Page 45 of That Mafioso Magic
Salino had taken to sitting in one of the comfy chairs by my fireplace now, one elegant, long leg crossed over the other and arms resting on the armrest as he observed all of us. I did have to admit, he was a model of control and smoothness. I would never be caught dead in one of his suits, but they fit him and his personality perfectly. I’d rarely ever want to admit something like that. I wondered why I had just then. What the fuck was happening to me?
“Well, the bullet they shot you with was spelled with a poison that was flowing into your bloodstream. Had it gotten to your heart and brain, it would have killed you instantly. I did what I had to do,” Adrian said.
“And what was that?” I asked. Still wanting a straight answer. “Just tell me, baby.” I decided to use the term of endearment, because frankly, I felt very possessive over him, now more than ever before. Not to mention, he was nervous as fuck. I could smell his fear and it was directed at me. I didn’t like that he was afraid of me. I hoped that by calling him “baby,” it would ease some of that tension he’d been clinging on to. It worked. His shoulders slacked a little and he took more steps closer to me.
“I used a spell to freeze time for you. To stop the flow of the poison from flowing through your body. Nadia gave me the other bullet that had bounced off the barrier you’d put up and I was able to analyze the poison used. I was unfamiliar with it, but the tests I ran proved its toxicity was crazy lethal. The only spell I could find in our grimoire required some pretty serious ingredients. One being the blood of a powerful vampire and the blessing of the goddess Azraelle.”
“Why a vampire?” I asked.
“It had to be the blood of a being that was caught in the in-between. Neither alive nor dead—fully. We didn’t have much time, the spell to freeze you only lasted a few hours and once it was done, I needed to be able to work a spell to counter the poison. Salino drove a hard bargain, but in the end, gave up his blood,” Adrian said. He sighed and ran his hand through his beautiful, dark locks. The more I looked at him, the more I wanted to slide my cock deep into his ass and watch him writhe beneath me in the ecstasy I was giving him.
“The spell had a fucked up side effect, obviously,” Shi stated.
“I don’t consider it fucked up at all,” Salino said.
“No one asked you,” Shi snapped.
“Watch that tongue of yours, cat, before I yank it out,” Salino threatened.
I growled. “Don’t you threaten my pride, you fucker.”
“Master, to you,” Salino shot back.
“What?” I asked, frowning.
Salino gestured to Adrian. “Don’t ask me to explain it, ask your mage lover.”
I turned to Adrian and the tension he had let go of before was back as his shoulders stiffened. “The spell, it worked. It saved your life, but at the same time, it changed your body. It changed who and what you were. Somehow, it bound you to Salino as one of his vampires. I can’t explain it, only to say that magic has a price. You know this. And with how powerful this spell was, and whose blessing was given, this was Azraelle’s price.”
Well, that explained everything I’d been feeling. Someone shot me with a bullet filled with magic poison. My… lover worked a spell that saved my life but also made me into a vampire. I knew something was different. I felt stronger in addition to my normal feeling as a shifter. I didn’t know what this meant, because I also needed to know what kind of bargain Salino managed to wrangle out of my people in order to give up his blood. The vampire would never have done anything without getting something insurmountable in return. That much I knew.
Salino rose from the chair and walked over to the bed, standing over me. “Basically, Sage, we need to bury the bad blood between us. You are my child now, my blood flows in your veins, giving you a brand-new life. Honestly, I don’t even know what it means. Never before has there ever been anything like you. We don’t know how many vampire powers you now possess in addition to your shifter and mage abilities.” He clapped his hands together and smiled. “All things considered, I came out on top.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
He smirked, and I wanted to rip that smile of his off his pretty face. “You’re mine, Sage. I have sired you, and you should get used to calling me ‘sir.’”
“You better keep your fucking distance,” Shi warned, taking a step closer to Salino.
Before I could even see his movements, Salino was on Shi, grabbing her by her neck and pinning her against the wall. She kneed him in the chest, knocking him back, but he still had his grip on her neck. I tried to rise from the bed, but something was holding me in place, like an invisible force keeping me from rising. I could only look on, which was driving me insane. I didn’t like feeling helpless. I watched as Shi grabbed Salino’s wrist with both hands, but he backhanded her, then let her go. To her credit, she was back on her feet fast, not so easily defeated, but Salino’s arm shot out, sending her flying across the room. Her body slammed into the wall, splintering the plaster and knocking two pictures off their hooks. They shattered when they hit the marble floor, sending tiny shards of glass here and there.
“You don’t get to tell me what I can and cannot do with my child!” Salino roared, his fangs bared and eyes glowing red. In all of our encounters, never once had I’d seen this side of him. The threat that he was.
Again, I tried to rise off the bed, but the struggle was futile and it frustrated me to no end. It was as if my body was made of granite. “What the fuck?” I growled in rage. Was this another side effect of the spell or something Salino was doing to me? Either way, I was worried.
“You’re no match for me, Shi. Don’t make me hurt you. That’s not why I’m here,” Salino warned.
Shi stood up, a snarl on her face, and she looked like she was ready to take Salino on.
“Shi… stop,” I managed to say, which even that took a great deal of effort on my part.
That one command from me seemed to penetrate through her ire and she stood still, nodding once. Everyone turned to me now, watching as I struggled to rise. Adrian ran over to the bed, his hands going around my waist, trying to help me.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I can’t fucking move,” I said.
“Because I won’t let you,” Salino said. “You needed to feel my power in order to learn how to respect it. The link between a sire and their child is powerful and comes with many advantages for us both. I will always know where you are, and you will always know where I am. You will always sense my aura, even when we are far apart, because of our bond. But when it comes to discipling my children, I do not hold back. Sage, we need to talk…” He looked around the room, then back to me. “But it can wait. Come see me tomorrow, we have some ground rules to go over and what I expect of and from you.”
