A Little Blood Magic (Here Witchy Witchy Book 10)

by Kessler, A. L.

  Mario nodded and stepped further away, letting me walk into the crowd. I passed council members and said hi, exchanging pleasantries as I did. Staying with each person long enough to be polite.

  Each time my glass emptied, someone else brought me another one. As a witch, it was hard to get drunk, but it wasn’t impossible.

  Simon came up to me and kissed my cheek. “You’re flushed.”

  “The wine,” I admitted.

  “Step outside?” he asked.

  I was about to answer when a shrill laugh went through the room. I closed my eyes as the world seemed to spin. I hadn’t drunk enough for that, but something wasn’t right.

  “Hannah,” Levi’s voice came over the crowd, and my heart fell as everything went silent. “I don’t remember inviting you.”

  I stayed next to Simon, trying not to show that I was off-kilter. I wrapped my hand around the pentagram and cat charm I wore around my neck that kept me safe from her magic.

  Hannah walked through the crowd, and they parted for her as if they all were scared of her. I felt her magic reach out to me, but I didn’t fear it. Not tonight. I said the first thing that came to my mind.

  “You owe me a window for the Hummer.”

  Simon snorted but caught himself.

  I tried to stand tall, but I swayed. Something was very wrong, I felt pinpricks in my body, no my veins, in my stomach and my lungs.

  It felt familiar, but there was no name to the sensation.

  “Something wrong, Abigail?” She stopped just out of my reach. “You look pale.”

  “You’re not welcomed here.” I tried to find my diplomatic mind. I forced myself not to move as the world started to tilt.

  “We just wanted to come and wish you a happy birthday.” Hannah held her hand out, and Samuel appeared in front of me.

  He stood out in his crimson suit with white tie. Even the ribbon holding back his hair was red. He smiled at me, showing me just a hint of fang.

  My heart pounded as he held his hand out to me. “Just a dance.”

  The world stopped tilting, and I assumed it was because adrenaline pushed me through. I glanced at Levi, unsure of what to do. Levi nodded, though his face was completely blank.

  I put my hand in Samuel’s, his skin cold against the fire burning in my body. As soon as he twirled me, I realized why the feeling was so familiar.

  I was drugged again. Thrills was running through my body, and the reaction would worsen soon, and right now, Samuel was touching me.

  He put his hand on the small of my back as we began to waltz. I didn’t know the piece that was playing, but I hoped it was a short dance. With each step, the pain in my body became worse, and the world was starting to turn colors again.

  I kept my eyes down, attempting to not look at Samuel to see what the drugs transformed him into. I didn’t want to see a red cracking face or a monster. He would see it as a move of submission or fear, but that was okay right now. His time would come.

  The white tiles of the floor started to fall away, and I closed my eyes as Samuel guided me across the floor. The music ended, and he pulled me into a hug, nuzzling my neck.

  “You’re mine,” he whispered, and I felt fangs pierce my neck.

  The agony in me exploded at the bite, and I went to shove him away, but the drug had me weakened, and my body started to relax. I flashed back to Ira as Samuel pulled at my blood.

  “Enough.” Levi’s voice boomed over the room, and Samuel laughed, letting go of me.

  I stumbled away, trying to find my footing on a floor that seemed to be falling to pieces. I couldn’t look at Levi, I couldn’t look at anyone. Someone came to my side to steady me. I didn’t want to be touched, and I threw a circle up around me. Crashing to my knees, I poured everything I could into the circle.

  I looked up as my body shook, and I saw Samuel, the smug look in his eyes, and I knew what I needed to do.

  I refocused my magic and lashed out at the bastard. The last thing I saw before my world went black was him laughing.

  Hands held me down to the bed as I cried out. I couldn’t open my eyes. I couldn’t form a thought. But I couldn’t let him get me. I couldn’t let Samuel drink from me again.

  “Abigail.” Levi’s voice came through the chaos, but I didn’t want him there. He’d told me to dance with that monster.

