by Rhys Lawless
Vampire Heart
Blade & Dust, Book 3
Rhys Lawless
Vampire Heart, Blade & Dust Book 3
Copyright © 2019 by Rhys Lawless
Cover Design by Ethereal Designs
Editing by Victoria Milne and Alphabitz Editing
Proofreading by Alphabitz Editing
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
A Letter from Rhys
About the Author
Index
One
Wade
It was decided. I was useless as a witch.
Practice had been a disaster. Again. Even my fingers carried the brunt of my failure. Full of cuts and scratches. Those crystals were fucking rough. I’d never noticed it when I was addicted to them because they’d all turned to powder under my hands, but handling them as a witch? That shit was tough.
I hated leaving Caleb alone after everything that had happened a month ago. My heart couldn’t take the distance, and I felt incomplete without him. I wished I could tell which part of it was our mating bond and which part was just the love I felt for him, but at this point, it didn’t matter. It was all the same anyway.
The streets were dark, muddy, and full of shit. Kinda like my insides. But I had to get home. Caleb needed to prove to himself and Annabel that he could be a father again to Nora, and I needed some alone time to think.
Why was I not improving? Caleb and I had been at it for weeks, and I still couldn’t cast a spell to save my life, except for that time on the bridge when I healed Caleb. It was as if my natural power blocked all magic I came into contact with. All except for Caleb’s empathy. That could still get through, if I wanted it to.
What good was a witch if they couldn’t cast a spell? Had the gods cursed me? I’d spent years thinking my heart was cursed only to find out it was a lie. Wouldn’t it be a kick in the teeth if now it was true?
And now that I knew gods existed and they held power beyond my imagination, the thought kept circling in my head.
It was quite ironic how my life as a witch hunter reflected so much in my magic. I had killed magic when I was a blade, and now it was my natural power.
A dark shadow flickered from the corner of my eyes, and I turned to find out what it was. The street was empty. It was getting late and the weather had gone bitch-cold. Nothing was moving out here.
Maybe a bird had flown past? A stray fox?
If it was, why did the hairs at the back of my neck stand still and give me goosebumps?
Strange. I stood there watching the stillness around me, making sure there was nothing suspicious. Nothing moved. Nothing made a noise.
Maybe my mind was also going crazy. Wouldn’t that be a nice final touch?
I continued my way home. Only a block away and then I could take a nice hot shower and try to brush my failures off. Tomorrow was a new day. Again.
I was just turning towards my apartment building when I heard shuffling from the shrubs that decorated the path towards the front door.
I reached for the hilt resting on my belt. After so many years, it was instinct. I waited for something, anything, to come out of the wild privet hedge. Nothing did.
The lights at the front door flickered until they went out with a crackle.
What the hell was going on? If BLADE had still existed, I would have thought a hunter was after me. But the force had been disbanded. Ealistair had decimated the majority, and there was only a handful of us left in London. They’d all seen the light and they were free. Perhaps freer than the rest of us.
A sound came from behind me and I twisted around, detaching the hilt from the belt. The blade hissed as it extended and illuminated the night with its magical lacing.
My sword came down onto a blur, but it hit nothing. There was a thud on my back, and this time, it made me stumble. I took full advantage of the impact, and I did a butterfly twist, delivering an empty kick before I landed back on my feet.
There was no one there. How was that possible? I was being attacked. There was definitely someone there. Was it a witch with an invisibility power?
Again, a blur zoomed past me and sent me flying through the air and onto my ass.
Definitely not invisible. A super-speedy witch? I narrowed my eyes and tried to focus. If they were a witch, I’d have been able to feel their magic so I could block it. I might not have been able to cast any spells, as handy as they’d be right now, but my natural power? That, I had mastered. I think.
I let the air around me silence the rest of the world inside my head and my vision become blurry. It all took but a second. Traces of dark aura were everywhere around me. I wanted to push further so I could detect the owner, but I didn’t get a chance.
A black blob appeared in front of me and a pair of hands pushed me. Before I could even feel the full blow of the collision with my chest, I flew across the road, my sword slipping from my fingers, and I landed several feet away from the dark magic that had attacked me.
The shape cleared in front of me. The icy, pale face of a tall, lean man stared back at me with a quirked smile that sent chills all over my body.
Was this what I had looked like when I used to hunt and kill witches? Had I made them feel the way I felt now? Had my enjoyment of the hunt poured out of me like it was pouring out of this guy?
What was he? If he was a witch, his magic shouldn’t have affected me. And how could he not be a witch? That strength was supernatural.
A Nightcrawler! Of course. I had spent so many hours, days, weeks even, studying, learning about the supernatural world that no one had prepared me for. I should have known by now how to recognize them. If I couldn’t, it could come to my undoing.
