Almost to Die For

by Hallaway, Tate

The black guy with the scimitar took a hit; his head whipped back and he fell almost right in front of Elias’s feet. Someone must have thrown a rock at him. He was cradling his head and struggling slowly to his feet. Elias swore in that language I couldn’t understand.

  Elias tucked his gun into his holster, and pushed up the sleeves of his coat and shirt. Tucking his thumb under my chin for a moment, he caught my eyes. Very seriously he said, “Freely given.”

  The Asian guy noticed what we were doing, and he took in a sharp breath. “Captain?”

  “You heard the words, Lieutenant,” he said sharply. Then to me, he said, “Your pleasure, my lady.”

  “Okay,” I said, since he seemed to want a response from me. My fangs were still out, so I grabbed his wrist and bit down hard. His blood exploded in my mouth.

  Twenty-three

  The sensation overwhelmed me. I thought I knew what to expect when I tasted blood, but Elias’s was, if possible, even stronger, more intense. It rushed through me like an electric current. Every nerve ending danced as the world began to spin again. My body shook and convulsed as I tried to hold on to his wrist as I drank.

  I would have let go, but it was working.

  The rush of Elias’s blood was a much bigger push than Bea’s. Internally, I could feel my energies begin to flip between vampire and witch. My theory in practice! It was astounding how much the sensation did feel like a dynamo spinning. The spark of energy flashed like a strobe along my nerve endings. This time, it had no zombie webbing spell to burn through, so it continued to rise and rise. I needed to direct it.

  I focused my will using the skills I’d so desperately tried to hone as a witch. I urged the ice to flow into the ground. I imagined it spreading outward in a circle like an ice-skating rink.

  Beneath my feet the tremors of the coveners’ magic stilled, stalled . . . froze.

  In fact, time seemed to stop.

  For a second, I stood outside of it all. I could see the whole event from the outside. Surrounded by her followers, Mom’s face showed a slow realization that my magic had dampened the combined forces of five True Witches. Ramses, in the thick of hand-to-hand combat, sensed a change in the tide of the battle. Bea’s dad and the other witches had been knocked off their feet by the blast and were frozen in midfall.

  Cool.

  I did that.

  And I so wanted to snap a pic with my cell so I could send it to my friends.

  When I let go of Elias’s wrist, everything snapped back into motion—sort of. Slowly everyone dropped their fists and lowered their weapons. Their attention swung to the center of the circle to where I stood with Elias’s blood on my lips.

  No one moved. The street was silent.

  In the distance, the sirens wailed.

  Ramses took a measured step forward. Then, with a flourish, he dropped to one knee. The instant he did, all his people followed suit. Beside me, Elias did likewise.

  Mom’s mouth hung open. “That was you,” she whispered. “Your magic.”

  I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything else. The sirens seemed right on top of us now.

  “Behold your true heir,” Bea’s dad shouted. “She who walks between the worlds.” Apparently, this was very meaningful because gasps and whispers rippled through the ranks of those who remained standing.

  Pretty soon everyone was on their knees.

  Except for Mom.

  And me.

  We faced each other in the middle of the street. Mom’s face twitched, like she didn’t know what to say or do.

  So I ran over to her and gave her a great big hug.

  For a second, she stood stiffly, not reciprocating. Then I heard a sniff, and her arms wrapped tightly around me.

  There were cheers and joyful shouts.

  When I pulled out of the embrace, Mom had tears in her eyes. She frowned into my face. With her thumb, she wiped at my lip. “You were always a messy eater.”

  Red and white lights reflected on the buildings. The police were nearly on us. “Scatter!” I heard her command her people. Ramses similarly told his people to run, but he stayed, coming to stand beside us.

  “I was wrong,” he said quietly. “Our daughter is stronger when she stands between our worlds. To try to make her a full vampire would have been a mistake.”

  I looked at Mom. Would she agree? I could see her face tighten. She didn’t want to admit defeat. Finally, she said, “It’s hard to deny what happened.”

  They looked at each other for a long time. Ramses was the first one to speak. “Cease-fire.”

  “Yes,” Mom said curtly, her arms still wrapped tightly around my waist. “I will agree to that. But now you go away and don’t come anywhere near my daughter.”

  I started to say something, but Elias came up to stand beside his prince. “That’s impossible. Ana and I have joined in a blood bond. She is my betrothed.”

  “Like we’re engaged? ” I sputtered, breaking from Mom’s grasp to stare at Elias. He was gorgeous and I liked being his lady and all, but I wasn’t ready to be anyone’s wife or even fiancée.

  A police car moving at full speed up the street caused us all to run for the sidewalk. It didn’t stop, but seemed to be in pursuit of someone else.

  “Was it freely given?” Ramses asked Elias.

  I remembered what he’d said. “But,” I said. “But I didn’t know!”

  “You would reject the captain of the guard?” Ramses looked shocked.

  “You bet she would,” Mom said, looking ready to get up into everyone’s faces.

  “No, I accept,” I said quickly, because I wanted Mom out of my business, and I figured there was probably some way out of it eventually.

  Mom’s face twisted angrily.

