Page 2 of Night of the Vampire
"Not going to happen. Their skin is too tough and their blood is cold." I'd meant it as a joke, but the humor was lost on us both as the reality of my coven lowering ourselves to feeding on reptiles became very real. My head hurt. Gently, I pulled my hand from hers so I could rub my temples. "I need to do something besides hide out in this house."
"Marching into a group of witches demanding they lift this death spell isn't it. We don't even know if they could do anything. Or if they would if they could."
"Why wouldn't they? It was one of their own who cast it."
"Exactly."
I got up to pace the floor, needing to work off all of this pent-up frustration. I felt Kenya's eyes on me as I wore a trail in the wood, but I couldn't look at her. "I don't understand why they came after you, Kenya. You, the nicest one of all of us." I gave a derisive laugh. "I thought the high priestess liked you, for Christ's sake."
"Killian, if you go to the witches and they don't throw you out into the sun, and you bring one here...they'll know where we are. They could kill me anyway. Take out the entire coven. Kill you."
"They wouldn't do that. We have a pact."
"The pact they already broke?" She started coughing and grabbed a tissue from the table beside the bed. When she pulled it away from her mouth, it was red with blood. "Killian, we would be completely at their mercy."
I tried to meet her eyes, but she wouldn't look at me. "We have a pact," I repeated. "It can't be broken without bloodshed on both sides."
"The 'pact' didn't protect me from this." Kenya pointed at herself.
"This must've been a mistake, Kenya. I just can't fathom it otherwise."
"I wish that were true."
"If I don't try, you will die." My words were cold, giving nothing away. But my chest already ached with loss at the thought of losing her. I couldn't...I would have nothing if I lost her. I would be completely alone. Punishment for my selfish actions, I suppose. But not one I chose to accept. "I can't lose you, Kenya."
She waved one hand in the air, dismissing my words. "You'll be fine. You have Jamal, and Elias...."
"Jamal hates me."
She continued as if I hadn't spoken. "Dae can do the books at the club for you."
"That's not what I'm talking about," I growled.
Her face softened. "I know."
I rubbed the throbbing pain in my thigh. The scar was ancient, the pain all in my head. Just an old injury from my days as a young vampire, but I still felt the invasion of the sword's steel blade slice through my thigh. How odd it had felt, my leg split into separate pieces, much like the icy burn of my heart being torn apart in my chest at this moment.
I'd won that fight despite my injury. I didn't know that I could say the same for this one. Going to the witches was a risk. Kenya was right when she said it was very likely my going to the witches would put our coven in more danger. But if I didn't, I would lose her. My only true friend.
Was that selfish of me?
Aye, it was. But my self-serving nature was the reason she was in this predicament to begin with. It was up to me to fix it.
"Jamal told me he'd heard rumors of a new witch in town. I'll go find her. From what I was told, she just moved down from New York City a week or two ago." I couldn't help but feel hope. "What are the chances, do you think, she hasn't been jaded by the others yet and won't cast me down on sight?"
Kenya was quiet for so long I stopped pacing and turned to see she was still with me. I found her running her fingers along the edge of the sheet that covered her to the waist. She raised eyes glazed with exhaustion to mine. "What do you know about her?" she finally asked.
"Not much," I admitted. "As I said, she just moved here. And Jamal's source said he'd seen her go over to the High Priestess's home." I thought back to our conversation. "She has a dog."
"And that's an important fact?"
I narrowed my eyes at her, but it did nothing to quell the smirk on her face. "Yes, it is. A dog makes noise."
The smile faded from her face as she caught my meaning. "Killian, what are you planning to do?"
I stared down at her, this female who—other than Jamal—had been the closest thing I'd ever had to a friend in all of my nearly two hundred years. At least Jamal had been, before I’d made him what he was now. So that left me with one. "Whatever I have to."
Chapter 2