Pale skin. Speed. Strength.
If I hadn’t been sure he was a vampire before, I became certain when he flashed me his ridiculously white and sharp fangs.
What the hell was a vampire doing around here, and why the fuck was he attacking me?
“You got my attention. What do you want?” I asked him.
There was a glimmer a few feet away from where my sword was lying, and I calculated how quickly I could get to it if he decided to attack me. Not much of a chance I’d make it, but I’d certainly die trying.
“I don’t want your attention, witch. I’m here to kill you.” The vampire growled and within an instant, he was climbing over me, his fists curling around my wrists, the weight of his lower half pressing down on my stomach. He opened his mouth and hissed to intimidate me.
“Dude, your breath stinks. What the hell have you been eating? I thought vampires couldn’t eat garlic?” I gagged.
“Shut up,” he said.
“You shut up. I told you. You reek.”
His hold loosened on my arms for a brief moment, but I could work with that. Brief moments were all we had when I’d been hunting witches. I twisted my hands so I could take hold of his and forced him off my stomach and onto his back, pinning him to the ground.
“That’s better,” I said.
He writhed under my grip, but I held on. I pressed him firmly to the ground for as long as I could, but he was stronger than me. Which was why I had to be quick about it.
When he finally overpowered me, he threw me off him. I was braced for impact before I even landed on the ground. The shine of my blade illuminated the side of my face. I reached out for the hilt just as the vampire landed on top of me with both legs.
I gasped. The air left my lungs and my grip weakened, but I held on to the sword. If I let it go, I was as good as dead.
Everything was spinning around me, and the strain on my body from where he had sucker-punched me made my ears tingle. Despite my obvious weakness against him, I swung my sword in his direction, but it missed. It did, however, get him off me, which worked for me.
I slashed in front of me to keep him at a distance, even though everything was still going round in circles.
It was strikingly obvious I was the weakest of the two, and I was fighting a losing battle. If Caleb had been here, he’d have killed the son of a bitch before he could land a blow.
A pair of hands tightened around my neck and pulled me along the ground with so much force and speed, the friction on my back made my skin burn.
When he stopped dragging me, he pressed my carotid so hard that my insides pounded, struggling for some air. It was nothing like when Caleb and I played. Caleb’s touch was firm but never overpowering. When Caleb choked me, it made me hard and raw with passion. Now, I was just a washed-up witch hunter who was finally getting what was coming to him.
And I was. I deserved everything that was happening to me. After all the witches I’d killed, everything Christian had made me do and things I’d chosen to do myself, this was exactly the ending I deserved. Tortured and painful.
But I didn’t care about my end. My thoughts kept coming back to Caleb.
Caleb.
My Caleb. The same Caleb that was linked to me. Could he feel my pain? Would he know what was happening to me? Would he feel my death? He had told me so many times that the loss of a mate was unbearable for familiars and witches. Would he feel the same for my death even though our bond was something completely different?
Or would he feel it ten times worse? Our bond was even more ancient than the familiar-witch bond. And on top of that, his empathy made him so much more attuned with the pain and grief of people. Would he survive without me?
I didn’t want my Caleb to suffer. He’d already done enough of that before he met me. Caleb deserved his happy-ever-after more than anyone.
The vampire’s grip finally got me, and my eyes felt heavy. This was it. This was how I was going to die. Well, at least I’d got the chance to love someone. I’d got the chance to love the best man I could ever have found. And he had loved me too.
Thump.
My body felt free. Shadows took over my vision, and I was ready. Ready to take my last breath.
Only it never came. Instead, the more I lay still, the more energized I felt. My lungs filled with oxygen and my vision cleared.
The black aura of the vampire was still there, but he was surrounded by the green aura of something, someone, I couldn’t quite see.
I pressed my elbow against the ground and sat up. My eyes were wet, but my vision was clearing. I tried to get a better look at who had come to my rescue.
It wasn’t Caleb. His aura was as magical as they came. His purple aura was something I was getting used to. So intoxicating and powerful. It made me lust after him even after having three rounds in bed or elsewhere.
At this point, I could have believed it was an angel. It was certainly more believable than who I saw when my vision finally cleared.
No. Someone was playing mind games with me. This wasn’t possible. She was a feeble old woman. How could she overpower a vampire?
Mrs. Weatherby, my elderly next-door neighbor, had the vampire in a headlock, and before I could call out to her to watch out, the aura of the vampire dissipated, and she dropped his limp body to the ground.
I approached her in slow, measured steps, and when I came within a few feet of her, I gulped. She was holding a heart in her hand. A beating, pulsing heart.
