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What he didn’t understand was why there was a vampire in these parts at all. They hadn’t had vampires in Moonwood, or Starlight Valley for that matter, for centuries. That was what shocked him the most.
And this one was so old. Older than it had any right to be.
Rowan was immediately worried. There was a reason vampires were so rare. They had the ability to live forever, but they usually didn’t.
Once they began to approach a thousand years, they began to lose their minds. Most vampires limited themselves and opted for quick deaths when they found the insanity starting to lurk in the shadows.
He couldn’t reconcile why one was so old, and he couldn’t think of one legitimate reason why it was here in Moonwood at all. Had it recently lost its mind? That would explain the confusing attacks that seemed to happen without a plan or purpose.
He couldn’t say, unfortunately. There was a lot that he didn’t know and it left him at a severe disadvantage. He couldn’t understand what he was looking at, but he was grateful to finally find what had been terrorizing his town for months.
He watched as the vampire rushed at the dog with blinding speed, and then Juniper’s scream rang out. He was still dazed and confused by what he was seeing, and his mind was not moving as fast as he would have liked it to.
Belatedly, he noticed Juniper curled on the ground, her hand pressed against her temple as she screamed in pain. He had no idea what had happened, but she looked to be in an unbelievable amount of pain.
Something was horribly wrong, Rowan could tell. But he had no clue what.
He tried to bring her out of the vision, but unfortunately she seemed deep inside it. He could tell she was flaring her mana, burning it at an unbelievable rate.
Without thinking, Rowan nudged her angrily, resisting the urge to strike her. Finally, the orb of mana flickered and died and Juniper’s eyes and hands lost their glow. She fell back into his arms, moaning softly.
Rowan just stared at the empty air where the orb had been for several moments. Everything seemed to have turned on its head, and he had no idea how to fix it.
He suddenly felt an overwhelming fatigue. The baby, a vampire, and now Juniper. It seemed like things couldn’t stop going bad and he hated to think about it—hated how out of his control everything was.
Juniper had stopped moaning, but he could still hear her soft heartbeat. He picked her up gently in his arms, and broke off into a light jog to get her some help.
Rowan sent for the healer through the mindlink as he rushed Juniper back to his villa. He watched her sleeping quietly in the back seat and felt like hitting himself.
She was pregnant and it was foolish for him to keep allowing her to extend herself as often as she did. This was the third time she was having a fainting fit in as many months, and Rowan could not imagine that being a good thing by any stretch.
The more she used her powers, the more she endangered her life and that of her unborn child as well. Rowan couldn’t bear to think of something happening to her. The thought of it terrified him beyond reason and he stepped on the pedal.
He could barely hear her heart beating anymore and he felt another jab of fear. He strained his ears and could hear it softly. Whatever had happened to her, he needed to get her some help, and he needed to do so quickly.
He drove into the villa and rushed Juniper into the house. He found the healer waiting on the front porch for him as he climbed the stairs, and the healer’s eyes widened in shock.
“What happened to her?” the healer asked after Rowan had set Juniper on the couch.
“She was in a vision. She started to scream, and I shook her out of the vision. Now she’s like this. I have no idea what happened.”
The healer scratched his jaw, tugging at his beard thoughtfully. He leaned toward Juniper, wanting to examine her closely. Rowan hovered behind him, impatience and nervousness clashing together in his mind.
Suddenly, Juniper’s eyes flew open. She shrugged off the startled healer, then rushed toward Rowan. He watched her approach him with confusion, frozen in place. To his great surprise, she reached for his shirt and ripped it down the middle.
Rowan had been so shocked and confused, he had just watched it happen. She wrapped her arms around him, ripping the clothes off his back. He noticed that her eyes were both completely black, and that she was not herself.
He shook out of his shock and held Juniper. She was stronger than she looked, but not nearly half as strong as he was. Calmly, as if he was asking for the time, Rowan asked the healer who watched with wonder, “Care to tell me what’s going on, and why she attacked me?”
“Amazing!” he exclaimed. “She’s not attacking you. Well, not in the sense that you think. She’s completely out of mana, and is feeling the withdrawal.”
“In English?” Rowan asked calmly, stifling his irritation.
“It’s dangerous for mana users to be out of mana. It’s part of their biology and their makeup. When I saydangerous, I mean lethal. They die when they run out. She’s out of mana, and I’d dare say she doesn’t have much time left.”
Rowan watched him with irritation. “What the hell are you talking about?”
The healer sighed. “She’s completely out of mana. Mana users found a way to replenish themselves with those they are bonded to, as a failsafe. What I mean is, she needs sex from a partner to save her life.
