Witching Hour: Blood Magic Book 3

by L.H. Cosway

  “Do not worry for me. I’ve never felt better. Vampires have been queuing up down the street waiting to speak with me, to pledge their allegiance, but I haven’t opened my doors to any of them. They left at daybreak, and I went outside in the sun, something I have not been able to do in my entire life. The beauty …” he trailed off, emitting a long sigh. “It’s devastating. This is an unimaginable gift, Tegan. I can hardly describe it.” There was a pause as he took me in. “You look pale. I want you to take some of my blood. It will restore your strength.”

  My mouth watered at the prospect, but I shook my head. “I shouldn’t.”

  He moved across the bed with warp-like speed, hovering over me. The air thickened, and my breathing grew laboured as my eyes roamed his chiselled torso. He wore nothing but a pair of light denim jeans.

  “Your accent sounds thicker,” I commented to distract myself from his perfect body. “Why is that?”

  “I’ve changed the way I speak over the years to acclimate to the times I live in. Now that I am transformed, I no longer feel the need to disguise my true self.”

  “Oh.”

  “You once told me you couldn’t resist my Romanian accent,” he said in a low voice, bringing his hand up to run his knuckles along my jaw.

  “I can’t. It’s very, um, nice,” I replied as he leaned closer.

  “Where would you like to drink from this time?”

  “I really shouldn’t.”

  “Yes, you should. I took from you, and now I want to return the favour. Choose a spot, Tegan.”

  My eyes flickered to the masculine line of his throat. I really should try to resist, but I was too weak. I wanted the high too much. Besides, this could be the very last time. I’d go cold turkey after this. “Your neck,” I answered quietly, feeling a little shy.

  He smiled in approval. “Good choice.”

  My attention was drawn to the thumbnail of his right hand, which had grown to a sharp, blade-like point. “Is that one of the changes of your transformation?” I asked curiously.

  “Yes. I’ve been experimenting a little, and seemingly, this nail is the only thing that can cut through my skin.”

  My eyes widened at that.

  Using the nail, he sliced a thin line across the hollow of his neck. I could practically smell his blood as a trickle seeped out. It was no longer its usual colour; instead, it was now a silvery red. I licked my lips and brought my hands up to clasp his shoulders. He picked me up effortlessly and sat me astride his lap, fully naked.

  Moments later my lips were on his skin, and I was gulping down the sweet nectar that ran through his veins. I practically orgasmed just from the taste of it.

  Ethan groaned loudly, and his hands moved down my spine with delicious pressure. I continued sucking his blood into my mouth, my body coming alive with it. It slid down my throat like liquid magic, igniting everything it touched.

  I moaned softly, clutching him to me. He felt powerful, addictive, alive.

  Ethan slipped his hand between my legs, fingers plunging inside me. My sharp cry was muffled as I continued to drink.

  “You are exquisite,” he whispered to me. “You are my queen. Always.”

  His fingers pumped in and out of me fast, faster than I would have thought possible. The pleasure was too much, and I released his neck, falling back into the pillows and writhing against him. His eyes consumed me, taking in every part of me, my every reaction. With his other hand, he smeared his blood across my lips, and his eyes glittered at the sight.

  “Oh, God, come closer,” I mumbled, reaching for the waistband of his jeans.

  He did as I asked, allowing me to lower his pants. His erection sprang free, and he positioned himself at my entrance. Foreign words tumbled from his lips. I closed my eyes, letting their deep vibrations shimmer through me.

  Agonisingly slowly, he filled me. No ordinary man could tease me with such slowness, such attention to detail. He bent over me and sucked my nipple into his mouth, his tongue flicking over it in a fast, inhuman rhythm, like the wings of a butterfly.

  My head spun with his blood in me—not just regular vampire blood, which was quite the high, but true power vampire blood. Everything in my line of sight sparkled. Psychedelic colours washed away the room, the house, my corporeal form, until I became an entity solely made to be pleasured, to feel.

  What was it that the Epicureans used to say? Pleasure is the highest good?

