Sabrina C. Rose's Blog

Published: June 14, 2020

19

KAYLA

Kayla tried not to move inside of the dumpster as her heart pounded against her ribcage. Shrieks streaked past her as she crouched inside, trying to shield her ears from the sound. It sounded like a war was being raged on the outside streets, which probably wasn’t far off from the truth. But as each minute passed, worry gripped her.

Where was Garrick?

The sun was going down, if what little light still remained in the dumpster was an indicator. He told her to wait and keep hidden no matter what threat might have come. Was he caught in the throng out there?

The wolves that had overrun the compound were out on the street now, prowling. But they weren’t the only threat out there. A greater one lurked in the night.

Another shriek tore through the street next to her, causing her to jump from her skin. She wanted so badly to see what was on the other side, if only to take a peek, but stayed put. She couldn’t risk being seen.

“In here,” a familiar voice said hurriedly.

Two sets of footsteps rushed past the dumpster, before it sounded like someone smashed into the side of it, causing her to jolt but when she moved, the pungent sourness of the trash engulfed her nose. She gagged but forced the sound from spewing from her throat.

“We’re not going to make it,” a smaller female voice replied frantically.

“We can hide here,” he said.

“How? We can’t open the door,” her voice spiked to an earsplitting crescendo. “I can’t use my magic.”

“I know.” There was a beat of silence. “There’s magic nearby. I can syphon it.”

“No,” she screeched, “That means you’d have to go back out there.”

Kayla could practically see her motioning to the street where several more people ran by, mage or shifter, she didn’t know.

“Right… uh… here. We can hide in here.”

Please don’t open the dumpster. She pleaded silently, when their footsteps came closer.

The plastic top above her head rattled. Instantly, every muscle she had tightened. She stopped breathing. But the ministrations were cut off by a growl. The woman yelped, backing away from the dumpster.

“Hey now,” the familiar voice said. “You don’t have to do this.”

Then another growl came, this one from the opposite end of the alley they were in.

“You don’t have to do this,” he said. “We have always been at peace with shifter kind.”

That didn’t seem to appease the wolves.

The growling moved as the wolf advanced toward where their voices were.

“I’ll give you whatever you want,” the voice became more frantic. “Just don’t hurt my wife. Please. She’s pregnant… We’ll give you anything.”

A cry bubbled from his companion when it didn’t seem like the wolves were going to back down. The woman’s fear combined with her own. Terrified, Kayla shook inside of the dumpster. She didn’t have to see it to know her magic was coming.

The plastic trash bag under her hand melted away. The sourness was eclipsed by the smell of burning plastic. The dumpster shook violently with her inside of it.

The entire street seemed to go silent. The wolves no longer growled, the pair of them didn’t so much as let out a breath, and not a soul whizzed by. With Garrick gone, there was no way she could calm her magic enough for it not to explode.

With a loud boom, the lid of the dumpster shot off its hinge, her magic burst into the air causing the dumpster to fly backward, crushing one of the wolves.

Terror struck, the couple clutched onto each other as they shielded away from her. She peaked outside of the bin.

“Kayla?”

“Killian?”

What were the odds?

“You can help us,” he helped her from the dumpster. When her foot landed

The wolves were recovering. The one that seemed to have been crushed by one of the metal sides started to make a sound like popping bubble wrap. But instead of deflating, its body started to puff up. The ribs jutted back into place; its breathing became more regular.

“Sorry about this,” Killian said briefly before grabbing her hand so tight, it felt like her wrist was going disintegrate. A sharp flash of pale magic shot into her before rifling for hers. Her magic resisted him, refusing to go. “I only need enough to get inside.”

Something in her relinquished. Then her own purple essence came from the center of her palm and crawled up to him. It wasn’t as painful as it had been before when they’d tried to steal her magic from her. Now it seemed to go freely to him.

“Killy, hurry,” the woman said fearfully beside them.

“Got it,” he let go of her wrist and pressed his hand to the solid brick wall beside them.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “They’re coming.”

On instinct, her magic pooled at her hands again before sparking at their feet like firecrackers. The wolves backed away slightly in bewilderment before resetting.

The wall behind them gave way to an opening and she felt Killian tug her backward into the building. As soon as she crossed the threshold, the wolves stopped abruptly staring at them.

“What are they doing?”

“They can’t see us,” Killian breathed, but his eyes remained fixed on the entrance.

One of the wolves charged. She flinched, shielding her face, but the wolf stopped just two feet in front of her face, body contorting as it collided with the air as if it were a solid wall. It howled in pain.

She squeaked when another one launched.

“It’s okay,” Killian said. “They can’t get through.”

They were behind a barrier. The same kind of barrier that blocked Garrick from getting into the bunker. After a few more tries, the wolves backed away with a growl but left the alley.

“Are they gone?”

“There’s no other way in,” Killian said. “We’re safe here. Come on, let’s go up.”

She didn’t follow Killian up to the stairwell. Garrick was coming back for her, she had to wait for him. She didn’t have to wait long. To her relief, Garrick entered the alley.

“Garrick,” she called to him when he opened the dumpster.

“Kayla!” He called, but his voice was weak, like there was thick glass separating them. His tall frame moved up the alley, then back down. When he came back, she tried to get his attention.

“Garrick!” she whispered fiercely when he faced the wall. His jaw tilted up the building. He didn’t hear her.

“Garrick!” She said again, this time her voice was louder as she banged her hand against the barrier to get his attention. It felt like silly putty between her fingers but when she dug too deep into it, it pushed her back.

“He can’t hear you,” Killian said behind her from the top of the stairs. “He can’t even see you.”

“The wolves did.”

“They saw us come in here, yes. But they didn’t see us. To them, it would have looked like a wall just appeared in front of them, which is why they attacked it. They would’ve assumed it was a hologram or something.”

“How do I let him in?” she asked.

“We can’t. It’s warded to protect us from the dangers outside. It won’t open until morning.”

“What do you mean?”

“We can’t let him in from the inside. He has to use magic to be let in here.”

“Then, how do I get out?”

“You can’t. It’ll let us out in the morning.”

The morning? She couldn’t wait that long. She banged on the barrier. “Garrick. Garrick!”

Her magic charged out of her, sprawling across the small stairwell like a web. She needed to get to him. He was not safe. But, her magic had nowhere to go. It bounced off the barrier without so much as a sound. It crawled up the walls before engulfing the entrance.

“What are you doing? You can’t be let out. No one can.” Killian grabbed her from behind. She struggled against him.

“Letmego,” she tried to say through clenched teeth.

“You have to stop or you’ll kill us.”

The walls burst. Flames decorated the entrance before travelling backwards. Smoke started to fill the stairwell.

“The barrier is too strong to be broken. We’ll be burned alive before morning.”

The flames worsened.

Behind them, Killian’s wife coughed as she tried to climb the stairs, holding her stomach as she went. Under her flowy top, a small baby bump was visible under her hand.

Fuck.

“Here,” Killian found the bare skin of her forearm and pulled her magic again.

“Ouch!” She tried to snatch her hand back from the sudden excruciating pain that came from his vice grip, but couldn’t tug away.

“You have to let me have it,” he said through his teeth. “I can stop the flames, but you have to let me take your magic. I only need a little bit.”

“Why can’t you use your own?” Her magic didn’t budge this time like it had when he’d used it to get them to safety. With Garrick in front of her, it was fighting to protect him.

Garrick stilled in the street, then looked up.

Above her head, several thumps collided with the top of the building.

“Because I was born a syphon. I don’t have my own magic. I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt,” Killian said apologetically beside her. His pale essence pushed into her, tearing through her like a bolt of lightning was trying to force its way from her hair follicles and out the bed of her toenails. Then she felt it, the slow draining of her magic as it was painfully ripped from her.

“I’m so sorry,” Killian coughed. “I only need a little.”

It felt like he needed a lot, but as soon as he said the words, the heat of the flames began to cool. Then the smoke swirled around them in a tornado, then funneled into the ground like he’d created a vacuum in the middle of the floor.

“I’m done,” he said backing away.

Once the dust cleared, Garrick’s predicament became a hundred times worse. The wolves had gone, but now she saw the reason for their scattering.

Several creatures surrounded Garrick.

“The vampires have got him,” Killian’s wife gasped.

They were vampires? They didn’t stand like Garrick had, nor any human she’d ever seen. It was almost as if the top of their spines were curved just slightly, the way they stood was more predatorial. But Garrick said he wasn’t like any of the vampires here. Now she could see the truth of his statement with her own eyes.

“We have to do something,” she cried, when they swarmed him.

“I’m sorry,” Killian chanted as if the phrase had become his moniker.

“Garrick!” She cried.

The vampire closest to them turned sharply. They were face to face. Her breath caught. His fangs grew to sharp points, and he made a subtle sound as he sniffed the air. He couldn’t see anything more than a brick wall, according to Killian, but the way he seemed to stare her in the eyes made her question it.

“Hey,” a voice said from far off. The vampire’s head snapped in its direction before he moved on.

She sighed in relief, but a cry came from behind her. Killian’s wife fell on the top step with a thud. She clutched onto the railing, squeezing the brittle wood tightly.

“Nola,” Killian bounded up the stairs.

“It’s—It’s…” The woman’s hesitant eyes were shrouded in fright. They both looked down at her stomach. “Something’s wrong.”

“It’s okay,” Killian cooed, even though he looked beyond terrified. “We just have to get you inside. Kayla… Can you let us in?”

“What?”

“I need you to open the door. We can’t get in otherwise.”

She looked between them.

“I-I don’t know how.”

“Just put your hands to the door and push your magic into it and it’ll open.”

Numbly, she climbed the stairs and awkwardly stepped onto an available patch of rickety wooden staircase.

Nola grunted, clutching at her stomach.

“What happened? Is she okay?”

“She will be,” Killian said but when he looked at her, the fear in his eyes said otherwise.

She put her hand to the door and tried to drum up her magic. It wouldn’t come.

“It’s not working.”

“It’s okay,” Killian’s hand wrapped around her ankle. A spark of static electricity popped through her leg. “Sorry.”

The door in front of them opened.

“Go ahead,” he said before hoisting Nola up, cooing into her ear.

She felt the walls for the lights until she found the switch in the darkness. Inside, a small studio apartment greeted them. With a twin bed on one side, and small kitchenette on the other.

Killian gingerly moved Nola to the bed and laid her on it. She was not doing well. A clammy sweat broke out across her forehead, listening across her tan skin.

“How much do you know about healing?” He asked aloud.

“Me?” She sputtered, peering up at him. Didn’t he see that she couldn’t even open the door. There was no way she could do anything about healing. “Nothing.”

“I need your magic again,” panic stricken his voice to a tight ball. “I need to help her.”

Nola grabbed at her stomach, curling onto the bed in the fetal position.

She didn’t have to think, she held her hand out to Killian. Despite its earlier resistance, it didn’t resist him when he tried to take her magic. With one hand on hers, he placed the other on Nola’s stomach. His hand glowed with a warm light as it spread across her baby bump. Slowly, her breathing began to slow; her body began to relax.

“Thank you,” she whispered settling her head onto the pillow.

“What just happened?” she asked curiously as Killian pulled his hand away from her and returned the unused magic back to her.

“You just saved us,” Killian shifted on the balls of his feet, then backed away to find a blanket to put over Nola.

“Is your baby going to be okay?”

“For now,” he said somberly. “But, mage babies need a lot of magic to develop properly. Being so far away from our kind…” he sighed deeply.

“What’ll happen? What’s wrong? Is he… she going to be okay?”

“He’s safe for now,” Nola assured her.

“What do you mean, for now?”

Killian looked at her. “They said you didn’t know much about our kind. That your father kept things from you.”

She hadn’t meant to nod, but did in spite of herself.

“Take a seat,” he motioned to a cushion on the floor. She sat.

“Nola and I are expecting the first mage baby in this city in over fifty years.”

“Congratulations,” she offered in excitement, but it stopped cold when neither of them smiled. “That’s not a good thing?”

“The Blood Oath prohibits the birth of our kind,” he said softly, his voice steeped in sorrow. “We can get pregnant, but our babies don’t go to term.”

Her jaw slackened in shock. She glanced down at Nola’s trembling hand.

“We thought we were different. Nola and I have formed a Leifen bond.”

“What’s a Leifen bond?” Kayla asked, eyes dancing between them in bewilderment.

“Killy,” Nola said fiercely. She didn’t want him to talk. “If she learns what it is…”

“She has one of her own, she’s not going to want ours,” he gave Nola’s hand a gentle reassuring squeeze before turning to her. “Leifen is our term for a magic bond. They are a mage’s purest form of magic. It transcends all other forms of mage power. Even a Blood Oath. But they’re very rare.”

Killian’s eyes connected with Nola’s.

“We’ve been the first known Leifen bond in nearly fifty years. For a long time, the council thought we might be the key to destroying the Oath, but…”

“But what?” she asked engrossed in his words.

“But I’m a syphon. I can only take magic; I cannot produce it on my own so our bond isn’t as strong. For a while, they thought that if our bond grew, Nola might be able to break the curse, but then we got pregnant and with that her magic has been in service to our child, like it is with all mage mothers.”

“Then, that’s good right? So, you won’t be able to break the blood oath, but your son is going to be okay, right? Because of her magic?”

The two of them flinched.

“We thought so. He’s survived longer than any other birth. We thought our bond was strong enough, but a couple of weeks ago, she started showing signs of waning. The baby isn’t as active anymore. It’s been taking more and more magic to keep them stable. We’ve been able to get by because I can syphon small amounts from the other mages. But we can’t be sure our little one will be born unless the Blood Oath is broken.”

“That’s why they were trying to take my magic.”

“Your bond with the vampire is the strongest we’ve ever seen—than we’ve ever heard of.”

“Then why were they trying to separate us.”

Killian and Nola shared a look of guilty sorrow, one that ran with deep understanding.

“Leifen bonds are the most powerful the moment they’re formed and when they’re destroyed.”

The words settled. The reason the council wanted them to stay at the safehouse became clear. It wasn’t to help her control her magic. They wanted to keep them so they could destroy their magic bond. Then, her gaze fell onto the two in front of her. Suspicion shuffled her feet backward.

“We’re not going to do that to you,” Nola said earnestly. “We would never!”

“No,” Killian quickly agreed. “It’s too painful.”

Again, they shared a pain-filled look. She got the sense they tried to separate their bond before so they knew it firsthand but it felt impolite to ask.

“And,” Killian continued. “We think there’s another way. If I can tap into your bond with him, I can syphon only the magic we need.”

Her eyes narrowed even further. She’d felt what syphoning could do.

“Wouldn’t it hurt you. Make you addicted?”

“No, I was born a syphon. A true syphon has only enough of their own magic to draw from another. When two magic essences mix together, the interaction creates the euphoria. It’s those with magic within them already that become addicted to syphoning. Like my brother. Zander was born a mage, and when we were younger, we both thought we were syphons. Except, I’d always thought it was odd when he said he felt great after a syphon. I always felt the same. I hadn’t realized what it was doing to him until it was too late.

I’ll only need enough of the bond magic to break the oath to make sure we’re all safe.”

“And you won’t need to hurt me or Garrick?”

“No,” he said. “I know it’s a lot to ask. You hardly even now us.”

“I’ll do it,” she said automatically watching Nola rise up from the bed.

“Nola,” Killian scurried to her. “You should be resting.”

“Hogwash,” her brows furrowed as she made her way to the cabinets. To her surprise, they were stocked full. So was the small dorm sized refrigerator.

“Does someone live here?” Kayla asked when she pulled out a box of crackers and a can of tuna fish.

“No,” she shook her head. “The compound refreshes the stores periodically just in case we have to use them. These might be a little stale though,” she shook the box of crackers. “What would you like? Tuna or chicken?”

She shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

Nola arched a brow. “You should eat. It’ll help your magic heal.”

“I feel fine.”

“It’s the adrenaline. You’ve been through a lot today. If we’re going to get your vampire tomorrow, you’ll need your strength.”

Surprise dotted her eyeline. “You’re going to help me get Garrick back?”

They shared another look over her shoulder.

“What am I missing?”

“We have to,” Killian explained. “The council wants to see your bond with him broken. If he dies, so does your bond.”

“But you don’t?” she asked when Nola handed her a small plate of crackers, cheese and drained tuna fish from a can.

“No. We don’t agree with the council about that. It’s wrong to try to separate a bonded pair.”

His words were filled with malice and it seemed her earlier suspicion was correct. They knew what it felt like to try to destroy their bond.

“So, yes, we’ll help you get your vampire.”

New Chapter Coming Wednesday, June 17

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Published: June 3, 2020

18

GARRICK

The claws digging into him were sharp. The teeth were sharper. All hacking at his skin, sinking their poison into him while he was overrun by wolves.

Get up, his vampire growled. He needed to get to his feet to gain the upper hand, but he could not.

Until, he felt her come to him. Not her, although as her magic curled up his body, it felt like her soft caress, soothing him, even after it hardened like a shield. The wolves gnawed, but couldn’t gain traction.

The collective on top of him growled their frustrations. When another trail of Kayla’s magic found its way to him, his heart fell from his chest.

If her magic was on him, that meant…

His head popped up. Their eyes connected. She’d breeched the bunker protections.

It was a thought he and the pack leader came to simultaneously. The wolf’s head snapped up to the open bunker hole. Its head lowered as it growled viciously. Then the other wolves, followed him inside.