  My blood was still on fire as I tried to fight against everyone holding me down. Samuel would come after me again if he wasn’t already in the room. I tried to force my eyes open, but they refused to listen.

  I cried out as pain moved through me again. This time my eyes did open, and the faces I saw were cracked with pieces were falling out. “Thrills.” I tried to reason with myself. “Thrills,” I said again and tried to force my breathing to level out. My body shook as it became cold. “Oh goddess,” I whispered as I tried to recognize the faces through the cracks and colors.

  “Help,” I screamed as everything changed again. I felt like I was freezing as the hands continued to hold me.

  “How the hell do we get her down from this high?” Levi snapped.

  Sleep. I need sleep, but chunks of skin were falling away from faces only to be replaced with strange swirling colors. Fear was flooding through me as pain started to flow through my neck. “He bit me,” I gasped. “Ira’s power.” I tried to sit up again, but no one seemed to be paying attention to my words.

  “Abigail.” Merick’s face came into view, but it was the sphynx face.

  I blinked at him and almost pressed myself further into the floor. “You’re a cat,” I whispered. “Do they know?”

  There was a short laugh from somewhere in the room. Merick smiled, and it looked really odd. “Drink this.” He pressed something against my lips as someone lifted my head.

  I was going to protest, but I had a feeling it was going to make me sleep. The warm liquid slid down my throat, almost burning my freezing body. Levi came to my side, his face coming back together.

  “Sleep, Abigail.” I could feel his power roll through me. I didn’t want to give in, but the drug made it impossible to resist.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  When I woke, the world was still spinning slightly. I was curled up against something incredibly warm and furry. I took a deep breath before I opened my eyes. My fingers were buried into the multicolor coat that made up the red-tinted fur of Simon’s wolf.

  I closed my eyes and snuggled into him more. The world wasn’t steady. I wasn’t steady, and the bite on my neck hurt like a bitch.

  At the thought of the bite, anger filled me. Levi. He’d told me to dance with Samuel. I felt like the whole thing had been a setup. I stood from the bed, stumbling slightly.

  I wasn’t in my dress anymore. I wore one of Simon’s shirts, and it covered me enough to yell at Levi. Simon moved, and his teeth caught the shirt, trying to tug me back to the bed. “No. I’m going to talk to Levi.”

  Simon’s yellow eyes narrowed at me.

  “I’ll leave my gun here. But I am pissed.” A shiver wracked my body hard enough that I almost fell to the ground. I was freezing. Simon got off the bed and nudged me back toward it.

  I sighed and climbed back into the bed and pulled the covers up on me. He laid on top of me like an oversized house dog. I scratched his ears and looked down at him.

  “That was the most terrifying experience of my life.” He looked up as if to say, ‘yeah, for me too.’

  I studied the strands of his hair as they moved through my fingers. Each strand seemed to have several different colors. “Levi let him bite me.”

  “I didn’t,” Levi said when he walked into the room. “I couldn’t move. He’d given me a silent command to stay.” He sat down on the bed and held his head down. “I’m sorry.”

  I frowned. “You never apologize to me.”

  “This was my fault. The moment that I even thought he’d plan something for the party, I should have canceled it, but I wanted you to feel welcomed into your new life, not shunned. And now we
both pay for it.”

  I shook my head. “There’s a cleansing spell for vampire bites. Oliver and Merick have performed it for me before, remember? As soon as I can walk a straight line, they will help me.”

  It was a painful spell, but I couldn’t let Samuel have any sort of control over me. “Ira got his ability from Samuel. What other abilities does Samuel have?”

  Levi glanced at Simon and then to me. “He’ll know where you are. He’s powerful, Abigail. He can enter your dreams. He can’t harm you, not like Hannah, but he can drive you insane if you let him.”

  “And he can flash me back to when he fed from me. Great. A drug-induced trip each time. The sooner I can clean it, the better.” I touched the side of my neck and cringed.

  Levi hung his head, and I could see the defeat in him. I touched his hand. “I’m okay.”