  Ramses nodded his head. Looking between Elias and me, he smiled slightly. “Perhaps,” he said, “we will someday have a true peace between our people.”

  My mom muttered something that sounded like “over my dead body,” but she cleared her throat. “For now we’ll be satisfied with a cease-fire. That crea—The captain may visit Ana only under the strict rules of courtship. Are we agreed?” Mom glared at Elias, daring him to make a fuss.

  I had no idea what the rules of courtship were, but I was happy I’d get to see Elias. “What do you say?” I asked him encouragingly. I could still taste his sweet blood on my tongue.

  Elias looked at me and smiled. He bowed his head in that courtly way and touched his heart. “As you wish,” he said.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket. I’d forgotten I tucked it there after I’d called the police. I glanced at it. A message from Bea: “Where are you? The party’s started.”

  “Uh,” I said. “I’ve got to go.”

  Twenty-four

  It took some fancy talking to explain everything to Mom, but when she heard that the party was at Nikolai’s, she offered to drive me there herself. I guiltily left Elias with a quick peck on the cheek. I promised him we’d talk soon. He looked disappointed, but was, as usual, a perfect gentleman about it.

  Mom and I were halfway there before she decided to talk. “There’s a way to break the betrothal, you know,” she said. “It’s not hard, just formalized.”

  “I’m not interested right now,” I said. Thing was, I knew that if I broke things off with Elias, Mom would find a way to keep me from seeing any vampires. I wasn’t ready for that yet. At the very least, I figured I still had a lot to learn about being half vampire. Plus, I liked Elias. There was something about him, what with that catlike grace and all his courtly airs. I wasn’t about to break his heart. Not yet.

  “Are you and Nikolai dating?”

  “Not officially,” I said. And that was the other thing. I liked Nikolai, but I wasn’t entirely ready to be his full-time girlfriend. Not until I really understood how he felt about vampires. He could be so scary. But then again, he could be superhot.

  I wondered whether Nikolai would be disappointed that he missed the big fight. Or maybe his dad had been there all alo
ng. . . . I had no idea. I’d think about that later.

  Mom sniffed. “I think Nikolai might be kind of upset to discover you’re engaged to marry the captain of the Praetorian Guard, don’t you think?”

  “He doesn’t have to know, does he, Mom?”

  “You’re going to date them both?”

  Was I? “I’ll work it out,” I told her. “My way.”

  Mom didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally, she said, “All right.”

  What was this? Trust? From Mom?

  She seemed to sense my surprise, so she said, “You proved yourself pretty capable tonight, honey. I’m just going to have to trust that I raised you right, and that you’ll make smart decisions.”

  “Really?”

  Mom sighed. “Just. . . .” She turned down Nikolai’s street. Cars lined the block. I pointed to his apartment, and she put the car in park. “Just be home by midnight, Cinderella.”

  I gave her a hug and a quick kiss. “Thanks, Mom!”

  JOHN WAS SITTING ON A stool just inside the downstairs door checking for tickets. He was arguing with a couple that I recognized as Thompson and Yvonne. “I’m sorry,” John was saying as I came up. “You can’t come in. You don’t have tickets.”

  When he saw me, he waved around them. “Hey, Ana! About time, girl! Nik’s been wondering where you’ve been.”

  The look Thompson gave me was pure envy. “You know the band? ” he muttered as I flounced happily past him. It took every ounce of strength I had not to stick my tongue out at him and sing the “nyah, nyah, nyah” song.

  “Excuse me,” I said, bumping him slightly. Okay, so I had to be a little snotty!

  Thompson muttered something about how the party must be full of freaks anyway as he dragged Yvonne off the steps with him. John and I watched them go. I couldn’t quite stifle a smile. How satisfying was that?

  “Your friends are already here,” John said. “I thought you were a no-show for sure.”

  “I had a little family business to take care of.”

  John nodded like that made perfect sense. “Families,” he muttered. “Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em.”

  “You could say that,” I said with a smile.

  “You should head down. I know Nik will be happy to see you,” he said.

  “Down?”

  He pointed to a door I hadn’t noticed before on one side of the entry. “Basement rec room; it’s totally why we rented this place.”

  I thanked him and bounded down the stairs. The door to the rec room was open, and I could see that the place was packed. Ugly seventies paneling covered the walls. Basement windows near the ceiling had been cracked open to let air into the stuffy room. Multicolored linoleum tiles lay across the floor. The space had a surprisingly high ceiling and someone had hung a disco ball in the center of the room. Dots of light spun slowly around the gyrating bodies.

  I stood at the doorway trying to figure out how to even wedge myself in. In the thick of it, I could see Bea and Taylor dancing together near the makeshift stage at the far end. They looked absolutely ecstatic. And why shouldn’t they? Just standing there, I felt my shoulders relax for the first time in days. A smile spread across my face. Despite what Thompson said, I wasn’t a freak anymore. I knew who I was. I was a dhampyr, a princess of both the vampires and the witches, and a girl who was about to have the time of her life. . . .

  Just watch me.

  About the Author

  Tate Hallaway lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is also the author of the Garnet Lacey novels. Visit her on the Web at www.tatehallaway.com or check out her blog at tatehallaway.blogspot.com.