Sharp, shattered, and surprised screams erupted from the bunker. Not all who were inside could disappear and move locations like Kayla’s father or the mage Carissa. Some of them were trapped behind the wall of wolves howling inside. Magic flew as the mages fought to protect themselves.

He needed to get up; he focused himself on getting to Kayla, but she was quicker. Kayla’s lithe body flossed through the crowd of mages storming from the bunker to get away from the wolves.

In the chaos, she found him. Crouching down, her face filled with worry as she checked his wounds where her magic was the most concentrated. Her touch coupled with her magic soothed the poison and calmed his vampire enough to pick himself up, hanging on Kayla as he lifted from the floor. His body was wounded, badly, but his vampire pushed away the pain. He needed to get her to safety.

They fumbled while he found his footing and focused on the scent of clean air. He needed to get them outside.

“This way,” he moved through the cement catacombs. Kayla grabbed his hand tightly, causing her magic to pulse around him like it were trying to heal him, as they made it to the street.

Outside, chaos reigned.

Like inside of the bunker, the streets were in turmoil. Mages of all kinds poured out onto the sidewalks in confusion and in fear. In his many years, he had never seen terror like this.

Some were shouting, others crying, most rushing, racing to get away. Several men knocked into an elder woman. Her silver hair flew into the air and came down to her knees at his feet. He hoisted her up.

“Are you alright?” he asked, looking into her azure eyes.

She nodded and coughed, then wrenched herself away, pointing over his back.

The wolves were on the attack.

He gripped on to Kayla, flossing through the crowd, he and Kayla made their way as far away from the mage compound as possible. But the chaos followed them.

Another mage zoomed past them, some blipped as they scurried down the streets to get away from the safehouse.

“We have to move,” he pulled Kayla behind him. She was not as fast as him, but he could not carry her in this state.

He looked down the street, the city was teeming with life several blocks away. Supernaturals of this realm had a code to remain discrete about what they were. He wondered if the wolf would hunt him in a crowd of humans. He’d have to find out.

With Kayla’s delicate hand firmly in his, they raced toward the busy crossways and into the crowd of humans. He glanced back in the distance at the safehouse. The shifters slowly made their way toward them.

He pulled Kayla into the crowd, twisting and turning on their path until he no longer smelled the shifters behind him, but the scent of danger did not quell, only simmered.

If not for the pain of his wounds, he would have continued on. He took shelter in a nearby alley and bent over, clutching at a painful patch on his arm where a wolf took a chunk. His wounds were slower to heal than the last time.

“Are you okay? Do you need blood?” She was already rolling up her sleeve as she eyed him worriedly.

“No, I can sustain,” he said, pushing her arm away. He needed a lot of blood to fix this. Too much for her to provide. “My body only needs time to heal.”

She doubted his words, but nodded. Several mages blew past them on the run.

The screams in the distance grow stronger. It was only a matter of time before the humans noticed. Just under the current of the wind, he smelled a shifter nearby. The feeling danger curled up his neck.

“We need to find shelter to wait this out,” he said.

Kayla nodded and stepped forward, but he stepped in her way.

“Not you. I’ll go scout a place; you stay here.”

“What, why?” Kayla started to protest, but he pushed her further into the alley.

“The shifters are growing too close and have scented me and will be easily targeted. If the wolves find us on the road and I am unable to fend them off…” his words lost traction in his throat before he cleared his throat. “I can avoid capture if I go alone. I will find a clear path.”

He could see the worry intensify on her face.

“I have trained many years for this,” he assured her. When another wolf howled in the distance—one that she could hear—she nodded weakly, slid down the wall and tucked herself between two large garbage barrels.

Fear coated her scent, but she didn’t argue.

“I’ll be back before sunfall,” he said. “We should hide you in the garbage barrels until I return.”

She sputtered, looking at the large garbage barrel with disgust. “You want me to, to hide in the dumpster?”

Her green eyes darted to the rusted side of the large metal square. From the look on her face, it was the last thing she wanted to do. Not that he blamed her, even with the lid closed, it smelled sour, but it made for a perfect scent cover.

“It will mask your scent and be safer in there then open in the alley. No one will be able to find you.”

Her face contorted as she nodded begrudgingly, gagging as she stepped close enough to lift her inside.

“What if there’s rat in there?”

“There isn’t,” he assured.

“How do you know? Did you look?”

“I can smell their blood. There is nothing living in there.”

“Foremages, I hope you’re right,” she hoisted several pieces of cardboard to one corner, fashioning it into a makeshift chair. “This is disgusting.”

What waited them if they did not find shelter was much worse.

“Cover yourself with the black bags if you hear someone coming. Don’t come out.”

“Hurry back,” she ordered him.

Quickly, he poked his head from the alley and onto the street and moved when it was clear.

The legion in him told him to move east. The scent of shifter came from the west. This far away from the mage compound, where the humans were more concentrated, the air was clearer.

What am I doing here? He thought to himself as he traveled down another unfamiliar street.

Life in this realm had become too dangerous for a single legion. His duty was to serve on his honor to his King, not entangle himself in mage business. The gashes over his arms and the chuck on his torso missing was confirmation of that.

Yet, the vampire in him struggled.

He hadn’t put more of his pleasure venom in her and the effects were waning. It should have been extinguished by now, but deep inside of him, something still lingered. Something that swelled his chest whenever she was near to him. Even now, hole formed in her absence.

He’d asked his father once why he never mated his mother. It was clear that they loved each other deeply. His father told him simply that he’d never fall victim to the mate bond.

“Bonded pairs share more than just love.” His father had said, “Once you are bonded, you no longer belong to yourself and that is a very dangerous thing for a vampire. It makes you inferior. I will never allow myself to become that.”

At the time, it angered him. To him, it seemed as if his father admitted openly that he didn’t truly love his mother. But now as he rushed to find he and Kayla shelter, he understood.

They had not bonded, but he felt inferior to the bond already. He’d never be able to protect Kayla in the way that she needed. It’d been proven already when he’d been outmatched by shifters, ineffective against mages, unable to keep them safe. The pain in his chest grew.

He was better as a legion. That had been his strongest attribute. As a fierce fighter and adept warrior, he was not used to this feeling. It made his vampire want to tear the entire world to shreds, ashamed that he was unable to protect his own.

But what choice did he have now?

Get her to safety. But find his way back.

His vampire growled openly in the street at the thought.  

In response, a whispering hiss called on the air. He froze.

Warm city wind blew into his face as he strained his ears to listen. For a moment, it felt like several pairs of eyes were on him, but nothing moved. He looked around, on this street, every other house lay abandoned. They could stay here for the night. He didn’t have time to find something more suited.

Days were short this time of year, the sun had already tilted toward the horizon.

He did not have much time. Down the next street, he found what would have to pass for shelter for the night. An old two-story house with boarded windows and chipped paint looked just the perfect place to lay low. He stepped inside of the abandoned it. Despite the musty smell of rotting wood and the thick layer of dust throughout, it was otherwise empty, and had been for a while.

They would rest here while he healed, wait out the vampires in the night and head out at first dawn to find someone of her own kind to help. Evading shifters in broad daylight would be easy enough if he could remain amongst the human population.

They seemed to avoid them at all cost. He hadn’t smelled one on this side of the city, where the scent of human was almost overwhelming. This would bring good fortune on this night.

He traveled the same roads back to where he left Kayla to wait him out.

Inwardly, his vampire relaxed when her scent of her grew stronger. She was safe.

Sunfall had come and they needed to get off the streets and to someplace safe before the sky became totally black.

“Kayla,” he whispered, entering into alley. “I have secured accommodations.”

But he didn’t hear her move.

“Kayla?”

Still, she made no answer. Uneasiness gripped his chest. His vampire rose to the surface.

There was danger. Everywhere. The faint scent of shifter, the eeriness that crawled up his spine telling him that the wolves were scattering, prowling through the city, closer to him now, the sickness in him that said he didn’t have long before the poison set, yet, there was something else, just beyond his hearing that irked his vampire.

“Kayla,” he called as he began checking behind the garbage cans and the few doors that were lit by dim bulbs at the corners, but she was not there.

Her scent was, but it grew weaker the further he went, so he turned back. He narrowed her scent to a patch of building side with nothing but several stories of brick.

He took another breath to be sure. She was stronger here, like she’d been standing next to him. He reached his hand out as if she’d been made invisible to him, but his hand only met the stone. It must’ve been a mage door. The ones only they could open and close by pressing their hands to it. One, he wouldn’t be able to open.

“Kayla,” he called again, but stopped.

The shadows moved. He stilled.

The alley had lost its daylight. He was out of time.

Another shadow caught the top of his eyeline.

Vampires. A lot of them.

They scattered the roofline like ants on the hunt, jumping from building to building above him.

His gaze fell down the stone building and onto the long expanse of the alley. They had the high ground and the advantage. His back slid across the building side as he moved silently. He stared at the wall and prayed to the all gods that she was safer than him.

A light thud fell behind him. At the same time, another shadow appeared under the glow of one of the backdoor lights before its owner came into view. Him again.

Pale ashen skin and tight beady eyes surveyed him with surprise, but he got the sense it was feigned. “I didn’t think I’d see you again. I thought you were only passing through.”

“I got caught up.”

He raised a brow, “I see. You look like shit.”

Cha! He was one to talk.

He’d looked no better on this day than he had when he faced him on the mage’s porch. Mac, if he remembered the name correctly, looked like he died four centuries ago, with his thin waxy skin and morose eyes. But worse was his irritating voice that filled the street with its caterwauling sound.

“And,” he continued. “You didn’t check in,” Mac tsked.

Garrick’s jaw cracked as he prepared himself for another fight.  “I do not wish to war with you.”

“You couldn’t even if you wanted to,” the vampire looked him over with a doubtful look. “But you’ve chosen war, haven’t you? The day you decided to be in bed with the mages? Tut-tut. See where that’s gotten you?”

Another vampire fell from the building top and landed two paces behind him. Garrick repositioned himself so his back was against the building. His eyes blackened to coal, and his fighting fangs came down.

“How do you make your eyes shine like that?” Mac asked. “The witches do that for you?” He didn’t sound like he was interested out of curiosity, but jealousy.

“I do not wish to war with you,” he hissed.

The vampire in front of him chuckled, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “I don’t wish to war with you either, but you’ve been bedfellows with our enemy,” he turned back to his original conversation.

“Can I have this one? You said next one was mine. It’s my turn to clean the filth,” a thin haired vampire, two heads shorter than him, said eagerly. Her mouth was stained dark pink from dried blood despite only having one fang, but it only enhanced her savagery.

“No,” Mac said but the young vampire was already moving like the wind.

Garrick prepared himself for the dagger she pulled from a pocket on the side of the black cargo pants she wore, but in a blur, Mac caught her hand before she could stick him with it and twisted it until it popped from its socket. So, the vampires in this realm had the same speed.

The tiny vampire yelped, dropping the dagger from her hand with a clang on the ground, and clutched her arm to her middle.

“I said: no,” he seethed. “We’re taking him to see Clint,” Mac said decisively when the girl hissed.

“Why?” She retorted and spat. “He’s filth.”

“He deals with mages,” someone agreed from the shadows.

“We should make his death slow,” said another.

“My decision is final.”

The collective silenced unhappily.

“Why’s he so special?” the tiny vampire reset her wrist with a groan.

“Because this vampire can cross mage thresholds,” Mac said simply. A few of the vampires gasped in disbelief. “I saw it with my own eyes. And whatever magic he has that makes it so, we’re going to find out what it is and take it.”

Even injured he had some fight in him, although in his state, the lesser vampire held the advantage. Despite it, he straightened. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“You don’t have a choice.” Several more soft thuds landed behind him, deep within the shadows. They were gathering numbers, and yet again, he found himself outmatched.

Voting is Live!

Author’s Note: My laptop has risen from the ashes like a phoenix. Two crucial questions this week. I hope you enjoy!

If you want to be alerted when I post a new chapter and access to all the behind the scenes goodness, make sure to sign up here: Vampire Love Serial Alert

Published: May 25, 2020

17

KAYLA

Practicing to control her magic over the next couple of days monopolized her entire attention. Well, some of it anyway. Between the times she couldn’t get her mind off of Garrick, which was virtually impossible seeing that they were stuck in a room together and every breath he drew made her lady bits ache.

Like now, when his large hands rested against her shoulders causing tingles and butterflies to thrash around in her gut. Pleasure bubbled under his touch. His warm breath blew against a suddenly sensitive spot on her neck as he exhaled.

She breathed through it.

He wasn’t all that interested, she reminded herself. She may have been panting like a dog after a bone, but he certainly wasn’t.

Every night, he’d been the perfect gentleman, building a pillow fort between them before they went to sleep, and each morning made sure to take quick tidy showers before giving her the space to do the same. Once they were done getting ready, he immediately insisted they got to work trying to control her magic.

Even his feedings had been a non-starter. He didn’t drink from her neck again; instead chose to sink his fangs into her wrist. After a pinch, not much else happened. She didn’t get the waves of pleasure again or feel the euphoria after. Nothing like their first night.

She’d been officially friend zoned. And that freaking sucked.

“Okay,” he said encouragingly, pointing to the sock she was supposed to transport from the bed to her hand like she’d seen Marnie do with her phone in the kitchen at her house. “Take a deep breath and try again.”

She steadied her shoulders and focused on the plain white sock. Her magic sparked at her hands, but again, it didn’t budge.

She groaned.

“I don’t know how Marnie was able to do it,” she threw her hands up in defeat. “She just summoned a phone out of nowhere.”

“It takes time and practice. We were late to rise this morning, so we’re delayed in practice, but once you get warmed up, I’m sure it’ll come easier. Like yesterday.”

Little did he know, he was the one late to rise. Once the sliver of light brightened the room, she eagerly began testing her magic’s capabilities, effectively making it stretch up over their pillow fort and across the bed. By the time it reached the other side, Garrick jolted off the bed, patting himself wildly, saying it felt like he was under a blanket of fire. She told him it was all a dream and popped off the bed to head to the shower, too embarrassed to admit what she was trying to do.

“And you need to focus,” he continued, bringing her attention back to him.

“I am focusing! It’s not working. I can’t even make my magic go over to the bed. It’s like if it’s not going to you, it doesn’t want any part of it.”

He paused for a thoughtful breath.

“Cha, maybe we try that,” he said pensively. “I will hold the sock. Try to send your magic to me and see if you’ can pick it up.”

She held in a sigh at the loss of contact as he walked to the bed and picked up the sock.

“Now try it.”

Her magic made it to Garrick just fine, but crawling up toward the sock was painfully slow. By the time it got there, a corner of it blackened, then it ignited.

“Shit.” She drew her magic back quickly—a bit too quickly—she walloped herself so hard, she staggered backwards, knocking the wind out of herself. She gasped and bent over, trying to force air into her lungs.

The sock was stamped out and Garrick was at her side a second later.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Fine,” she coughed before using his shoulders to steady herself upright, ignoring the pleasure that erupted under her fingertips every time she touched him. “Are you?”

He didn’t need to answer, she already knew he was. She felt it.

Her magic raced around his hands, checking for wounds, which there weren’t, before lingering on him a little longer than necessary. His breathing went uneven, his eyes darkened. He cleared his throat before taking a step to the side.

“I think we should take a break,” his voice was deeper than normal.

And the friendzone strikes again, she thought bitterly.

“Provisions are here anyway,” he said when she frowned.

Knock. Knock.

“Come in,” she called, picking up the burnt sock from the floor.

The door slid open; the cement grinded against the floor as it hinged open.

“Morning Killian,” she said over her shoulder without looking. Despite trying to get used to seeing Killian bringing them meals, coupled with the fact that he let the length of his long shaggy hair wave wildly around his face to soften himself up, it still gave her the willies to look into a face identical to the Syste.

“Not Killian,” Garrick murmured.

“No, it is not,” the voice answered quickly. “Kayla, you need to come with me.”

She whipped around. “Theo? What are you doing here? Where’s Killian?”

She tried to look beyond his mop of sandy hair down the hall, but Killian was nowhere to be found. He didn’t hold a tray of food in his hands.

“There’s no time to explain, you need to come with me,” he repeated in one breath, holding his hand out, “Not you, vampire.”

“His name is Garrick.” Rudeness. “And I’m not going anywhere without him.”

Theo’s sharp blue gaze tightened. His thin lips opened as if he were going to say something, but he turned on his heel instead.

“Let’s go.”

Please would be nice, she mocked just as scornfully inside of her mind. Garrick noticed her head bobble as she rolled her eyes and grinned, but she realized why. They were finally letting them out.

She wasn’t sure what to expect when the day came, but a bristly Theo and a gleeful Garrick wasn’t on the list. He motioned her forward and she followed Theo down the winding corridor she hadn’t been in since they’d first arrived.

A sinking feeling tightened her stomach into a tiny ball and continued to sink as Theo sped down the hall.

“Hey—why are you going so—”

Boom.

She ducked. Her gaze snatched up to the ceiling in search of the sudden sound. It sounded like a truck fell into a sewer grate over her head and shook the walls. Garrick slowed, looking up at the ceiling as if he could see through it. She stared at Theo with wide eyes.

“What was that?”

Theo plucked at the frays of his dark ripped jeans; the look on his face was unreadable and stiff except for the pressing of his lips together without a word.

Boom.

“Theo,” she said uneasily, pausing in her step, then backing up against Garrick when he didn’t speak. “What is that?”

Garrick was already checking the air, sniffing it.

