The Vampire's Spell - Kiss of The Night: Book 3 Read online

  “I don’t want to go. I hate that you can’t just walk me to my door and kiss me goodnight like a normal date.”

  “Come stay with me and I’ll kiss you on the doorstep after every date,” he promised with a laugh. “After how long we’ve worked and waited, I think we owe it to ourselves.”

  I ran my fingers through his hair, the raven’s wing a sharp contrast to my pale fingers. Snuggling down into his chest with my head on his shoulder, I breathed him in, the scent of his cologne and the mints he always ate, and underneath it all the smell of him, of night skies and the wind and earth. It smelled like home to me, almost as much as the sea and the forests of Washington.

  With a heavy sigh, he finally slid me back over to the passenger side and propped open the door with one foot. I leaned over for one simpler chaste kiss that made my heart skip and my chest feel tight.

  “Be safe, and I’ll let you know how it goes when I report your news to the watchers,” I promised. He laughed and touched my face.

  “Thank you, for tonight,” he said. I shrugged, confused.

  “You know me, always happy to be obstinate and put up a fight.” He laughed and tweaked a stray tendril of hair.

  “You know what I meant. Thank you for seeing me as I am tonight and accepting me.” I managed a wan smile.

  “Will I see you again before you go?” Neither of us had used the word ‘love’ yet, but our goodbyes kept getting lengthier, as we realized how much being apart hurt. Now that we were tied together, there was a physical, painful tugging sensation every time we parted. Added to the disappointment of having to live separate lives, the physical discomfort made my choice to return to the compound that much more difficult.

  “I will contact you at sunset,” he said telepathically and in a blink of an eye he was just, gone. The hair on my arms stood at attention and I made a mental note to ask that he not remind me that he wasn’t human right as he was leaving me. I glanced around me for sign of any other people around and cast my psychic power out into the night, looking for any magic or sign of the Venatores once Nicholas was gone. He could hide us with his power. I could not.

  I slipped into the driver’s seat and drove back toward town, away from the park and the compound. I stopped at a soda shop with a drive through and bought a flavored Dr. Pepper before completing my circuitous route home. I didn’t really think that Nicholas would follow me, or that he even needed to, if he wanted to find the compound. But, while I was stuck between my two worlds, I did my best to prevent either from hurting the other. That meant if I protected Nicholas’ location, I had to do the same for the Venatores.

  No one had set that rule, not even the few on the council who had knowledge of the extent of our romantic relationship. Dominique suspected that my increase in power was tied to Nicholas, but she’d never asked a direct question, so I hadn’t given her a direct answer. I tried her cell phone from the car. As late as it was, I knew my superiors had to hear of the impending invasion of ancient and deadly visitors from Europe and Asia.

  I parked while waiting for her to respond and headed straight for the library, aka my home base. Aside from the people I loved who still lived here, the Venatores library made it difficult to even imagine leaving. Every spell a witch could imagine learning was in those tomes. Every piece of our history and the vampires’ and bits of lore that had, over time, become humanity’s fairytales were first written on those vellum and parchment pages.

  I burst through the door of the library and saw that the head of the watchers and my former teacher, Professor Eldritch, was pacing the floor as my best friend, Simi, watched.

  “For the love of God, girl, what took you so long?” I glanced at my phone and indicated that no one had contacted me. The professor sighed and waved me off. “It doesn’t matter. At least you’re here now. If only Clayton and his new tagalong would arrive, we could begin.”

  “Actually, I have important news to share that can’t wait,” I blurted. “Where’s Dominique?” Eldritch raised his eyes toward heaven and threw out his arms like he was telling God, ‘I told you so’.

  “That’s why we’re here, Miss Walker,” he huffed and continued pacing.

  “Umm, Professor, we have a major delegation of vampires coming to Seattle. I think we need to get this meeting started, with or without Clay.” Eldritch gaped at me and I spun around as the door slammed against the wall behind me.

