Page 18 of Secret of the Vampire
“My sister.”
Shea’s green eyes bore into him. “You don’t think you should’ve toldherabout it first?”
“I didn’t want the vampire to think I was plotting behind his back.”
“Are you not?” She gave him a steady stare.
Jesse stared into the depths of her eyes for long moments. “No. Not deliberately.”
“What are you both blethering on about?” Aiden asked.
Shea took Jesse’s hand.
“Yes?” he asked her.
She nodded. “Yes. They all need to know.” Still holding his hand, she turned to me. “We should call Dante and Christian. And the rest of the girls. Especially Ryan. She needs to know where she came from. Jesse can help her harness her power.”
“Because he does such a wonderful job of it himself?” Nikulas said.
“Nik, please,” Shea told him.
Nikulas looked to me, and I gave him a nod. “Okay, then,” Nik announced to the room in general. “Aid, will you go get Grace and Emma? I’ll round up everyone else.”
“Thank you,” Jesse told him.
Giving him an uneasy look, Nikulas left the apartment, calling back, “I’ll fix this door later, Luuk!”
Aiden followed him out much the way he’d come in.
“And here we go.” Shea gave the warlock an uneasy smile.
“It will be all right, Shea. But my father must be stopped. And to do that, I’m going to need Ryan’s help.”
“I know.” Her eyes searched his face. “I just wish we could have a little more time.”
Leaning down, he touched his forehead to hers.
I watched their exchange in silence, my witch in my arms, still disbelieving that one of my own could care about something as evil as the warlock. But I’d promised her I’d give him a chance.
We settled in to wait for the others.
Chapter 7
Alex
Ifelt him before I saw him.
Walking to our coven’s gathering at my aunt’s house at twilight the following night, the air suddenly grew heavy and thick around me. Not an unusual phenomenon living so close to the water, but this wasn’t caused by a change in the atmosphere. It wasn’t a warning of an oncoming thunderstorm.
No. This was something different.
Something ominous.
The hair all over my body rose as though I were standing in the midst of an electrical storm, but I kept walking, not showing any reaction. I didn’t change my pace. I didn’t look around. There was no need. I knew what this was. I’d felt it before, the night it came after Kenya.
Only this time, it was coming for me.
The large, waxy leaves of a magnolia tree rustled above me. I glanced at the house it adorned out of the corner of my eye. The two-story Victorian was still, its bay windows dark. I sensed no movement within.