“I sense nothing,” he said quietly beside her; his dark determined eyes remained on the ceiling. Her palms grew warm.

Boom.

Theo swallowed before pointing at the ceiling, voice urgent, “That is why we have to get you out of here.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. Not one single bit.

“I’ll explain on the way, but we must hurry.”

When he moved down the hall again with a quicker step, she involuntarily rushed after him.

Boom.

“The ceiling is cracking,” Garrick pressed her forward. “What is this?”

“We’re not sure. It started late in the night,” Theo said, giving a single knock against an empty wall before it gave way to a flight of stairs. They started to climb. “Ever since you arrived, they’ve been trying to penetrate our stronghold. So far, our defenses have held, but they are failing. We must move you. You’re not safe here.”

Her thoughts scrambled. “What do you mean, not safe? Where’s my father?” She asked, pausing again as he turned a corner and up another flight of stairs.

“He’s safe for now, but you won’t be if we don’t hurry.”

“What is the threat?” Garrick asked. His broad shoulders held themselves differently than they had in the past few days. This was the legion coming out of him—the soldier readying himself for battle.

“Take your pick. The vampires come at night to try to flush us out. They cannot come during the day because the Blood Oath disallows them to wander our world until nightfall, but that has not stopped them. They’ve sent someone else. Creatures who can take on many forms.”

“Shifters,” Garrick said in realization. “They are working together.”

“We didn’t exactly go out an ask them, but we presume so. We have no defenses against shifter kind. And as you can hear, it’s starting to show.”

Kayla’s heart started a mutiny with her ribcage. It wanted out. “What about the barriers? They can’t get through them, right?”

“The Blood Oath only extends to vampirekind. Any vampire who crosses mage thresholds will burn a death of fire. Shifters have no such restrictions. Come through here,” he said motioning them to a door that looked much like a vault in a bank.

Theo crossed the room and placed his hands against the walls until it gave way to a sparsely lit tunnel. It was much different than the abandoned subway they came here by. It felt like the tunnel of a mine with thick stone chiseled out on either side of them. She could fit through, but Garrick had trouble fitting into the tight space as they moved.

Boom. Boom.

The bangs were coming quicker now.

“How did they even find me?”

Theo’s gaze traveled to Garrick; his eyes were heavy with suspicion.

“You think it was him?” Her thumb pointed back toward Garrick, as she dodged a lamp strung across the tunnel. “How? He’s been with me the entire time.”

“He tried to escape on the first day. Maybe he sent a message out before Pellan could intercept him.”

“From the mage basement?”

“I have no dealings with the vampires here,” Garrick said firmly, grunting past two larger boulders sticking out. “You can ask your mage friend, Marnie. She’s confirmed it already.”

“Marnie’s dead and no one but the four of you knew about this place.”

Kayla stopped abruptly, causing Garrick to stop an inch shy of her. “She’s what?”

“She’s in the hands of the foremages now,” Theo snipped. “She was ambushed trying to evacuate a group to her house, but somehow, they knew where she’d be.”

He tossed Garrick a hateful look before he kept on his path.

“I told Pellan we should leave you and your father to it. Now one of our own is gone,” he muttered, climbing another set of stairs.

She was too stunned to reply. Dead? But Marnie had been so powerful. She had control of her magic. She couldn’t be dead.

Theo paused on the landing to the sub-basement and held his hands on a door and listened. Behind it, a dull roar grew louder.

Boom. Boom.

The sound came from directly above them. Her pulse thickened in her ear.

“Fuck,” he swore. “Come on.”

The dull roar that was behind the door, wasn’t a roar at all. It was chaos.

Screams raced alongside magic shooting from palms as Theo brought them into what looked like an underground car park. People, en masse, were running. Some were gathering children, others trying to find an exit. Running a hand through his sandy hair, he looked down to the end people were running from, where the light was.

“They’re almost through,” he said to himself, but yanked at her arm. “Come through here.”

They weaved through the running bodies, barely making it around the corner without being separated. But she was too busy looking at the terror-filled faces skirting past her. All of this was because she and her father were on the run. She looked for her father’s salt and pepper hair in the crowd.

“Where’s my dad?” she said as a streak of magic whizzed past her face.

“He’s waiting for you. Come on,” Theo grabbed hold of her hand. A spark, hot like lightning, shot to her shoulder.

“Ah!” she snatched her hand back

“Sorry.” The apology was half-hearted as he led them through another identical cement clad hallway with a thick yellow line racing down it.

It was much quieter in here, but she didn’t see any exits.

Boom. Boom. Glass shattered behind them.

“We have been breached,” a voice boomed throughout the tunnel and the hallway they were in. Theo picked up his pace.

“Through here.” He pointed to an air vent just large enough for her to crawl through. She dipped inside, but realized this vent led into a room and not the winding ductwork she was expecting or an exit like she was hoping. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the sudden change in lighting.

She looked around. They were in a small bunker. Dozens of pairs of eyes were on her as Theo climbed through behind her.

“She is safe,” he announced. The room murmured their relief. “We can go.”

“Good,” Pellan breathed a sigh of relief. “Did you check her?”

“I did.”

“And?” Pellan leaned in curiously.

“Check me for what?” she asked, searching the room, but there was a more pressing question she need answered first. Outside of the council, there wasn’t a familiar face in between them. “Where’s my dad?”

She looked through the crowd again, catching the eyes of Carissa and Killian, whose gazes were downcast, but her father wasn’t among them.

“Your father was on the road with Marnie,” Pellan said before Theo could.

What? The air in the room was sucked away, she turned to Theo. Betrayal heated her cheeks.

“You told me he was waiting for me.”

“I didn’t want to frighten you,” Theo said. “You would have fought me if I told you the party had gone missing.”

“Missing? You told me Marnie was dead.”

“She likely is. They all likely are because of him,” Theo pivoted and before any of them could react, Garrick soared backwards, out of the vent opening with a grunt.

Several electric webs weaved across the opening, blocking him out.

He tried for the barrier, but when he touched it, a spark forced his hand backward, severely burning his palm in the process. He hissed; his eyes became black glassy orbs. Her magic raced to him, but was stopped by the web of magic and couldn’t get through.

“What are you doing? He didn’t do anything. Let him back in,” she said, half in shock. Theo didn’t move, only eyed Garrick with malice.

A low, vicious growl in the distance caught Garrick’s attention. The wolves had found a way in.

Turning, Garrick rammed the forcefield again, but bounced from it. Burns scattered up the side of his body where he met the web of magic.

Seeing him hurt, more of her magic came barreling from her hands, shooting toward the barrier, but their magic was too strong. A blinding white light seared through the hall as her magic rebounded.

“Let him in,” she repeated. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving him to his own kind,” Theo sneered.

“Theo,” Pellan said worriedly. “We don’t know if it’ll work at this stage.”

“It’s too late now.”

The shadow of the wolves in the hall behind him grew larger as they prowled toward him.

The control she had been practicing with Garrick loosened when he looked over his shoulder and crouched into a defensive position.

A large grey wolf jumped into him, knocking him on his back. It snapped and snarled at his neck.

“Garrick,” she shouted, then raced toward the opening. Only, Theo grabbed her and yanked her back. “Let me go.”

When his hold didn’t loosen, her magic erupted. It sparked and pooled at her hands, then cascaded to the floor before a fireball started to form.

“Don’t let it get out of control. Absorb it,” Pellan ordered from behind her.

Several people rushed to her and gripped her tightly.

“Let me go,” she gritted and tried to kick herself out of their hold, but there were too many.

The fireball she’d been creating, started to shrink as another wolf jumped on top of Garrick. She pushed harder, focusing on getting her magic to go to him, but no matter how much force she used, it shrunk.

“Pellan, it’s working,” Theo said watching the misty waves of her essence roll back like a wave retreating from the shore until it met her shoes and yanked her toward Pellan.

“Well, so it is,” Pellan nodded at Theo. They looked at each other like they’d just found the cure to every incurable disease known to man all at once. A sprinkle of delighted murmurs went through the several people holding her back.

He held up a hand and several misty streams traveled across the floor and up onto him. She felt her insides tug as he tried to grab hold of her essence, but it refused to go.

She fought harder.

“Let me have it or I’ll force it out of you,” he breathed. She felt the power of him grow stronger—more overbearing.

Not a chance.

“Let me go and I will.”

A howl and a whimper came from the entrance. She fought against her restraints. A burst of her magic soared from her, making them all stagger. She fell to the floor and scrambled to her feet. Before she could escape, they grabbed her again.

“We should take it from her now,” someone called. “End this once and for all.”

“Take what? I don’t have anything,” she gritted out.

“We don’t know if it’ll be enough power. It has only had days to grow.” Pellan said firmly. Another yelp, followed by several grunts. She looked up; Garrick was covered in fur. Another wave of her magic pushed.

“Look at her, it’s growing faster than we can absorb. It’ll be enough to break the Blood Oath.”

“If she gives it to us.”

“If she won’t. Syphon it,” someone called from the crowd.

“I can’t do that,” Pellan said fiercely.

“What do you think’ll happen when they finish with him,” said another. Outside of the bunker, Garrick groaned. A wolf had taken a bite out of his arm. She struggled against her cage while the murmuring crowed agreed.

She didn’t understand what the hell was happening. But Pellan did, he looked around the room somberly and gave her one last remorseful look. “I wish we could have done this another way.”

He grabbed her forearm and the magic he’d been summoning to himself, pushed inside of her in a full blast.

Just like with the Syste, her insides tore to pieces. Her vision blurred as pain seared across her belly. Her magic fought against him, but it was futile. It was like he put a vacuum to her mouth and sucked her essence from her body, draining her. Her limbs became heavy. Her body drooped.

Pain like she’d never felt surged through her veins like they were burning through her in its wake. She tried to summon her magic, but that made the pain worse. She stared at her palms and heard the echo of Garrick’s anguish beside her. She fought through the pain. She didn’t have to fight them, just get the barrier between her and Garrick to break.

She gritted her teeth and focused on getting her magic to Garrick. She envisioned it traveling from her hands, then across the floor, all the while, hot lava torched her insides as Pellan pulled her magic from her at one end and she fought to get to Garrick at the other.

Blood trickled down her nose.

“What is she doing?” someone asked.

“Fighting me. Absorb it,” Pellan’s yelled between clenched teeth.

When the hands grabbed her again, her magic rebounded. It burst from her, blowing everyone back, she hit the ground with a painful thud.

“Shit,” Theo growled from over her.

She looked up. Their barrier had broken. Her magic raced to Garrick. Disoriented, the wolves backed away from Garrick when it wrapped tightly around him.

One of the wolves looked up. It took a moment for them to recognize the change. But the scout of the group did. It bared its teeth and lowered its head. The rest of them followed.

The mages beside her backed away hesitantly, magic at their palms.

“What have you done?” Pellan’s eyes bulged as the wolves charged inside.

CHAPTER 18 will Be Live Wednesday!

Author’s Note: Talk about all-heck breaks loose. Part 2 will be out Wednesday. I also added a cute bit at the end of the last chapter that I couldn’t resist. Get ready for 2-Chapters a week! I’m going to shoot for a Sunday/Wednesday schedule but it may end up being a Monday/Thursday schedule. I hope you enjoy!

If you want to be alerted when I post a new chapter and access to all the behind the scenes goodness, make sure to sign up here: Vampire Love Serial Alert

Published: May 17, 2020

16

KAYLA

Air caught in her throat. She couldn’t speak.  Small grunts thrust from her mouth but did nothing more than spill from her lips and onto the floor near her feet, as she met face to face with her worst nightmare.

How did he get in here?

“I was told to bring these,” he held up a tray, but she could only stare into his eyes. They weren’t alight with violet electric currents anymore, but they held the same gleam, inset in the same pinched face, flanking a pointed nose, and evil ghost smile. Who let the Syste into mage safehouse?

No one would dare. Not when he fed on their kind.

Her heart thundered in her ears, pulsing painfully in her neck before traveling to her hands. Spittle gurgled in the back of her mouth. He must have broken in or worse…

He instantly recognized her panic. The tray in his hand lolled to one side like someone anchored a dumbbell on it.

“Wait a second. I’m not who you think I am. This is a mistake.”

“Stand back!” Her magic woke from its quieted state and raced around her wrists.

In a flash, Garrick was out of the bathroom and at her side, hair damp, vampire ready, alert gaze on the stranger at their door. He recognized the Syste at once, then hissed behind his fangs. Her magic readied for an attack; it raced from her arms, then up around Garrick.

“You met my brother. Not me,” he said quickly, backing into the wall opposite their door. “My twin… He’s my twin,” he repeated, fear heightening his voice into a squall, his leg hiked up as if to shield himself behind the tray in his hands.

Her panic turned into confusion.

“Your brother is the Syste?” she asked, but should’ve realized it from the start.

The mage in front of her didn’t feel like the Syste had. While he felt like death incarnate shoved into a body, the mage in front of her felt… well, like any other normal mage.

“Yeah. Y-you met my brother,” he confirmed, his leg was still hiked as if waiting for an attack.

“Brothers who share the same face,” Garrick said in understanding. He relaxed and so did she when the mage in front of them showed no signs of bringing them any harm.

Then, her magic had done something it hadn’t done in her entire life without help. It settled on its own.

She stared at it in shock as it cascaded down Garrick’s frame and up into her hands before disappearing without a trace.

“Yeah, I don’t usually cross paths with many people who’ve met him….” The words turned awkward; he was unable to meet their gaze. He didn’t meet many in his brother’s acquaintance because he likely sucked their magic out of them, killing them on the spot. The mage in front of her cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I’m Killian, the good twin. Zander’s the evil one.”

It was a humorless joke that he’d probably gotten many times since his brother turned bad. They both stared at him for a long moment until he awkwardly bounced the tray in his hands, rattling the dishes.

“I’m glad we got that straightened away,” he continued, with a relieved laugh, speaking more now that he was semi-sure they weren’t going to pounce on him. “A fight would probably have ruined breakfast. It was my turn to cook. I’m not the best with eggs, but the French toast came out okay. And there’s orange juice. We don’t have any…uh… anything for you.”

Killian didn’t look at Garrick when he said it. He looked almost bashful as he regarded them. Shy, even. Completely unlike his brother.

“It kind of sucks down here, huh?” He made idle conversation. “I heard you’re wicked powerful. Must be if they put you in this room,” his eyes darted up to the concrete ceilings soaring two stories above their head. “What’s your affinity? It’s gotta be a big one.”

“My what?”

“Your affinity. All mages have one. What element do you favor most? I’m more of an earth type. It’s boring, really, I’m great at moving dirt around. I guess I should’ve gone into construction. So, what about you?”

“I… don’t know.”

He looked startled by her declaration. “You haven’t used your magic much?”

She shook her head.

“Wow, you’re going to have a lot to learn before you can…” Killian was cut off by someone clearing their throat beside him. He nearly dropped the tray in his hands, not expecting a disembodied voice to make an appearance.

“I told you to deliver the tray to their door, knock once, then leave,” Theo’s voice appeared next to Killian.  But to her surprise, Theo didn’t appear in the hallway.

“S-sorry,” he stammered, pushing the silver tray toward them. Garrick reached for it quicker than she did. “I was just excited is all. We don’t get many visitors.”

“Upstairs. Now,” Theo’s hard voice demanded.

Killian rushed down the hallway.

“Don’t forget to seal the door.”

“Oh yeah,” Killian’s back when straight before he turned around and apologized. “Sorry.”

Their door closed slowly in front of them, all the while hearing Theo scolding him for getting too friendly too fast. They had to be careful of her magic.

Only, something in her magic had changed. It had been different since their run in with Pellan the night before. He’d tried to command her magic, but it refused to obey him.

It didn’t want to.

It resisted until he finally released her. That’s when she felt it skitter across the floor in search of Garrick, then wrap around him. It no longer pooled or sparked, it calmly laced across him, sliding down his back and wrapping him tight. It was almost like she unconsciously commanded it. Through her worry, her need to protect him, it knew what to do. Like it had just now beside her.

With her mind cleared and focused on protecting them against the Syste, it didn’t feel like it’d run hot throughout her body. It was calm as it offered them a shield of protection and as soon as it was no longer needed, it just went away.

“Look,” she held her hands out to Garrick as soon as they door shut and sealed. “My magic is normal.”

He looked down at her hands and nodded. He also smiled. “This is a good sign. How did you do it?”

She told Garrick about what happened when Pellan tried to control her magic. “And I don’t know… I feel like. I feel like I can do it again.”

“Do you wish to try it?” A mischievous smile popped onto his beautiful full lips. His expression lightened.

Nervous worry crept up in her stomach. What if her magic went haywire again? It had only been a day. Yesterday it was out of control. One day ago, she nearly killed a cathedral full of people. Maybe she shouldn’t tempt fate.

He noticed the worry on her face.

“We know how to calm it if it becomes too much,” he assured her. “Like we’ve done earlier.”

She nodded and took a courage-filled breath. She should try it, now that the feeling was still here. It might be her only chance. Plopping onto the bed, she tucked her feet under her as she held her hands out. A blip of terror and excitement shot through her, much like being on a rollercoaster for the first time.

Okay magic, come out. She stared at her palms, but nothing happened. She shook them like she was trying to shake excess water from her hands before staring at them again.

“What do I do?” she asked him.

Garrick shrugged and knelt on the bed in front of her. Of course, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t not without a suggestion. “How does it usually come out?”

“On its own. Or I’m freaking out.”

“What’s the first thing that happens?”

“My hands grow hot.”