  “Hey, I heard that,” Clay panted as he sped to the nearest table and grabbed a chair. Alyson, his new girlfriend, gave us a quick nod as she followed suit. They braced the doors shut with the chairs and then turned the first two long, rectangular tables on their sides. They pulled their guns and each one took a table, hiding behind them as they checked their ammunition and firearms.

  “What the hell is going on?” Eldritch yelled, and Clayton shot him an angry look.

  “What’s going on, is that David’s back, and he’s demanding we burn Caroline at the stake. How about you keep your voice down, old man.” I gasped and stepped between Eldritch and Clayton, ready to stop a physical altercation.

  “Well then, son, I suppose you’ll want better weapons.”

  “That would be great, thanks.” Like the flip of a switch, the fight was over before it had begun. I glanced at Simi, who shrugged and pulled her Glock, standing behind Clayton. I took up a similar position behind Alyson, but instead of pulling a weapon, I concentrated on using my psychic shield the way Nicholas had earlier, to create a bubble around us that would turn people away from the library.

  My concentration while creating exterior shields wasn’t nearly as good as when I wanted to shield my mind. For that reason, I started there, trying to compensate for the fact that even with the vampire bond, I was still very young to magic, and not able to control my power like an accomplished sorceress would.

  “Okay, Clay, what do you have for us? Because I’m dying here.”

  “So, Dominique was called out to fly to Rome and speak to the Pontiff, right?” he asked, and I glanced at the professor, who nodded as he handed a crossbow to Alyson and set a few flash bangs next to Clayton.

  “How long ago?” I gasped, my question interrupted as my neck hair stood at attention. I raised my hand to signal that we had company. I held up three fingers to indicate that I could hear three heartbeats and pulled my Beretta from my shoulder holster. I rested one knee on the chair next to me, held the gun in a tea-cup grip for stability, and controlled my breathing. I didn’t want to fight the Venatores hunters, but there were other, more violent hunters had we’d been at odds with for longer than I’d been a Venatores.

  There was a sect of hunters who believed the only course of action with the vampires was total eradication. But the watchers, those of us who kept the records and made the laws, argued that the loss of human life as collateral damage would be too great.

  Once I met Nicholas, the water was muddied by my personal relationship with a master vampire. Some of the hunters had tried to claim that I’d unduly influenced the watchers to side with the vampires and was feeding them Venatores information. Those were the hunters outside the library right now, trying to decide if there was really a reason to try the door.

  That was the power of my magic, confusing them and making the door seem irrelevant to them. I lowered my 9mm and concentrated on the shield I’d put on the library, imagining a bubble that completely enclosed the spacious room, arching over the ceiling and into the ground. I wanted to call on Nicholas for help, but I knew that if I brought him into our internal struggle, the watchers would lose our fight with the hunters. The last thing I wanted was for the watchers who were the Venatores peacekeepers to lose to the zealots. If the hunters won control of the society, they’d write execution orders 24/7, murdering whoever they wanted.

  I felt a shift outside the bubble and the heartbeats moved on. I holstered my gun and glanced at the professor.

  “Sir, I think we have a problem.” I picked up the crossbow and loaded the magazine with silver s
takes from the shelf behind me. The power that had made the men walk away, was now pushing through my shield.

  “What kind of a problem?” Eldritch and Clayton said in unison.

  “Well, when I came bursting in here to talk to you and Dom, I had a really good reason. I’m pretty sure that reason is standing outside the library door, right now.”

  “Clarify, Walker!” Clay hissed.

  “Silver in your weapons, folks, we have supernatural company.” I moved in front of the tables, in the hopes that my connection to Nicholas was enough to keep the vampires from killing us all where we stood.

  “This is about your relationship with that bloodsucker, isn’t it?” Clay growled at me and I shot him a dirty look.

  “Considering where you met your current girlfriend, I’d watch what I say right now, if I were you,” I replied telepathically, but he still glanced at Alyson. She was the first ‘official’ Venatores shape-shifter, even though the traitor that I’d executed was technically the first shifter to infiltrate our ranks.