  Well, if that was the case then I was being really, really good right now.

  Ethan fisted my hair with his hand, pulling my neck back as his hard length sank into me again. He licked a line directly from the base of my throat to the hollow behind my ear.

  “Whatever you want, my love, ask for it. I’m going to fuck you until you feel how much you mean to me; until you understand the gift you have given me, you beautiful, fragile, wonderful little thing,” he mumbled into my skin, his arm tightening around my stomach. I felt so small within his hold.

  Sweat glistened on his skin as he made love to me, and even that smelled incredible.

  Silver clouded my vision. All I could see was the core of him, and I was intrinsically drawn to it. I never thought I’d see the day when Ethan and I would fuck so freely under the light of the morning sun. It streamed through the window, and I reached out, touching a ray as though it was a tangible thing.

  Ethan gripped my chin as he continued to thrust in and out of me. “The vampires in this city want me to be their ruler,” he breathed. “But all I care about is being yours.”

  The intensity of his words was too much, and my eyes fluttered closed.

  “Don’t look away,” he pleaded. “I need to see your bottomless blue eyes as I fill you.”

  Meeting his gaze once more, I didn’t look away.

  Finn

  Holy Mary mother of God, she’s really gone and done it now. I always thought Tegan had a reckless streak, but that was putting it mildly. I didn’t think there was a single word in the English language to describe this madness. Nobody with half a brain would consider it a viable option to allow that bloodsucker to drink from her. And yet, there he stood, undeniably changed.

  Was she even still alive? Did he drink her dry, or take just enough to transform?

  Now, I understood this was a do or die situation. We were outnumbered as fuck, for a start. But seriously, there was no coming back from this. We all stared up at Cristescu from below, the entire vampire population of the city bowing down to him like he was some sort of effing High King of the Damned.

  Relief washed over me when I spotted Tegan slumped weakly over the edge of the building, staring at him, too. She didn’t look too fresh, but at least she wasn’t dead.

  Cristescu roared, and every fibre of me was repelled by the sound. I made eye contact with Gabriel first. Like me, my friend knew exactly what had gone down on that roof. In private he’d often spoken to me of his fears about Tegan. He worried that one day some power-hungry vampire would get his hands on her blood and everything would change. Well, now it had happened. Only I didn’t know if Tegan volunteered herself or if he forced her.

  The idea of him forcing her made me really bloody angry. The disappointment I’d felt when she told me she’d slept with him rose to the surface, but I pushed it back down. She chose him. There was nothing I could do to make myself feel better other than try to salvage what was left of my wounded pride.

  “We have to get out of here,” Gabriel said urgently, holding Alvie to him.

  “You’re right. Let’s make a move while the vamps are distracted, eh?” I suggested, nodding to Delilah and Ira, who stood by her side in his animal form. That Lucas fella was bowing down just like the rest of the bloodsuckers.

  Delilah looked shaken to her core, her pale face staring up at her brother in stunned silence.

  “Delilah,” I called for her attention. “We have to go now.”

  Ira whined and nipped at her hand. She finally pulled herself out of her shock and nodded, wrapping
her arms around herself. She tried to get Lucas’s attention, but there was no breaking him out of his trance. Finally, she gave up and followed us down the ladder and back out onto the street.

  Dead and unconscious human bodies filled the pathways. The five of us walked close together, dodging the bowing vamps. We sped up to a slow jog, needing to get as far away as possible before Cristescu called them to action. Delilah might be his sister, but he was no fan of the rest of us—me especially. Who knew what kind of plans he might be concocting with his newfound power.

  The city was a wasteland. I suspected lots of people were hiding behind locked doors and windows, too frightened to venture outside.

  Once we were clear of the vamps, I let out a long breath. We were close to the more residential areas now, which looked completely untouched by the chaos. The quiet, peaceful streets felt almost unreal after the madness we’d just been through.

  Gabriel pulled Alvie close to him, his arm tight around his narrow shoulders. Ira rubbed his snout against Delilah’s hip, and she let her hand drift through his thick fur. All of a sudden, I felt decidedly alone. No one cared about comforting me.