As she said the words, her hands started to warm. Panic bubbled, but she breathed it away. She couldn’t let her emotions get out of control again.

“How did it happen today?”

“On instinct. I thought we were in danger and I guess unconsciously thought I had to protect you.”

“So, then we are in danger and I am in need of protecting,” he said simply.

She frowned. “But, we’re not.”

“We don’t know what. Neither of us knows where the true danger lies.”

He was only trying to get her nervous system going, but it was working. She looked up at the scant light in the room. They were in an unknown place surrounded by people they’ve never met before. Her father called it a safehouse, but how safe was it if they’d been keen on separating her from the vampire in front of her by force so they could hurt him.

Her heart began to race, but she tried to harness the feeling, not let it overwhelm her.

Garrick’s hands slid into hers and a jolt shot between them. It wasn’t painful. Just a sudden feeling of closeness.

“Try to focus on the feeling you had when you thought you needed to protect us.”

Closing her eyes, she focused on that feeling. The panic and determination came first, followed by grit and a sprig of fear. Her hands grew warm.

She envisioned her magic running from her hands like a slow-moving river then up onto Garrick again. The warmth in her hands spread.

His breath caught and she flinched and her eyes shot open, searching for any sign that he was hurt. He wasn’t, but purple spindles of her magic wrapped around his hand up to his wrists.

“Keep going,” his grip tightened on hers when she tried to tug away. “You have this in hand.”

She did. Amazingly. Her magic spread across him and it wasn’t dizzying out of control, but instead laced around Garrick in a wave. Her chin dropped in awe.

“Try to get it up to my shoulders.”

She did.

Slowly, it moved, but it was likely climbing up hill. She gritted her teeth when it slowed and pushed.

“It feels as if I’m being encased in gel.”

“Is that good or bad?” she asked, her nervousness grew a fraction. Her magic stopped moving for a second.

“It’s an odd feeling but not unpleasant. Keep going.” Both of them watched her magic slowly crawl up his arm until it just barely made it to his shoulders.

“Cha!” he said excitedly. The sudden sound made he jump and her magic ricocheted, launching her against the bed pillows with an ooph.

“Are you well?” Garrick popped over her in concern.

She burst into a fit of giggles. She did it. She actually did it. Sure, it was a little bit of a rocky landing, but she got her magic to obey for once.

“Did you see that?” She perked up from the pillows. “It worked!”

“That was amazing. Thank-you!”

She threw herself into his arms, the dampness of his hair grazing her ear. Responding to their proximity, her magic reacted to him again. Just like it had the night before. Lightning quick, it scooted to him, caressing him as it circled them.

Garrick’s strong hands tightened around her waist.

“You’re injured,” he pulled her back, his eyes darted to her forehead in concern.

Immediately, she wiped away a droplet of blood. It didn’t even hurt and by the time her hand was back, the cut was fully healed.

“Let’s do it again,” she breathed in excitement.

“I think we should eat now,” Garrick said from beside her, his breathing a bit uneven. “You need to gather your strength.”

He disappeared to the side table to opened the trays to fluffy eggs and thick slices of French toast.

“But, I’m not hungry,” she frowned. She didn’t want to eat, she wanted to explore her magic more. But a loud rumble from her stomach disagreed with that assessment.

“Eat,” he chuckled clearly hearing the racket from her gut, “Then, we’ll practice more.”

She was too excited to be embarrassed. There was something about his warmth that made her feel comfortable and at ease.

She’d found an ally in her world, one to which they were both strangers to. Her entire life, she’d grown up around mages, but she didn’t know the first thing about how to use her own magic like everyone else seemed to. She knew how to control it enough to make it go away. She would have never dreamed of using it the way her father had or the way Marnie did. She’d been too afraid to.

But now, things were different.

Voting is Open!

Author’s Note: I really missed these two! And you as well! I hope you’ve been well. I’m feeling refreshed and ready to go! I’ve got two quick questions for voting this week. The first one has to do with what happens next and the second with the frequency of uploads. I’ll see you next week (or maybe sooner!).

If you want to be alerted when I post a new chapter and access to all the behind the scenes goodness, make sure to sign up here: Vampire Love Serial Alert

Published: April 19, 2020

15

KAYLA

Morning was filled with darkness. No, that wasn’t exactly true. Twenty feet above her head, a small window she’d attributed to being part of the wall the night before let in a sliver of light. She stared at it while Garrick showered in the bathroom adjacent to their room.

Their night was spent in silence and between a wall of pillows Garrick had fashioned. Here she was, horny as all get out, and the gentlemen that he was, built a pillow fort between them on the bed.

Of course, he did. He was only there because he felt bad for her.

Because my magic is out of freaking control and he’s the only one who can keep it from destroying the entire world. Although, the world part was probably an exaggeration. A crap ton of destruction across Sun City, maybe, but the world? Magic was powerful but could it be that powerful?

The shower water turned off. She half wondered if there was any hot water left. He’d been in there for an obscenely long time, letting the steamy water cascade down his bulging muscles, washing through every cut he had. She licked her lips, imagining herself running her fingers against the hard planes of him again. It’d felt so good last night. His skin was so smooth and soft, a glorious juxtaposition to the hardness underneath.

The shower water turned back on. Was he alright in there? She hadn’t even realized vampires took showers. Not that they wouldn’t. There was a lot of things different about the vampire in the adjacent room. Sure, he drank blood, but he also ate real food, walked around in the sun, and crossed mage thresholds without fuss.

She untangled herself from her blankets and hovered the bathroom door. Foremages this close, her girly parts had no shame. She’d half convinced herself to knock softly enough so he didn’t hear her and she could go right in to see him in all his glory.

Stop being a horndog, she chastised herself.

“Hey, is everything okay in there?”

“Fine,” his voice was guttural and deep and followed by several loud bangs like he’d tripped in the shower. Garrick groaned.

“Are you okay in there?” She could only hear the rush of the water. He didn’t answer. “Garrick?”

She twisted the door handle.

“I am fine,” he said sounding pained.

She stopped but the damage was already done. Her freaking magic ripped the handle from her hands and pushed the door all the way open with a bang.

Her jaw unhinged. Understandably, he was startled by her presence in the doorway. But boy oh boy what greeted her was a feast she couldn’t unglue her eyes from.

“I’m sorry, I…” she trailed off but nothing in her tone nor the way she leered at him was sorry. In fact, she was the furthest thing from sorry. She’d seen him shirtless, but this… whoa. This was beyond. Every part of him was thick and she meant every part.

He cleared his throat and she found enough of her remaining shards of sanity to turn her back on the glorious work of art in front of her. What the hell was going on with her?

“Sorry, I thought you hurt yourself.”

Only the shower water ran, he didn’t say anything.

“I’ll leave now.”

“It’ll also be helpful if you refrained from thinking those kinds of thoughts.”

Embarrassment wreaked havoc on her cheeks as her numb feet carried her out of the bathroom doorway and over to the bed. Softly, the bathroom door closed behind her.

How could he tell what she was thinking? Could he read her mind? No, that was crazy talk. No one could read minds. Vampire or not.

She tried to catch her breath and fan the heat away from her cheeks. It was probably the way she ogled him. She hadn’t exactly been tactful in staring him down while the suds slid down his perfectly formed physique.

Just in case, she pushed those thoughts away from her mind. It was just her emotions gone haywire. She’d nearly burned down not one but two buildings last night. Her magic had always made the most inconvenient and inopportune appearances. Like forcing her to bust into a bathroom to see a hot vampire naked.

The silver lining in all of this was that her magic had otherwise seemed completely at ease. Maybe because she knew Garrick was in a toasty shower but sooner or later it might be back. So, she had to get it under control sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, that was way easier said than done. She’d practiced at controlling her magic for most of her life. She’d even thought she’d had a handle on it enough to go to college and stay on campus. Fat lot that did her.

She shuddered to think of how naïve she’d been last year. She should’ve known she wasn’t ready to take on the outside world. First semester Freshman year was a fluke. Halfway through her second semester, everything went crazy.

Her pulse quickened as she thought about it. Her jaw tightened against teeth that were furiously grinding into powder. The air in the room became too dense to breathe.

Her hands burned hot. Fire hot. One glance down showed her palms glowing, almost orangey-red. Oh no, it was happening again.

“Garrick!” she cried looking at her hands.

After several thuds inside of their bathroom, the door swung open. Wrapped in a thick white towel, soaking wet from head to toe, Garrick’s alarmed expression met hers.

“It’s happening again,” she held her shaking hands for him to see.  In small swirls, her hands pooled purple essence. “It won’t stop.”

Hysteria clogged her throat. It was getting worse. Garrick’s sure eyes looked at her.

“What were you thinking before it happened?”

“What?”

Recounting her freshman year at school wasn’t going to help them now. He sensed her hesitation because he explained.

“I believe the mages have said magic is tied to emotions. You are frantic so your magic is frantic.”

“How do I not be frantic when it’s going to destroy…”

“Don’t think of that,” he cut her off, pressing his large hands into the top of her shoulders. “As a youngling, once the vampire in me presented itself, it was hard trying to control the two halves living inside of me. What I learned is that if I controlled the triggers, I controlled the bloodlust. Think of something else. Think of what calms you.”

“I-I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” his deep voice was calm and reassuring. “You have this in hand.”

“How?”

“Don’t look at your hands. Look at me.” She did, right into his dark brown eyes. Water from his wet hair left trails of water running down his chiseled face. “Listen to my voice and only focus on that. Can you do that?”

She nodded, although she was pretty sure it was going to be impossible.

“Close your eyes and only focus on me.”

She closed her eyes and did has he asked. He grabbed her arms and pulled her closer to him, then rested his hands on her shoulders. When he touched her, every nerve ending on her arm shot to attention.

“Calmness comes at your will,” he said to her. “It relaxes our shoulders.”

He methodically rubbed her shoulders. He kept his voice low and calm as he worked down to her arms.

“It stills our arms.”

His large hands moved down to her biceps, and worked the muscles there. Goosebumps spread across her skin.

“And it remains centered at the core.”

His hand found her waist. She kept her eyes closed. Even when a he made a thud at her feet and his voice came lower. His hands moved to her hips.

“Calmness allows us to stand sturdy and strong.”

His hands moved to her legs, then down to her shins.

“We breathe it into our lungs.”

She took a deep breath in.

“It is everything we are and everything we want to be. Calmness is at your call. When you need it, it will arrive. When you don’t, it will float gently away.”

It was as if his voice hypnotized her, it was low and soothing. He made a second pass, this time working from her legs up to her shoulders. All the while, she kept her eyes closed, her breathing steady and her focus on his voice.

“Cha!” He shouted triumphantly. She jumped inside of her skin at the sudden sound. “Your hands are calm now.”

The magic budding there had gone away leaving her regular skin behind. It worked.

“Thank you,” she stared at her hands in awe. “How did you know it was going to work?”

“I didn’t, my father taught me this technique when I first became a vampire.”

“I thought you said you were born one?”

“I am, but all vampires of my kind are born human, then we meet our full change and that transfers us from youngling to vampire.”

It must have been the vampire version of puberty.

“Does it hurt to become vampire?”

“No. It is painless. Although my mouth was sore when my fangs first came down. And my gums itched for days after until I got used to them. My sister teased me for weeks because my mouth looked funny.”

“You have a sister?” She smiled unable to help herself, trying to imagine him with a sibling.

“I had, yes.” His voice had gone quiet. “It’s been many years since my sister has been no more.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“Why do you apologize? It is not your fault. She was born with a sickness that made her unable to accept the full change to a vampire and her body could not handle it. You did not cause that.”

“I know, but I’m sorry for your loss.”

“To apologize for the loss of life is a mage thing?”

“Isn’t it an everyone thing?”

“For vampires, no. We mourn for a time, but then we celebrate. Even for a short life, she lived a happy one. She was a teller of stories. At nights, she would tell us a new one after we’d had our final meal for the day.

“My mother always said she was wise beyond her years. Which has never been truer. I will take her stories with me into the eons. For that, I give many thanks and know her final sunfall was met with peace. So, for me, you don’t need to apologize about her. Only for the things that you’ve caused.”

Like this whole mess they were in? Or maybe her most recent blunder, bursting on him in the shower.

“Like, I’m sorry for walking in on you while you were in the shower,” she carefully kept get gaze above his neckline quite aware he didn’t have on a shirt.

“You are sorry?”

“Uh, yeah.” She was supposed to be right? “Because it’s impolite to walk in on someone using the bathroom.”

It was at that moment, he realized how hard she’d worked at keeping her gaze on his and not let it roam across the perfection below his chin. “Do you wish me to change? Is it uncomfortable for you? I know you’ve told your father that you have no experience with flesh.”

“I said that because that’s my father.” He looked like he didn’t understand. “I don’t think it’s comfortable for dads to know their daughters are off experiencing the flesh of others.”

He was still bewildered. “Is this another mage tradition, then?”

Okay, apparently, they weren’t getting anywhere. So, she tried to explain. “It’s another everybody tradition. I never really talked to my dad about my dating life before.”

His confusion doubled. “So, you’ve experienced the flesh of others, but your father does not know this and you do not wish for him to know?”

Well, said like that, it sounded silly. “I’m not opposed to him knowing. It’s just weird, that’s all. Especially now with everything going on.”

He nodded like he understood even though it was clear that he still didn’t grasp the concept. Apparently, vampires were more open about their proclivities with their parents.

“I see. Well, I accept your apology although you do not need to apologize for looking at me.”

Her cheeks tinged. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

“I quite enjoy it,” he continued with a shrug as if this was the first time he’d considered it. So, vampires looked at each other in the nude? Was that a common thing?

He shifted his towel to loosen it.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

“Removing my bathing cloth so I can switch to my clothes.”

“In front of me?”

He looked at her quizzically, but settled on. “I will switch them in the bathroom. I will be swift. Rations are coming.”

Garrick motioned to the door with his head. She looked at the wall that housed the door with the invisible knob.

“Someone’s there?”

“Now, they are.”

A knock came at the door. Garrick darted into the bathroom with a stack of clothes he’d laid out on the side of the bed while she called for the door.

“Come in.”

She expected to see Carissa at their door to change out the uneaten plates from the night before. Yet, the face that appeared in the doorway was the last person she expected.

Voting will Open Monday 4/20

Author’s Note: So, I spent most of the day trying to fit in a sub-scene into this chapter, but couldn’t make it fit. I may use it some other time, but I sent the deleted scene out as part of the serial alert.

If you want to be alerted when I post a new chapter and access to all the behind the scenes goodness, make sure to sign up here: Vampire Love Serial Alert

Published: April 5, 2020

14

GARRICK

Go back for her. The vampire inside of him snarled as Kayla’s scent became weaker as he traveled down the hall.

His vampire split from him again. This split had been more painful than the others. It felt like someone cut them apart with a knife coated in fire oil. With Kayla over his body, he and his vampire were one, reveling in her sweet scent, the taste of her and how good she felt on top of him.

She gave him her life force willingly. A treasure to all vampires. Especially one in his state, where he’d not quite healed from his bout with the shifters or the magical torturing in the cathedral. With her blood in him, not only did it taste better, his body healed quicker.

She wants us, go back. His muscles locked when he turned the corner, keeping him from moving too far past her scent radius. They must go back and thank her with more pleasure.

The duality of his mind made his step falter. Generally, his vampire was emotions only, having never really split to its own entity. Now, the most carnal side of himself worked to seize control.

With great effort, he tore himself away from his vampire’s invasive wants. Managing to resume control of his feet, he stepped forward. It was the hardest step he’d ever taken, but necessary.

He could not go back to thank her with more pleasure. What he’d done to her was wrong. He’d forced his pleasure venom in her again. Pumping her full of his own sort of magic.

Cha! He was becoming delirious if he thought he had magic in him. The pleasure venom was a predatory necessity. An act of evolution. This was why humans couldn’t feel the pain of their bites. Naturally, their fangs were coated with a neurotoxin that numbed the skin as their teeth sunk in, rendering humans unable to feel the act. There was no magic in it.

Yet, he’d taken it a step beyond numbing the skin. He pushed as much of his pleasure venom inside of her as he could, making them both unravel to the point where he was almost unable to stop.

Thanks be to the all gods for the young mage called Carissa. Had she not brought them sustenance, he might have been inside of Kayla now, unable to stop the beast from coming out of him to claim her.

That’s not a bad thing. The thought shot through his skull as his vampire paced. Of course, it was bad. It was a false feeling turning him into a randy boy unable to keep from wanting the touch of a soft woman. He needed to separate himself from her before his vampire took over and done even more damage.

He’d hurt her already. The thought made his vampire hang back. She’d grabbed him when his fangs first struck her neck, digging her nails into him like she wanted him to let go. Even if she did encourage him after, he wouldn’t hurt her again.

It was better if he left her alone.

But she comes for us.

Kayla’s soft steps traveled behind him as he navigated his way back to the halls they’d come from.

“Hey,” Kayla’s harsh whisper sounded from behind him.

His vampire stopped, a feeling of longing and agitation rocked through him. Both for the wrong reasons.

He longed for her to touch him again, thread her fingers in his hair and swirl her tongue in his mouth while he buried himself inside of her until she screamed his name. He was agitated that he wasn’t already swooping her into his arms to do just that. Neither emotion was helpful.

He pressed forward as if he hadn’t heard her and wished her away. He had no need of the pull he had toward her. Instead, he needed to focus on his escape path.