  “Pretty sure I know what you just thought at Clay, Caroline. I’m part of the kind’s pack, so I’m not going to claim innocence. But we hunt vampires. Why are you afraid?” Alyson shifted her position and lowered her weapon to rest her hand before it started to shake.

  “Because I received intel about thirty minutes ago, that we’re about to receive the entire Quorum of European and Asian elders here in Seattle.” My guess was that the presence outside my door, that had managed to get into the compound, was their advance guard.

  “Why was Dominique called away?” Simi asked.

  “Apparently, to make us weaker to attack,” the professor growled. “She was sent a message directly from her cousin in Rome.”

  “Why would the Lady Sophia lower herself to infighting like this? She’s already one of the most important people in the society, and the most powerful,” asked Clay.

  “Not to mention she’s a watcher, not a hunter,” Simi broke in.

  “I don’t know her reasoning, but I’m not surprised. Her family, Dominique’s family, once manipulated entire governments through their spy networks and assassins. I’ve suspected she was up to something ever since David got his hands on that rare and obscure poison and tried to kill me. If it wasn’t Dominique who’d tried to kill me, it had to be someone like her.”

  I felt the presence brush against my bubble-shield again and push on it, hard enough that everyone in the room felt the energy rub up against them. I glanced at Alyson and she nodded. In the case of a close quarters fight with whoever was out there, she and I were the best equipped to handle them. I hadn’t asked if Clayton had ever seen her in her rat-form; for their sakes, I hoped he was already accustomed to the messy, violent nature of shape shifting.

  “Reach out to them and try to communicate, Caroline,” Eldritch directed and I stepped in front of the tables and knelt on the center of the tile mosaic in front of the big double doors. I cleared my mind of the others, so that if the entity outside looked in my head, they would only see what I was looking at, the garden design that was carefully laid into the floor.

  I reached out with my power, pressing carefully through the shield I’d created. It was like sliding your hand into water, carefully avoiding ripples as the water closed in around your wrist. I created the same image in my mind and used my previous shield to continue to protect my mind while I tried to identify the intruder.

  Standing in the hallway was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She was dressed in very little, and what was covered, was hidden by black, studded leather. Her blonde hair was so pale that platinum didn’t seem do it justice and that paleness was echoed in her translucent skin.

  She stared right at me and waved with a smirk, then held up a business card. I didn’t have to read it to recognize the gold and black design and I swore under my breath.

  “It’s Glory,” I reported to Eldritch and the others. “What the hell do we do now?”

  “For God’s sake, let her in, Caroline. Clay and Alyson, keep your weapons out of sight, but accessible. We’ll try to not offend her by offering her insult. If that doesn’t work, however…” His voice trailed off and Simi and Alyson flipped the tables upright while Eldritch rapidly typed something into his phone.

  Carefully, I pulled the shield back into myself. If I tore it down too fast, all that power would be lost to me and drain into the ground. By erasing the shield carefully, I would be able to use magic if necessary. When necessary. We could pretend to be diplomatic, but the master of the city of Seattle had a reputation for being completely and violently insane. I reached out to Nicholas, but was slapped back so abruptly I gasped aloud.

  “What happened?” Simi rushed to my side and helped me to a chair.

  “I just screwed up. She’s already pissed and I tried to contact Nicholas. I thought he could reach Dominique, or the rat king for help. I’m sorry, guys.” Clayton strode toward the doors with Alyson and waited for Eldritch to give them the signal to open them.

  “It’s okay, Caroline. Anyone would’ve called for backup if they could. Even my cellphone’s jammed.” The professor shook his phone and shoved it into his pocket. He took a deep breath, and I followed his example. He’d never been my friend and he pushed me harder than any other student I’d seen. But he was wise and when it came down to a fight, there was no one I’d rather stand beside than the people in this room with me, professor included.

  “Why doesn’t she just blow the door?” Simi asked as she paced.

  “She’s royalty, Simi. She expects to be treated with deference.” Eldritch patted her on the arm and motioned to Clayton. “Receive the Queen of Seattle, Clayton,” he called out, his voice ringing to the domed ceiling.