  “All the power I’ve accumulated, everything I’ve done, and he still has so much control.”

  I didn’t know how to comfort him. I’d never seen him this way before. He looked up, and his eyes were glowing red.

  “Levi… you need to feed,” I whispered.

  “Abigail, I’m fine.” He reached out to me, and his fingers had grown claws. No. I was hallucinating again.

  I swallowed, trying to control my fear. Simon put a paw on my chest as if trying to get me to lay down. “How much drug was there in the wine?”

  “That’s what we’re trying to figure out, and we’re working on who did it. Rest, and then we can discuss the details.”

  Merick and Oliver wouldn’t be able to perform the spell. There was no promise that I wouldn’t lash out with my magic again. “What happened when I tried to attack Samuel?”

  Levi chuckled. “He laughed at you, but then your magic hit him hard enough that he was shoved back, and you made him bleed.”

  “Oh good, I got him.” I snorted and closed my eyes. “Coffee?” I asked almost weakly as if Levi would deny me.

  “Rest, I’ll get you some coffee.”

  I nodded and tried to control the fear still flooding through me. At this point, if Samuel pulled on his power, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to tell the difference between that and the drugs.

  Simon laid his head on my shoulder, providing me both comfort and warmth while I waited for Levi to bring my coffee.

  At some point, I sank into that warmth and fell back to sleep.

  “Let her go back to work.” I heard Liz’s voice in my room. I reached for the warmth of Simon’s wolf, but it was gone.

  I sighed and pulled the covers closer to me.

  “She hasn’t recovered, and we don’t know if Samuel will use that bite against her.” This time it was Mario’s voice, not Levi’s like I was expecting.

  “We need to hunt down Adrianna before she takes any more vampires or humans with her.” This was Catalina’s voice, and I frowned. Why was there essentially a security meeting in my room?

  “Merick and I will accompany Abigail on the case for Adrianna.” Oliver’s voice this time.

  I opened my eyes to see them all standing by my bedside. “My room is not a meeting place.”

  “Levi didn’t want you alone, so we compromised and met in here.” Oliver shrugged. “Sorry to wake you.”

  I stared at him for a moment, waiting for his face to start turning into something else. I glanced at Catalina, and she was normal as well. Liz gave me a little wave as my eyes landed on her. “I’m okay now. I need some coffee and some pain killers because I’m sore, but I’m okay.”

  I sat up, cringing a little bit at the protest in my muscles and the hint of pain on my neck. “Catalina and Mario, you’re dismissed. Oliver, Liz, and I can take my safety from here.”

  “With all respect, Princess, Levi wants a vampire with you at night.” Catalina bowed her head. “So one of us has to stay.”

  I debated in my head for a moment on if it was worth arguing. “Mario can stay.” He already knew most of what was going on anyway. No matter what, the discussion would be reported back to Levi, but Mario had a soft spot for me. Catalina did not.

  She bowed her head. “I shall see you later then, Princess.” She disappeared, and I moved so there was room for others to sit on the bed.

  Mario grabbed the chair from my desk and sat next to the bed. Liz crawled up by me, and Oliver sat on the foot of the bed.

  “Where’s Simon?”

  “He just went to check on the pups. He’ll be back tomorrow,” Oliver said.

  I nodded. “What the hell happened at the party?”

  “Someone drugged the wine that was brought to you.” Liz sighed. “We’re working on figuring out who.”

  “How much did they give me?”

  “We don’t know,” Oliver stated. “Then, Samuel bit you.”

  “Yeah, I remember that part. We’re going to need a cleansing spell done tomorrow.” I glanced at him.

  “Merick is prepared to help me with it.”

  “Good. I want to get back on the Adrianna case.”

  Liz snorted. “Told you she’d want to go back to work.”

  “Abigail, you’ve been drugged twice, and Samuel has bitten you.”

  “Samuel can go fuck himself. He may control Levi, but he doesn’t control me.”

  “That vampire has no idea who he’s bitten.” Oliver chuckled.

