Page 4 of The Guardian's Curse

If her best friend Ruby knew what she was up to, she’d shit a brick. As it was, Shoshanna had told her she was only working at the club during the day, when the vampires were asleep. To be fair, that was mostly true, up until the last few nights when she’d had to come and start tying all of her wards together. The final steps required the presence of the Elder, only the most powerful vampire in the city.

No big deal.

Her heart kicked against her ribs as she scrawled the final details onto the chalk array. Several hours of painstaking work had yielded the intricate geometric design on the concrete subfloor of the club’s inner sanctum.

When she looked up from her work, she found Eduardo staring at her. The Elder’s golden-brown skin gleamed in the low light, which reflected off his eerie red eyes. He raised an eyebrow, and she swallowed the lump of fear climbing up her throat. “Mister Alazan?” she said.

His lips curved into a faint smile. “Call me Eduardo,” he said. “My friends do.”

Her eyes widened. “Yes, sir. Eduardo.” She wasn’t sure she wanted to be friends with someone with his reputation, but it was better than the other option. “I’m ready for your blood.”

At the mention of blood, a pale, dark-haired man in the corner shot a dark look her way. His posture shifted, and she could see the protective intent in his coiled pose.

“Of course,” Eduardo said. He handed his glass to one of his subordinates and approached. “Tell me what to do.”

“That probably doesn’t happen often, does it?” she said.

His smile faltered, and anxiety swelled like a bubble in her chest. Why the hell would she think it was okay to crack a joke with the most powerful vampire in Atlanta? Please don’t kill me.

Then he chuckled. “No, it does not, Miss York.”

She let out a shuddering breath. “I need your hand. Non-dominant is better.”

“I’ll heal fast,” he said, extending his right hand to her. She took a small silver knife from her bag of supplies. There was a rustle of fabric as one of the bodyguards, Dominic, moved toward her. He had supervised her for the last few days, though he’d said no more than two dozen words the entire time. Eduardo glanced up. “Calmati,” he said quietly. “Miss York means us no harm.”

“No, sir,” she said. She wanted to walk out of here with her five-figure paycheck and her head still connected to her shoulders. She gestured to the inscription. “I’ll cut your hand and place blood here. Then here, here, and here,” she said, gesturing to different points. At strategic intersections were small piles of powdered herbs, precious metals, and even a small ruby imbued with stormwater. An open circle was placed at the center, with shavings of elder wood in a neat pile. “This will anchor all of the club’s protections to you and those who are connected to you through the Covenant. As you asked.”

“Wonderful,” he said.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” she said.

Dominic snorted in derision.

Eduardo scowled over his shoulder. “I appreciate your courtesy, Miss York. Perhaps my subordinates could learn from your example.” Dominic scowled at her.

She gripped Eduardo’s wrist lightly. His skin was cool to the touch, the rich gold-brown slightly lighter than her own. The cold prickle of vampiric energy swept over her. After glancing at her notes, she recited the first incantation. “Spirits above, hear my will, may my intentions be bound in crimson spill,” she intoned. With a quick flick of her wrist, she sliced the silver blade across Eduardo’s palm. He flinched, but made no sound. Blood streamed over his brown skin and pattered onto the chalk lines below.

The vampires surrounding her faded into the shadows as she focused on her Weaving. She closed her eyes for a moment and allowed her arcane sight to take over. Magic swirled around her like tiny currents in the air. Wispy gray tendrils and pale blue motes floated around her, while rich, dark red enveloped Eduardo. Little pinpricks of light like tiny flames reflected from the blood on his palm. As it struck the chalk lines, the array ignited. A tingling sensation zipped up her spine as her magic took effect.

Without missing a beat, she pressed one hand to Eduardo’s cheek, then moved his hand to each of the nodes that required his blood. “As I have spoken, so may it be.”

The vampire Elder gasped and went rigid as the array was completed. Tendrils of bright blue radiated into the corners of the dim office, through the walls, extending over the entire nightclub like a spider’s web. Eduardo’s eyes darkened to a rich crimson, fixed on hers as his fangs descended.

She swallowed back her fear, hoping he was reacting to the power, not the smell of her jugular. “Do you feel it?”

He nodded, rubbing his fingers together as if he would find threads tangled there. “That’s quite potent.” His eyes faded to a reddish-brown, though she could still see the razor-sharp points of his teeth as he spoke.

“It should fade after a few days,” she said. “It’s kind of like putting on jeans right out of the dryer.”

His head tilted in confusion. Right. Vampires with an eight-figure net worth probably didn’t relate to the perils of drying their skinny jeans on hot. She took a clean cloth from her bag and gently wrapped his bleeding hand.

“And this will do what for us?” the pale man asked. His sneering expression told her what he thought of her work.

“This is the foundation of all the protective spells I’ve been building,” she said. She walked to the tinted glass windows overlooking the nightclub. Low music played, while clusters of vampires and other patrons gathered. Below them, she could see a young woman with an older, silver-haired man. Her hand slid up his thigh as she suckled at his neck. The expression on his face said he didn’t mind a bit. “See the woman in the green dress at the end of the bar? She’s not one of yours.”

Like a halo, sparkling light wreathed the pretty blonde’s head. “A light show,” the man said. “We paid you ten thousand dollars for a light show?”

“Hugo,” Eduardo said sharply. “Forgive my Scythe. His zeal for duty sometimes exceeds his social graces. Continue, Miss York.”

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