  Chapter 4

  Clay and Alyson opened the doors in perfect unison and I stepped forward and knelt, bowing my head before the imposing vampire. She stalked in on heels so high it hurt watching her walk. Her tiny skirt flashed bare skin underneath that made me wish I hadn’t chosen such a low vantage point. From her tight black micro-mini, more leather crisscrossed her body leading up to a thicker strap that covered her nipples and nothing else, then wrapped up around her neck.

  “How does she keep her boobs in?” Simi telegraphed directly to my mind and I bit off a smile. I knew she was just trying not to be scared, but even half-naked, Glory was very, very scary. She glared down at me and licked her lips and even Clay felt the flicker of power from her as she sized us up.

  “Rise, servant of my brother. I would speak to you.” I stood, even though I wasn’t Nicholas’ servant and he wasn’t her brother, at least not by blood.

  “Why are you here, Glory?” Eldritch broke in. “We’ve enjoyed a long peace between the hunters and the vampires of your clan. Why break the truce?” Glory ignored him and closed the distance between us, until I had to tilt my head up to meet her gaze.

  She smelled of death and decay, and strangely enough, mint. Just like the other vampires I knew, I supposed she kept mints on hand to avoid that ‘old blood’ smell on her breath. She ran a long-nailed finger down my face and then further, following the line of my jacket until she could slide her hand inside it, under my breasts.

  “Now, what is the little witch packing?” she asked, her eyes glittering with a manic light that made my stomach do flips. She felt around under the jacket and put her hand on my 9mm in its shoulder holster. She undid the buttons on my silk jacket with one hand and took my gun with the other, then ran her hands around my waist and over my butt and thighs. She took extra care with my inner thighs, a thin smile crossing her face when I flinched.

  “Why are you here without your entourage, Glory? Don’t you have flunkies to do this for you?” I knew it was risky to insult her directly, but I would’ve ran the gauntlet naked rather than let her continue to run her hands over me in such a personal way.

  She growled at me, then stepped away and pulled up a chair at the nearest table. She motioned at the other chairs and the profes
sor and I sat with her, while Simi, Clay, and Alyson stood in a half-circle behind us.

  “Because of you and your master,” she drawled, “I’m about to have the entire vampire quorum on my doorstep.” She glanced up at Alyson and smiled. “Hi there, little mouse.” I felt Alyson flinch behind me and I cleared my throat.

  “That doesn’t explain why you’re being so… diplomatic… my Lady,” Eldritch interrupted.

  “There are spies in my midst, who think that I’ve gone soft, letting the Venatores live in my own city. I need to increase my power base before the quorum arrives and my dissidents find a sympathetic ear.”

  “I’m sorry, Glory. I don’t know how to help you. Even Nicholas has been unsuccessful in finding more shape shifters.” It was true, barely. We were on the right track, but the thought of Glory becoming even more powerful made my bowels clench.

  “I’m being more than fair, witch. In fact, I brought you a present, just to show you how magnanimous I can be.” Vampires who I hadn’t been able to sense stepped in through the door and the hunters instantly raised and cocked their weapons.

  Between two leather-clad vampires, who obviously dressed to please their mistress, was Nicholas’ second, Rachel. I leapt to my feet and swore, as the professor grabbed my arm. Rachel raised her head weakly and I could see the madness of unchecked hunger in her eyes. She was bound, but strained against her bonds as she smelled us.

  I shook the professor off and walked around the table, stopping next to Glory. She smirked up at me and I leaned forward over her, putting one knee up on the chair between her legs. Her smirk turned into a look of hunger and I slid my hand behind her neck, fisting my fingers in her hair. Her violet eyes lit up in anticipation as I lowered my mouth towards her and I controlled a shudder as her hand slid up the back of my thigh.

  When her eyes were half-closed, waiting for me to kiss her, I slid my karambit out of my hair and pressed the curved blade against her throat, slamming my metaphysical shields into place at the same time.