“Garrick,” she said quickly. Her voice harsher in this form than in its whisper. Kayla sounded like she’d lost her footing behind him. He couldn’t push himself forward anymore.

Finally, he turned around. His lungs didn’t function for a moment. The more he stared at her, the more forceful the pull of his attraction to her.

And her scent. By the gods, it would be his undoing. Deep and earthy and completely thrashing against the last tendril of his will power. He seized the last strand of his control.

“What do you want?”

“To keep you from doing something stupid,” she whispered.

“The only thing stupid is being here.”

Hurt gleaned in her eyes when he turned back toward her.

“You’re right,” her eyes found the ground and studied it. “I… I have no right asking you for anything. You’ve already done so much for me already. But I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need your help.”

Her voice was vulnerably soft. His jaw flexed as he braced himself, keeping his vampire from seeking to comfort her.

“My magic is too dangerous to control, but it’s more stable around you. So, I’m asking you to be around me.”

The elation in his chest made his vampire croon. She needed him. He grabbed ahold of that feeling and threw it down the dark hall behind him. She was amongst her own kind who’d be much better at helping her than he would. “I have no knowledge of mage power; I am of no use to you.”

As the words barreled from his throat, a shattering started inside of him. A pain sharper than the mage’s in the cathedral chipped away at his chest.

She gave him the same look she had inside of the hanger, when the wolves kept her trapped in the cage, begging him not to leave her.

We can take her with us. His vampire was relentless. He’d only felt this way because of the pleasure venom. A legion did not fall for a non-vampire. His kingdom would not allow it. They fed on her kind, not married them. He was the 57th legion to the greatest vampire kingdom to ever exist. He belonged in the king’s guard. Their lives would never mix. A mage and a vampire did not make for budding companions in any realm—especially not his.

So, no he wouldn’t take her. He’d wait the pleasure venom out. Once it was out of their systems, his head would be clear of her and he could be on his way. She’d realize what they felt while together was a falsehood. Every mage in their vicinity would know it. Their bond was a temporary one. One that would be extinguished when the pleasure venom had run its course.

“As I have said before. Your life is here. The mages here can help you with your issues.”

The sparkle in her green eyes dimmed and everything inside of him felt in tatters.

“I have to go.” He studied her face.

There was a hint of a nod from her, releasing him from her hold. He took that as a sign he was good to leave her. He turned to a hazy smoke forming in front of him.

“Go where?” An evenly toned voice materialized in front of him. Pellan’s sharp gaze was on him the instant he appeared, separating him from Kayla.

His vampire did not like it one bit.

“I asked you a question, vampire.”

The moment, Pellan called his magic to his hands, Kayla’s raced under the mage, knocking him over like he’d slipped on a banana peel, then travelled up his body. Pellan’s dark robes flew over his head as he scrambled to his feet.

He’d only had two experiences with magic so far. Either it hurt or it healed. The only magic he preferred came from Kayla. Hers felt like a warm bath. Soothing his muscles, caressing his skin like she had when she put her mouth on his. Even now, as he watched it crawl up his body, he could feel it relaxing the vampire inside of him.

He liked being protected by her and knowing with her protection around him, he’d be fiercer.

See? More reason to thank her with more pleasure.

He forced the thought from his mind.

Pellan was on his feet much quicker than anyone knocked so hard on their back should have been. Deep lines set around his eyes as he looked at Kayla in shock. It was the same look a ruler had when a subject spoken out of turn.

“You will not leave here until we allow you out. It is safer that way.”

Garrick ground his teeth. He’d be let out when he wanted to be, not when some mage deemed it.

“Move from my path.”

“We cannot let you do that,” Pellan said.

“You speak in plural when you are alone,” he cocked his head to one side. With Kayla’s magic wrapped around him, he was sure he could break free of whatever hold Pellan wanted to put on him.

A sound whispered through the walls. Once that sounded like small voices singing in a tune, a hum just below his range of hearing. Then the sound grew louder, hitting his ears like Theo’s magic hit his brain in an earsplitting squall.

The mage held his hand out. The walls seemed to erupt in color. Bright mist pooled down the walls into his feet.

“The benefit of being amongst my own kind, vampire, is that we can take on anyone who threatens us.”

Kayla’s magic started to break apart around him, shredding as the aura of color surrounded Pellan. He was growing stronger.

“Do you see her magic, vampire?” Pellan didn’t turn around to Kayla like he already knew what was happening behind is back.

At her hands, her magic had gone wild again, like it had in the church. She balled her fingers tight into her fist, her nails digging into her palms until he smelled blood.

“This is why neither of you can leave. It’s tied itself to you and without you, it’ll let loose. Her father says she has suppressed her magic. That makes what she’s experiencing worse. She’s been holding in a power too great to wield on her own. And even as I summon the magic around me, hers won’t obey. In its defiance, it grows worse. And will continue to until she can handle it.

“Understand, I’d rather not have a vampire in the basement beneath where I rest my head at night. Yet, I am asking because it is crucial. You leave here tonight her magic will destroy every part of our world until it finds you, destroying everything in its wake. Including you. Leave here and we all die.”

His words were final, and from the scent of the mage’s fear billowing off of him, he trusted his words.

“I only ask that you stay until we can settle her power. Once she has it under control, you can go wherever the wind takes you.”

He looked back at Kayla again. Desperation made her body slump as she tried to control what was coming from her hands. An array of sparks flitted across the floor, growing into embers in the carpet. If Pellan wasn’t here, another inferno would erupt. He wanted to be at her side, stroke her back and tell her they will find a way to conquer it.

“Can you stay for her for the time being?”

He didn’t need to think of his answer. He nodded his consent. The mage’s fear calmed, but didn’t extinguish. The magic he drew from the walls left him and went back to its origins. He moved to the side to let him through.

Kayla’s magic raced to him, weaving its way up to the top of his head before darting around his arms. It was searching for something. Settling on where he’d been wounded by the wolves but no longer showed a scar before moving to other parts of him. It was if her magic was checking to see if he was hurt, having sensed him in danger.

He cupped her chin, turning her face toward him. Despite the pleasure venom coursing through him, he found himself unable to turn away from her. He doubted very seriously, he could have gotten away from her for too long anyway. His vampire wouldn’t have let him.

“We will allow you freedom, vampire. Once we know she is safe, then, if you want, you can go home.”

Home.

That was not a word he’d used to describe where he lived. As a legion, he’d spent his nights in a barrack house filled with forty other warriors. A small cot in a room with four others was spartan but comfortable.

Being the 57th rank didn’t entitle him to the lavish comfort his captain experienced. Not that he minded. Give him blood, a soft woman from time to time, and all the chelets he could win from the others playing him in Bones, and he was content to live a warrior’s life. He’d been that way ever since he’d left the only home he had.

As a youngling, just before he met his full change into a vampire and joining the ranks of the King’s guard, home meant the dwelling he shared with his mother and father. They were an unmated pair with an incredible love for each other and filled their home with it. Home meant sitting by a warm fire on cold nights, curled against his mother and father next to his younger sister who told them stories. Home felt like nurturing in a harsh world. Protection from a desolate one. He hadn’t experienced home in too long.

He glanced at Kayla who crawled into his arms. She was already starting to feel like home.

A place he didn’t think he was looking for, but a place he wanted to be.

Vote Here!

Author’s Note: Guess who’s early this week? Or well, actually on time. I am back on a roll. I’ve been feeling the slump recently, but I’ve decided to be all about that positive energy.

P.S. Shout out to the person last week who offered up this suggestion last week. I loved it, loved it, loved it so much! I just had to incorporate it. Thank you!!!

So, how did everyone vote?

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Voting is live, I’ll see you next week!

If you want to be alerted when I post a new chapter and access to all the behind the scenes goodness, make sure to sign up here: Vampire Love Serial Alert

Published: March 30, 2020

13

KAYLA

Her lungs seized when the cool night air slammed into her chest. Purple essence cascaded down her fingertips like a waterfall to the ground.

“Please stop,” she rubbed her hands together to no
effect. Garrick jolted at her sudden outburst. Their eyes met. “I can’t make it
stop.”

“We will find a way.”

His bright brown eyes watched her with determination. He’d
meant it. They’d find a way to get her magic under control. Even though he had
no allegiance to her, his presence assured her that there was a way through
this.

Just at the edge of the alley, a body crystallized from a deep hazy green mist. Her eyes traveled from his army-style boots up his ripped jeans and onto his wide face and mop of sandy hair.

“Theo?” She was both relieved and a hundred times
freaked out by his presence. At least she hadn’t killed him with the jolt of
lightning or subsequent fireball. His sudden materialization set her teeth on
edge though.

Garrick grabbed her forearm and pulled her behind him,
but it was him she was worried for.

“This won’t end well if you wish to attack her,” Garrick
hissed, his fangs popped from his skull in warning.

“I don’t hurt those of my own kind, vampire.” The mage sucked
his teeth impatiently. There was a threat disguised in his words. He wouldn’t
hurt her, but he would hurt Garrick.

“Leave him alone,” she drew forward. This time, it was she who shielded the vampire behind her.

Theo threw up his hands in surrender. “I don’t want to
harm him either.”

Said the mage who had just tried to kill him because
he’d been a different species.

“Then, what do you want?”

“I want to help you calm your magic.”

“Why?”

“Magic is not allowed out of doors this far into the night.
You need to calm your magic before they come.”

“Who?” Garrick shifted on his feet, looking at every
point of the alley for threats. He stepped back in her way. If they kept that
up, pretty soon they’d outstep each other and be at Theo’s toes.

“Your kind, vampire. Night has fallen and we cannot be
on the streets much longer. Helping you keep it contained is imperative for us
all.”

“Okay, then help me.” She only half-believed what he said. “Tell me how to do it.”

“It is not something I can tell you. I have to show
you.”

Yeah, that sounded like a sack of horse manure. Embers
shot from her hand, sprawling onto the street like firecrackers when Theo took
a step forward.

“Don’t come closer,” she backed away. Garrick fished
into his pants and pulled out the most menacing piece of metal she’d ever seen.
Was he hiding a dagger in his pants this entire time?

“Move, vampire.”

Garrick stood his ground, but Theo waved his hand,
pushing him flat against the wall. As soon as Garrick flinched in pain, her
nervous system went into overdrive. Her heart raced. Her vision blurred, and
her essence slid from her hands, scattered across the pavement and up Garrick’s
body breaking him free of Theo’s hold before chasing his magic away.

A whoosh of air blew her hair back. Theo staggered backward but otherwise remained unharmed. Her magic recoiled back, sliding slowly up Garrick.

“By the foremages,” Theo whistled, tousling a hand
through his windblown sandy hair, as he studied the tendrils of her magic
protecting Garrick. “I haven’t seen this in over a century. Your magic has an
innate instinct to protect him.”

Well, how could it not when he’d just had him in a
magical chokehold inside the cathedral and was back to destroy him and probably
her too.

“Our magic doesn’t form bonds with outsiders easily,”
his pensive eyes turned to stare at the warrior beside her. “And your magic has
bonded with vampire no less.”

“What do you mean, bond?” she asked despite herself. If
anything, Theo proved he wasn’t to be trusted, but he knew things about magic
that she didn’t. Things she ought to know.

“It’s what you’re doing right now. Just a moment ago
your magic was out of control, but now it’s managed to find its way to protect
him against someone you view as a threat.”

She looked down at her hands, the magic was gone from
her palms and circling steadily around Garrick in gentle waves up and down his
body. It was no longer erupting at her feet or sparking against the pavement.

Something changed in Theo, his shoulders softened. “I
can help you control it.”

“It seems plenty controlled now,” Garrick’s body
hunched, ready to strike at the mage.

“It won’t be for long. Once you realize I am not here to
harm him, it won’t have anywhere to go. It’ll become out of your control again.
If you can come with me, I can teach you how to wield it.”

“Why should I trust you?”

He laughed again as if she’d asked the exact question,
he’d predicted she’d say. “I am a protector of magic. We are bound to protect
all magical beings. This is why your father has come to us to seek asylum.”

“You didn’t seem to keen on granting it,” Garrick spat
his mistrust matching hers.

“We were taken aback by your presence in our council.
All mage houses are protected against your kind. We were alarmed that you could
walk so freely inside our place of sanctuary. I apologize for overreacting.”

“Theo,” a woman with russet hair bouncing off her
shoulders ran toward them. She’d been the on the council alongside him. “There
you are. I thought I lost you. Pellan was able to control the fire, but night
has fallen…”

Standing an inch taller, there was no mistaking they
shared the same familial bone structure. Like him, her face was wide and flat,
her nose thin and slightly crooked. She placed a hand on Theo’s shoulder.

“Carissa, look at them.”

Carissa tossed her hair over her shoulder and stared
them down. Her green eyes flickered with disapproval when she saw Garrick but
it was quickly replaced by genuine surprise when she looked back to Theo.

“How are they bound to each other? Didn’t you…”

“I did,” he said. “I’d broken whatever had been trying to form, but here it is reforming itself. Her magic is choosing him.”

“Can it be? Do you think she can…”

Can what? A question she was curious to ask but didn’t when several sudden sprinkles of light flashed in the windows above their head, all coming in a stream toward them, diverted their attention.

“We have to go, it’s not safe on the street,” Carissa
said.

She and Garrick backed away from the duo. Garrick
grabbed her forearm, then tried to pull her into a run, only they bounced off
an invisible shield like they’d run into a giant beach ball.

“Not that way,” Carissa tsked. She shuffled in several
unsure steps, before glancing over her shoulder. Another sprinkle of light
flashed like they were jet landing on a runway. “There’s no way out. They’re
surrounding us.”

“We can find our own way,” Garrick offered, pushing against the shield, trying to find a weakness.

“There isn’t one,” Carissa said.

Beside her, Garrick took a sudden inhale, then his
entire body lit in alarm. His back found the wall, his head darted around. He
sniffed the air again.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

For a brief moment, the entire alley looked at him.

“Shifters. You didn’t say there were shifters in this
city.”

Apparently, that was new news to Theo and Carissa.
Carissa tugged at Theo’s arm, searching for his hand. “We have to go.”

“We need to take them back with us,” Theo rushed out,
snatching his hand away from hers.

“We can’t take a vampire.”

“But we can’t bring her without him,” he said quickly.
Something she couldn’t describe changed in his face. Joy and regret folded the
soft skin around his mouth as he stared earnestly at Carissa.

“We’ll be fine,” Kayla said lightly tugging at his
shirt. Or not, based on the look on Garrick’s face. For the briefest moment, fear
ghosted his full lips into a hard line.

“There are too many shifters to defend,” he told her,
then glanced at the duo. “Our options are few.”

“Come with us,” Theo said, holding out his hand. “You
can fight us when we get there.”

More sprinkles of light flashed inside of windows, much more
frantically before.

“They’re getting close. Grab my hand.”

Garrick moved without hesitating.

Okay, so they were going to choose door number one with
the crazy twosome over taking on another pack. Garrick’s arm hadn’t fully
healed. Blackened skin charred his forearm down to his hand and even though her
magic defended him, who knew how long that would last. They couldn’t get caught
up in another wolf fight. They might not survive it.

Theo took her hand first, then Garrick placed his
charred fingers on hers. They were thick and rough, but she was afraid to move
just in case it made his skin peel away.

Teleporting with Carissa was different than with her father.
Her father’s magic felt like an embrace as they move from one place to the
other in a blink. Carissa’s felt like riding a roller coaster on a full stomach
before slamming into the concrete so hard her teeth rattled.

Everything went dark.

When they finally appeared in what looked like a subway
tunnel, she realized they had indeed been slammed into concrete. She found
herself flat on her stomach with a trickle of blood coming from her forehead.
The magic inside of her rallied around the cut on her brow, making it itch like
a dozen ants were charging it as it healed it over.

“I’m sooo sorry,” Carissa heaved, her breath coming out
in shallow spurts. “I haven’t tried to move so many people before.”

Of all of the council members, Carissa seemed to be the
only one who didn’t have an old soul speaking out of a young face. She was
actually young. If Kayla had to guess, maybe even her age.

Garrick let out a strangled cry beside her. His arm
looked like it had been splintered. Dark red-black blood oozed from his skin.

“Oh shit,” Carissa blurted out. She scrambled to her
feet moving toward Garrick. “I’m sorry—I- I can try to fix it.”

Garrick flipped onto his feet in a blur, hunched over in
a defensive crouch, letting a growl rip through his throat.

“Carissa, stop. Let him calm himself,” Theo tugged her
backward. Garrick hissed, holding his arm, but her magic slithered to him,
wrapping around his wound. His defensive posture relaxed as he watched it.

Another sprinkle of lights darted on the ceiling thirty
feet above them.

“We have to go,” Theo said. “It’s still not safe. Vampires
are above us in droves.”

She stared at the ceiling as they followed the duo at a
safe distance. The sprinkle of lights above them said all of that?

Garrick’s stride slowed.

“Are you okay?” she whispered. Garrick nodded, watching
her magical essence coat his skin like a glove. The bleeding had stopped, but
the gash didn’t close.

“I will heal,” he promised, tucking his arm close to his
side so she couldn’t see it.

At the end of the hall, Theo pressed his hands into a large iron door. His magic seeped into its cracks before it opened on creaky hinges. On the other side, several figures waited.

“Theo,” Pellan pulled the sandy-haired boy into a hug, tucking his chin over his shoulder, then pulled at the redhead. “Carissa. Did you find her?”