  Oh well, fuck that shit. I’d been alone since my mother and sister died. Some things never changed. A brief image of sleeping in the same bed as Tegan flashed in my head, along with the feeling of companionship and warmth it had given me. I missed that fleeting period, where I thought something more might develop between us, but it wasn’t to be.

  Okay, I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself. Yeah, I fancied her, perhaps even had a few mushy sentiments towards her. But it wasn’t like she was the only woman in the world.

  Once we reached the outskirts of the city, I decided to start looking for some form of transportation. Walking wasn’t going to get us very far. A few minutes later, I spied an abandoned minivan by the side of the road. The doors were open, and the keys were dangling from the ignition. Too good to be true, right?

  Wrong.

  There were several dead bodies littered on the ground outside of it. By the looks of things, they were driven mad by the chaos mist and killed each other. I stood over a bloated middle-aged bloke with shaggy red hair, his lifeless head hanging to one side. With the toe of my boot, I nudged his shirt collar down, checking his neck for fang marks. None.

  My suspicions were right. These poor sods killed each other.

  “Looks like we’ve found a ride,” I told Gabriel with a morbid grin.

  He scratched his head, not looking too thrilled about the prospect of taking some dead people’s car. All the same, he came and helped me lift the body out of the driver’s seat. The vehicle reeked of blood, but in my line of work, I was used to it.

  Checking the dash, I saw that the tank was three-quarters full. Handy. I slid in and turned the key in the ignition, the engine roaring to life. Sticking my head out the window, I called, “Hop in boys and girls, we’re off for a picnic.”

  Delilah gave me an irritable look. “You always have to be such a fucking piss taker,” she muttered, slipping into one of the back seats with Ira. “Now’s really not the time.”

  “I won’t let your brother take the shine outta my sun,” I shot back.

  She huffed, narrowed her green eyes to slits, and turned her head away, ignoring me.

  “All aboard?” I shouted jovially, letting my arm hang out of the open window and banging hard against the metal door. Nobody answered. Guess my attempt to lighten the mood had failed. I pulled away from the side of the road.

  We were only driving for about five minutes when all of a sudden a white stretch limousine appeared out of nowhere. There were tendrils of pearly, effervescent light shining from the windows as it sped by and overtook the minivan. With my driver’s side window open, I heard a sharp female cry for help erupt from inside the limo.

  What the fuck?

  “Oh, my goodness,” Alvie gasped.

  “Where is all that light coming from?” Delilah questioned.

  “Looks like magic,” Gabriel said.

  On instinct, I increased my speed, following the limo. The door flew open a second later, and a woman dressed in a shimmery white evening gown jumped from the vehicle. She rolled along the road, huddled in a crouch for a moment, then got to her feet and broke into a run. She was about to come face to bumper with the minivan so I slammed on the breaks and came to a screeching halt seconds before I would have hit her.

  Up ahead, a tall man emerged from the limo. He came marching determinedly after the woman, who was now staring right into the minivan, shaking like a leaf. She had long, curly blonde hair and bright hazel eyes. When they met mine, I saw her desperation.

  Without thinking, I hopped out and hurried to her.

  “Are you okay?” I asked as her gaze flickered over me in an unfocused manner.

  “Stay away,” she croaked, holding out her shaking hand at the same time the guy from the limo called, “Touch her and die, slayer.”

  I looked to the tall guy, recognising him as Michael Ridley, one of Theodore’s warlock cronies and also the prick who set fire to Rita’s house.

  Delilah, Gabriel and Ira emerged from the van, coming to stand beside me.

  “I’ll do what I like, warlock,” I sneered back at him.

  His attention went to the woman. “Alora, come back here now. You are being completely unreasonable.”

  Alora flinched at the sound of Ridley’s voice and took a step toward me.

  “Please, don’t let him take me. It hurts … he hurts me too much.”

  At this statement, my protective instincts kicked into high gear, and I pulled her to stand behind me.

