Page 11 of Secret of the Vampire
And now, there was the vampire…
Her blood sweet on my tongue, I got out of the car and went inside the house where my source had assured me I would be undisturbed. Although most of the back had been destroyed by weather, the front of it was still intact. And as it was barely habitable anymore, I highly doubted anyone would mind me using it for the brief time I would be here.
Inside, I took off my long, black coat and hung it by the door. Hands linked behind my back, I wandered over to the side window to watch the sun rise over the swamp and think of how I was going to get a vampire away from her master. A feat that was nigh impossible and not without great risk, but one someone like me could overcome.
The harder part was going to convince Alex and Alice that their place was with me.
Alice.
The name brought up memories I would rather forget. Memories of another woman with that name, also a witch, who I’d had wrapped around my finger for a time.
Or, I would have if it hadn’t been for that insolent brother of mine.
Victor had wanted her for his own, and, somehow, he had convinced her that I was the bad guy in that whole scenario. And just when I’d managed to talk her into using her magic to bring me into this world, they’d quickly sent me back to my own. Fools that they were, distracted by their fairytale happily ever after, they’d expected me to stay there.
Forty years later, I came back and killed them both. Then, I took over Alice’s coven.
In that time, they’d had children, who also had children. By this time, unhappy with my rule, some of the witches had scattered, leaving their mountain outside of Seattle. One of those witches had born the twins I’d now just discovered here, in New Orleans, far from the home of their birth. Direct descendants of my brother, Victor, and his love, Alice.
My blood. My family.
The man, Alex, I’d been told was the one who’d removed my curse from the vampire.
What I hadn’t counted on was his continued protection of the female vampire. I’d decided she was too much of a distraction, one that needed to be removed. I didn’t want him to have anything else that would tie him to this place. But all things happened for a reason. If last night’s occurrences hadn’t occurred exactly how they had, I would not have tasted her blood. And I would not now know what I did…
That this vampire could bring back my Alice. I admit, I’d been hasty in my anger when I’d killed her, for I missed her more than I ever thought I would.
So, I will bring her back. With the two of us ruling side by side and my niece and nephew back where they belong, none would be more powerful. Every other coven in the world would have to come into our fold or be extinguished. No other creature, supernatural or otherwise, would be able to touch us.
We would be immortal.
We would be all powerful.
We would rule the fucking world.
All I needed was the vampire with voodoo in her blood. And my nephew would be the one to bring her to me.
Chapter 5
Alex
My sister, Alice, was waiting for me when I got home. I wasn’t surprised. She was a strong witch. A locked door did little to keep her out when she really wanted to get in somewhere.
I hardly spared her a glance, sitting prettily on the edge of the couch in my small apartment, fingers laced together on her lap. As usual, she wore what our mother would’ve called “hippie” clothes, all loose and flowing and bright.
I rather liked that look on her though. It suited her.
Taking off my coat, I tossed it onto the back of a kitchen chair. “I’m tired, Alice. What is it that you want?”
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I would like to go to bed, except my annoying sister has made it a habit to break into my home and keep me awake with her incessant questions.”
“It’s morning.”
“I can see that,” I told her, indicating the daylight coming through the single window.
My home was a tiny, one bedroom apartment on Saint Charles Ave in The Garden District. It wasn’t much to look at with its fake wood floors and beige walls, but it was clean. And it was mine. And I didn’t need much. There was a tiny coat closet by the entry door and another, only slightly bigger closet, in the bedroom. The kitchen was shoved into a small hallway that connected the entry to the living room and consisted of a white sink, a small, white oven, and a miniature refrigerator. There were three white cabinets above the sink, and maybe a foot of counter space made of some sort of ugly, brown laminate taken up by a microwave that took care of most of my meals.
