“The better question is, how do I kill him if it comes to it?”
Rusty shuddered. “You don’t, Jade. Killing a vampire is serious business. There aren’t many of them in the world. They’re super protective of their … everything.”
“According to them.”
“Right. Well, that same ‘them’ have a strict set of rules. A code against randomly draining people. Their very existence would be in jeopardy pretty quickly if the rest of the Adept ever united against them. No one likes vampires. Biting the granddaughter of Pearl Godfrey would be a serious offense.”
“I’d prefer to not be bitten at all, rather than just have my death avenged.”
“Right. Well, if he was crazy, there’d be bodies everywhere.”
Oh, that was comforting. Insane vampires were slaughtering fiends. Since I hadn’t noticed anyone dead, I must be first on his list.
“Guys!” Sienna howled up the stairs. She was waiting at street level.
“How do I kill him, Rusty?”
“I doubt you can, not with a spell at least. I don’t think even Sienna’s binding would slow him for long. They’re pretty impervious to magic, crazy strong, and maybe immortal.”
“Fire? Sunlight?”
Rusty shook his head. “Maybe with a newborn or the newly risen. No, decapitation and fire, maybe. Think your knife can cut faster than he can heal?”
“I doubt it.”
“So do I. Stay out of his way and get your Gran. Her magic will give him pause.”
“It’s not like I sought him out in the first place.”
Rusty laughed. “You attract magic, Jade. You were probably his second stop after he got off the plane. Check into the hotel, follow the pretty magical signature —”
“I was behind the bakery wards.”
“Oh?”
Yeah. The vampire shouldn’t have been able to feel any magic from me behind those wards.
“I’m just going to lie down and die of starvation now,” Sienna yelled up the stairs.
I turned away from Rusty with a sigh that felt far too heavy for my typically simple fun life. I headed down the stairs.
“Jade, you want me to call my mom?”
Vampires didn’t like necromancers at all. I’d probably get Rusty’s mother killed on sight. I shook my head and Rusty nodded, looking relieved.
Then I tried to forget all about it and get my sister to the restaurant before she threw a temper tantrum on the sidewalk.
∞
We walked to the restaurant — the best Mexican in Vancouver. Hell, the best I’d ever had, and I’ve been to L.A. a couple of times. Then we cabbed it to the dance club.
We were early, and the line still stretched around the block — clubs always liked to appear packed — but Sienna didn’t wait in any line in the entire city. The bouncer looked like he might be one-quarter troll, but his smile softened his face as I passed under his arm. Though he held the rope barrier up for us, Rusty, situated between Sienna and me, got a definite scowl from him.
I was accustomed to being smiled at. A bouncy blond with a light permanent tan stood out in Vancouver, no matter the season. The greens and blues of my silk jacket would only make my eyes brighter blue. Problem was, smiles rarely progressed into anything deeper, at least not with anyone magical. Like I was too much to handle, too much to commit to — and then those rare men who did want something long term bored me easily.
I returned the smile anyway with a brief flash of teeth as I followed Sienna into the club. The music, already loud at the street entrance, promised to drown out any thoughts in my head. I welcomed it.
∞
I left Sienna and Rusty at the bar and skirted the half-full dance floor to the bathrooms. I was still feeling uneasy about the vampire and had only agreed to come dancing because I thought there was a chance there’d be more than humans here tonight. Vancouver wasn’t exactly a destination of choice for the more powerful of the Adept, but a few low-level spellcasters, small time sorcerers, and a couple of part witches could usually be found in this club. Not that I had anything against humans — I was half-human myself, of course — but they didn’t offer the extra layer of protection I was seeking. I couldn’t even hide within the small crowd on the floor; my magical affinity was like a beacon to anyone who could sense that sort of thing. However, I could blend among others of the Adept even if they themselves didn’t know they had magical ancestry, which was the case in Vancouver most of the time. The Adept were a dying breed. My Gran thought witches were diminishing because of the ongoing destruction of the environment. The earth was dying and so was witch magic.
Actually and regrettably, I usually had to firmly dissuade any new boy that came into Sienna’s life — unbeknownst to my sister, of course. It was purely a magic thing, and had nothing to do with the guys actually wanting to be with me over her. Rusty had kept his distance, and once Sienna started sleeping with him, he seemed to completely relax around me. Anyway, I usually kept my guard up around any of the Adept, with a few specific exceptions. But tonight, I would have put up with a lot of looks and maybe even some handiness to be surrounded by more magic.
The club was playing popular hits tonight, which I preferred over techno or electronic anyway, and I felt more at ease in the low light of the club. Occasional strobes of black light flashed over the dance floor — they were going old school tonight — and some more of the tension eased from my neck. I always got a stiff neck when stressed.
I slipped into the women’s bathroom, lamely called Dames according to a sign on the door. I wove around a few tipsy ladies to a sink to wash my hands and refresh my lip gloss.
Suddenly, without even feeling myself move, I was standing in a bathroom stall — door closed and latched — held by the neck and pressed against the steel dividing wall by the vampire.
His grip on my throat was light, but I knew that with one wrong move, he would snap my spine just by squeezing his fingers. I exhaled in a brief moment of panic, worrying for a moment that my lungs weren’t going to re-inflate.