“I did. Both of them.” Pellan’s muscles locked when he
noticed Garrick standing next to her. Theo quickly caught his attention. “They
are bound without magic.”

Again, the same look Theo had in the alley appeared on
Pellan’s face, one that was filled with both hope and sorrow. The emotion was
gone in the blink of an eye.

“Are you certain?”

The word no teetered on her lips, but there was no way
she was going to say that aloud. Judging by the standoff in front of her, the safety
behind those doors could only be reached if she’d kept her mouth closed. So,
she did.

“Come in,” Pellan lifted his arm, motioning them inside.
“Your father is also here.”

A tightness she hadn’t realized she was holding loosened
her shoulder blades a few inches. Her father was safe.

“Thank-you.”

Inside was like being transported to a new world. It was
like walking into someone’s comfortable house instead of a dirty underground
bunker.

“Sorry about the whole arm thing,” Carissa apologized again, walking closer to her than to Garrick. She caught her staring at the hominess around her. “It’s our hideaway. Some of us have safe houses in the city like Marnie, but it’s safer for our kind in here. It’s an entire building, you know. The front doors are locked tight at sunset. So, we came in through the basement.”

“Carissa,” Theo warned. Apparently, she was telling them
too much.

Carissa shrugged uncaringly. “Don’t worry about my
brother,” she whispered. “He thinks because he’s older than me by a century, he
can boss me around.”

Well technically, that would qualify anyone to boss
people around. After living a century, he’d deserved the right to.

“Mages live for so long?” Garrick asked.

“Those with the strongest magic,” she nodded. “Sorry
about the whole thing back there. We don’t come by many vampires.”

“I harbor no ill.”

“Good,” she sighed in relief. “We haven’t seen a bound
pair in a long time.”

“But we aren’t…” her lips scrunched to the side,
trailing off. Wow, this was getting ridiculously awkward again. Heat rose
inside of her chest.

“Together?” Carissa finished. “Well, your magic thinks
so. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have reacted the way it did.”

Chem did call her a ticking timebomb. It could have been
that. She avoided the heat of Garrick’s gaze on the side of her face and the
tingle that settled between them as soon as her magic broke free from its
confines.

Pellan guided them to a sitting room. Her father sat in
a corner; hands folded in his lap as he stared at the floor.

“Dad?”

“Kay-Kay!” He rushed her and pulled her into an embrace
similar to the one Pellan gave Theo. He kissed the top of her head. “You’re
okay.”

“I am.”

“Now that you’ve seen her…” Pellan said as if they’d
been having an extensive conversation before she appeared at their door.

“Kayla,” he grabbed her hands. Already, she could feel
her palms growing hot again. “I’ve told them about the Rogue—about us being
hunted. They’ve offered us asylum for the time being but they have to take you
two to isolation for the next day or two until your magic settles.”

“I’m sorry, what?” She asked. “They’re taking me to
jail?”

“Not jail,” he clarified. “As a precaution, while we can
get your magic sorted, they want to keep you from hurting anyone. Right now, your
magic is just too powerful.”

“It’s fine.” Although, as she said the words, she could
visibly see her magic move down Garrick’s body and slither back to her own. As
soon as it hit her hands, her palms grew ferociously hotter.

“It’s happening again,” her father tried to pull her
attention away. “You have to be calm. If you control your emotions, you’ll
control it. Remember, like I taught you.”

“Donovan,” Pellan’s urgent voice broke through their
conversation.

She looked at the menagerie of faces in the room. Of
which, only two she could trust. Garrick gave her a short nod.

“Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll go.”

Pellan guided them down a narrow hallway filled with
art, but no doors, except one. At the very end of the hallway, a skinny carved
door sat in lonely isolation.

“You two will stay here for the night.”

“Oh… um… Like, in the same room?”

“Yes,” Pellan pushed up the red skull cap that had
fallen onto his face then scratched the back of his neck. “We don’t have many
rooms that can contain supernaturals like this one. If your magic gets out of
control, the walls will absorb it.”

“What if he gets hurt?”

Pellan shrugged as if to say ‘what’s the big deal,’ but
to ease her he said, “Your magic will protect him. Not hurt him.”

Pellan didn’t know her magic very well. It was never a
saving grace. It had practically burned down one of the oldest institutions in
the city. Hardly a protector of anything. More like a destroyer. None of this
she told to him before he left them to their own devices.

Their room consisted of a single bed because of course, it did. She wondered if her father knew they were shoving her inside of a room with only one bed to share with an insanely hot vampire. Probably not or he would have likely braved the rogue instead. A heavy thud at the door made her jump.

“Whoa, are you okay?”

Garrick leaned heavily against the door, sliding down it
in one motion. In an instant, her magic was back to him again, snaking around
his body, looking for what ailed him.

“I’ve gone too long without blood and rest.”

“Is that why you’re not healing?” She asked, touching
his arm. He hissed, but not in the way that told her to back off him, the kind
that told her she’d hurt him. She loosened her hold.

“It’s a lot slower, yes.”

“So, you need to drink?”

“I won’t ask it of you. I only need rest.”

He tried to hoist himself up but only succeeded in
shifting his weight to one side. It was as if his body gave out on him as soon
as he deemed them safe enough.

“Hey,” she tapped his shoulder when he closed his eyes.
“Come on, drink. It’s the least I could do as a thank-you.”

He shook his head, moving it away from her hand.

“Stop being so stubborn, drink.”

“Cha! Don’t tell me what to do, woman.”

“Then don’t act like a child, man,” she shot back
boldly. “Besides, you’re blocking our only means of escape.”

His head perked up at that. He checked for another exit.
Not even an egress window was at their disposal. They’d better hope she didn’t
burn the room down with them in it because they’d never escape.

“See? So, you have to drink so you can move from the
door.”

Garrick blinked. She wasn’t sure how exactly vampires fed but guessed relied on what she’d seen in movies as her springboard. He’d bit her in the car, as far as she could tell he only needed exposed flesh to ignite his fangs. She straddled his lap to give him better access to her neck. This close to him, her heart started to pick up the pace. He was solid underneath her, the ripped body she’d glimpsed earlier felt even more wonderful than it looked. She may have copped a feel when she got into place.

His nostrils flared as he inhaled her scent. “Kayla.”

The reverence in the way he said her name made her
stomach do a tiny summersault.

Garrick’s sharp brown eyes seemed to debate her presence on his lap, but she was too entranced with studying the color. They were the most dazzling coffee-colored eyes she’d ever seen. Pure brown with flecks of gold shimmering underneath making them shine.

His hands hooking onto her hips, settling her down in a
more comfortable position.

“Am I too heavy?”

“Cha, no,” he snorted. For a second, she thought he
might kiss her. By the foremages, she wanted him to. Under his full pink lips,
a peek of fangs flashed from under his top lip. That had to be the sexiest
thing she’d ever seen.

He was only going to feed from her, she reminded
herself, not kiss her. With a deep breath, she moved her hair to one side and
offered her neck to him.

“Go ahead.”

“Are you certain?”

She nodded. Her heart hammered inside her ribcage.

“It won’t hurt,” he assured her. She wasn’t afraid of
that part. She wasn’t afraid at all. More like anxious and a little excited.
Probably from the heavy doses of adrenaline she’d been exposed to in such a
short amount of time. She should be running and screaming, but as her magic
glided up around them, she felt like his lap was the only place she wanted to
be.

The heat of his breath was pillow-soft against her neck as he inhaled her for the second time. His lips were just as soft, but his fangs were freaking sharp.

“Ouch,” she tensed when he bit down. Her nails dug into
his shoulders in an attempt to weather the pressure. He tried to pull back but
she encouraged him on. “I’m fine, keep going.”

The pain was brief, like being stuck with a needle, then
a rush of endorphins surged through her. She’d never taken drugs before, but
she had to imagine this is what it felt like. Her thoughts faded into the
sensation of his lips against her throat. Fuck, that felt incredible.

The pleasure made her grip at him differently, her hips started to move on their own against him.

His fingers squeezed at her hipbones and pulled her
closer, all the while keeping his fangs in her throat.

“Are you… drinking?” her words came out in a breathy
moan she couldn’t stop.

In response, he slowly sucked at her throat. By the
foremages that felt even better. Her hands grabbed at any available space on
his body, then settled in his hair and pressed him further against her. Her
eyes rolled at how good that freaking felt.

Forget about trying to keep herself composed.

When he sucked again, her toes curled, her body bucked
and she moaned again. A low tingle built at the base of her stomach, ready to
burst if he did that again.

It was as if Garrick sensed her on the edge because his lips moved against her throat and as if he’d been working her clit between his lips, she shattered. Her entire body let loose, clutching at his hair as the most exquisite orgasm ripped through her.

“Holy shit,” she breathed, trying to catch her breath.
That had to be the first time she’d had an orgasm with all her clothes on. Next
one she wanted to have with her clothes off. “Does it always… feel… like that?”

“It can, yes.” Garrick licked the side of her neck, then
kissed her where his bite marked her flesh. His fangs nipped at the side of her
throat. Another spike of pleasure tore through her insides, shooting through to
her throbbing core.

Then, he kissed her again, up her neck to her jawline, then to her mouth. His lips were incredibly soft, but freak, were they perfect. She swirled her tongue in his mouth.

A headiness fell over the room. Her magic intertwined around them. The swirl of purple gave then an iridescent glow to the both of them, bouncing off his cheekbones and across his eyes. Foremages, he was beautiful.

He pushed her onto her back in a move she didn’t see
coming. One moment she was on him, the next she was flat on her back with him crawling
up her body with a playful lust-filled smirk. Over her, he pursued her mouth
like it was his last meal.

He moaned when she tugged at his shirt and raked her
nails across his skin. While he took care of his shirt, she worked his pants, ripping
through the button, and sliding the zipper down with ease.

She glanced over to the bed. Catching her drift, he
hoisted her onto her feet, never breaking contact with his mouth.

In a whoosh, her back was flat against the softest mattress
she’d ever laid on. Good luck getting her to ever want to get out of it again.
Especially with him on top of her.

Then suddenly, cool air rushed across her as Garrick was
on his feet and facing the door.

After a double knock, Carissa opened the door.

“I have din—” she stopped as soon as she was inside of
her room, a tray rattling in her hands as she nearly dropped it.

Just as she recovered, her magic rushed from between them,
pushed Carissa back into the hallway and slammed the door.

Wow, even my magic is a horndog.

She hopped off the bed. Garrick was already redressing
himself and putting distance between them. He tossed her an apologetic look as she
went over to the door.

She fished for a knob that didn’t exist. So, she talked through the door. Hopefully, the poor girl hadn’t bolted.

“Hey, Carissa. I’m sorry, you can come in. I… We weren’t…”
She trailed off. It was pretty clear what they were getting ready to get up to.
There was no use denying it now. “We’re done,” she amended.

With careful hesitation, the door to their room opened
again.

“I’m supposed to bring you dinner. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Carissa pushed the tray into her stomach and stepped back into the hallway like
she’d threatened her with a fireball. “And uh…” Her lips curled to the side of her
face, several thoughts darted across her eyes like she was holding in a message,
debating whether to tell her or not.

“Is something wrong?”

Carissa fidgeted and stared at the bottom of the doorjamb. “It’s probably not good to overextend your magic right now.”

A blush skyrocketed to her cheeks. It was completely stupid
to be getting it on with a vampire in the mage basement. That would be the
definition of playing with fire.

“Got it, we’ll probably settle in for the night,” she agreed.

Carissa flushed and turned on her heel, not meeting her
gaze. “Um… goodnight. I’ll get the tray in the morning.”

“Okay, goodnight,” she called after her but she was
already gone.

Garrick squeezed past her through the door, watching Carissa
twist into another hallway. Then, he followed behind her.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“Leaving.”

“Leaving? You can’t leave.”

“The door is open. This is the best to escape.” When her
eyes flickered to his wounds, he said. “My body is on the mend. Your magic is
in hand.”

Her magic was not in hand. They’d only just discovered
her magic protected him and was semi-controlled with him around. He couldn’t
leave now.

“Escape? Why would we want to do that?”

He shook his head. He didn’t mean us. “I am a vampire inside of a mage compound. They’ll kill me as soon as they get their chance. You are safe with your kind here, I must get back to mine.”

“What if my magic goes crazy again?”

He looked around as if he could see through the walls. “They
will help you control your magic.”

It felt like she’d taken a slap to the face. Five
seconds ago, he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. Now, he seemed like
touching her was the last thing he wanted to do.

Was she so freaking bad at kissing him that he wanted to
put as much distance between them as humanly possible? She unconsciously
touched her lips, replaying the last few minutes. No, the hardness in his pants
assured her she definitely wasn’t bad. He was being a colossal jerk. A stupid
colossal jerk if he thought he was going to get through a horde of the most powerful
mages in the city.

“How are you going to get past everyone?” She narrowed
her eyes watching him comb the hall.

“The mage spoke of the front door. I will make it there, slip out unnoticed. I have been trained to be undetected.”

“What about the shifters? What happens if you make it
outside?”

Garrick shrugged, subtly straightening the dagger in his
pocket but otherwise had no answers. He was going to wing it and hope for the
best. He traced Carissa’s footsteps down the hall and turned a corner.

“Your plan is dumb,” she called at his back.

Foremages, he was going to get himself killed. Her father had taken great lengths to keep her safe her entire life. She was not oblivious to the kind of power mages possessed and stupid face Garrick was walking headfirst into a den of them.

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Author’s Note: My Sundays have turned out to be Monday’s recently. I received some not so good news this weekend. My dad has tested positive for COVID-19. I haven’t seen him since I moved out to Arizona. He says it feels like he’s got a really bad cold, and even though he puts on a brave face, I think he’s worried. Truthfully, so am I. I keep thinking to myself, he’s older, but he’s in good health otherwise. When people get it, most get well. I’m praying he’s in that camp.

Otherwise, how are you all doing? I hope you’re well and keeping safe!

If you want to be alerted when I post a new chapter and access to all the behind the scenes goodness, make sure to sign up here: Vampire Love Serial Alert

Published: March 23, 2020

12

KAYLA

Kayla dry-heaved when her father set them down. Yet the
invisible force of Marnie’s magic tightened around her stomach, making it impossible
to bend over.

“Let me out of thi—” Garrick began, but was cut off. Marnie’s
magic split from around his arms and traveled up his neck and over his mouth
rendering him unable to speak. He thrashed against his restraints. Each time,
his binds cut deeper into her.

“Stop,” a pained yowl retched from her throat. She clenched
her jaw as the sides of her stomach caved in under the weight of the red magic
constricting around Garrick. Their eyes connected and he froze.

“What’s wrong with you, young one?” Marnie pulled a cigarette from the pocket of her caftan and lifted it to her lips.

“You’re hurting me,” she said through gasps.

Instantly, her father was at her side, then stared back
at Marnie with befuddlement plastered on his brow.

“It’s probably your magic coming back,” he rubbed at her
back. “It’ll settle down soon.”

“No. Her magic is hurting me.”

“I am not touching you,” Marnie barked, then moved to
the front of the alley and craned her head west. “Come on, our opening is clear.”

Neither Marnie nor her father waited for her to explain
that when Marnie’s magic constricted around Garrick did the same to her.
Garrick understood, his gaze softened and he stopped fighting it. The pain
settled.

The red magic constricting around Garrick reconfigured
itself, sliding around his arms, then individually around his legs, forcing them
both forward in awkward steps behind Marnie and her dad.

As with the night before, the entire city street was cleared of people or cars. Her palms began to sweat as they were forced to follow behind Marnie and her father. Normies didn’t like the feel of magic and based on the radius they’d unconsciously formed by their cars, there was a heck of a lot of mage power in the vicinity. All centered around Sun City’s last remaining gothic-style cathedral in the heart of downtown.

Tall spires shot up into the sky, dark stained-glass windows peppered the stoned grey facade. The cathedral was foreboding, but she tried to keep her thoughts positive. Deep down Marnie was only trying to help, even if she was mistaken about Garrick.

At the entrance, the magic loosened Garrick’s legs but
kept his hands bound and his voice muted. Before she could knock, heavy mahogany
doors five times her height swung open on their own.

There was no one there to greet them, and despite the creepy
feeling crawling up her neck even though there wasn’t all that much wrong with
it. The church was pretty standard as far as churches go. Gleaming pews, fresh
carpet leading them to the altar, soaring ceilings, stone archways cornering
different sections together, stained glass windows letting colorful sprinkles
of light through the nave.

Yet something about it made her bristle. Her father seemed
at ease as he waited for an opening to large enough to step through.

Just the same, Marnie took several sure strides inside,
her heels clicking on the stone as they walked past several pews before she
turned around to stare at Garrick.

Her father grabbed her suddenly and moved her beside Marnie like they were clearing a blast radius.

Garrick’s eyes darkened then darted around the hall, sneering
in distrust as pulled at his binds. Her wrists felt like they were on fire. He
must have seen the pain flicker in her eyes because he stilled and stared at
them at the threshold.

“Are you coming, vampire?” Marnie asked when their eyes
met.

He didn’t move.

Marnie raised her hand and forced him forward. With each
step her heart pounded, watching the gleam in Marnie’s eyes spark as she
watched Garrick like she was waiting for him to explode on them. Her father pulled
her tighter, shielding her from the entrance. Garrick was forced forward into
the body of the cathedral.

She flinched, but nothing happened.

Just like at her house, Garrick crossed the threshold into
the church without incident. Marnie’s jaw set, but there was no mistaking the
fear in her eyes. Apparently, he’d passed another test he shouldn’t have. Her
worried glanced scoured him before a mask of confidence covered her face and
she settled.

