Page 59 of Secret of the Vampire
Something rustled over our heads, and a large raven swooped down through the branches of a tree, landing on the man’s shoulder. She made clicking noises at him, rubbing her beak on his cheek, before turning one black, beady eye toward me.
“This is Cruthú,” the female told me. “She’s here to help also. And there’s a few more of us.” She lifted her chin in the direction of the road. “They’re waiting for my call before they come in.”
“Who the hellareyou?” I asked again, though my eyes never left the male with the large bird on his shoulder.
“Please,” the female said. “We don’t have much time. Your male won’t hold out much longer. We need to help him.”
“Why would you help him?” I demanded.
“Because I don’t want him to accidentally kill my father,” the male said in a low voice. “That honor is reserved for me, and me alone.”
My eyes flew to the female and she gave me a tentative smile.
“I still don’t understand—” I was cut off by a scream of pain coming from the direction of the house. “Alex!” I called, not caring anymore if Marcus knew I was still there. I went to run past the female, but her hand whipped out and she grabbed my arm, holding me there.
“Go,” she told the male. “And be careful,” she demanded.
His lips curved up at the corners, but there was nothing at all pleasant about it. I shivered as he stepped closer to us. He glanced at me, his eyes glowing a bright yellow, then he dropped a hard kiss on her lips and said, “I’ll be right back, love.”
I watched as he left us, walking swiftly toward the house, his robe billowing out behind him and the raven on his shoulder.
Once he was gone, the female—Shea—released my arm. “I’m sorry I grabbed you like that. But please don’t run off,” she said. “You’ll only be a distraction, and that distraction may cause my mate his life. And then I would have to kill you, and I’d really rather we be friends.”
I turned hard eyes on her. “Will he save Alex?”
“Yes,” she told me with confidence. “If you stay here and let him do it.”
“Do I have a choice?”
She smiled sweetly. “Nope.”
Adrenaline still rushed through my body, and I shifted my weight from one side to the other, finding it hard to settle in and wait.
“What’s your name?” she asked me.
“Kenya.”
“Killian is your master, right? Irish guy? Pale? Powerful?”
Glancing at her, I nodded.
“Does he know where you are?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Well, he will soon.”
I shoved my hair off my face, watching in the direction of the house. It was quiet. Eerily so. I wished she would just shut up.
As if she’d read my thoughts—which she may well have—Shea said, “I know you wish I’d just shut my face, but I’m talking as much to keep myself distracted as you.” Quietly, she added, “That’s the love of my life in there. He’s scary. And he’s not who I imagined myself with, but he’s mine. And I would be completely lost without him. So, I need to talk to you to keep myself from rushing in there. I swore to him I wouldn’t, and it’s the only reason he allowed me to come. Plus,” she smiled. “I told him he needed me here to keep you out of the way when we found out what was going on.”
“How did you find out where we were?”
“Witches,” she told me. “Apparently, there’s some sort of a spell hiding you guys so when they tried to do a location spell, it wouldn’t work. However, we brought a secret weapon.”
When she didn’t continue, I raised my eyebrows and waited.
“Keira Moss,” she said. “She knew how to get around it.”