He’d moved so quickly that the other women in the outer bathroom hadn’t even reacted. He’d probably only registered as a slight breeze or blur to them, which they were certainly tipsy enough to ignore.
The vampire had his other hand pressed against my right one, effectively pinning it against my knife at my hip. I’d apparently attempted to defend myself by grabbing for it. Good to know that my instincts had kicked in before my brain, which still seem delayed.
Up close, the vampire’s magic danced across his skin. It was almost distracting. His frown and ice-cold eyes kept me focused though — even as I once again forgot to not make direct eye contact with him. Maybe the women in the bathroom had seen him and assumed this was a planned rendezvous. He was good-looking enough to be titillating to those who didn’t know that his idea of a tryst came with pointy teeth and serious blood deprivation.
“I thought you weren’t going to bite me tonight,” I said, pleased that my voice sounded much calmer than my mind.
He tilted his head and gazed at my neck … actually, at my carotid artery. My pulse sped up; I was surprised it could get any higher.
“I wasn’t,” he murmured.
“Well, watching my blood move through my veins isn’t going to be helpful, then.”
He lifted his eyes to mine, and for a moment seemed almost … amused. But then, he just stared at me. My back started to ache from holding myself so stiffly against the wall and away from him, but hell if I was going relax into his neck hold.
“Your hand is cold,” I finally said, having no idea what to do when a vampire just stared at you.
“I could warm it.” He flicked his eyes to my neck again and showed me the very tips of his teeth — but no fangs and no red eyes. He wasn’t going to bite me. And if I wasn’t completely crazy, his tone sounded almost … flirtatious.
“What do you want, vampire?” I asked, putting as much
steel as I dared into the question.
His face blanked like a sheet of ice once again, and he moved away where he’d been leaning forward before. “Just to see you outside the wards, witch.”
“So you tracked me here?”
“You’re not difficult to follow. You move like a human” — this was not a compliment — “and you … feel … odd.”
Well, that was terribly flattering news. I’d always wanted to feel odd.
He released my neck and took a half-step back. It was all the room the stall would allow him. I was hyperaware of all the other women in the bathroom with me. All the other very human and vulnerable women. I curled my hand around my knife; he’d released that as well.
He raised an eyebrow. “That won’t hurt me.”
“You might be surprised.”
“I never am.”
“Never is a sort of long-term word, even for a vampire.”
He was touching my necklace before I’d even realized he’d moved. He seemed enamored with it, weaving his fingers through the wedding ring charms until they resembled brass knuckles. His fingers were slim. He’d plucked the chain off my left breast; I tried to not squirm.
“This is remarkable.”
“I’ll make you one and we’ll be twins.”
“A fine gift,” he said, somewhat surprised as he lifted his eyes to mine. Obviously ignoring my sarcasm.
“I aim to please.”
“Do you?” He seemed suddenly thrown, off kilter.
“You know, this isn’t normal behavior, accosting me on my balcony and in the bathroom stall at a club. People will think we’re having sex in here.”
He looked aghast, dropping his fingers from my necklace. “I just wanted to see you out from the wards.”
“Well, now you have.” I opened my arms in a ‘here I am’ gesture. I would have done a twirl if there’d been more room and I thought my shaky legs would hold.
“Half-witch, and what’s the other half?” he asked.
I dropped my arms. The scary conversation was going to continue … “Human. Half-witch, half-human.”
The vampire shook his head. “Don’t lie to me, witch. I’ll know all anyway, once I get my blood truth release. Of course, you could save me the trouble of waiting and give me permission yourself. Get all this sorted out quickly.”
“Get what sorted out?” His attention was on my neck again. I felt like snapping my fingers to pull his eyes to mine, except I wasn’t sure what scared me more — looking into his cold, emotionless gaze or watching him watch my blood flow.
“The murders, of course,” he murmured, sounding more mesmerized than was healthy for me.
“What murders?” I snapped. That caught his attention. I decided it was actually way scarier to look him in the eye. “You didn’t mention any murders.”
“I didn’t?”
“No.”
“The evidence obviously points to you, but you don’t seem right … you are very … blond.”
“Being blond makes me less capable of murder?” What the hell was I arguing that point for? He mixed me up, scared me, and then attempted an almost normal conversation.
He grinned and suddenly looked good. Human good. Sexy. Available.
“I’m blond,” he whispered.
“And more than capable of murder.”
His smile widened. It wasn’t comforting, and it didn’t inspire me to return the gesture as it usually would. He scared me, more than I liked to admit, and no matter what rules supposedly governed his behavior.
“Jade? What the hell are you doing in here?” The bang of the outer bathroom door and the shrillness of her voice announced Sienna’s entrance.
“Jade?” the vampire said, suddenly too close to me again, though he didn’t touch me.
“Yes,” I replied, as steady as I could be around a predator.
“You’re not half-human, Jade. I can tell you that even without tasting you.” His whisper breezed across the skin of my neck and ear. My breath caught in my throat … just for one awkward, oddly arousing moment. “Anyone with an ounce of ability could tell you that.”