“They are waiting for us,” Marnie turned on her heel and
focused her attention on the group sitting at the altar.

“Are you alright?” She asked Garrick. He nodded but didn’t fidget like she did. She plucked at the hem of her shirt, then found her pockets and shoved her hands in them for something to do. Garrick, on the other hand, seemed perfectly at ease with being taken prisoner to a council of mages that probably wanted to kill him.

Silly her. Here she was petrified, and he calmly looked
at the exits and fiddled with the magic binding his hands together.

“Marina Brasili,” A teenager in a red skull cap, faded
black t-shirt and loose jeans stood at the altar, watching them approach.

“Pellan,” Marnie bowed deeply to the teenager at the altar.

“Why have you called a council gathering so late?” Pellan
looked like he’d been skipping JV soccer practice to make this meeting.

“That’s the council?” she whispered.

Her father shushed her, the harsh sound bouncing off of
the tall archways as they walked the carpeted aisle.

The Council of Elders was not exactly what Kayla expected. Old men in long white robes came to mind, the group in front of her did not. The ragtag band of misfits loitering at the altar looked like they’d spent their days in a skateboard park before heading to their parent’s house for a jam session in their basement, not deciding the fate of mage-kind in Sun City.

 “I’m sorry to
seek council so late,” Marnie rose. “But it’s an important matter that can’t be
delayed.”

The teen stood straighter, and pulled at his graphic tee before his gaze zoned in onto the vampire beside her.

“How did you bring a vampire in here?” His eyes hardened.
The rest of his rag-tag crew stood and like what Marnie had done when she’d
thought she’d been threatened, they pulled their magic to her palms.

“It’s not what you think,” Kayla was the first to Garrick’s
defense, stepping in front of him. Their magic grew at the gesture, swirling in
larger circles around their hands.

“And who might you be?”

“She’s my daughter,” her dad announced, then stepped forward
with a shaky voice. “We come to seek asylum.”

The group behind them shared glances at one another.

“You harbor a vampire, yet you seek our help?”

“We can explain,” Marnie stepped in, holding an arm out in
an attempt to keep them from talking. It was clear from the soured looks in
front of them, their current strategy was failing. “I think they’ve found a way
around the blood oath.”

“Speak quickly,” a boy with sandy hair and an alert expression
shot Marnie an annoyed look. She bowed her head as if trying to skirt his scornful
gaze.

“One of our own is in need. For decades he has evaded a threat greater than any we’ve ever seen. We’ve come to seek your counsel on this matter—”

“Whose magic allows him entrance here?” He cut her off, mistrust
blanketing his face, the swirl of his magic grew. “Or are you claiming this
vampire is a mage?”

“Theo,” Marnie’s voice tipped onto impatient before she respectfully
nodded and continued in a softer tone. “As I’m trying to explain. He claims he
was born with the gift to walk into the sun.”

The council erupted before Pellan’s sharp gaze bore into
Garrick. “Bring him forward.”

The magic around them forced them both forward. Pellan eyed
her curiously but kept his focus on Garrick. “What say you, vampire?”

Apparently, Garrick was taken off mute. “I am under no
spell. I seek to be let loose of these binds so I can return home.”

Pellan bit the inside of his cheek.

“He’s a vampire, who helped free me from being sold,”
she piped in.

“Quiet,” her father ordered her in a hushed tone. Again,
the sound bounced off the walls.

“Where do you live, vampire?”

“I am called Garrick. Servant—”

“I don’t care what you’re called,” Pellan yelled. “I
want to know why you’re here.”

“I was brought here by Kayla’s father.”

“Are there more of you?”

Garrick didn’t answer. “Let him free,” he told Marnie.

His binds loosened.

“Do you know who we are, vampire?”

Garrick remained silent but checked for the exits. He was going to flee the first chance he got. Her heart became heavy.

“You will tell me the truth or I will force it out of you.”

Pellan waited for only half a second before Garrick was
at his knees. Then, a pain, sharp like the tip of a knife shot through her
temple. The world went black for a second before.

“Stop,” she screamed. “You’re hurting us.”

Pellan only eased briefly. Instead of a searing knife,
it dulled like someone was trying to the blunt end of a hammer through her
temple.

“So, you do have magic, vampire,” Pellan’s boyish faced set
with deep lines as wicked grin encroached onto his cheeks.

“I am no mage.”

“No, you are not. She’s bound herself to him.” The look
of disgust on his face made her cower.

“My daughter’s magic is gone.”

“It is clearly not. Her magic is inside of him. Is this how he can walk in the day without burning under the sun? Answer me, girl.”

“No. I don’t know. I don’t have magic anymore.” As she
said it, it felt like her world emptied out.

“We will soon find out,” he motioned to the sandy haired
kid from behind him. “Unbind them, Theo.”

Both Marnie and her father’s bodies skited across
several pews before being forced to sit.

“She’s not bound to him,” her father urged. “You don’t
have to do this.”

Before Kayla could blink, a shot of green mist burst in
their direction. She tried to back away, but her feet were stuck to the carpet.

“What are you doing?” she asked as fright made her gut
summersault.

The mist blew into Garrick’s face, then wrapped around his
body, but didn’t do much else. It dissipated into his skin like lotion.

Well, that was a non-starter. Just as the thought left her mind, her feet became warm inside of her shoes. Then, it traveled up her calves, then up to her chest where it burst into every corner of her body like someone had turned up the temperature. The heat grew too uncomfortable then crossed over into unbearable. Fire burned across her body, searing her into place.

“Dad,” her voice wavered.

Tugging at her t-shirt, she forced it over her head
uncaring she was stripping in front of a crowd. She tried to wave her shirt
like a fan in front of her face.

 “She has no
magic. This will kill her,” her father fought against his own set of invisible
binds. “We came here for help.”

The heat grew worse. It felt like they’d thrown her into
a furnace.

“Stop this!” Her father urged. She gasped for breath, but
the fire scorched her lungs, burning them until it was too hard to talk.

It was Garrick who fared worse. He’d been on his knees,
clutching at his chest. When he looked at her, his eyes pooled to black, his fangs
stretched into points, his face contorted into pain.

“Stop.” Tears felt like acid as they slid down her face.
“Leave him alone. We’re not bound. We’re not bound.”

She repeated it as more boiling tears leaked from her face
as she stared apologetically at Garrick. He’d only been trying to help her, now
they were burning them to death from the inside out. “I’m so sor-so—”

She couldn’t finish as a wave of pain split through her
skull then raced down her back. She screamed as it made her toes curl inside of
her shoes and forced her to the floor.

Then, something inside of her changed. It was almost unnoticeable
at first. The fire that had boiled her blood started to ease. Her entire body
started to cool like she’d been thrown into a freezer.

Her lungs returned to normal. She gulped down pockets of
air as soon as the heat in her body eased. Then she saw her own purple essence crawl
up her skin like an old friend pulling her into an embrace. Her magic was back.

Her father leaned back into his chair, visibly relieved,
but a groan to the side of her made her jerk her head.

Garrick, clutched at himself, his arms blackening like they
were roasting his flesh on a barbeque.

“What are you doing? We’re separated,” she breathed.

Pellan waved his hand like he was swatting a fly and her
body was forced upright and into the pew behind her knocking the wind out of her.

“Tell me, vampire, how did you get around the Blood Oath?”
he asked cocking his head to one side as he watched Garrick writhe on the
floor.

“He doesn’t know anything about—” A gust of wind circled
her head, then settled into her mouth.

“Tell me,” Pellan said to Garrick. The vampire warrior shot
Pellan a look that said over my dead body. Pellan frowned, the nodded to
Theo. His eyes lit like emeralds as he pushed his magic into Garrick.

He thrashed under the weight it. Just like she’d done when
the Syste pushed his magic into her. She couldn’t feel Garrick anymore, but she
knew exactly his pain. Blood trickled from his nose; his eyes rolled to the
back of his head.

She was forced to watch them torture him while the
magical essence healing her body from the inside had finished its work.

She stared at her hands. Tiny purple fissure-like veins traveled
the lines in her palm. There was no holding back her magic this time. Before,
she’d been on her tonic. Now, it was coming out of her in its rawest form uncontrollable
form.

Pellan’s binds against her shattered. Her magic forced
her onto her feet. Then a lightning bolt charged from her hand, shooting off
the high ceilings, then came crashing down onto Theo.

His reign over Garrick was finished. But her magic was
not. It was pooling out of her hands. Erupting like a steady stream of lava
onto the carpet at her feet, setting it on fire.

The council ducked, then a girl with red hair and deeply dimpled cheeks forced a current of mist across the floor to extinguish the blaze.

For a moment, it worked. Then like a phoenix, the ashes
burst then reset into worse flames. The fire whipped higher. Smoke filled the
air.

“Do something,” another member shouted.

“I can’t get to her,” Pellan tried to push his magic to
her but it rebounded.

She looked around. Fire was spurting everywhere, traveling up the carpeted aisles and onto the pews. This is what she’d been trying to prevent. If Theo had left her alone, none of this would have happened. As if she’d commanded it, a fireball formed in the flames in front of her, then hurled at Theo’s dazed body like a canon.

“No,” she pleaded with her hands, but the damage was
done. Theo was thrown back. Her terror-filled eyes found Garrick. His wounds
were already healing, but based on the destruction around them, they wouldn’t
be for long.

Another council member jumped from the altar, then
rushed her like she was on the fifty-yard line trying to score a touchdown.

In an instant, a circle of flames encased her and
Garrick creating a wall of protection around them. The fire spread.

“Kayla,” her father choked out somewhere beyond the
flame wall.

“Dad?”

“You have to get out of here.”

“I can’t stop it,” she said looking down at her hands
spewing hot lava magic all over the place.

He coughed again. With a wary glance, she tried one last time to get hold of her magic. She had to calm herself. Letting her emotions go haywire made her magic go haywire.

She tried to take in a deep breath, but calm was the
last thing she could be. Not with an entire council of mages out to get Garrick
for no reason. Not with a rogue vampire after her. Not when her magic was out of
control.

She found Garrick beside her. “I can’t do this.”

“Come on,” he grabbed hold of her wrist. A new sensation
shot through the terror. One she couldn’t allow herself to focus on, but with
him so close the tingles that erupted from his hands ricocheted through her.

Behind her, a window shattered. She jumped. Flames traveled
up the walls and jumped from pew to pew.

“Kayla,” Garrick fished for her attention. “We need to
go.”

She looked back. She couldn’t leave her father behind.
Bright white-hot flames pushed her backward.

“He’ll be fine. He can jump.”

She looked at him, then back through the flames and
nodded. Her father was a teleporter. He would be fine. She hoped.

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Published: March 22, 2020

11

KAYLA

“She sleeps too long,” a voice murmured above her head. “We
should wake her.”

Sleep? She hadn’t slept at all. Fitful unrest hardly qualified as real sleep. Throughout the night, she tossed and turned, but eventually, her body must have given out because she woke to shadows across her face.

“Back away from my daughter,” her father ordered.

“Donovan, he means well,” Marnie said, her voice soft.

Oh no, she dropped into a dream within a dream because none
of the conversation above her head made sense. Sure, her father not liking
Garrick was a given. Marnie siding with a vampire was not. Just the day before,
she treated him like he was the bringer of the apocalypse, now they were
practically pals.

Kayla blinked, her weary gaze clearing to three faces
above her head.

“You’re awake,” Garrick sounded relieved but she
couldn’t understand for the life of her why.

“Are you okay?” Her father scooted toward her from the corner
of her bed equally relieved.

“Yeah, why?”

“You’ve had fever all night,” Garrick sat on the cot
opposite her, worry contorted his face into a slight frown. Her father visibly
scowled at the side of his face, but he didn’t seem to notice.

As she sat up, the bed linens peeled from her skin. The
bed under her back was soaked through. Even the back of her neck near her
hairline was still sweaty. Vertigo made her rock forward slightly; nausea unsettled
her stomach.

“Are you alright?” Her father’s cold hand found hers.

“Your hands are cold,” she ripped her arm away at the
jolt of ice that went through her but her father was putting his hand to her forehead
before pressing them against cheeks then her neck.

“You’re still warm,” he frowned. “Marn, do we have anything.”

Marnie shook her head. “Her magic is the only thing that’ll
help.”

“I’m fine.” She lied pushing his hand away, fighting another
bout of nausea. “I just need some coffee.”

“How about water?” Her father asked reaching to the side
of the bed.

Her forehead wrinkled as she stared at the room’s latest
accessory, then at others. The bunker they’d been in had been redecorated. But
that couldn’t have been true with the sheer amount of muscle and energy it would
have taken to get their medieval panic room into fighting shape.

“Did you move me?” She asked grabbing the glass of water
her father thrust in her direction.

He and Marnie shared a look.

“No,” her father said.

“Looks like different,” she tossed a glance between them.

“What do you see?” Marnie asked wrapping her arms around
her body.

Kayla stole another glance at the room, then carefully described it. Wallpaper stretched across what was previously concrete slabbed walls. Fresh flowers adorned several bedside tables. A small stool was put at the foot of her bed replacing the stack of blankets that had been there the night before. She checked the opposite end to see the antique wood-burning stove still in the same place, only it looked restored from its rusted dilapidated origins.

More relief penetrated her father’s eyes. “Many thanks
to the foremages. Your magic is returning.”

Her back went straight. Her previous nausea became worse.
Alarm blurred her vision. That couldn’t be true. Her magic couldn’t come back.
Not now.

Immediately, she opened her palms. When clean skin met
her gaze, she relaxed. At least they weren’t up to their usual plot for destruction.
For how long she wasn’t sure.

Her father noticed her lack of enthusiasm.

“This is a good thing,” he smiled. “Your fever is your
magic representing itself. It’s mending. You used to get fevers often when you
were little before your magic appeared.”

Yep, and she also set fire to the drapes, shot enough electricity from her fingertips to cause a street-wide blackout that lasted hours, and nearly melted her father’s car. This was not a cause to be relieved over.

She took another sip from her glass grateful the water
hadn’t heated to boiling yet. For now, her magic was in check. Soon, it wouldn’t
be. She had to figure out a way to get to a phone, profusely apologize to Chem,
and get more tonic. Otherwise, there was zero hope of her hands not becoming a
menace to society.

Maybe once they got themselves situated with the council
and they were allowed to lay low until…

Her thoughts stopped dead. Until what?

Her father said the rogue had been after them before she
was even born. And with the way even Marnie, who’d used her magic with ease,
was petrified of the thought of him, they couldn’t face him. How did one even
go after a rogue mage vampire hybrid? They didn’t. They ran and pretended not
to know he existed.

Maybe the council would destroy the rogue and help them
keep the life they had.

“What time do we go to the council?” Kayla asked.

“Immediately,” her father replied. “We were supposed to
go first thing this morning, but—”

“Wait, what time is it now?”

“Sunfall is nearing,” Garrick said, then clarified.

“Almost evening.” Her father groaned in annoyance that
he was talking to her and she had to wonder what transpired in the last twelve
hours that had her father completely annoyed with Garrick speaking in his presence.

“I’m sorry, what? How long have I been sleeping?”

“12 hours 9 minutes,” Garrick answered again. Her father sulked.

Did he just say twelve hours? As in half-a-day? She’d
barely needed to sleep more than six on a good night, four if she needed to
push herself to study for an exam.

“You should drink more water,” her father encouraged
before cutting his gaze over to Marnie and ground out, “I don’t see why he’s
still here.”

“He is the reason the other vampires haven’t come
tearing down my door looking for you,” she reminded.

Kayla’s gaze shot over to Garrick. “The other vampires?”

“Don’t worry about them. They can’t travel in the sun
anyhow.” Marnie said, but there was something in her tone that left out and
you won’t be staying long. Instead, she grabbed what looked like a pile of folded
clothing from the bottom of her stairs and tossed a batch to Garrick then to
her. “These should fit you two.”

In her hands lay a complete outfit that included underwear.
Before she had the chance to scrunch her face in disgust at the possibility of
wear­ing someone else’s unmentionables, purchase tags dan­gled from them.

“You bought these for us? Thank you.” She unfolded the black
tank top and cutoff jeans.

Then, she looked down at her father. He’d already been
dressed in different clothes than what he’d had on the night before.

“Alright, enough hovering,” Marnie said to the two men. “Breakfast
will be ready for you when you come upstairs. Vampire, you can stay down here,
since my house is full of windows. I don’t have any blood to give so I hope you’ll
be fine without it.”

Garrick nodded. “I have no need of blood at present. But
I do wish to join you upstairs.”

“I don’t draw the shades in my house.”

“As you wish,” Garrick shrugged uncaringly.

“I think what Marnie means to say is that the sun is
out,” Kayla offered when it didn’t seem like Garrick got the hint.

“I am not like the vampires here. I will be fine.”

A sound that was a cross between a snort and a grunt
came from the back of Marnie’s throat as if to say okay, you stupid fool, but
she continued with a shrug, “Breakfast will be on the go. The Council doesn’t
like to be kept waiting.”

Kayla nodded and her father checked for her temperature
again. “Dad, I’m fine. Really.”

She forced his hand away from her face until he rose
from the corner of her bed. “I’ll meet you upstairs.”

“Yeah, sure,” she said, but her mouth had gone slack,
her gaze trained on the vampire behind him.