  “You hurt women, eh?” I asked, levelling my stare on Ridley. “Why don’t you try hurting me instead? See how well you fare?”

  Ridley huffed out an angry breath and raised his hand into the air, on the verge of casting a spell. Luckily, Ira leapt at him with a snarl and clamped his big teeth down on Ridley’s hand before he got the chance to finish. I winced when he didn’t just bite him, but jerked his head and tore the hand clean off.

  Well, Ira did have some, uh, issues with magic, so I couldn’t really blame him for overdoing it slightly.

  An almighty wail erupted from Ridley. He stared down at his now handless arm in horror as blood gushed out. Ira dropped the hand to the ground with a wet thump and walked away with doggy style disinterest. Yep, I just said doggy style. It’d been way too long since I last had a woman beneath me.

  “I’m going to kill that fucking dog,” Ridley screamed.

  “You’ll be killing no one unless you get yourself to a hospital real soon, my friend,” I called out, grimacing at the sight of his severed hand.

  He swore profusely, picked up his hand, and hurried back to his limo. The door slammed shut and the vehicle tore down the road. I turned to see Alora running away from us now, in the opposite direction of the limo. Gabriel and Delilah stared after her, dumbfounded. Ira sat by the side of the van, licking the blood off his paws, and Alvie still sat inside, too shaken by the night’s events to get involved.

  I guessed it was my job to go after her then. I ran down the road, but she must’ve heard me coming because she quickened her pace. She was in her bare feet and I knew it had to hurt running without any shoes. A second later, I caught up to her, grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her to a stop. She wriggled in my hold, struggling to break free.

  “Let me go, please,” came her throaty cry. It sounded like she was on the verge of tears. “I need to get as far away from him as possible. I need to find my family.”

  “Hush,” I whispered soothingly. “You’re not going to get very far in your state. Let me help you.”

  She went still when I spoke and turned in my arms to look up at me. Her eyes, which I now decided were far more gold than hazel, continued to roam in an unfocused way. Suddenly, I realised why. She was blind.

  Now that she’d stopped struggling, I took the opportunity to study her more closely. Her eyes were amazing. I’d
never seen gold eyes in a human before, only in vampires. I felt like a dick noticing, especially since she was in obvious distress, but she had a fantastic rack and plump, heart-shaped lips. Her skin was lightly tanned and smooth, and her hair was a mass of silky curls. In other words, she was beautiful—and still trembling in my arms.

  “I know your voice,” she whispered, her forehead crinkling in thought.

  “I don’t think so, baby. We’ve never met before. I would definitely remember meeting you.”

  She shook her head. “No, you don’t understand …”

  “Are you hurt?” I asked. “What were you doing with that son of a bitch Ridley anyway?”

  Her soft breath hit the base of my throat as she breathed frantically. “He kidnapped me when I was on my way home from work two years ago. I haven’t seen the outside of his house until tonight.”

  “He kidnapped you?” I asked in disbelief. “Why? Is he some kind of sicko?”

  “Not in the way you’re thinking. He called you a slayer. Does that mean you know about supernatural creatures?”

  “Yes, you can speak freely,” I replied.

  She exhaled in some kind of relief, and then her small hands were cupping my face, moving over my features in concentration. “Can I trust you?” she asked as she tried to see me through touch. I stood stock-still, utterly entranced.

  “Of course you can. I’m one of the good guys, Goldy.”

  She seemed to blush at my response but continued moving her hands over my face. Next, they slid down my neck before resting on my shoulders. I swallowed hard, struggling not to get turned on. As I said, it had been a while since I’d been with a woman.

  “I’m half-elf,” she said then, presumably concluding that she could trust me. “I have the talent of seeing into the future. At first, Ridley tried to drain my power to use it for himself, but he didn’t succeed. The spell went wrong and ended up blinding me. He decided to keep me prisoner so that whenever he needed a prediction, he could use my ability.”

  “Christ,” I muttered, staring at her with wide eyes. “I bet you’re glad my friend Ira bit off his hand, eh?”