I shook my head, just once, but I wasn’t sure if I was denying his assessment of my parentage or my reaction to his sudden … allure.
“Jade? What the hell?” Sienna called, the sound of her voice moving closer. “Which stall are you in?”
The vampire almost reverently brushed his fingers along the rings of my necklace. “I grant you safe passage. For tonight. You are intriguing, half-witch, half-not-human.”
Then the stall door was hanging open and I was alone. I slumped against the wall, relieved but more riled up than I’d like to be given that I’d just been practically mauled by a vampire.
Sienna poked her head around the door. “Who the hell was that?”
A few women behind her tittered at the vampire’s exit. It seemed he could choose to move slowly when he wished to make an impression. Sienna sent them scurrying with a glare.
“The vampire,” I sighed, pitching my voice low to not be overheard. I crossed by her to the sink.
“And you were … what? Giving him a blow job in the bathroom stall?”
“Yes, Sienna. I was giving a vampire a blow job, because that’s all vamps really want from a girl.”
“You let him bite you?” Sienna hissed, clamping her mouth shut as a couple of tipsy girls exited another stall together.
“I didn’t let him bite me!” I thrust my wet hands under the dryer.
“What did he want?” Sienna murmured into my ear. “Besides the obvious. Was he just drawn to your magic?”
“No. I don’t think so. I don’t know. Someone has been murdered. He thinks … or thought … that I did it.”
“Thought?”
“Supposedly I’m too blond to murder anyone.”
Sienna looked thoughtful, like she might agree with this assessment. I began to bristle. Not that I would murder anyone, but please — it wasn’t because I was weak, or sweet, or incapable. I just had morals and a heart.
“Did he tell you anything else?”
“Yeah. He thinks there’s no way I’m half-human.”
“That is interesting.”
“Are we going to dance, or what?” I was tired of conversations about nothing going nowhere I had any control over.
“Oh, yes. I think you’ll like the crowd.” Sienna smiled and looped an arm through mine. “They’re just your type. More magic than mere mortals, more brawn than brain.”
Well … that did sound promising.
CHAPTER THREE
The dance floor had filled out since I’d been in the bathroom. Strobe lights alternated with black light, creating a staccato effect with the dancers. The blown-out whites generated by the black lights left residual streaks across my retinas. I loved it. The tables surrounding the floor were firmly in the shadows as usual, but I had no interest in sitting and watching. The vampire, who might still be lurking, had scared me. I could feel the adrenaline — the high of escaping a predator — flooding my limbs.
I needed to move, to dance. Rusty sidled up out of the shadows around the tables and laced his hand through my arm. Sienna still hung off the other one. He held up some sort of dark martini in front of me; with the lights flashing it was impossible to distinguish its color. I ignored the offering and stepped toward the dance floor. Sienna snatched the drink, downed it, and followed me. Rusty, left with the empty glass, lagged a little behind as he paused to drop it on a nearby table.
I pushed through the crowd. It was still thin around the edges, but it wouldn’t be for long. Sienna joined me, Rusty by her side. They began to move to the beat — some Flo Rida song — but I waited. I stood as the crowd shifted around me. I closed my eyes. I breathed, opening my palms to the room and feeling them … first Sienna and Rusty, their magic familiar and light … fragrant, with a touch of sweet floral like sugared violets.
I tilted my head
back and pushed my senses past the humans currently occupying the floor. Then I found them on the outer edges. Sienna had been correct in her assessment that I would like this magic. They tasted like dark, fruity chocolate — more berry than citrus, with earthy undertones like red wine or truffles. I’d never tasted magic like this before.
I felt a smile spread across my face … the music stuttered and then a Kesha song thumped though the speakers. I opened my eyes.
Sienna laughed and pulled Rusty closer.
I shifted my hips … testing the beat. My shoulders followed.
The crowed shifted, stepped back and turned to face me almost in one motion, one moment.
I lifted my arms slightly to the sides, filling the space around me as I let the beat of the music take control of my body. I twisted and pumped and swayed.
And they approached … drawn to my magic as much as I wanted to taste their own.
First a woman, her hair an unnatural shade of green as best as I could discern it underneath the dance floor lights. Her body was lithe and muscular. She flashed a smile and slipped in as close to me as she could without impeding my own movements. Her magic brushed against me and I immediately peeled off my silk jacket to expose my arms. Rusty took the jacket from me.
I twisted around the woman, sliding across her body … not touching, never touching, just sipping. Her magic tasted of deep, dark chocolate, almost too bitter, sharp, and smoky with the slightest of berry finishes.
Then there were more of them — a blond boy who towered over the rest of the dancers but looked barely old enough to be in the club, and a petite brunette with her bee-stung lips painted purple. They formed a tight circle around me, pushing Sienna and Rusty to one side. I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt this many of the Adept in one place before, especially not here in Vancouver. It was a small community.
I’d run across a few more powerful witches — or even sorcerers who accessed their power through books or objects rather than the earth itself — in larger cities such as L.A., but I never engaged with them directly. I didn’t even know what kind of magic these three wielded, but it was nowhere near weak, and they were fantastic on the dance floor.
Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic Page 3