Page 99 of Magic and Muffins

Pulling off his hat and veil, he grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.

“You can breathe normally,” he said. The pain seemed to fade, or maybe it just no longer mattered. My pulse slowed, and my next inhalation became easier.

“Good,” he said. “Now sleep until I tell you to wake up.”

I felt his words wrap around my mind. It wouldn’t hurt to sleep. Maybe Cross would find me by the time I woke up. Sleepdidsound good. It had been a long day. Long summer, actually. And my head was starting to hurt where Vivian hit it.

Yeah, I needed sleep. Sleep was good.

My eyes slow-blinked until they finally closed completely.

* * *

“Wake up.”

The words echoed in my head, making my pulse jump and giving me a sense of urgency. My eyes opened, and I looked around, instantly remembering what had happened but not recognizing where I was.

Vivian had taken me somewhere…and I’d been with him for a while from the look of things.

The nearly full moon gave off just enough light to illuminate Vivian’s face as he watched from outside the open passenger door. Behind him, I glimpsed a vaguely familiar, unlit empty parking lot surrounded by woods.

Without the gnawing fear that had consumed me in the studio, my thoughts were clearer. We were definitely outside of the city, and Vivian wanted to use me for something. What? I didn’t know. My guess was Cross’ ring. But he’d purposely taken me away from Cross and Shepard without confronting them. Because he knew he’d lose?

“Look at your little mind work,” Vivian said. “You’re trying so hard to understand what’s happening, aren’t you?”

I bit the inside of my cheek hard, just like I’d done the last time Vivian had taken me. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

He inhaled deeply, and his eyes went black. I barely heard the click of my seatbelt before he manhandled me out of the car.

He pushed me against the closed door hard enough to bruise my back.

“Bleeding won’t work this time,” he said, his fangs flashing at me.

I swallowed hard and winced. My throat hurt like a bitch.

His gaze dipped to my neck, and panic started to claw its way forward.

Come on, Cross. Please be on time again. Please. Please. Please.

Chuckling, Vivian reached between us, trailing a finger over my fluttering pulse before hooking it in my necklace and tugging it upward. Only it wasn’t the one that Cross had given me. I stared at the gem-encrusted cock and balls, completely confused.

“Effora’s little gift to protect me against all magic. It’s magnificent. Turns out, it can even block your master’s connection to you.”

I tried to say, “He’s not my master.” But the sounds that emerged were barely recognizable as words.

Vivian still understood, though.

“Only because he’s never exercised that right. Perhaps by the end of tonight, he will.” He dropped the necklace and patted it on my chest. “Try to touch it, and I will bite off your fingers, one at a time.”

I didn’t doubt his threat.

He yanked me from the side of the car. “We’ve waited long enough, I believe. Time to go.”

“Where?” I rasped as he shoved me forward.

He pointed to a wooden sign at the edge of the parking lot. It was too far away and too dark to read it, not that I was given the chance to stay where I was.

Vivian propelled me forward with another shove.

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