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The two bright green jewel-tipped daggers hanging next to each other catch my eye immediately. I pull both of them down and wield them in a menacing fashion, giving him a grin.
He laughs. “Do you even know how to use these things?”
My mouth drops wide open in mock surprise. “I’ll have you know I am the champion of never having ever touched one in my life, but make no mistake, vampire—I will hit my target.
His eyebrows raise. “Come with me.” He takes my hand and leads me to a door across the large room, cutting on the overhead light as we enter. There is a pulley system and a large target at the end of the very long stone-walled room. He puts his boot on the yellow line in front of us. “Alright, enchantress, how far can you throw the daggers?”
I arch an eyebrow at the powerful vampire who doesn’t yet know he’s met his match. “Leave it where it is; I will make that mark.”
He laughs. “Alright, Willow, show me what you’ve got.”
I step onto the line with my shortie boots and eye up the target with my eyes, not touching my daggers at all, but instead willing the daggers to make their mark while giving my trusty wand a gentle little rub.
The daggers fly out of my vest, arching perfectly into the air, both landing right next to the other dead center of the big red bullseye at the very end of the long ass room.
His eyes go wide, and he laughs out loud. “Enchantress, you’re hired! Trust me never to get on your bad side.” He picks me up and gives me a kiss. “Let’s get you geared up with a long sword and our stakes, and then we’ll be on our way.
When he’s strategically snugged in the last of the stakes into our gear, he takes my hand. “Overmaster Descallia likes us to take traditional human transport most of the time, but in this instance, we’re going to transport. There’s too much to organize to waste valuable time driving or taking a train north; besides, this is so much more fun.”
The journey to Rome is quick, a trip through complete blackness, with only the thoughts in my mind and his to keep us company as we travel the distance to the consulate in the middle of the city. When we arrive, he takes my hands and walks with me up the stone steps and through the glass double doors.
A mammoth vampire meets us halfway down the hall. He has to be at least a head taller than Campania and is decked out in gear very similar to Campania’s. “Willow, meet Master Sardinia. Sardinia, Willow.”
The giant vampire extends a hand to me. “Nice to meet you, Willow. I heard you were a big help in catching up to the magical shifters and helping capture them and the witches they took hostage to get the magic.”
“Thank you. I was happy to help the vampires and to get my sisters back home safely.”
Lucianna walks out of a room at the far end of the hall and gestures to me. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be with Lucianna while the two of you talk,” I tell them.
Lucianna stands in the doorway and waves me to join her. Campania kisses me on the lips, and Sardinia grins at the exchange. “We ladies will be solving all the problems of the world while you males go have your meeting.”
Campania laughs. “This is what I put up with on the regular. When are you going to find someone to settle down with?”
The tall dark-haired vampire still wears a grin on his face. He shakes his head with a smirk. “I’m a confirmed bachelor. Besides, no female in their right mind would partner with my dark-hearted soul.”
The minute I reach Lucianna, she gives me a quick hug. “I’m so glad you talked him into letting you come,” she says, closing the door behind us. “We usually meet at our estate for a little girls’ night while the guys meet here, but this time, it’s all hands on deck.”
I put my hand on her shoulder before she reopens the door while we’re alone in the hall. “I appreciate you personally going to get my friends and making sure they got settled back into the house they had gotten used to. It would be a shame for them to have to move unnecessarily. Campania told me everything you did for them and for us while I was in the transition. Thanks so much for doing that. You will make a kind, gentle but bad ass queen.”
She smirks. “Tell that to the boss. He wants to keep me safe. I let him have more than his way this mission, only because he’s lost me before, but we’re not going to be left at home this time, and we’re going to show them all that the females are more than capable of standing by their side in the heat of a fight, right?”
“Right!”
“Come on. The ladies are dying to see and meet you,” she says opening the door. “Ladies, this is Willow. Raven and Embry already know her fairly well. She helped us so much finding the shifters.” She turns to me. “Willow, this is Delilah, Angel, Alessia, Tansia and you know Raven and Embry. Everyone, this is Willow, the one I told you was destined to be with Campania. What did I tell you?”
The group turns boisterous, all welcoming me to the group seemingly at the same time, talking over each other in their excitement. Where not long ago I would have been anxious and defensive in a group of female vampires, today, I am at peace and one with both them and my roots as a powerful witch with powers of sight. Knowing that I will be able to provide much help in the battle to come.
Chapter25
Campania
I slideinto an empty seat around the conference room table just as Descallia brings the gavel down and calls the meeting to order. Every one of the masters looks grim, knowing a special meeting like this means danger to the vampires and community we’ve built is nearby.
Descallia looks down the long oval table, ensuring that all eleven of us, plus himself are here. Twelve masters in total, with one thing on their mind. Stop the rogues from threatening the world we’ve created and our new way of life living amongst the humans and under dwellers alike. “We’ve found the rogues. They’ve moved off mainland Italy and onto the island of Sardinia.”
All eyes turn to Master Sardinia whose jaw tightens as Descallia shares the news the infiltrators have managed to infiltrate his island with the others. Sardinia looks to Lucas who has some of our young vampires collecting more information from managing the traitorous shifter as we speak. “Did the shifter say where yet? The island isn’t that large; surely some of my most trusted people would have seen something suspicious. I’ll start asking around, but those rogue bastards are smart. They would know that any of my people would have come straight to me with anything out of the ordinary. Somehow, they’ve managed to blend in without raising eyebrows.”
Descallia nods. “Of that, I have no doubt. He looks down the table at me. Campania, your mission was to find the witches who could take us to the magical shifters, who could lead us to the rogues. You’ve more than successfully completed that assignment. We appreciate all that you and Willow and the others around the table and in the next room who helped us accomplish.”