Mrs. Weatherby didn’t cast a glance at me. She simply squeezed her hand until blood spurted in all directions. I was about to tell her to stop, but the heart exploded into ashes before I could.
Both the blood and the vampire turned to ash, too, leaving no trace of what had happened here.
“Are you okay, dear boy?” She finally turned to me with a gentle smile.
Even though I could tell she was on my side, my hands shook, and my heart kept pounding in my chest. How could a sweet, innocent woman like her be so scary and intimidating at the same time?
“You’re a troll, aren’t you?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
“I beg your pardon?” Mrs. Weatherby said, raising her voice significantly.
“Uhm… I’m sorry,” I muttered.
Mrs. Weatherby laughed and waved her hand in front of me in a dismissive manner.
“I’m just messing with ya, darling. It took you long enough, but you finally got it,” she said.
To say I was confused would be the understatement of the day. I’d lived two doors down from a troll for the last five years and I’d had no idea. Had she known I was a witch hunter? Did she know I was a witch now?
“I bet you’ve got lots of questions. Why don’t we go upstairs, and I can make us a spot of tea?”
I almost laughed when she said it. What was it with trolls and their tea?
She let me into her flat, the first time I’d ever visited, and I could have sworn we’d traveled back in time. Everything about the house, from the furniture, to the decor, to the smell and the colors, said ancient and mystical. In a lot of ways, her humble, small apartment reminded me of Mother Red’s home. Trolls could live much longer than humans, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they knew each other.
“Take a seat, my boy. I’ll put the kettle on,” she said and pulled a creaky chair out for me.
I obeyed and sat down, and she got to work behind me. There were only a few inches of space between the kitchen counter and the table, so I felt every cupboard opening and every one of her movements all the way to my spine.
“Thank you for saving me, Mrs. Weatherby,” I said as she served me my cup.
“That was lucky of you to survive that long.” She sat down opposite me.
“I thought I was dead for a second there before you—”
“I wouldn’t have let him kill you no matter what, dear,” she replied. “I made a promise, and a troll’s promise is for life.”
Promise? What promise was she talking about?
“I’m sorry I kept my real identity from you for so long, but…you have to understand my position was difficult. You were so obsessed with witches and BLADE that I didn’t want to make things strange between us.” She continued as if I had a clue what she was talking about.
“What promise?” I asked her.
Taking a sip of the tea re-energized my body and alleviated the strain on my muscles.
“I had to keep a front, you see, otherwise I couldn’t keep my eye on you,” she said as if I’d never asked my question.
“Why would you keep an eye on me? Who sent you?”
Had her aura fooled me? Was she also sent by the enemy, whoever that was now, and I had fallen for her trick? If I couldn’t keep the vampire from hurting me, what chance did I stand with a troll?
“It was easier when you lived in your old house, see? The basement was so much more comfortable than this”—she waved her hand around the house—“skyscraping abomination.”
“What do you mean the basement? My old house?”
Things didn’t make sense. Unless she was senile and didn’t know what she was talking about, I couldn’t understand a single thing coming out of her mouth.
“I used to live in your basement, dear. It was the only way t
o keep an eye out for you and keep you safe,” she said with a wrinkly smile that was starting to make me feel uneasy.
“Why would you need to…” I huffed and slapped my hand on the table. The tea in my cup came splashing out of it, like a little herbal tsunami. “That’s an invasion of privacy. What gave you the right—”
“Oh, hush now, dear. You didn’t even notice I was there the entire time. And as for who gave me the right… It was your father. All right? ‘Watch out for my little boys,’ he said. And so, I have.”
My father?
My father had abandoned my mom as soon as Winston was old enough to walk and talk. He didn’t love us. Never could, so he’d left.
“What?” was all that managed to come out of my mouth.
“Wilder wanted to protect you. Your mother—she was suffering. Her mental health was unstable, see? She obsessed over your dad and his work. Obsessed with who and what he was. She was scared for you and what you’d become. That’s why she bound your hearts to Christian. Of course, she didn’t know that, and he took full advantage of her psychosis. That’s why he placed you in my care.”
My mouth dropped, processing the words of a stranger, who seemed more familiar with my personal history than I was.
“You probably don’t remember me, dear, what with all the mind manipulation you’ve been through, but I used to be your nanny. I raised you and Winston until your dad went on a mission, your mom had several breakdowns over the years, and then, in a moment of… madness, I guess, took your hearts away. After that, I stayed in the shadows. I did change my appearance as much as I could, though. I didn’t want you to suspect anything. And I’ve been keeping my eye on you and Winston since then. Although, I have to admit keeping an eye on your brother lately has been very scandalous. That boy can’t keep it in his pants even in public.”