  “That’s the problem, he probably knows exactly who he has bitten.” Mario crossed his arms. “He could taste the blood.”

  Reality settled in. Samuel knew that I was blood to Levi now. Just like Ira had. “One problem at a time,” I muttered. “Cleansing, then the case.”

  “You didn’t list Samuel.”

  “Yeah, because I’m still trying to figure out how to kill him and Hannah.” I glared at Mario. “Do not tell Levi that.”

  Mario shrugged. “I’m pretty sure Levi’s counting on you doing that. But he’s also worried.”

  “That Samuel will kill me?”

  “That Samuel will change you and use you against him,” Mario corrected.

  I shivered at that thought. “Much like he’s using Levi against me right now.”

  Mario nodded. “This is different than Ira, Abigail. Samuel isn’t after data or experiments. He’s out for revenge.”

  “Finish this case, Abigail,” Oliver added. “Then we’ll figure out what to do about Samuel.”

  I glanced at Liz, and she shrugged. “I’m all for gung ho. Kill him if he tries to take you out.”

  I snorted. “I’ll stab him in the heart, then make sure I…” I paused as memories of killing Ira filtered through my brain. There was so much fear in that moment.

  “Abigail?” Oliver asked.

  I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I could sense the fear in you,” Mario added.

  “I was thinking about when I faced Ira is all.” I pulled my pillow close to me. “I’m fine.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment. I shook my head. “Okay, everyone out. I’m going to get some coffee and some food, but first, I need a shower and to get dressed.”

  They all muttered and stood.

  “I’ll be outside your room, Princess. Yell if you need me.” Mario moved the chair back, and they all walked out.

  I took a moment to take a deep breath and went to get into the shower.

  I turned the shower on to let the water warm up, and I pulled Simon’s shirt off. Lifting my hair up, I looked at the bite mark and lifted my lips in disgust. It was bruised around the edges of it. The skin torn just slightly instead of nice neat holes.

  An image of Samuel popped into my head. If he didn’t hold my fate in his hands, I would have called him handsome. But he was terrifying.

  ‘Abigail…’

  His voice slipped through my head.

  I growled. “No. Go away.”

  Power brushed over my body, and I pulled my magic up to push away the power. It dissipated, and I let out a breath. I stepped into the shower and let the hot water wash over me.

>   Samuel wanted to play power games. I could play his game for a little bit. He didn’t know I had the cleansing spell. He didn’t know I had the Cult at my back. All he knew was that I was the daughter of Elizabeth and Levi. Oliver was right, Samuel didn’t know who he was dealing with.

  I walked out of my room to see Mario standing there like a good little guard. I smiled at him and headed to the kitchen.

  “I didn’t realize your fight with Ira was still bothering you.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not often, but occasionally the emotions sneak up on me. I emptied an entire clip into Ira’s head. He’s dead, but the damage he’s done isn’t gone.”

  “You should have said something to Levi.”

  “No, I shouldn’t have. This stays between us, Mario. Please.”

  He searched my face for a moment and then bowed his head. “As long as it does not become an issue.”

  ‘Abigail…’

  There was Samuel’s voice again with a brush of power. I swallowed and continued to the kitchen. Mario said nothing, so I assumed that he couldn’t feel the power.

  ‘Come to me, Abigail…’

  There was a strange pull in my body that made me stop in my tracks. Oh, hell no.

  “Abby?”

  I didn’t answer Mario as I called on my magic to try and push Samuel away.

  “Abby!” Liz ran out of the kitchen. “We have to go now. The girl disappeared.”

  That jerked me out of my focus. “What?”

  “The little girl, she disappeared. Come on.” She was already heading to the front door. I followed her and automatically started putting my boots on.

  “Do we know where she is?”

  “Yes, Mason put a tracker on her at my request.” She grabbed her jacket and then tossed me mine.

  “Abigail, you aren’t supposed to leave the mansion tonight.” Mario appeared in front of the door. “You shouldn’t be out with his bite still fresh.”