Page 47 of Midnight Enchantment

He gazed into the distance, his voice a tortured growl when he said, “I do not know. All I know is that you are in danger every time we are together. If I ever hurt you … ” He shook his head. “I have never loved anyone as much as I love you. Wanted anyone as much. Needed anyone the way I need you.”

Cupping his face in her hands, she kissed him lightly. “We can make it work. I know we can.”

“What if you are wrong? Are you willing to take that chance?”

“Yes.”

“I cannot decide if you are the bravest woman I have ever met,” he murmured, drawing her into his arms, “or the most foolish. All I know is that I do not want to live without you.”

“Nor I without you.” Anticipation spiked through her when his gaze shifted to her throat.

“Let me?”

With a nod, she canted her head to the side and closed her eyes as his fangs pierced her skin ever so lightly. She craved his bite, she thought, almost as much as he craved her blood.

One sip, two, and he lifted his head. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I just wish it wasn’t so dangerous for you to take more. It feels so wonderful.” So wonderful she had no words to describe it.

“Maybe you would return the favor?”

“Why would you want me to do that?”

He shrugged. “I am curious to know if biting me would give you pleasure in return.”

Lily stared at him, her mother’s warning shouting in the back of her mind.Liliana, you are never to take Raedan’s blood, do you understand? It could be fatal.

“Your mother told you that?”

She had forgotten he could read her mind. “Yes. Is it true?”

“I know not. I have never shared my blood with a witch.” He had exchanged blood with other vampires on rare occasions, but witches were a totally different breed. “Probably best not to tempt fate.”

She nodded in agreement, although she couldn’t help wondering what his blood tasted like. And then she frowned. “What does my blood taste like to you?”

“Better than anything I have ever known. It lingers on my tongue, sweeter than the finest wine.”

“That’s odd. I’ve always heard that the blood of witches tastes bitter to vampires.”

“I have also heard that,” he said, stifling a grin. “Maye I should taste you again and see?”

“Ha-ha. No more for you today,” she said, shaking her finger in his face. And then she smiled. “But maybe tomorrow.”

“Until then,” he said, and vanished from sight.

Back at home, Lily padded into the library and began to search through her mother’s spell books, hoping to find something about vampire-demons—but there was no mention of them in any of the volumes she checked. There were numerous articles on demons—how to recognize them, how to summon them, how to exorcise them from humans. But no mention of how to drive them out of a vampire.

Discouraged, she sat back in her chair. There had to be a way to thwart the blood-demon and drive him away without harming Raedan, but she had no idea what it might be. Even if she found a way, perhaps, after all this time, it wouldn’t work anyway.

Lily was about to replace all the books on the shelves when her cell phone rang. She smiled as she answered it. “Hi, Granny!”

“I’ve been thinking about you,” Ava said. “Is Raedan still there? Is everything all right?”

“As all right as it can be. I’ve been searching for information about blood-demons but I can’t find anything.”

“What, exactly, are you looking for?”

“A way to drive it out of Raedan.”

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