At that precise moment, Garrick decided to peel his shirt off causing his muscles to ripple and her breath to catch. He was definitely a warrior and built like one too. The vampire had abs for days. Even more mesmerizing was the intricate pattern of tattoos he had racing down his arms.

Unfortunately, her father followed her gaze to the very nude
chest of the vampire warrior behind him. A flush crept up her cheeks that she’d
been caught staring. Foremages, she was acting like a horndog in front of her dad.

“What the hell are you doing?” Her father sputtered.

 “I am switching clothes,”
Garrick said plainly.

Her father moved to block her view, but she leaned to the
side catching a glimpse of him behind her father unable to peel her eyes away.
All this time she thought Brian from ECON 301 was beautiful. Please, he was a
lanky stick bug compared to the ripped god in front of her. Their eyes met and his
fangs drew down.

Another flush went through her.

Her father whipped around and she quickly pretended to study
her fingernails. Her father’s face went blisteringly red, veins appeared in his
forehead as he turned back to the vampire behind her.

“You cannot change in front of her.”

“Is she not used to the sight of flesh?”

The air stilled and for a second, she could see her father
trying to answer that question for himself as he stared her down. She was his only
child and off to college for the first time. She’d never brought a boyfriend
home. Hell, she never even spoke of boys with him. Ever since he’d given her
that disastrous birds and bees speech, she vowed to never discuss that
side of her life with him again. So no, her father didn’t know she’d seen a few
boys in the flesh before even though none of them prepared her for the glory
that was Garrick.

So, she did the only thing that came to her mind. Shook
her head no. Her father turned back to Garrick with a glare.

“It’s common courtesy not to get naked in front of
people. Or does your kind not have any manners?”

Garrick’s nostrils flared and she popped off the bed
before this could get any worse.

“It’s okay. I’ll go upstairs and change.” Her heart
raced when they both looked at her. Redness coated her cheeks and disappeared into
her hairline. This couldn’t have been any more awkward if she’d tried. She didn’t
wait for anyone to respond, she bolted up Marnie’s stairs and into the sitting
room.

“You look like the devil’s after you,” Marnie said when
she entered the kitchen with a chuckle. “Those two have been at each other all
night. The vampire’s taken to you, wouldn’t move from your side all night.”

Really? Before she could ask for Marnie to explain, someone
was coming up the stairs a few rooms away. Her heart thumped hard. “Uh… Do you
have someplace I can change?”

Marnie showed her a two-piece bathroom she squeezed
inside before she had to face the waring pair again. There was just enough elbow
room to slide into her new digs. Surprisingly, everything fit like she’d gone
shopping with Marnie herself to pick them out.

She nearly jumped from her skin when she looked at herself in the mirror. Makeup smeared to death, hair in a jumble all over her head, she looked like a wild woman. Embarrassment flushed her cheeks again. To think, she’d been ogling Garrick looking like she’d just spent the night partying in the jungle. She washed what remained of her makeup off, taking great care to clean up around her eyes where her mascara made her look like a raccoon. Then turned to her hair.

For a preposterous minute, she wondered if fugitives
used combs while they were on the run. She decided on a finger comb and French braid
instead of asking Marnie for one. She’d already been kind enough to them as it
was.

Emerging from the bathroom and into the kitchen, she
felt fresh and a lot less embarrassed to be seen in the world.

“Ready?” she said to a frozen kitchen.

Marnie held a thick iron skillet in her hands, ready to
put fried eggs on a couple of pieces of toast for a breakfast sandwich, but didn’t
move when Garrick strolled into her kitchen.

“What in the hell?” Marnie’s jaw went slack.

Kayla stared at Garrick too. He was basking in the glow
of the sunlight, the afternoon rays bouncing off his face.

“Who allows you to walk in the sun, vampire?” Marnie
asked, looking ready to throw the pan of grease at Garrick.

“I walk on my own.”

“Whose power allows it?” Then her eyes cut to her. “Did
you do this?”

“What, me? No. I don’t even know how. I don’t even have
magic,” the words came rushing again. If she was ever going to get anyone to
believe anything she said, she was going to have to learn how to speak without
sounding guilty.

Marnie turned back the vampire monopolizing a fair bit
of space in her kitchen doorway. “Then, how are you in the sun? Vampires can’t
walk in the daylight.”

“I am not like the vampires here,” he shrugged. “I was born
able to walk in the sun.”

Both Marnie and her father choked.

Marnie gasped. “What do you mean, born?”

“To a mother and father. I’m sure the mechanics are similar
to humans.”

“Say that again?” Marnie’s voice pinched.

“My mother and father coupled and was able to produce me,
therefore I was born. Is that not how mages come to be?”

“But you’re all made,” Marnie pressed, trying to get Garrick to agree to her assumptions about vampires. Kayla glanced between the two of them, then her gaze settled on her father who’d risen a current of magic behind his back.

“Some of my kind can, yes.”

Marnie dropped the skillet on her table, marring the
delicate fabric print with the charred underside.

“How many of you are out there?”

“There is an entire—” Garrick stopped short of finishing,
detecting the climate in the air had changed. Marnie’s red magic raced up her
body and settled into her hands.

“I see that I have stayed on your favor too long,”
Garrick reached for a sandwich from the table and started to leave.

“And you eat?” Marnie asked.

He didn’t answer instead, he said, “May many rising suns
meet you well. I must be leaving.”

Garrick crossed the kitchen in three strides, but a
flash of red spread across the doorway blocking him in. “What are you doing, mage?”

“You’re not going anywhere, vampire. You’re coming with us to the council.”

Marnie’s magic slid from the bottom of the doorway and curled
up Garrick’s legs, binding him in place. A similar sensation, like a boa
constrictor slithering up her legs, coiled tightly around her knees. She looked
down at her sneakers. There was no magic to be found but her legs felt like
they’d been shackled into place alongside his. A knot formed in her throat.

“You will make me your prisoner although I have not
caused you harm.”

Garrick fought against the binds of Marnie’s magic, but
she held onto him firm. She squeezed tighter around him. The pressure of it dug
into her own legs. Her knees buckled. What was happening to her? It was as everything
Marnie did to Garrick also happened to her.

“What are you doing?” she sputtered clutching at her legs.
“Stop,” she looked up at her father. “Make her stop.”

“No, not until we determine whether he’s a threat.”

“Look at him, does he look like he’s threatening anyone?”
Kayla urged, trying to force her limbs free.

“If what he speaks is true, his very existence is a
threat,” Marnie replied and squeezed the magical binds tighter onto Garrick.
She squirmed in pain.

“I have already said, I am not here to cause you harm. I
am only passing through.”

“We’ll see about that. Donovan, take us to the council.”

For a second, they each paused in place as her father’s
magic wrapped around each of them then whisked them away.

Chapter 12 Coming March 23

Author’s Note: This is another dual chapter sort of week! I’m kinda stoked. I’m finalizing it today and it will be posted tomorrow along with the voting!

If you want to be alerted when I post a new chapter and access to all the behind the scenes goodness, make sure to sign up here: Vampire Love Serial Alert

Published: March 9, 2020

10

KAYLA

What was taking them so long? Minutes stretched into hours as Kayla stared at the exposed wooden planked ceiling of Marnie’s dark, damp, stone walled basement waiting for her and Garrick to return.

At first, the basement seemed to amplify what happened upstairs.
Their footsteps were like thunder when they’d walked above their heads. Now, while
they were in another part of the house, the room remained eerily silent.

It was a bad idea following her father down here.

Her stomach lurched.

Her father lit a lantern, then moved across the tight
space to light another.

He hadn’t said anything to her since pulling her into
the basement, but there were a ton of questions she still wanted to ask. But at
the moment, all she could think of was the fate of the vampire who followed
behind Marnie.

Her gut twisted.

He’ll be fine. She tried to calm the panic rising
in her chest. Her father said that as long as he stayed in the house, he would
remain safe. Garrick didn’t seem like the foolish type, so fretting over him was
only going to give her an ulcer.

Restlessness made her sit up on the cot she’d taken up
residence on and looked around now that it was lighter.

They hadn’t been Marnie’s first visitors. Several thin well-used
cots lined the walls, an old coal stove sat in the opposite corner, while a
pile of blankets was neatly folded in another.

It was clear this was some ancient no-tech version of a
panic room. Thick walls cordoned them off from the rest of the basement. The
home upstairs spanned much wider than the small rectangular box they were
currently in.

She should make herself useful. Popping off the bed and over to the stack of thin blankets kitty-cornered between two cots, she grabbed them and began dressing three beds. No matter how hard she tried to remain focused on tucking the linens, her mind raced.

She was still no closer to the truth than she had been
since she’d been taken. The more questions her father answered, the more she
had.

She glanced at her father after tucking in the last corner
of the bed she was probably going to sleep in for a long time. Then the
realization hit her: she wasn’t going to be sleeping in her own bed at school
two doors down from Breanne. A thick motion started to cake at the back of her
throat as the night’s events set in. A tiny sob left her throat.

“Is everything okay, Kay-Kay?” her father asked softly
using her childhood nickname. It was meant to be comforting, but it only made
her feel worse.

“Why is this happening?”

The question came out through choked sobs like her body was going to let loose an ugly cry. She could feel the tears coming but swallowed them down along with the lump in her throat. If she started crying now, she wouldn’t be able to stop. She plopped back on her bed and focused on her father.

He sighed, then flossed a hand through his salt and
pepper hair with a despair that matched her own. Yet, his despair was shrouded
in guilt. He sat on the cot directly opposite of her and interlaced his fingers
and seesawed them back and forth.

“I’m so sorry to put you through this. As a father…” he sighed again, suppressing his guilt. “It’s my fault we’re here. I tried everything I could to protect you.

“For a long time, I thought that was what’s best. The
less you knew, the safer you would be. I see now that that wasn’t the case.

“I’ve been on the run for a long time. Since long before
you were born. Since, well, since the day I met your mother. Do you remember
how we met?”

Kayla nodded. “During Carnevale di Venezia.”

He smiled softly. “Yes. On the night of the big masquerade
festival. She was wearing the most elaborate mask and underneath I could only
see her big beautiful green eyes and a smile that would light a thousand rooms.”

Kayla’s small smile skirted her lips at the fondness in her father’s face. He’d never talked about her like this her entire life. She sat on the cot facing him and wrapped her arms around her shins as he continued.

“That night was the most perfect night. As crazy as it
sounds, that was the night I fell in love with your mother. I knew she was the
one for me as we danced and kissed under the moonlight. I even asked to marry
her right there on the spot.

“Unfathomably, she agreed but wouldn’t without a ring.
She also told me a nearby shop sold costume jewelry and that a ring from there
would work for now until I could afford the real thing.

“In a rush, I darted to the shop and in the most broken Italian
I had in me, I asked the owner if I could purchase one of the rings. I told him
I’ve fallen in love with the most beautiful woman at the festival and she’d
marry me if I gave her one of his rings. He offered me one for free and a
blessing of good luck.

“With the ring in hand, I raced to be back by your mother’s side so I could propose, but when I returned, two men were forcing her away from the square. There were so many people and it was so loud; I don’t think anyone realized she was being taken.

“I did. When I saw them taking her into an alley, I ran
after her. What met me on the other end was not a foe I’d ever seen before.”

“The rogue?” she squeaked, pressing her chin into her knees.
Her father nodded, the fondness in his face had vanished. At the corner of his
eyes, fear was starting to emerge again.

“That is what we call him, yes.”

“Why?”

“Because he is both a mage and a vampire.”

She gasped. “That’s not possible, is it?”

“It shouldn’t be. It defies nature. According to the old
texts, if a mage becomes vampire, they lose their power. He somehow found a way
to keep his by becoming Syste.”

“H-how do you know?”

“I’ve seen it. By the time I reached the place he’d
taken your mother, there were more than half a dozen mages lying dead at his
feet. All of them with the signs of syphoning—dark protruding veins, ashen
skin, and eyes that seemed several shades paler than normal. But with him, he
ripped their throats out after he’d finished taking their magic. I could only guess
it was so they couldn’t take their magic back.

“Until then, I’d never seen a vampire Syste before. He wanted
to syphon from a mage, so I offered my magic instead of hers,” he raked a hand
through his hair again. “My plan was to get close enough to touch her and get
her out of there. I can travel much farther than most mages. All I needed was
to touch her hand, and I could take her far away from him. So, I offered myself
to him as a way to get closer to her. Once my fingertips grazed hers, I took
her and we vanished.

“Except, you can’t run from a Syste once they’ve tasted
your magic. It’s like a beacon to them. He was able to syphon from your mother
before we left and had been on the hunt for her ever since.

“When your mother died, he turned his hunt to me. By
then, I had you and you were the most important person in the world.

“He is the reason why you’ve been guarded so heavily
your entire life. I hid you in plain sight. Used shields and guards and a strict
routine to make sure he couldn’t get to you. Somehow, he’s found us again.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, but he has a grudge against me and
vampires hold grudges for a long time. I know he won’t stop until he’s retaliated.”

She gasped in horror, but her father was already reassuring
her. “He’ll never get to you. I promise.”

Her father stood up and crossed the room, if she had to guess
for something to do because he got to the stove, then turned back around and
crossed it again.

Her father offered her an apologetic look. “Tonight, has
been an ordeal already. We should get some sleep.”

Sleep was the last thing she was going to do, but the
footsteps above her head prevented her from pressing it further. They were back.
Everything brightened when she saw Garrick’s footfalls making their way down
the stairs after Marnie’s.

“You’re back,” she rushed over to him and threw her arms
around his neck in a hug before she realized what she was doing.

Garrick stiffened.

Mortification crept up her neck and settled on her face.
She was probably beet red.

This was more awkward than when she’d peed on herself
during her second-grade school trip coming home from the zoo and was forced to
sit in a pee puddle in the front of the bus two seats down from her crush.

Put your hands down, she ordered her limbs that didn’t
seem to want to move. Why couldn’t she let go of him?

“I’m sorry…” She murmured, but as soon as her arms
started working again, she forced them to her sides. She took a step back, but
he caught her hand and pulled her body flush against his.

He felt incredible as he buried his face in her neck and
drew her close in silence. He was strong, there was no doubt about that as his colossal
arms wrapped around her. She felt tiny in his arms. But there was something in
the way he held her close to him. Like he knew exactly the right kind of comfort
she needed.

Her father cleared his throat loudly from behind her. Both
of them seemed to catch themselves and bolted upright. This time when she stepped
away, he let her.

Her father glared his disapproval, but it was Marnie who
spoke. “Tonight, you can sleep here. Tomorrow, we seek the councils of the
elders.”

Again, more confusion tightened her eyebrows and it was
Marnie’s turn to look at her father with disapproval. “Have you told her nothing
of our ways?”

“I will tell her when it is time,” her father urged,
cupping a hand under Marnie’s elbow and leading her away.

It wasn’t very far. Their portion of the basement was
only so big. When he saw her staring he waved his hand at his side and their
whispers were silenced.

If only she could read lips.

There was a rogue out to get them, they were holed in a
safe house and now there was a council of elders.

Could her life get any more complicated? She looked at
the vampire beside her. Yes, apparently it could.

“You seem in need of rest,” Garrick said, drawing her
attention away from the pair conspiring in the corner. “I know your kind…” he
paused, then corrected himself. “Do mages require as much sleep as humans do?”

“We do, but right now I’m too tired to sleep.”

“Ah, bonlight.” At her questioning look, he explained.
“It is the name we use when someone is so tired, it feels like they have lightning
in their bones.”

“Yeah, I feel like I can sleep for a year, but at the
same time never sleep again.”

“It helps to count until the stars meet your eyes,” he
offered.

It must have been the vampire version of counting sheep. She stared at the cot she’d taken up as her own and laid on it. She was exhausted but was nowhere near close to wanting to fall asleep.

She looked at the vampire across from her. For the first time since he’d freed her from the airplane hangar, she really looked at him. She’d never met a vampire before but wondered if they were all just as handsome as he was.

He had conventional looks. Dark eyes, inset in a scarily symmetrical face, a strong jaw, perfect teeth, and swagger that she found completely fascinating. She’d seen soldiers move like him—precise and assured. He did call himself a legion. She’d only heard the term in reference to a group of soldiers from the Roman empire. Based on his physique alone, it wouldn’t have been far off to think so.

He sat on the cot opposite her and casually let an arm
rest on one bent knee. The position displayed his built thighs and hips to
perfection. They’d probably do wonders inside of a bed.

Foremages, why was she getting turned on by his hips in
the line of sight of her father?

“You’re not counting to bring the stars,” his brows danced in amusement as if he could read every word coming from her filthy mind.

“Not tired remember?” She looked over to her dad and
Marnie still huddled in the corner. She didn’t look pleased by whatever he was
telling her.

“The mage thinks you have a right to know the truth,”
Garrick explained seeing her tilt her head to look at the two of them.

“You can hear them?

“No. I can see the words on their lips.”

“Can they hear us?” She asked, but neither of them looked over so she had to guess that was a no. Interestingly, his little force field blocked sound from both sides.

“Doesn’t appear so,” he responded.

“Well, what are they saying?”

“They speak mostly of you. The mage is angry that your father
is withholding things from you.”

“What isn’t he telling me?”

“They did not say.”

Garrick had gone quiet and faced her, but Marnie and her
father were still talking.

“What else are they saying?”

Instead of answering, Marnie nodded toward her. They
instantly stopped talking. Her head whipped to face Garrick but the deed was
done. They’d caught her.

“Time to go to bed,” her father said. “After breakfast,
we’ll talk with the council.”

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