing dam. I'm caught off guard, speechless, and much too flustered to say anything. I look down at the paper in front of me and pick up my pen to finish the chart. With a few more strokes of ink, the chart is complete.
I look up, breathless even though nothing other than my hand has been moving—writing furiously against the paper—and for a moment, it almost seems like Treyton wants tokissme.
Or maybe he just wants to bite me.
With vampires, it can be hard to tell. One passion is easily mistaken for another, or so I've heard.
I stare at him with frozen, wide eyes, the room perfectly still, like framing the opportunity for our lips to meet. But then, before I can decide whether it's just a fantasy in my head or Treyton reallydoeslook as though he wants to kiss me, there is a knock on the door.
A knock here, and now, with me inside the vampires' den where I shouldn't be, is more than just startling—it'sdangerous.
"Hide!" Treyton whispers with urgency.
I look around in a panic. The room is small, and dark, and there aren't many places to hide. There are only the table and chairs where we're sitting and a thick, red curtain covering the window.
Treyton pushes against my arm like guiding me silently toward the curtain, and I rush to hide behind it. The curtain is a thick, opaque velvet and too long for the window, the excess material collected in heaps of fabric on the floor. But whoever made them didn't make the same mistake with the width. For the first time in my life, I wish my plump breasts were just a bit smaller; they protrude even as I press my back against the wall.
Unfortunately, none of this will matter if whoever is at the door cansmellmy blood. I've heard from multiple reliable sources that vampires have an uncanny ability to smell blood and delineate it by species. If that's the case, then I'm screwed.
The supernatural factions are at peace right now. It helps that the vampires, who have always been the most volatile among us, have a new clan leader. The last one was atrocious. Word has it that their new leader is more open-minded and wants the supernatural factions to live as equals. Even so, this is still the vampires' territory, and I am not welcome here. No one is welcome inside the vampires' den without an invitation. Not unless they want to be considered a snack.
I stand perfectly still and breathe as silently as Treyton opens the door. There isnochance that it won't be a vampire. They rarely invite guests into their den, and even if they were entertaining some other faction's leader, there would be no reason for them to come here to this abandoned room. The whole reason Treyton and I meet in this room is because it's all but abandoned. Or it was supposed to be.
I try not to blink, or swallow, or think about how death by exsanguination would feel as a new voice enters the room along with the click of the door.
"What is that smell? Is there a witch in here?"
"Hello, Arman," Treyton says in a level tone that is surprisingly calm. So calm that it's practicallyeerie.
Of course the intruder has to be the clan leader, whose senses are keen enough to sense me through the thick layer of a curtain. Panic creeps up my backbone, because even though Treyton and I have a "diplomatic" and mutually beneficial relationship, and he may even have wanted to kiss me mere moments ago in the desire-charged darkness, he is still a vampire, and Arman is his leader. It's like two wolves and one sheep. They're still predators, and I'm still their prey.
Instead of sinking deeper into my fear, I go back to scolding myself in my head.It was such a stupid idea to come here and flirt with danger. What was I thinking?
2
TREYTON
Ican't help myself when I'm around the witch. I don't know what comes over me, but I lose all sense of judgment and become consumed with adoration for her.
The more I see of her, the more I want to see of her. I want to call her in for private meetings for no reason other than to sit and stare at her. I even made up a lie about needing the chart for Arman. I do have every intention of giving the chart to him, admittedly as a way of sucking up to him, but I really just wanted to see Blair. It's easier to meet her here inside the den than it is for me to show up at the witch coven's door. At least itwas—until the clan leader showed up.
Arman's unfortunate timingdidsave me from making a big mistake, though. I'm not sure what came over me just now—perhaps it was when I touched her arm and felt warmth radiate through my cold body. Perhaps it was when I looked into Blair's eyes and saw enough glinting sparkle in them to light up the pitch night sky. Whatever the reason, Iwasabout to kiss her when the knock on the door came. Hopefully she didn't notice.
But now, a new problem has arisen. I shouldn't have brought a coven witch here to the vampire den. This is abigno-no, one that will get me severely punished and might cost Blair her life.
There is a great deal of respect for the coven witches, even here amongst the vampires. But the vampires take their boundaries and the security of the den very seriously. So seriously that they'd risk the repercussions of killing a witch to maintain them.
A sudden panic rises in my chest as I stare at Arman's face and watch his nostrils flare. He cansmellher here. If something happens to Blair, it will be all my fault. I'm the one who called her here. I'm the one who requested this stupid birth chart just so I could see her again. I wish to God I didn't.
